Advertising on Etsy can be a useful tool for sellers looking to increase visibility and drive sales. However, it’s important to carefully consider whether the investment is worth it for your business.
Whether you are new to Etsy or have been selling on the platform for a while, this article will provide valuable insights to help you make an informed decision about advertising on the platform.
Are etsy ads worth it?
Yes. Etsy ads can be worth it. Etsy ads give your product a visibility boost to the front page for correlated search terms. Whether your ads convert into sales will be determined by the quality of your listing.
I find the people who say Etsy ads aren’t worth it, are the ones who understand them the least. Turning Etsy ads on and thinking it’s just going to double your sales overnight is unrealistic.
Ads are simply a tool that will take your listing to the front page for any given search term that is related to your product.
For example, if you are selling a funny sticker that can be used for laptops, if someone types “funny laptop sticker” into Etsy search, your product will be shown at the top.
Now, Etsy has fulfilled its end of the bargain. You gave them money and in exchange they gave your listing priority listing. That is where the transaction ends and the rest is up to you.
It’s entirely possible to enable etsy ads for a listing and go days without a sale. This doesn’t mean Etsy ads aren’t worth it or don’t work, rather, it’s an indication of two things:
a) Your product isn’t desirable
b) Your listing isn’t good enough
If I enable ads for a listing and after a few days it doesn’t convert into sales, I will completely overhaul the listing with a new title, and completely new images.
Sometimes this is enough and the listing starts to convert, but if it doesn’t after my modifications, I take it as a sign the product isn’t desirable and scrap it from my shop.
What is a good ROAS for Etsy ads?
While there is no specific “good” or “bad” ROAS for Etsy ads, a higher ROAS is generally considered to be better. A good starting point is a ROAS of 4.
When evaluating your Etsy ROAS you need to take your profit margins into consideration. Here’s an example.
I have run Etsy ads all day for a mug I’m selling, at the end of the day the ad finishes with 15 clicks and 1 order. My ad spend was $7.92 and my revenue was $18.99. That’s a 2.40 ROAS, more than doubling my ad spend. Isn’t that great? Well.. Let’s take a deeper look.
The revenue as displayed by Etsy “$18.99” is before fees. Not only do we need to account for Etsy fees, we also need to factor in our product cost.
So, the mug costs me $6.90 to make and the fees for this order would be roughly $2.25. This leaves me with $9.84 profit from the sale.
Take away the $7.92 in ad spend and we are left with $1.92, a ROAS of 1.24 and that ain’t great.
Keep in mind, the longer you run Etsy ads the better they will perform as Etsy figures out the optimal placements for your ads. This was just an example on how to determine true ROAS.
The takeaway from this is it’s important to factor in all your costs when evaluating your ROAS and not just going off of the basic ROAS that the Etsy ad interface shows you.
Optimizing Your Etsy Ads
Now, there is something other than improving your listing that you can do to optimize your Etsy ads.
Etsy actually allows you to edit the search terms for each listing you are advertising. This is a great tool to get your listing in front of the eyes that are more likely to buy your product.
It’s recommended you let the ad run for 3-5 days before doing this, to give Etsy enough time to gather the search terms.
To use this feature, navigate to your Etsy ads dashboard and click on “Manage advertised listings” then locate the listing you want to optimize and click “search terms”
Once there, you will see all the search terms etsy has deemed relevant to your listing.
More times than not I’ve noticed Etsy can screw these up, which is why it’s important to manually edit these. For example, I once listed a flower sticker and advertised it, one of the search terms Etsy had listed was “Pottery”.
Needless to say I disabled that search term, meaning my ad would no longer show up for users searching “pottery”.
It’s super easy to do, you just need to locate a search term you don’t want associated with your ad and toggle the “Relevant keyword” option.
Final words
In conclusion, advertising on Etsy can be a valuable tool for sellers looking to increase visibility and drive sales.
However, it is important to carefully consider whether the investment is worth it for your business, taking into account factors such as your target audience, advertising goals, and the overall profitability of your business.
It is also important to keep track of your ROAS and optimize your ad campaigns by improving your listings and carefully selecting relevant search terms.
Ultimately, whether Etsy ads are worth it for your business will depend on your specific circumstances and goals.
I’ve been an Etsy seller and Artisanal creator for over 8 years now and have gained so much valuable experience along the way that I would like to share with you. Read more about me here
