Tuesday, March 8, 2011

What My New Hausschuhe Taught Me About Etsy Favorites

Whenever I need something new, I try to think to remember to buy it from Etsy as often as is possible. So when I recently logged onto my store and saw these lovelies posted in the new 'Your Favorites' feed, I was delighted. I had been needing new slippers, and there were the cute red and white numbers from The Crocodile Rock, a Sarajevo-based Etsy seller, that I had favorited just asking be purchased.

These new Hausschuhe arrived a few weeks ago, and I just love them. But this purchase got me to thinking about more than just keeping my feet warm. I realized that some of the new social shopping features on Etsy have some big implications, especially when it comes to favorites.

Getting items marked 'favorite' is now more important - Typically I mark all kinds of items 'favorites' and then promptly forget about them. I never went into my 'favorites' tab and browsed, but now I'm routinely reminded of things I like when I log in to Etsy. This keeps items in my mind longer, and also encourages me to do a little more browsing rather than just quickly taking care of Etsy business (relisting, convos, etc.)

Treasuries are now better for promoting - Forget about getting on the Etsy front page. Maybe your treasury will, maybe it won't. The point is more eyeballs will land on your listings, with the potential for more of your items to be favorited, which means...

Potential Customers will see your items more often - As a result of all these new feeds, people will see your items more. I once read that someone needs to see a brand or product seven times to actually purchase it. Having an item 'hearted' increases the likelihood of seeing something more than once.

I used to think that Favorites on Etsy were sort of a 'feel good' feature. It was nice to check your hearts and see that people liked your stuff, but basically it had no real useful function. Now I see that it can be a helpful promotional tool to remind people - that already are inclined to purchase from you that you - about your store. Sehr wichtig!

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