Sunday, 28 November 2010, 11:41 AM
Etsy Times Are A-Changin’
Ahh, Etsy, you know…you truly are dear to me. How I browse the myriads of handmade trinkets and organics to the wee hours of the night. Distracting myself with the countless pages of Apple protective apparatus. I then hand over my precious currency across the information highway, into your many users’ hands.
Aside from the nerd poetry written above, it would be accurate to say that Etsy is an exciting new world. If you don’t know what Etsy is, take a peek at their website. It’s basically a buffet of handmade everything. But if you’re an Etsy regular, and get their newsletter, this will be familiar.
Etsy’s newsletter is… nice. I actually really like it. I’ve been signed up for a while now, and I’ve seen it go through quite a few changes. But let’s talk about how it is now.
There are three great things Etsy does that I want to point out.
1: Themes. All of their newsletters have themes. Have a peek:
I like the themes because of this: It helps me decide if I want to set aside time to look at it or not. I’ll be honest, the “Farm Fresh” newsletter… didn’t read it. But “Man Cave”? Read it. They have an “Etsy” newsletter, and then they have “Etsy Dudes”, which of course is for us closet Etsy zealots who happen to be men.
I think this is good because it creates focus. With themes, we know beforehand what we’re about to look at. Etsy comes out victorious with keeping their focus, and this is throughout the whole “Etsy experience”.
2: Sharing. Sharing the Etsy love on Facebook and Twitter etc.. Feast your eyes below:
They have some pretty hefty icons at the bottom for Facebook, Twitter and email. I’m a firm believer in picture tiles and icons, text is so boring, and people don’t want to shuffle their eyes through lines and lines of text and links. Etsy has a good grasp on icons and picture tiles, they use them a lot.
3: They have the support from all the Etsy employees. Look hard:
This one by far is the most powerful. It reminds me of this article. Etsy has different employees collect their favorite items throughout the website, and then they compile them in a newsletter. They used to have a picture and the name of the person who picked the items (here’s the old one), now it’s just the name of the person which doubles as a link attached to the employees website bio/profile. This creates enthusiasm from within the company, which filters to the reader and creates a personal attachment with the Etsy employees and the reader. This is brilliant – everyone at Etsy is involved this way. The employees who pick, no longer just work there, they contribute their opinion. They see their picks being sent to thousands of inboxes. Would that make you feel valued at your job? What about enthusiastic? Yes sir, I think so. But Etsy? How about the pictures of the “pickers” again?
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies though. Three things I would like to see change, or rethought.
1: The newsletter literally comes almost every day. Can we do something about that? It used to come once a week or so. That was good. But now with everyday, you lose a lot of that anticipation factor. You gain the “Oh, didn’t I just get one?” factor. Honestly, I don’t read them anymore. Before, I got excited about reading them. Now? Not so much. Etsy? This has to change.
2: Signing up for the newsletter should be more obvious. Try to find the sign up link in the picture below. The average person doesn’t think about newsletters, and they don’t know that they want them. So to assume your average person will find the newsletter without it being obvious… is silly. I actually had to hunt around for the newsletter button. And if I have to hunt for it, how will the average person find it? I want a huge button on the front page.
3: Clutter. The newsletter is cluttered. It hasn’t always been though. Now it’s a series of picture tiles in different sizes, with other themes within the already themed newsletter. There’s just too much happening on the page, too much to see, too much to focus on, too much to be interested in. One theme is perfect, if people want to see more categories of items, they can go to the website. Put it on a diet.
Etsy has a nice newsletter, one you’d expect from a handmade products website. Their newsletter is obviously going through some change, it’s changed many times in the last year. They seem to be exploring and trying to find their nesting area. However, I hope they don’t lay down to rest where they are now. I’ll keep you updated on the whirlwind world of Etsy. There is more to be said on Etsy.
Ari Ahokas@@@@@
