Free shipping

I had a dry spell in my Etsy shop, so I’ve been experimenting with different things to get traction. What seems to have worked is to offer free shipping on all my cards. Etsy prioritizes listings with free shipping in their algorithm. Most people who sell greeting cards don’t offer free shipping, so it’s a way for me to stand out in a crowded category.

To make up for the free shipping, I changed all my prices to $10.00/card. I think a lot of people like the simplicity of that. It would be great to have data supporting or refuting this hunch.

Increasing order sizes

Now people are buying exactly one card. It’s less tempting to buy several cards when each costs $10. If I want to increase my order sizes, I need to find a way of discounting the price for people who buy several cards. The easiest way is to offer a promo code for multiples. I’ve seen some shops do that.

Maybe I’ll offer 20%off if you buy two cards, 30% off if you buy 3 and so on. That’s also a way of getting people to look at my shop, instead of just an individual listing. I’d need to create some cute graphics. 🤔

I pay the same price for shipping up to 8 oz. After that there’s a $1 increase, so it’s no big deal. Still, I’d better check the math so I’m not losing money.

Live discount codes

Said and done, these codes are now live:

• TWO20: Buy 2 cards, get 20% off

• THREE30: Buy 3 cards, get 30% off

• FOUR40: Buy 4 cards, get 40% off

These codes are very generous. I’ll probably adjust them in a month or two.

Retention

It’s too early to say if people who buy once come back. But so far I’m not seeing a meaningful uptick in people who subscribe to my newsletter.

I’m offering a discount for signing up, but you’ll only see that if you look at my Etsy shop. People who click through from an Etsy ad won’t see the offer.

I could add it to my listings but I don’t want it to interfere with the multi-card discount. Another place to add it would be in the material I include when I ship products. That may be better. I need to print more of the thank-you notes anyway.

The promo code offer on newsletter sign-up is also not visible here on ValleyOakPaper.com, I just realized. 🤦🏼‍♀️ That’s easy enough to fix. There!