How To Boost Your Etsy Store Sales With an Email Newsletter

How do I earn more on Etsy?

It’s the question that keeps every Etsy seller up at night.

Every year, more sellers are joining the platform, making it harder for small shop owners to compete. You may have good products, but they’re likely getting lost in the ever-expanding sea of new listings.

After running email marketing for two seven-figure e-commerce businesses, I can assure you that one of the best ways to grow your shop sales is by launching an email newsletter.

In this article, I’ll break down exactly what you need to know to launch an email newsletter for your Etsy store, so you can earn more and keep customers coming back repeatedly.

Can You Have a Newsletter on Etsy?

Yes! You can definitely have an email newsletter on Etsy.

But your newsletter won’t be hosted on Etsy. The platform doesn’t offer email marketing services.

The way you integrate an email newsletter into your Etsy shop is by launching your newsletter on a powerful email newsletter platform like beehiiv. Then, you’ll direct your Etsy store visitors and customers to join your list where you can regularly communicate with them.

Most Etsy sellers struggle to generate new sales because they’re not marketers. They’re makers, creators, and craftspeople. But by employing a few simple strategies like launching a newsletter, you can earn more in your store without breaking too much of a sweat.

An Etsy newsletter can be a powerful way for you to communicate with your customers and even potential buyers.

Does Email Marketing Work for Etsy?

Are you wondering, “How do I increase my sales on Etsy?”

The answer is simple. You need to get in front of your current and potential customers and begin speaking with them!

There are dozens of ways to do this: SEO, social media, YouTube, podcasting, blogs, paid ads, etc… But one of the best ways to consistently reach your target audience is by sending out an email newsletter.

You might be thinking… “Are you allowed to email Etsy customers?”

Yes and no.

As an Etsy seller, you can’t directly email just any Etsy visitor or even your own Etsy customers.

For instance, if you generated 50 sales this year from 50 different buyers, you likely sent them an order confirmation email. It’s against Etsy’s terms to randomly email any customer you’ve acquired.

Instead, if you want to reach your customers via email newsletter, you need to get them to intentionally opt-in to your email list.

So by creating an email list on a dynamic newsletter platform, you can create a direct line to your customers to engage with them, share new products, and even offer discounts or promotions to drive revenue. The reason it works so well is that you’re able to build a close-knit relationship with your audience.

One of the reasons email works so well is because it’s your own marketing channel. Unlike social media platforms or even using SEO in search engines, you have total control over your list. Think about it this way: When you sell your products on Etsy, the people who purchase them are really Etsy’s customers. Etsy gets their email addresses and keeps them coming back to the thousands of stores, so Etsy can earn more.

Take some notes from Etsy and build your own list. At the end of the day, even a platform like Etsy can have an algorithm shift or they could even shut your store down for several reasons. When you get people from Etsy to join your email list, those subscribers will go with you wherever you are, so you can continue selling to them for years to come (regardless of the platform).

This is important because many Etsy sellers end up doing so well and growing so much that they end up switching over to another e-commerce platform like Shopify. By building a list now, you can generate new income streams and also ensure that you’ll be able to bring your customers with you wherever you go.

Why Listen to Me? I’ve managed two e-commerce email newsletters over the years, including one with 100,000 subscribers and one with 30,000. I currently run a digital media business, Hockey Question, that gets over 50,000 visits per month.

Is Email Marketing Still Profitable?

Why email? Why don’t you just spend a few hours whipping up some TikTok videos to show off your products? Or… why don’t you run Etsy ads?

Because… email is the most successful marketing channel, especially if you’re running an e-commerce shop.

It has the highest ROI of any channel with an average return of $40 for every $1 spent.

That means if you invested just $100 per month into email marketing, you could potentially make $4,000. How does that sound for profitability?

Email marketing also isn’t just some hidden secret among a select few online shop owners. Almost 60% of businesses state that email marketing gives them the biggest ROI of any marketing channel.

So if you don’t want to have just another Etsy shop, but you want to have a successful Etsy shop, then you need to start an email newsletter right away.

How Do I Grow My Etsy Email List?

Okay, now that you’ve seen just how powerful email can be when it comes to generating more Etsy sales, increasing your return customer rate, and growing your business, how do you actually get started?

If you can’t email your Etsy customers, then how do you grow your Etsy email list?

Remember, you can’t just add your customers’ email addresses to your email list. They need to specifically opt-in when you ask for consent.

The best place to start is by simply asking your customers to join your list.

The moment someone purchases a product from your shop, they’re sent a confirmation email from Etsy. The way you’ll get them on your list is by editing the message that’s sent to them once they click “Buy.”

Here’s how to do that:

1. Log in to your Etsy account.

Click on the “Shop Manager” icon.

This will take you to the back end of your shop.

2. On the left sidebar, click on the “Settings” tab near the bottom.

3. Now, click on “Info & Appearance.”

This will take you to a few different shop settings you can edit like your shop name, your logo, and some messages that are shown to buyers.

4. Add an email signup link in the “Message to Buyers” box.

Once someone places an order in your shop, they will receive an order confirmation by email from Etsy. In that email, you can include your own custom message to your buyers. This is where you want to insert your email list signup link.

You can write something simple like, “Thank you for your purchase. Sign up to my email newsletter to hear about new product releases and receive exclusive discounts!”

Just remember to include the link to your newsletter signup landing page as I did in the image above. Keep the message short and sweet. Ask them to sign up and focus on a few benefits to entice them to give you their email address.

Remember, this message will appear in both the order confirmation email and on the digital receipt in their Etsy account on the Etsy website. This gives you multiple chances to get a newsletter signup from your new customers.

While you’re likely going to get the most newsletter signups from new customers who see your message in their order confirmation email, there are a few other places you can place your signup link in your Etsy store to bring both customers and those who haven’t bought anything yet to your email list.

The reality is that most people who visit your shop won’t become customers. So if you can even get a percentage of these visitors to sign up for your newsletter, you will be able to generate more sales in the long run.

Here are a few other places you can ask visitors to sign up for your newsletter:

• Shop About page

• Etsy Profile page

• Etsy listing descriptions

• Shop header banner

• Shop announcement

• Your social media profiles

• Printed cards sent with orders

• Within digital products

• Non-Etsy shop website

Just keep in mind, that while you can insert your link within the Etsy shop, most of the time it isn’t a clickable link. This means your shop visitors will have to copy and paste the URL manually.

To get people to take that extra step, it’s important that you write enticing copy to convince people to sign up. Let them know what’s in it for them if they sign up for your list. This could be exclusive discounts, product announcements, and even helpful or engaging content related to your shop.

Picking the Right Email Newsletter Platform

Launching an email newsletter can play a major role in the earnings and overall growth of your Etsy store. It’s a way you can stay in touch with your customers, engage with those who haven’t bought anything yet, and generate recurring revenue.

Not only can it help you boost your sales now, but if you ever decide to expand beyond Etsy into a larger e-commerce shop, you can bring your customers with you through your email list.

Now that you’re ready to launch your own newsletter, it’s time to pick the right platform. While there are dozens of awesome tools you can use to start sending email newsletters, one of the best platforms for Etsy creators is beehiiv.

beehiiv’s intuitive newsletter platform automatically collects subscriber data to show what your subscribers really want. You can customize the design of your email, create automated emails to sell for you on autopilot, and segment your audience to craft targeted and relevant messaging to your customers.

With beehiiv’s one-click polls, you can even ask your subscribers what kind of products they want to see, and they can answer right from within your email newsletter.

Sign up to beehiiv for free today to help your Etsy shop reach its potential!