Shop Traffic Is Down, But That Might Not Be A Bad Thing

falcieridesigns

Aug 1

If you are seeing the number of visitors to your online shop dropping drastically over the last month, you might be panicking. But there could be a number of reasons for this, so whilst your shop traffic is down, that might not be a bad thing.

For one, we are now in the summer holiday season and unlike the last two years, this is a normal holiday season. So traffic is bound to be lower as people divert their interests and their funds into other activities. Most experienced shop owners expect summer to be a quieter time, and they use this to their advantage to either take their own holidays or by preparing their store for the busier autumn and winter seasons.

What is your visit to sale ratio? Whilst my visitor numbers are down, the total income for my shop is up, which means more of the people visiting my shop are serious buyers and finding what they want. You might have a record number of visitors to your Etsy store in any given month, but if you don't get any sales, what do those figures actually mean? Conversion is important. You need an income.

It means that either no one wants what you sell, or they are just window shoppers. And window shoppers don't always turn into paying customers no matter what you do. Browsing the internet is easy, it costs nothing and some people just do it for fun. You either need to think of ways to turn them into paying customers, or you need to accept that what you do attracts a lot of attention, but not necessarily from people who want to buy what you do. I don't mind if my visitor ratio is down if sales are still coming in because it means that serious buyers are still there.

Digging deep into your analytics using Etsy statistics and Google Analytics is a really important tool that helps you to understand what is going on. I have been carefully watching the downward trajectory of my site traffic for the last couple of months. Some of it may be holiday traffic, some of it may be to do with the cost of living crisis, but at least I know it is happening. It isn't a shock.

What's going on in the wider economy can explain what's going in your own business

I have also noticed that the ratio of reduced traffic is across the board in the UK, US and Europe. This tells me that whatever is going on is affecting the behaviour of all potential customers, so again it could be the holiday season or the impending living crisis which is affecting everyone worldwide. The important thing to note is, is it something I am doing wrong that I can change, or is it the buying atmosphere?

I am going to assume for now that most of my problems are due to the holiday season. September should see a change, but it's important to keep an eye on what is going on in the news, as this will give you vital information about how the general public are likely to behave. It's important to find out what's going on in the economy and in the business world because this will affect your business - yes, even you!

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