Started in Brooklyn, New York in 2005, Etsy became a publicly-traded company in 2015. It is the world’s preferred marketplace for vintage, handmade, and everything crafts.
Every year, Etsy is joined by more sellers. If you are one of them, you are one or more than 7 million people selling on Etsy.
Yes Etsy ads are worth it, if you do them the right way. I’m going to show you how to make sure you get them right.
With that many people showcasing their creations or found treasures on the same e-commerce platform, the competition is fierce. You can’t simply list your products and expect shoppers to find them on Etsy. You have to optimize your listings, take stunning product photos, and develop a marketing plan, which can include Etsy advertising.
Just like a brick-and-mortar shop owner, you need to have an attractive storefront with beautifully displayed products for sale. And you need to be smart about attracting buyers.
The question is: are Etsy ads a smart way to attract buyers? Are Etsy ads worth it? The short answer? For some it is, for others maybe not so much.
Let’s find out why.
What Types of Etsy Ads Are Available?
Etsy offers two different kinds of ads, both of which show up in different places, are charged differently, and have different costs associated with them.
● Onsite Etsy Ads
You can see Etsy onsite ads in the organic search results on Etsy.com. With onsite ads, Etsy sellers can pay to have their listings displayed more prominently on Etsy search results. These ads appear on the Etsy platform and mobile apps in the organic search results. Listings on Etsy refer to items for sale.
The platform displays items for sale based on search relevance, listing quality, the bid amount, and other factors. If a listing is an ad, you will see the following tag: “Ad by [ShopName]”.
Onsite ads are aimed at shoppers already browsing on Etsy.
● Offsite Etsy Ads
These ads are designed and run by Etsy. They feature listings in search engine results, on social media sites and apps, Etsy Publishing Partner sites, and Google Display Network sites.
Unlike onsite ads, Sellers don’t pay for these ads; they are only charged when they make a sale as a result of the off-site ad.
The purpose of these ads is twofold: to advertise products on Etsy so Etsy shopowners can sell more, and to direct traffic to Etsy.
How Do Etsy Ads Work?
Onsite Etsy Ads
If you are advertising on Etsy, you are participating in an auction. Etsy lets sellers place bids on the maximum amount they will pay per click – referred to as the cost-per-click (CPC).
Etsy then uses a “sealed bid generalized second-price auction system” to determine what to charge and where to place the ads.
Etsy places bids for ad space on your behalf taking into account several factors, including your daily budget, the bid amount, listing variety, listing quality, the likelihood of views or sales, and relevance to the shopper’s search.
The two main factors that influence the auction system are the listing quality, which represents the probability of a customer clicking on your ad, and the bid amount, which is the price you are willing to pay for each click.
You can adjust your advertised listings to change your Etsy ads.
The other important factor is the shopper’s search relevance. This factor refers to how relevant your listing title or tags are to the search terms Etsy shoppers use.
If the keywords that you’re using are the same as a shopper’s search terms, you have a match made in heaven – chances the shopper will come across your listing in their search results. So choose every keyword with care.
Etsy provides a Guide to Etsy Search which can help you to have your ads high in search results.
A bid is the highest amount you are prepared to pay for one click on a listing – your cost per click (CPC). The higher your bid, the better the placement your listing may get, especially if a lot of store owners are promoting similar products.
It is logical to do a search on Etsy to see how your ads are doing, but it’s not an effective strategy because you won’t necessarily see what shoppers see.
A better option is to examine your stats to see which listings are resulting in the most traffic to your shop. You can see your most-visited listing and the most successful search terms on the traffic details page.
Offsite Etsy Ads
Shopowners don’t do anything to participate in offsite ads. All shop owners are automatically eligible for Etsy’s Offsite Ads.
Etsy has agreements with partner sites and networks to promote the listings of Etsy sellers on their pages. Etsy sends them all listing information, including listing descriptions, tags, photos, titles, and more.
The site’s algorithm uses those details to match a user’s search or profile info to your listing ad.
If you want to affect your product catalogs on offsite ads so they perform well and earn you profit, you must improve the quality of your listings. You can also decide in which countries the offsite ads will appear.
To ensure that the ads are only shown to shoppers in countries that you ship to, find Shipping Profiles under Settings on your dashboard to add or remove countries.
Offsite ads are optional up to a point. If your shop made less than $10,000 in the last 365 days, you can opt out of offsite ads.
However, when your sales exceeded $10,000 in the past 365 days, Etsy will compel you to participate in offsite ads for as long as you have your shop on the marketplace.
Check out our article on Best Etsy SEO Tools.
How Much Do Etsy Ads Cost?
Onsite Ads
Etsy uses a pay-per-click model to charge users on the platform for ads. That means you pay every time someone clicks an ad, not every time the ad is displayed.
In practice, Etsy charges from $0.20 to $0.50 per ad click, which you only pay when someone clicks on your Etsy ad. You can set a maximum daily amount and you will not be charged more than that.
The minimum amount you can set is determined by Etsy. Etsy suggests that its users spend between $3 and $5 per day on Etsy ads to see how things go.
This daily budget works for most Etsy shop owners. You can spend as little as $1 per day, but it’s not recommended to spend more than $25.
Offsite Ads
The cost of offsite ads is not based on a cost-per-click basis; it is based on a percentage of sales. Etsy charges 12% – 15% on offsite sales. The exact percentage depends on your Etsy store’s income in the last year.
If your Etsy shop generated less than $10,000 in the last year, you will be charged a 15% fee on any order as a result of an offsite ad. If your shop earned more than $10,000 in the last year, you will benefit from a discount and pay only 12% on an order resulting from off-site ads.
You are not charged when a visitor only clicks on your ad; you are charged when a visitor clicks on your ad and then goes ahead and buys what was advertised.
Keep in mind that you can opt out of Etsy offsite ads if your store generates less than US$10,000 a year.
Opting Out of Offsite Ads on Etsy
You are not obliged to participate in offsite ads, If you are not comfortable with ads that you have no control over, you might want to consider turning off offsite ads. Etsy only expects sellers with sales of more than $10,000 USD to participate in offsite ads. If not, you have the option to pull out.
Before you take this step though, consider that Etsy is taking on all the costs to advertise your products on social media sites and apps, search engine results, partner sites, and the Google Display Network.
Places where your products may appear include search engine results, platforms, and social media sites, such as Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Etsy Publishing Partner Sites like Buzzfeed, Martha Stewart, MyWedding, Better Homes and Gardens, and others.
Do you really want to miss out on the possibility of having traffic guided to your Etsy store as a result of offsite ads on these web destinations paid for by Etsy?
On the other hand, while broader exposure can lead to more traffic to your Etsy shop, it doesn’t necessarily mean your ad clicks increase and that you will make more money.
Benefits of Etsy Ads for Etsy Shops
There are several benefits to Etsy ads.
- Etsy ads can increase your shop’s visibility, helping you to reach more customers. After all, Etsy has a target audience of millions.
- Ads on Etsy can help your Etsy shop rank on search engines.
- Etsy ads can get your products in front of shoppers who are shopping for similar products as yours.
- Etsy ads enable you to market your products through sales and special offers.
- Depending on the keywords you choose, cause website visitors to chance on your Etsy store and products.
- Etsy ads can save you money. Etsy ads are cost-effective. Compared to social media ads like Facebook and Google ads, Etsy ads cost less per click.
- You can target your Etsy ads based on keywords, location, and other factors. This ensures that your ads reach the right customers, increasing your chances of making sales.
- Etsy ads let you benefit from Etsy’s analytics, which allows sellers to track the performance of their ads so they can make the necessary SEO adjustments to optimize for search engine optimization.
- Etsy ads are the ideal platform to quickly validate new product ideas. You can try out different products and quickly see what resonates with your audience, allowing you to expand popular products and expeditiously drop unsuccessful ones.
Of course, you can also use the Etsy mobile app to set up new product catalogs and attract consumers where they spend much of their time. You can access your Etsy shop through the Etsy Seller app, run your store from the app, including running Etsy ads. Ads via the app will increase your chances of making a profit any time of the day or night.
Tips to Improve Your Listings So Your Ads on Etsy Are Worth It
Many known and unknown factors go into Etsy search ranking, which makes it seem an impossible task to stand out amidst millions of shops and products.
Fortunately, there are some best practices you can follow so your products show up in shoppers’ searches.
It is worth it to improve your listing quality since it affects the cost-per-click (CPC) of your ad. Etsy penalizes low-quality listings by charging a higher CPC for them, so you can decrease your ad spend if you improve the quality of your product catalogs.
Not only that. The tips below are all SEO strategies to optimize your Etsy store. Optimizing your Etsy shop and product listings boost your shop’s ranking in Etsy’s and external search engines.
1. Choose the Products to Advertise Carefully
For your Etsy ads, choose products that are trending and likely to sell well on Etsy. If you are not sure what items are likely to sell, go to the Etsy homepage and study the Trending Now section. Focus on “top selling” items. Also, new products are always a good option for marketing efforts.
2. Use Short Titles
Etsy prefers listing titles that are short and clear. Your title should comprise no more than 40 characters and be very clear about what it is that you are selling. Every title should lead with
the most relevant keywords. Etsy also doesn’t like all uppercase letters in titles.
3. Use Keywords
The strategic use of keywords is key to improving the visibility of your products and the success of your Etsy ads. The Etsy search algorithm looks for keywords and phrases in your listing descriptions including your product titles, descriptions, tags, categories, and attributes when ranking your listings.
When writing your descriptions, try to incorporate relevant keywords in the first few sentences of your description. Don’t simply list your keywords; incorporate them naturally in a few sentences.
One way to find keywords for your products that will perform well when customers are searching for items like yours is to test a keyword you are considering by typing it into the Etsy search bar to see what comes up.
Another strategy is to use long-tail keywords or specific terms. There is less competition for long-tail keywords and you will attract shoppers who are looking for something specific.
Keywords are crucial for Etsy SEO and to ensure that customers can find your products on Etsy.
4. Use All 13 Tags
Tags are all important in your quest to be found by shoppers on Etsy. Etsy recommends that sellers consider each tag as an opportunity to match a product with a shopper’s search – the more tags you add, the better your chances.
Don’t use single words for a tag. A tag can be up to 20 characters long, so you can fit more than one descriptive word into one tag.
Put words together instead of using them separately. For example, “wooden bottle opener” is stronger than “wooden” and “bottle opener”.
Target long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are a great SEO tactic. You can be creative and use phrases that highlight the uniqueness of your products so they don’t get lost in searches for generic terms.
Shoppers looking for something with specific qualities are then more likely to find your products. Etsy Ads work when they have long-tail keywords.
5. Renew Your Listings Regularly
Keep a watchful eye on your Shop Stats and rework the tags of listings that are not attracting any traffic.
When you create a new listing, it receives a temporary boost. Similarly, when you renew a listing it can also receive a temporary boost from the search algorithm.
In addition, it’s a good idea to renew a listing that has already garnered a lot of positive response. Consider renewing or relisting at times when you know many people are browsing on Etsy.
6. Only Use High-Quality Product Photos
Remember your photos are your “salespeople” for your marketing campaigns on Etsy. Your prospective customers can’t touch and manipulate the products they see in your photos – the photos you show them are the next best thing to being in physical contact with an item they desire.
According to a 2017 survey, 90% of Etsy buyers surveyed indicated that photo quality was “extremely” or “very” important when deciding to purchase a product.
Prioritize high-quality photos that put your products center of the display.
For instance, your logo shouldn’t be more prominent than the product you’re selling. Nor should there be any visible watermarks or distracting backgrounds and borders.
Etsy shops can display ten photos to illustrate each product for sale. The first photo is the most important one – it will be the product thumbnail photo that appears in search results. Make it enticing so people want to click on it.
The more clicks you get, the better your chance of selling and earning a profit. Whether or not a shopper clicks and sees your products for sale depends very much on your photo quality.
7. Get Categories Right
Etsy has more than 50 product categories subdivided into subcategories. The category and subcategory you put your items for sale in are important for Etsy SEO. Consider categories on Etsy as tags that can multiply the opportunities for your products to be found in search results.
Etsy’s primary categories are broad, but they are divided and become more specific. It’s important to categorize your products down to the last subcategory, with each subsequent category acting as a tag that differentiates your products, boosting your sales and ensuring that your ads bring you profit.
How Do You Know Etsy Ads Work?
To track the success of your Etsy ads you can consult your Etsy Stats on your Etsy Ads page.
You can see there what your bestsellers were and what keywords, tags, and other SEO tactics you used for them.
Other metrics that can give you a complete picture of the performance of your Etsy ads are:
- Ad views
- Ad clicks
- Click rate
- Orders from ads
- Revenue from ads
- Budget Spent
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- Search terms
In practice, Etsy sellers have mixed successes with their Etsy ads. It is not a set-and-go undertaking. You have to set a daily budget and test your ads to see what works.
Check the Performance of Your Listings
To ensure the success of your Etsy ads, you have to check the performance of your listings at least once a month.
You can find the information under the Manage Advertised Listings section. Next to each listing you advertise, you can see stats about its performance. The stats can help you to know what changes to make to improve their performance so your Etsy shop makes a profit.
These metrics can demonstrate that Etsy ads were worth it.
Etsy data help Etsy sellers to make data-driven decisions about what products to offer, how to price them, and how to attract buyers in order to grow their businesses and make a profit.
How long does it take for Etsy ads to work?
In most cases, it takes at least a month for the Etsy algorithm to optimize your listings. So, keep this in mind, and don’t lose heart when you see no results from your ads after a week or two. You will only know if your Etsy ads work after some trial and error.
Are Etsy Ads Worth It?
So, are Etsy ads worth it? It depends. Established Etsy stores may potentially benefit more from Etsy ads in terms of cost compared to newer or less established stores.
An established Etsy shop is likely to have built a certain level of brand recognition and customer loyalty.
When these stores run ads, there is a higher chance that customers are already familiar with their brand, resulting in a higher conversion rate and a better return on investment (ROI) for the ad spend.
Because these sellers need fewer clicks on their ads to make a sale, their cost per click is also less, which means they may profit more from ad campaigns.
The Role of Repeat Customers
Investing in Etsy ads can be beneficial for those sellers who have a high percentage of repeat customers.
This does not mean that new stores won’t benefit from Etsy ads. At the very least they can gain some visibility and possibly start garnering some positive reviews on the platform.
Another factor is product pricing. For sellers who trade in low-priced items like digital downloads, the cost of running ads may result in practically no margin for the seller. For solopreneurs who only sell a few items or those who sell items priced at $1, ads may not be worth it.
Placing ads on Etsy has cost implications.
Shop owners need to consider their daily budget and must weigh the potential increase in sales and visibility up against the expense. Ultimately, you’ll have to track and analyze the performance of your ads to determine if they will translate into profit for you.
Should You Invest in Ads on Etsy?
When you started reading this article, you probably had two questions on your mind: are Etsy ads worth it, and how do Etsy ads work? Hopefully, this article has answered these questions for you.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of Etsy ads will vary depending on your unique circumstances. It’s a good idea to start with a small budget and monitor the performance of your ads to see if it’s worth it.
Etsy ads work if you optimize your listings and incorporate the best Etsy SEO practices. Additionally,
You can also improve your chances by observing successful Etsy sellers to see what seems to be working for them. You can also consult marketers in the ecommerce space to learn as much as you can about running ads on Etsy and making a profit from your Etsy shop.
