Planning is one of the keys to having a successful Etsy shop (or any online business) because it requires you to be present in your shop on a regular basis. I have created a daily to do list that I call my “Etsy Daily Do” list. These are the top 5 things I do every day to make sure my shop stays successful. I also have a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual to do list which I will show you in the near future. For now, let's go over the top 5 things I recommend you do every day.
If you'd like my Etsy Daily do list, just click on the button below.
1. CHECK MESSAGES
- If a potential buyer messages me overnight, they may be on a different time zone. The quicker I respond, the better.
- If a buyer has placed an order, but has questions or instructions, it's good to check before you pack up the sale. For example, if they have an address change, that is important to know before you pack it up. I learned this the hard way by sending a package to the wrong address. The buyer didn't get it and I had to give them a full refund. Yikes! That was an expensive error to make.
- Sometimes buyer's want to cancel their order. If I haven't packed up the order, I cancel the sale and issue a refund.
- Don't forget to check your email. I don't know why, but some buyers find your email address and send their questions there.
2. PACK UP ORDERS
- Depending on when your post man picks up your packages, be sure they go out the same day whenever possible. I love reviews that talk about how speedy my shipping is.
- Print out your receipts
- Pack up orders
- Etsy sends your thank you note so you only need to contact a buyer if there's something special you'd like them to know
3. RENEW LISTINGS
- The best way to keep sales going in your shop is to renew listings and add new listings to your shop
- Review your budget for renewed listings (you should use Manual Renewal so that you have control over how much you spend and review your listing to figure out why it hasn't sold in four months and revise the listing to make it more attractive to buyers. Ask yourself – do I need to redo the pictures, title, listing description, shipping method, etc.
4. ADD (OR PLAN) NEW LISTINGS
- The best way to keep sales going in your shop is to add new listings. Yes, this is the key to getting more traffic to your store. Social media and SEO is great, but if you're not keeping your store fresh and new it may be harder to keep buyers coming back.
- If you don't have a new listing to add (you don't need to add one every day, just on a regular basis), you should be either designing, making or finding new products to sell. You could also add another listing for the same product with a different title, description, key words, etc. This is a great way to find out what works best for your product. The only issue with this is you need to keep a close track of inventory and make sure you deactivate a duplicate listing when you're out.
5. CHECK STATS
- Check your income stats to find out if you're on track for the month to meet your sales goals.
- If so, keep doing what you're doing.
- If not, compare to last year to see what the difference
- Has there been a significant change in traffic? Check social media – are you getting views from the channel you are putting effort into? For example, if your main channel is Pinterest, how many views have you gotten? If you're not getting enough views or sales, do you need to change your strategy? Pin more? Pin less? I would recommend focusing on one main traffic source at a time.
Being consistent with your Daily Do list and it will help you to have a successful shop. The more involved you are with your shop, the more Etsy will see that you are a serious seller. I swear that if I don't work on my shop for a week or more, my sales dip. When I am working on my shop, I am much more likely to have sales. I think Etsy has eyes in the back of their head (like my mother) so I have to be a “good” seller.
Planning your day keeps you present in your shop, but planning for the year keeps you on track to pursue your goal of having a successful Etsy shop. If you're interested in planning for a successful year, check out our 2021 Annual Planning Guide blog post. It walks you through the steps of planning your year.
Happy Selling!
