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Why Customer Reviews are Important on Etsy


 

I think we all know that product reviews serve to sway consumer decision making. Having honest and transparent reviews has become an integral part of online shopping for most platforms. But consumers don't necessarily need to see a perfect score. In fact, studies have shown that a perfect review score is perceived as either false or manipulated. Buyers feel better when there are at least a few less than positive reviews for a business, since these represent a more honest account.

Beyond the obvious importance of reviews for customers though, how else are reviews and feedback important as a tool for an Etsy shop, particularly if they are less than positive?

It's critical for businesses to understand how their products or services are being perceived in the market and can often inform on future business decisions.You should pay close attention to this feedback in order to make any improvements or adjustments to your daily operations.

Here are some reasons why they are so important:

  1. Identify areas for improvement: Feedback and reviews from customers can help businesses identify areas for improvement in their products or services. By listening to customer concerns, businesses can make necessary changes and adjustments to improve their offerings or their level of service.

  2. Build customer loyalty: When businesses listen to their customers and address their concerns, they build trust and loyalty. Responding to feedback and reviews in a timely and professional manner can also show customers that their opinions matter and that the business values their input.

  3. Increase sales: Positive reviews and feedback can be powerful marketing tools. Many consumers rely on reviews and recommendations when making purchasing decisions. If a business has a strong track record of positive reviews and feedback, it can help attract new customers and increase sales.

  4. Competitor analysis: Customer feedback and reviews can also provide valuable insights into how a business is performing compared to its competitors. By monitoring competitor reviews and feedback, businesses can identify opportunities to differentiate themselves and improve their offerings by comparison.

Overall, customer feedback and reviews are a crucial component of any successful business strategy. They provide valuable insights that can help businesses improve their products or services, build customer loyalty, increase sales, and stay ahead of the competition.

 

Shawnna

 

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Free Retro Vintage Fashion Images

 


These beautiful vintage fashion illustrations are perfect for any digital collage project! Use these in any personal or commercial product.


DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE HERE


Happy Crafting
Shawnna

 

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7 Tips for Building a Loyal Customer Base on Etsy


 

Building a loyal following or fan base for your Etsy shop is not something that is going to happen overnight, instead, it's something that you'll need to work at over the long term. With commitment and consistency though you should eventually gain momentum and build a customer following that will purchase from you again and again.

Here are seven top tips for building a fan base that loves you:

  1. Offer high-quality products: It's important to provide your customers with high-quality products that meet or exceed their expectations. This will help to build trust and establish your brand as a reliable and reputable seller on Etsy.

  2. Provide excellent customer service: Great customer service is key to building a loyal customer base. Respond promptly to inquiries, be friendly and professional in your interactions, and do your best to resolve any issues that arise.

  3. Be consistent: Consistency in the quality of your products and customer service is important to build trust with your customers. Make sure that you're always delivering the same level of quality and service with each transaction.

  4. Offer special deals and promotions: Offering special deals or promotions can help to incentivize customers to make a purchase and encourage repeat business. Consider offering discounts for repeat customers or for larger orders.

  5. Personalize your interactions: Show your customers that you care by personalizing your interactions. Use their name in communications, include a handwritten note with their order, or offer personalized recommendations based on their purchase history.

  6. Encourage feedback and reviews: Encourage your customers to leave feedback and reviews for your products. Positive reviews can help to build trust and attract new customers to your shop.

  7. Be active on social media: Social media can be a powerful tool for building a loyal customer base on Etsy. Use platforms like Instagram and Facebook to showcase your products, share behind-the-scenes content, and engage with your followers.

 

Shawnna

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Free Retro Kitten Clipart Images


 

These tiny clip art images are perfect for spring projects where you needed an added touch. Sized from just 2-4" at print resolution these little kittens are adorable!


DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE HERE


Happy Crafting
Shawnna

 

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Free Retro Dog Clipart Images


 

These tiny clip art images are perfect for spring projects where you needed an added touch. Sized from just 2-4" at print resolution these little puppies are adorable!


DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE HERE


Happy Crafting
Shawnna

 

PIN ME


 

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Free Vintage Easter Postcards


 

Vintage Easter cards featuring chicks and rabbits and roosters. Scanned from vintage postcards these old ephemera cards will have slight imperfection due to age and wear, just part of their vintage charm.

 

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE HERE


Happy Crafting
Shawnna

 

PIN ME


 

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Should You Respond to Negative Reviews on Etsy?


 

Responding publicly to reviews on Etsy is sometimes contentiously debated in the Etsy forums. But which is right, to respond or ignore it?

Some sellers quite rightly argue that it is professional to respond publicly to a negative review. This response is meant for future customers and shows how you handle different situations, what your customer service is like and what new customers can expect from you.

The argument against responding to reviews usually doesn't come with a robust argument as to why it's not a good idea but sellers opposed to doing this often cite the tendency of some sellers to respond very emotionally and not in a more professional way. 

I think it should go without saying that responses need to be kept professional and emotionally detached. But in case you need to hear that, it's super important to remember that you are talking to your next customer and your response should reflect well on you and your shop. Stick to the facts and leave the emotional drama out of it.

Other sellers simply feel afraid to respond. There's a fear of seeming imperfect, or to admitting there was a problem, or just simply preferring not to acknowledge reviews that are unfair in their context.

Getting an opinion on these types of important business decisions is often not best served by opinions from your peer group. Opinions aren't facts and it's usually a lot more helpful to have concrete data to inform your actions either way.

Looking outside Etsy for answers for this question opens up the discussion to more robust argument, which happens to skew very heavily in favor of yes - you should definitely respond to your negative reviews.

Let me provide some good statistical data that puts this into a whole new light (this data has been taken from a variety of studies and surveys):

1. 89% of customers say they read replies to reviews

2. 53% of customers expect a business to reply to their online reviews within 7 days

3. 82% of customers actually look for negative reviews for a business

4. 95% of customers get suspicious if there are no negative reviews

5. Businesses that respond to reviews on average earn 4% more revenue than those that don't

6. 41% of customers feel review responses show a business cares about their customers

If you google the topic you can find so many more stats around the benefits of responding to negative reviews but I wasn't able to find anything in favor of (or detrimental to) not responding (provided the response is professional).

So the consensus is clear, the benefits of responding to negative reviews far outweighs any perceived opinion on it not being necessary or it having any kind of negative effect.

If you struggle to write responses without your emotions getting in the way consider asking your peers to help you out. It's always easier to write a response for someone else! Some sellers are even utilizing ChatGPT with success to formulate a response, so if you're inclined in that direction and want to harness the power of AI for your business this is also a good option (just be sure to proof edit everything).

 

happy crafting
Shawnna











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Free Vintage Easter Cross Postcards


 

Vintage Christian Easter cards featuring the holy cross with spring flowers. Scanned from vintage postcards these old ephemera cards will have slight imperfection due to age and wear, just part of their vintage charm.

 

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE HERE


Happy Crafting
Shawnna

 

PIN ME


 


 

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Are Negative Reviews Increasing on Etsy?

 

Over the past decade there has definitely been been a measurable increase in negative reviews for many Etsy sellers, although Etsy themselves have not published any such stats for the platform as a whole.

I recently chose to measure 12 years of review history in my own Etsy clipart store in order to know definitively if what I felt was happening really was. Because feelings aren't facts and the numbers don't lie!

I measured my own reviews in 3 year increments splitting the reviews into positive (4 and 5 star reviews) and negative (3 stars or less) and converting that to a percentage from the total of reviews left.

From 2011 - 2013 I had 1106 reviews and only 1 was negative - so 0.09% of my reviews were negative. The negative review impact started to increase slowly over time so that the next three year period it was up to 0.58% and the following three year period it had increased to 0.89%

For the years 2020 - 2022 my negative review percentage was up again to 1.31%. This isn't a trend I'm happy about, obviously, and while it may still seem like a small number it's not something I want to continue growing upwards.

Both my products and customer service have improved over time, so these weren't reviews that were left because I had slipped in my offerings or was providing worse service/goods. In fact, most of the reviews left were from customers who had never spoken to me and simply didn't understand what they were buying or how to use the product.

In talking to my peers about this and what they were seeing in their own shops I heard very much the same feedback, although without solid numbers to back it up. But anyone who had been selling on Etsy for 6 or more years said they felt a definite increase in customers leaving negative feedback.

I have a few thoughts on why that is. First, Etsy is attracting a much different customer today than they were 10 years ago. As the marketplace has become more mainstream we're seeing a much broader customer base and so consumer behavior is more likely to follow the patterns of e-commerce in general rather than that of a small specialty boutique shop.

We're also seeing a lot more customers shopping on Etsy who are not very familiar with the platform or how it works. First time buyers often struggle to find their way around and that can be frustrating. Etsy doesn't make the site particularly easy to navigate and buyers have complained for years about the quality of search results.

Buyers are also increasingly using their phones to shop from, which due to the smaller screen size means it's much easier to make mistakes when making a purchase. You simply don't get the full amount of info that you would on a larger screen. But Etsy hasn't been doing much to address the buyer experience on the platform, instead focusing purely on getting customers to spend.

In more recent years, negative reviews in my shop at least, started to take an odd turn where it has felt more like buyers were reviewing themselves, leaving comments on things that I could never have any influence over. Etsy started pressuring buyers to leave reviews, often pestering them to do so and the quality of reviews suggests that buyers are simply not always in the right mindset when leaving a review.

So what can Etsy sellers do to minimize negative reviews in a climate where buyers are behaving with such increasing patterns of self-centered critique?

Over the years I have had to continually work at adapting my product information, from the listing images and descriptions to product enclosures and support material such as tutorials. I always try to keep improving or tweaking things over time as trouble areas pop up. This can be very nuanced so you have think creatively at how to solve buyer interactions in your shop.

Be open and proactive with communication. Make sure your buyers find you approachable and that you are open and transparent with them from the outset. I have several nudges in my shop that encourage buyers to reach out to and I put these everywhere I can, including my responses to negative reviews.

Don't sweat the occasional negative review. It's actually to your benefit to receive these once in a while because it makes your shop look more trustworthy. A perfect review record looks fake to many buyers so striving for perfection is not necessarily a good thing.

Keep the big picture in mind. The stats I offered were solely based on reviews left, but didn't take into account how many sales I had made that went smoothly without any review at all. When you do the math that way, negative reviews against total products sold... the picture should look a whole lot better.  

And lastly, always respond to your negative reviews so that future buyers have a sense of how you handle issues when they crop up. Nothing will go perfect all the time so how you handle problems is important.


Shawnna

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