The idea behind Etsy’s new circles and activity feed features is pretty straight forward – to keep tabs on your friends or people whose work you admire. These features greatly enhance the social capabilities of Etsy and can make shopping more fun.
But how, as a seller, can you use these features to your advantage?
What if, instead of using these features to keep tabs on your friends, you used them to find out more about your ideal customer?
What if you filled your circle predominantly with people who have already purchased your products?
Understanding your ideal customer and researching your target market are critical to developing a successful marketing plan. And when it comes to finding out who your ideal customer is, there’s no better place to start then with people who have already purchased your products.
The social nature of a site like Etsy already made it pretty easy to get a deeper sense of the people who purchase your products. Circles and activity feeds now aggregate that content to help make market research even easier.
So how you get the most impact when using these new features for target market research?
1. Start with your biggest fans. If you’ve sold a lot of products on Etsy, it can be overwhelming to add everyone to your circle. Instead, start with customers that seem to like your products the most. Look for customers who bought multiple products in one shot, or customers who have bought from you repeatedly.
2. Look for patterns. As you notice which shops your customers are adding to their favorites list, try to pay attention to patterns. Are there certain shops that appear often? Who seems to be a favorite of many of your customers? What types of products and styles are your customers most drawn to?
3. Do your research. Armed with the stores and styles you’ve noticed while watching your activity feed, you can now dig a little deeper by researching these other sellers. Find out if these store owners have a website or blog where you can get a little more information. Check out their press page to see where they’ve been covered. See what stores their work is in. This type of research can help you find publications and stores that appeal to your ideal customer, and help you focus your own marketing efforts.
While I’m sure Etsy’s main focus in creating these new features was to add more social applications to the site, they may have also created a powerful new tool for learning more about your customers.
Feel free to share in the comments: How have you been using these new Etsy features? And have you considered using them for market research?
{image via focuslineart on Etsy}
Thanks Megan, I think this could also work if you are trying to figure out your idea customer and you don’t yet have a shop. You could create circles based upon others who have favorited the same items as you etc…can’t wait to put this to use!
Great suggestion. Market research is one of those things that business advisors always say is critical for any small business but often when you ask them what they suggest a particular kind of artist should do in terms of market research they fumble for convincing examples. I like the practicality of this. Thanks.
Blair Benjamin
Project Director
Assets for Artists
Great tips Megan! I love the new activity feed and one of my fav aspects is seeing in real time who has marked my shop as a favorite and what others shops they have marked. It is interesting to see who comes back to buy and who the competition is.
To be honest, until I read this I had no idea why I would want a circle to begin with. You’ve put the whole idea into perspective and given it purpose! Thank you!
These are all great ideas. I have one problem with them, however-I have yet to make an etsy sale. I’m hoping it will come soon (and trying to work on it as well), but do you have any ideas on how to constructively utilize them without the sales data to start with?
Jacqueline – you could start by adding the people who have hearted your shop and use that as a way to research.
Thanks, Megan! I have added some of the shops I admire to my circle but hadn’t thought to add my customers. Great idea.
Thanks for this article! It totally gave me an “ah ha!” moment. This is a great way to stay forward thinking and see how my customers are trending.
I wonder, though, if people will view this as a privacy issue. Would my customers feel funny if they were part of my circle? I worry that it would almost seem spammy. What are your thoughts on that?
Jessica – You shouldn’t have to worry about it seeming spammy because when you add someone to your circle, their activity shows up in their feed, but you would only show up in their feed if they added you.
I know that some people are concerned about privacy, but those people would probably just disable the feature so you wouldn’t be able to add them anyway.
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Thank you Megan,I agree with all the others above… I had not used this feature yet and honestly dint even bothered to…but now after reading this post I am on my way…
great idea. i thought about the spam~ish side of it too. . . i think most people get an email when you add them to your circle. i really hesitated when i thought of adding someone who had hearted my shop {who’s taste i thought was great with other shops/items etc}. seemed a little stalkerish??
maybe people just wouldn’t mind?
thanks for this article 🙂
Oh…I don’t get it!
Sorry…is it that we’re trying to get our shop to pop up in their activity feeds? I feel so dense! 😉
My customers seem to be my biggest fans. I would think they would feel recognized in a good way to be in my circle. I think we all like to be “a member of the club”. Great Idea.
What is “Permalink”?
The activity feed has been very useful for tracking what customers are looking at and hearting. I have been added to circles but didn’t quite understand their use or significance and thought that were they similar to people “friending” countless people on Facebook? Thanks for the ideas.
I love the NEW Activity feed. First of all I do not have to go searching around and take time away from my posting. It is right there at the top of my page!
It gives me an idea of what hits something is getting right away. I definitely feel more action. The action was there but I did not get the experience, this way I feel excited because I can see the hits when they happen.
I love this new feature. It makes me feel good and makes me want to just keep writing and posting more of what seems popular!
Thank you Etsy for a great new Feature!-Rachelle Starr aka Vintagestarrbeads
PS. I haven’t really got into the circles yet , I find that it distracts me to see others favorites on my page feed. Is there a way to uncheck the circles permanently?
I’ve been wondering how to use the circles, and while I’m not sure how much useful information can be gleaned about customers this way, it’s worth a try. Seems quite labor-intensive, though.
I wouldn’t use circles to collect information on buyers, and I think it could potentially be very bad for Etsy if sellers did use circles for that.
After all, would you want to buy from a site if you heard that sellers were using a tool to collect personal information about buyers without their permission to use for marketing purposes?
It doesn’t matter that the information is already available on the buyer’s Etsy page, if you use a tool to collect that information, it starts to sound very suspect.
I don’t have a problem with using circles, but only to follow shops I’d like to buy from.
Moon Bindery – I don’t really see it as a tool to collect personal information on buyers, because the activity feed doesn’t share personal information. Really, all you’re looking at are the other stores and products that a buyer marks as their favorite.
Great advices Megan! Thank you so much for sharing! Just added my customers into my circle. I will still doing a research on it to find my ideal customer.
I’m sorry to say, but I more or less agree with MoonBindery’s position on this matter. While I appreciate that Etsy is attempting to become more of a social site than a shopping site, I think that it’s not clear that Etsy buyers share that inclination. For those who are selling the sorts of items that seem to lend themselves to a community of buyers, as some who have posted clearly feel, I think this is a fine idea.
However, I think there are also a large number of Etsy buyers who do not put up their own avatars, who mostly ‘favorite’ items as secret admirers, and who clearly stop by a shop with a purpose, which is not to increase their circles of friends. I would be very wary of driving away potential loyal customers and referral sources by cheerily trying to push them into a relationship with Etsy which they did not intend to enter into. I prefer to simply incorporate the purchaser’s information into my mailing list database. I think that’s a much safer course of action, and still accomplishes the same marketing goal.
Most buyers who are into social media can keep up by following one’s twitter feed, or fanning on facebook, etc. While it’s understandable that Etsy wishes to be more of a social site, sellers should keep in mind that this is not a buyer-driven demand, and one must take care not to alienate customers by making them feel overly pressured, or in the position of having to follow yet another social media site.
Forward-thinking marketing is one thing, pushy hard sell is another. I fear that the suggestion in this article may seem like too much of the latter to many Etsy buyers. Sensitivity is called for.
Its an interesting concept, labour intensive, but I think you have discovered a great facet of the circle. Thanks for sharing it Megan.
Thanks! I’ve been looking for a way to use circles smartly
These are some interesting ideas. I think I will proceed slowly on trying to collect marketing data. It isn’t very useful when I have had only 2 sales and one was a local buyer. I could add the people that have hearted items or my shop; they might be OK with it if they are also sellers, but I’m not sure if they are only buyers.
My circle is mostly team members, plus my sister and a seller I met locally. I though it was meant to help maintain social connections.
I think reading the activities could be very time consuming.
Fantastic idea. I’ve been trying to do this, but hadn’t connected the dots as well as you did. Thanks for the blog!
I’ve already had customers of mine add me to their circles to keep up on m activity. I don’t see why they would mind me doing the same. I use the new features to check out competition to see if I’ve got a good range for what my customers want.
I’m new – I was wondering what motivates people to add you to their circle. Someone added me to theirs pretty fast and I didn’t know if I should feel flattered or wonder what they wanted – I guess I’ve read the stalker/ spammer type comments and didn’t understand if there is some kind of ulterior motive that I need to be aware of? I didn’t want to “favorite” people if that’s how it comes across. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I can see a lot of potential here for the original intent of the circles to be abused by overly pushy and sales anxious sellers.
To me, this also encourages those types of sellers to copy items that buyers heart in the hopes of getting the sale instead.
Hello, and Thanks!
I’m a beginner too and I’ve just made two sales but I think that activity feed and circles are such wonderful tools for getting noticed and meet interesting people and items by clicking on your coleague’s favorites!. I was poorly hearted until I began to use circles;I started adding people I bought something from when I was only a customer (buyer) and then other sellers whom I had previously had an e-mail relation; and suddendly I found myself receiving petitions of other sellers that wanted me to be in their circle!; althougt this is very flattering to me, I consider that others may see this as an invasion of their privacy so, I’m aware of asking them first if I can add them to my circle, via conversation. These two tools are priceless for getting noticed and meet your potential customer. Thanks a lot to Megan and Etsy!.
Nathalie, aka nathalieortega.etsy.com
I agree that this new Etsy feature is a wonderful way to tailor yourself to meet your customers’ needs. Thanks for this article. Happy Holidays!
I love these new features Etsy has given us. What do you think about adding Etsians to your circle who have featured you in treasuries? I often am featured in treasuries ~ much more often than I make a sale.
Thanks Megan for the good advice.
Ciao,
Suzanne
Suzanne,
In my opinion, as an etsy seller who creates lots of treasuries featuring a large variety of other etsy sellers, I think it’s totally fine to add a seller to your circle, if they featured you in a treasury. In fact, I think it’s a great idea because the people creating the treasuries “reached out” to you first. It wouldnt bother me a bit. I think a huge advantage to the whole new activity feed/circle thing is that it’s just another way for you and your shop to get noticed because in the end the more visible you are, the more visible you become. I think everyone should just relax about the whole privacy thing and take being added to someones circle as a compliment/friendly gesture….especially considering you can control the amount of information you make available to other etsy sellers/buyers. If you’re that concerned about your privacy, just make yourself/favorites anonymous.
Hi All:
I like the activity feed as I get to see which items in my shop are being hearted. I often contact the person who hearted my item and thank them and let them know if they are interested in the item I can ship it out to them right away.
Thanks
marie – I love that idea! How often do you make a sale using this strategy?
I believe this is against Etsy’s rules: “If someone hearts your shop/item to mark it as a Favorite, that is not an invitation to send a Conversation to that person.”
I agree with Erin. Just because I heart someone’s item does not mean I am interested in buying it. I often heart an item so that I can use it in a treasury later. I really don’t like people sending me an invitation to buy their item. It feels too pushy.
Hey Megan,
Thought you’d be interested in a similar idea I’ve come across that I think is even better and probably more effective! Recently i got a convo from an etsy seller I had favorited that had a coupon code to get 15% off my purchase (code was favorite15) as a way to thank me for favoriting them, which was pretty clear by the coupon code itself. I realize this is a questionable practice according to the rules of Etsy, but I thought it was a GREAT idea… wish I could take credit for it. I actually have started using this technique with some of the buyers/sellers I have previously communicated with or established a relationship with to see if it’s effective. So far, offering the discount to the few people has had a positive effect – one person replied saying they planned to use it and also plugged me in her blog… although i havent had any sales from it yet, i am hopeful. who doesnt like getting a special discount?!
I’m wondering if it’s also possible to use the activity feed features as marketing tools. If you can grab the feed and funnel it to other websites like facebook, or blogs to advertise when a sale is made, or someone favorites one of you items.
Any thoughts?
I’m very grateful for this wonderful insight
in the wold of *circles* and favourites.
Sometimes, it seems a bit confusing to me
how to navigate the Sea of Etsy without
drowning myself wishing for visitors
I’m still learning…
Merci for posting all these points of view
on these subjects:)
Happy Holidays!
thanks for this article- lots of good info! I have also been using the activity feed to see what time of day people are hearting my items so I can get a feel for when i should post. It is all over the place so far, but maybe I’ll see a trend eventually. Thanks!
This is not about pushing a hard sell at all! If you think that any successful business became successful without knowing something about their customer’s preferences, you are kidding yourself. I have no problem whatsoever with any etsy seller finding out what I like so they can make a product that hits the spot with me and then puts it out there for me to potentially find. This is a no-pressure situation that is not unlike what many companies pay lots of money to market research firms to find out and is seamless to the customer. Great idea, Megan!
Thank you so much for this information on how to use this new Activity Feed feature. Today I added all of previous customers to my circle and I got tons more views and a sale.
I also want to add that Etsy is a great way to network and socialize easily. I am originally from California and have had my Etsy shop since Feb. 2008. I now live in Germany. The first 6 months in Munich and now 14 months in Cologne. Each time I moved, I contacted some of the Esty sellers in the city I was living in and I made some great friends I could hang out with and they are very supportive. It made my moving here less traumatic. Having people you could ask questions to and have an instant group of creative people surrounding me. Thanks Etsy!!!!
We love Etsy’s new activity feed! It helps us keep up with our shop like who favorites an item or features an item in a treasury. It is also nice to keep tabs on my daughters to see what they like so I can surprise them with gifts they love. So thankful that you can target what you’re looking at like your circle or your shop. Etsy is creating a lot of new features to help us sellers!
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This is an interesting topic with lots of emotion attached! I have used circles only to add sellers that I am interested in buying from to my feed. It would make sense to add a customer to your circle since I would imagine they would hae a sense of belonging to your direct store. Also, I think that most of the people who are concerned here are missing the main point that…by adding your customer to your circle the only thing you are doing is seeing THEIR feed activity they are NOT FORCED into seeing yours at all UNLESS they also add you to THEIR circle! So that being said I don’t see any harm in adding a customer or any way that it would pressure anyone. I think that it is somewhat of an honor when someone adds me to their circle:) It lets me know that my product is desired and that there are customers out there who are interested in seeing my new products and such. What a great tool to have. I also don’t think that it is THAT labor intensive, making treasuries seems MORE labor intensive than this! I will deffinately put my circles to use and as Megan stated you can disable this feature all together if you are bothered by it in any way:)
Love this information! I too have been wondering how circles work and received my 1st request to be in someone’s circle just yesterday. I wasn’t sure what to think. I will definitely start adding my customers to my circle and go from there. I also love the Activity Feed. I’m learning that I have lots of shoppers hitting my site and adding me to their favorites. Hopefully they will come back and place an order. Thanks for the great information!
This is such a great article. I’m definitely bookmarking it!!
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Wow! Lots of great advice from both views here. I have wondered about adding customers to my circle as a way to keep them updated to what new in my shop. However I my just email regarding how much they would like to be kept up to date about items in my shop. I think I will proceed slowly. Thanks Megan for you suggestion ;0)
I try to add many people in my circle, because they usually add me too and then have more views… Many people can see the treasuries I am in. I add my costomers also hopping they add me also and of course I like wandering around activity feed discovering new fabulous goodies!!
Wow, this is an amazing idea! Thanks for sharing.
I was wondering if putting only customers in your circles would tip off the competition? Wouldn’t people look at that those and maybe try to get your customers? Just wondering its pretty competitive out there.
I love the circles and the activity feed.It is great to see your potential customers.I also used it only for the buyers I was interested in but thanks for mentioning to ad the customers.Great piece of article .Do you also find it a little pushy to offer a coupon code to the people in your circle ? Do youthink it can be a marketing tool for the holiday season
I am in many circles and have yet to get any business from them. Circles are useful for treasuries and for my personal purchase choices.
I just don’t see it as a marketing venue
Great tips! If you need a boost to your etsy sales or just a new creative spark, try finding some cool images to use to make new and awesome handmade products. Shops like http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintageRetroAntique sell great antique and vintage images that you can print or transfer onto just about anything and sell it on etsy.
Thank you so much 🙂
thanks a lot ! i just started listing on my etsy this month (dawnaparis )
and giving more attention now, as i was very busy working before,
i really appreciate your generosity of sharing !