Whether you’re a long time Etsy Shop owner or a newbie, you can always grow and learn when it comes to your small business. Since running my Etsy shop I’ve learned lots of tricks and I continually see new shop owners fail to use tools that could help make them more organized. Organization = efficiency which can help make your job as a shop owner a little less stressed. Today I’m sharing the first post of a new series for Etsy Shop owners, providing my Top 5 Etsy Tips for Organization which includes a free excel document to download and use!
In addition to running my Spot of Tea Designs Etsy shop for the last 3 years, I’ve also consulted to help launch, run, and audit several other Etsy Shops the last few years, all with different product types. Some never know where start and some just need help getting digitally organized so they can grow. These are my first 5 tips I give them to at least get them off on the right foot when it comes to the organization aspect.
1. Use a Google spreadsheet.
People who know me in real life will not be surprised that building a spreadsheet is my number one Etsy tip! I went ahead and created a blank excel document for you to grab and use to organize your Etsy Shop, which I reference in this post. Open it and copy each tab into a tab in a Google Spreadsheet so you always have it accessible to you when you’re online!
Spreadsheets keep you organized and if you add it to Google to make it web based, you’re able to access it no matter what device you are on.
Should you ever have a weird glitch with your shop, want to move your products elsewhere, or are looking to sell in person and need a quick description for a sign, you’ll have all your product descriptions right in your hands with this file format that’s not inside the etsy platform! Tip: export and backup that Google spreadsheet regularly so you own it offline too.
2. Create a SKU system for inventory and tracking.
Anyone who has worked in manufacturing, product development or retail will know that products are often referred to by their SKU number, or a Stock Keeping Unit. This SKU number system keeps your products organized between your spreadsheet, Etsy or home computer.
The SKU numbers can be seen in the first column of our spreadsheet.
This SKU number is then used in Etsy under the “inventory and pricing” section for each listing.
When you receive an order, that sku number will also be listed in the order details.
Lastly, you can list your folders on your computer by this same SKU number system. As a digital shop, I need to keep all my files at the ready as I allow personalization of most of my items. This system makes it easy for all my items to relate no matter which platform or media type I’m accessing, online or in my own computer.
3. Focus on one creative role at a time.
Aka organize your time in little groups! It’s so easy to want to design, photography, write copy, upload, and socialize all in one step, but those are all completely different actions and brain functions and you can easily get burned out.
My advice is to dedicate time for creative roles so you can focus wholly on each one and do them well vs dropping the ball in all different ways. Want to sit and design? Go ahead and do it for a while and just get in the creative spirit.
Need to photograph products? Wait for a sunny day and shoot 5 products at the same time.
Ready to focus on copy writing? Write out 5 product descriptions at one time so you can go with the flow of your creative words. I tend to save the copy writing for the nighttime when I was relax on the couch with a laptop and don’t need sunshine to create.
4. Create product templates for each product type.
When it comes to copy writing, templates are great as they give you a guide on what to include so you don’t miss any basics. These first160 characters of your item description is used to create the meta description for your listing page so make them count and include your listing title and shop name in it. This helps with SEO and people finding your products via etsy search.
In addition to those starting sentences about your product, continue building your templates with section that include details like dimensions, functions of the product, and what’s included or not included in their purchase. You can always create additional sections that add general details about your shop, like communication hours or production timeline.
For example, the beginning description for my Mermaid Favor Tags in my shop states “The Spot of Tea Designs Mermaid Tail Favor Tags are a great way to thank friends for attending your mermaid party or under the sea themed party!” Visit the listing to see how I created my product template to include designated areas broken out with capital letters and *** symbols.
5. Create saved replies for customer service responses.
As you grow your shop and get more customer interaction, you might notice the same questions over and over. Even if you outline it in an FAQ section or list information in the product details, people are bound to still ask the same things over and over. Using the “saved replies” function is one way to have good communication with your customers without a lot of work on your part.
Saved replies are a set of responses you can create and access both in the etsy seller’s app or using etsy on a desktop. To access the saved replies section, choose a message and find the “saved replies” section at the bottom left of the message. From there you’ll see where you can create more categories and paste the actual replies in that area to save for later use.
When ready to use them, find them in the same spot and just choose one. It will paste that text into the message area and then you choose “send” to send the message to your customer. You can always edit it before it goes live to the consumer if you need to make a tweak.
Looking for more Etsy tips? I also shared more SEO tips I’ve learned along the way that gets me organic views and purchases.
Leave me a comment on this post or on social media letting me know what other etsy topics you’d love me to cover that has to do with Etsy!
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