How to start an email list for your Etsy shop

desk image with the words how to collect emails on etsy

How to collect email address on Etsy from your customers and browsers to start your email list.

Ever heard ‘the email list is where it is at’ or ‘start your email list off as soon as possible’ because ‘all the successful business have an email list’?
If you are looking to start an email list for your Etsy shop, I’m going to show you how easy it is to get started and what to do with it.

If you haven’t yet opened your Etsy shop, these articles will be helpful

Create a Newsletter template in Flodesk

Why I moved my emails to Flodesk

How to get started on Etsy

Thinking of starting an Etsy shop

What can go wrong with your Etsy shop and how to stop it

Get your Branding right on Etsy

Why you should start an email list today
How to get a shopper to sign up to your list
Where you should advertise your email list
How to encourage your Etsy sign ups
How to set up your Etsy email list
What do I send my email list
Final thoughts and grab the FREE CHECKLIST

Why you should start an email list for your Etsy shop

I get it, I was very reluctant to start my list too. I did some research and spent that majority of my time on Pinterest and Facebook. But I wasn’t seeing any traffic to my shop.

I would also be so grateful to find myself on the first page of the search in Etsy – but as we all know, a puff of wind will blow that one away. And I still felt I just wasn’t doing enough to promote my shop.

It was time to think bigger.

Without an email list, your customers come to your shop – probably favourite an item and then click away, or even have a look around a few more of your listings first.

Later maybe the same hour they return back and make a purchase. If like me, you sell digital items that are downloaded instantly – then that transaction is over in moments. They receive, of course, a little note in your message to buyers, but that’s it.

If you have done an excellent job and they are pleased with their item, they might return and leave you a review. Always good at boosting your shop items.

End of relationship.

And why not?

This is all you need, the odd sale, a few extra bucks to spend at Christmas. Nothing wrong with that at all. We all take pleasure in making a sale.

Stop!

Who are we kidding?

Of course this is not OK; ideally, you want them to return each month and purchase something else, or even buy 3 things right before Christmas for their Mum, Granny and neighbour.

This is where your Etsy shop email list comes in.

And here a few reasons why you should start an Email list today for your Etsy shop.

You can contact the same person again and again and for several different reasons. Holidays, sales, ideas, new products – the list goes on.
Etsy doesn’t own your email list – you do – Etsy can’t yet collect email addresses for you – (they, of course, manage them for themselves) so it’s a way of contacting your customer outside Etsy and build a relationship off the platform – win-win for you.
Instant contact with your customer whenever you please – Got something to say to your customers at 2am? – No problem, this is what email is for. People with mobile phones check their emails several times a day, so it’s easy to see why email is worth a little investment now.
Build a relationship with your customer – Imagine being able to sit down and have a coffee with your last 20 customers, forge a relationship. People buy from those they like, and this is a great way to start.
Test your market
With an email list, you can ask for advice on new ideas and products, saving time, money and effort. There is no better person to give you some feedback on your yellow bird feeders than someone who purchased a blackbird feeder last year.
If you ever decide to jump off Etsy and start your own website, you can take your customers with you. Simply take your email list with you to your new shop address.
Get your sales out to the best people, your ideal people and those who already know and love your work. These are your easiest browsers to convert to customers.
Those on your email list are more likely to check out your new items – than any other person.
A shop you have previously bought from on the high street has a poster with a sale sign on it. You cross the road and go in because you already know and love the products and a bargain is on offer.
It’s an opportunity to look more professional and build your brand further. Most people expect that at some point, they will be asked for their email address. Whether it’s to download a freebie or sign up for a discount. It’s not a dirty word – but it lets them know that you value them enough to want to chat again. You can get your brand out there faster, further and to the right audience with an email list.
Finally, and most importantly – Gain repeat customers and new customers. Not everyone who buys from you will join your email list, and they don’t have to purchase from you to join.

Ultimately, email is the best way to get a customer to purchase from you a second or third time further down the line or indeed a customer to purchase from you for the first time.

Don’t believe me – check out this article on Etsy from a small shop owner

Are you ready?

But if you are not yet ready to start an email list – but are still wondering how to get traffic to your Etsy shop –

Using different ways to promote your Etsy shop

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How do you get someone to sign up for your email list from Etsy?

Give something away for free.

Not many people hand over their email these days, they want something in exchange unless they are loyal fans, who will do anything to be friends with you.

But really, how often does that happen?

What can you give away to entice them to sign up for your email list?

A shop discount coupon.
My favorite and the easiest way if you are just getting started. Usually, it does need to be significant, i.e. 30-40%, but many shops use 10%.
Create a complementary product to give away for free.
If you are selling a printable planner, you could offer a complimentary printable monthly desk planner for free.
Give away something within the postal order.
If you design and make wall art, perhaps offer the smaller version for free, or a simple PDF explaining the best way to make a gallery wall.
Offer a getting started Bootcamp.
If you are selling a budget spreadsheet – now you could offer a 5 days email instructions on how to plan your yearly budget or even access to the perfect complimentary video you made on how to use the spreadsheet.
Seasonal signups.
During Black Friday, offer a super unique discount code for those who sign up in advance of Black Friday, then deliver the code on the day together with a link to your sale items with extra discount for them.
This would work for Christmas and other holidays too.
Any sort of printout or effective educational plan which compliments new and current items is always better.

Note – you may not give away something for free in exchange for a review in your shop as it is against Etsy terms. But you can give away something for free in exchange for their email address which you will be responsible for.

Where can you advertise your beautiful freebie to get them to sign up for your email list on Etsy?

This is where you advertise your email list on Etsy. You can not collect email addresses directly from your Etsy shop unless you pay for Etsy Pattern and have Mailchimp integrated.

The method I am going to show you is not using Etsy Pattern, and it is a page you own off Etsy.

Here’s how –

How to advertise your Email list inside your Etsy shop

Your shop header banner
Easily add this information to your shop banner telling them where the link is to sign you for your email list. For example – Sign up for my email list for 40% off your order, the link is in the description.

Your Etsy shop preview photos
Create a preview that advertises your freebie and where they can find it. There are lots of these over on Etsy, but to make your own. Create a new document in Canva and write in a friendly way what your freebie is and how they can get it.

In the Etsy product description

Advertise where a buyer can sign up to receive a discount or a free smaller example within the description of your product. This is usually a link to another site. Remember only internal Etsy links are live in the descriptions, so write out the whole link, not just a short link

Note – you may not send Etsy traffic to a source off Etsy where you can purchase the same product. Or any product in direct competition to Etsy. So don’t send them to your Shopify store where you have listed the same item.

But the following is allowed.

Your shop announcement.
Say hello to your customers and then mention immediately where they can sign up for a discount. This works better on the higher end product as the cut is most significant. Write your shop announcement with intention.

Message to the buyer.
OK so they have already brought from you now, but in the message to buyers mention where they can sign up for your email list. It might be better to offer a complementary product instead of a coupon as they have already purchased from you.

Inside the download itself.
I purchased a Black Friday sheet from Etsy with a list of where I should advertise my Black Friday sale. Along with the purchased download was a PDF with helpful links to places where I could find more information. To access some of those videos, I had to provide my email address and sign up.

Your own website.
If you already have a website, you probably already have a way to sign up to your email list.

In the box you send
Make a card or write a note to put inside your delivery where the buyer can sign up for your email list.

Remember: you need to give something of value or satisfy a time-restricted need at that moment. Strike while the iron is hot and the buyer is all yours for those few seconds in your shop or when they open the box.

Note: You may not email your buyers for any reason other than to reference their order. So you can’t email them on Etsy and say ‘sign up for my email list’.

I advertise a 30% discount in my shop in all of the above places. I sell digital downloads of prints, so I don’t post anything to my buyer. I email them after their purchase and tell them where they can find more information on how to print the items and also a link to a signup page where they can receive a further free print.

This works well for a couple of reasons.

They are interested in another free print – it’s digital, and is no extra cost to them, or me. The print I give away for free is also in my shop – but I may remove this and sell it further by mentioning this is not available anywhere else.

Some people want the discount code if they are planning to buy more than 2-3 prints at the same time. It’s basically 3 for the price of 2.

What I need to work on
Reword the message to buyers giving a better overview of how they can benefit from being on my email list and how I will deliver it.

How to set up the email list for our Etsy shop

Decide on your ESP – your email service provider.

There are several to choose from but THREE major players in my mind.

Flodesk is killing it over and over right now

Why I moved from Convertkit to Flodesk

Who is the best Email Service, provider?

I love Flodesk. They are simply exactly what I always wanted in an email service provider.

Why?

have Free TEMPLATES which actually look appealing
their pricing is fixed – no matter how many people are on your list
they are growing and changing all the time with new updates
their templates work simular to Guttenberg in blocks.

UPDATE August 2019: I have moved my Email list from Convertkit to Flodesk. Why? – check out this post on why I moved to Flodesk

The basic option is the Etsy Mailchimp integration

MailChimp

If a free option is what you are after I recommend MailChimp to begin with. If you intend to email your list occasionally about sales and new items, this is the better choice for you.

It’s free to sign up for an account, and you don’t need to pay anything to view the features.

I started with MailChimp but found the back end a little complicated for a newbie. The platform wasn’t intuitive, and I didn’t understand who was on my list and how they got there and what I had already sent them.

MailChimp has moved on quite a lot since then and have recently made significant improvements to their platform.

So don’t discount Mailchimp just yet as some love the platform. Keep in mind it might take you some time to gain 2000 email addresses, so why not go with the free version?

If later you decide MailChimp isn’t for you, or you change your mind about them, you can away take your list with you to another service provider.

Convertkit

A paid email service provider and is not the cheapest, so this would be an investment for your shop.

Why choose Convertkit as my Etsy email service provider.

UPDATE August 2019: I have moved my Email list from Convertkit to Flodesk. Why? – check out this post on why I moved to Flodesk

I have more than one place someone can get on my email list – not just Etsy, but my website also and I needed an easy way to distinguish the two.

I like the back end of Convertkit, you can see at a glance how well you are doing with signups and where they are coming from.

They have lovely landing pages which they host, which means you do not need a website to start your Etsy email list.

You can segment your list – so if you have people sign up from different platforms, you can see which form they used.

You can send an email to your list and track who clicks on your links to isolate them later. Convertkit does this.

The backend is quite easy to use, and although some of the features can get tricky, there is lots of help out there.

It is the most used email service provider in my circle of blogging friends. And they know their stuff.

Convertkit is a paid service provider but is free for 30 days, so you don’t need to commit until you have seen and used all the features.

Sign up for a Convertkit account here.

UPDATE August 2019: I have moved my Email list from Convertkit to Flodesk. Why? – check out this post on why I moved to Flodesk

Other options are :
Mailerlite – free for up to 1000 subscribers
I haven’t personally used them, but they are also Free for up to 1000 subscribers

What information do I send my Etsy email sign ups?

Once you have established your email list – you can’t just leave them there, they need a little singing to occasionally. You will need to stay in touch with your list regularly. Keep them engaged with your shop so they become your raving fans and returning customers.

Don’t dismiss this as easy, it isn’t.

You will need to think of topics and engaging helpful information to send them consistently. This means being organised in your workload and finding the time to actually sit and write to your list.

I often keep a little note on my computer or in my bullet planner on items I think my email list would be interested in.

Here are a few examples of what to send to your Email list

A diary of your working day
How you come up with new products and ideas
Letting them know there is a new product in your store
Upcoming sales in your Etsy shop
Asking questions and getting feedback on products and ideas
Personal information, such as what inspires you, your workspace. Customers love to see behind the scenes on how you make their product.
Etsy news and even other peoples shop news
Things you have read and bought which you think they will also like

What you should not do with your Etsy email list

a repeat email each week saying visit my shop
a repeat email each week saying I have a coupon
a repeat email each week telling them about your bad life
a short email every 3 months saying Hi and please visit my shop
an email after 5 months and then nothing for another 4 months
nothing at all

OK – so what have we covered in how to start an email list for your Etsy shop?

why you need an email list for your Etsy shop

the benefits of having an email list for your Etsy shop

what you can offer as an incentive for someone to sign up for your email list

where you can advertise your email list in your Etsy shop and how to go about it

which service provider you can use and why I use Convertkit

how to sign up for an email service provider

what you can write in your emails to customers

what you should not do with your email list

Other places to find help

Final thoughts – on how to start an email list for your Etsy shop

Starting an email list for your Etsy shop is not difficult and doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. You don’t need any superior knowledge to get an email service provider and can start or finish at any time.

An email list can be quite lucrative if your item lends itself to returning customers. It’s also an ideal way to build and establish our business off Etsy in the future.

Remember these helpful tips. Post this How to start an email list on Etsy to your favorite Pinterest board.