In this series of 5 blog posts, I am going to go through the five steps you need to follow to make products that sell like crazy on Etsy.
The five steps are:
- Create a customer psychographic profile to understand why your customer will want to buy your product
- Use your customer profile to create a product press briefing BEFORE you create your product.
- Take photos that are better than your competition.
- Find keywords that are relevant to both your product and customer.
- Write a description that uses your customer profile to sell to their emotional reason for buying.
This post is the 3rd Step in the series for creating products that will sell on Etsy.
The First Step was to identify your perfect customer, found here. The 2nd Step was to create a product press briefing to get clarity of what your customer actually wants. Now we are looking at how to catch your perfect customer’s attention in a sea of similar products.
Be a pink flamingo in a sea of swans.
If you’ve completed Steps 1 and 2, you are finally ready to start setting up your product for selling.
Step 3. Take product photos that are better than your competition.
The number 1 thing that you MUST get right when setting up your product online is to have brilliant photos. This applies to Etsy, or any market place, even your own website.
Without A grade photos, the customer won’t click on your product. It’s as simple as that.
We live in a visual world, so the visual elements of your product are paramount. You can have the best title and description in the world, but the customer will never read them because your photo won’t catch their attention.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, if you saw your primary photo, would you be attracted to it and be tempted to look further? If not, then you need to keep working on your pictures until you get them right.
Knowing your perfect customer will help you in getting your photo right. You know the type of shops they buy from, so you know what type of aesthetic they are familiar with and are looking for. If your photos aren’t in the same ballpark, then you need to either change your target audience or up your game.
I’ll hold my hand up here, I am not the best photographer in the world. In fact, I could be the worst as my pictures either end up off centre, blurry or with a finger in them. But I am fortunate in that my products are digital so I can use mockups and photoshop to create something without actually taking a photo!
That said, the image that I create still has to be top-notch to attract my perfect customer.
What makes a good product photo
It can be difficult working out what is going to be eye-catching and appealing to your perfect customer. But putting in the effort to find out is going to be SUPER worthwhile. Until you do and until you create the PERFECT picture, your shop will not move forward.
In addition to your main photo, you should make sure that you add as many extra images as you can. The other images should be aimed at answering your customers’ potential questions. This is because some people are much more visual and simply don’t read the descriptions!
Here are some ideas of what to include in your product photos:
- Show how it is unique and special
- Display what sizes it comes in, either by using a chart or by comparing them
- Show the size of your product based on ordinary everyday objects, e.g. holding it in your hands, being modelled or in its natural surroundings
- Make it clear the quantity they are getting
- Show how to use it
- Display the variations or options that are available
- Use a colour chart
- Show off your packaging
- Display what it is made of
- Show the product details, e.g. stitching, wood grain, patterns
- Display some social proof such as testimonials or customer photos
- You can display an image that asks them to sign up for your newsletter or follow you on social media
- If you offer custom or commissioned work, let them know it!
If you are not sure where to start on taking photos, take a look at my Pinterest Photography Tips board. This will give you ideas and tips on how to improve your product photography.
Photos is the number 1 most important thing to make sure are right before you move onto anything else.
Only when you are happy that they are on point and match, or exceed your competitors, should move on to the next step.
If you are ready for the next step, go to “Create SEO keyword magic“.
