Are you an Etsy seller looking for new ways to connect with your customers?
Ensure you’re not missing out on valuable opportunities to increase brand recognition, drive repeat purchases, and stand out from the competition.
Create an email marketing strategy to engage potential and existing customers, fostering loyalty and stronger customer relationships.
Building an email list on Etsy is relatively simple, but it comes with several considerations.
With this article, I’ll teach you how to collect emails on Etsy the right way – from launching an opt-in campaign to complying with consumer regulations.
Let’s begin.
Why You Need an Email List on Etsy
Up to 64% of small business owners use email marketing to reach and sell to their customers. In the Etsy landscape, it’s an untapped potential.
Email marketing is a powerful tool for further increasing sales and improving the customer experience.
Here are some ways you can maximize it:
- Customer retention
A mailing list lets you stay in touch with your previous customers, improving brand recall and nurturing your relationship. You can encourage businesses by providing value through your emails, such as exclusive offers, new product announcements, and upcoming promotions.
- Marketing opportunities
Email marketing allows you to promote your products, seasonal sales, and special promotions. These campaigns can help generate buzz, potentially leading to increased sales and engagement.
- Targeted messaging
Etsy doesn’t provide many tools for market segmentation.
This is one of the advantages of email marketing, which allows you to send personalized emails based on demographics, interests, or purchasing history. Your audience will receive highly relevant content, adding value and improving customer experience.
- Customer feedback
Getting customer feedback is one of the best ways to improve your Etsy shop’s visibility and performance. An email marketing strategy can help you follow up, but note you can’t demand it. Ask nicely or provide an attractive incentive in your email.
- Direct control
When you have a mailing list, you have direct control over your audience regardless of Etsy policy or algorithm changes. These may still affect your shop’s visibility, but email marketing gives you a direct line to your customers.
Although this strategy will open up another marketing channel, you must still follow Etsy’s policies, which brings me to my next point.
Etsy’s Policies About Email Marketing
Before you go on full blast with your Etsy email marketing strategy, ensure you know the platform’s rules about collecting your customers’ emails and other applicable Etsy policies.
Etsy might suspend or ban your shop if you violate a policy, whether unknowingly or not. Remember these Etsy Terms of Use and Privacy Policy when crafting your strategy:
- Must Be Etsy-Related
Any message you send your customer through any channel must be relevant to Etsy. For example, you can’t use the internal messaging system to promote a social media account. Likewise, you can’t send an unrelated email to your subscribers who signed up through Etsy.
- No Directly Asking for a Buyer’s Email Address
Sellers can’t ask for personal information besides the required payment information and shipping address. Even so, the buyer enters this information on the platform as one of the Etsy-facilitated transactions.
This condition protects the buyer’s identity from theft and potential misuse. However, it also prevents unauthorized transactions beyond the platform, which will bypass Etsy’s policies and fees.
- With Customer Permission
You must first have the customer’s permission before sending unsolicited commercial messages or unauthorized marketing activities outside Etsy. Messaging them without the buyer’s consent violates Etsy’s seller policies.
The Etsy member must consent freely, while the seller must be transparent about their opt-in process.
- No Customer Information Misuse
Many sites provide ways to get your customer email addresses without making them opt for your mailing lists, such as an Etsy email extractor.
However, this is unethical and violates the platform’s policies.
You shouldn’t use any data you obtain through any means outside of the intended purpose. For example, a customer provides their email so you can send them a digital download file.
Even if they freely gave the email address, you can’t use it for anything other than sending the digital file. It doesn’t permit you to include their information in your physical mailing list.
- With an Unsubscribe Option
Sellers must provide a clear way for recipients to unsubscribe from the mailing list. It typically should involve clicking a single link or button within the email.
Convoluted steps or restricting their freedom to unsubscribe in any capacity doesn’t align with Etsy’s policies and federal regulations.
- Compliant with Laws and Regulations
Your email strategy must also comply with your region’s applicable laws and regulations about consumer data protection and email marketing.
If you’re in the US, look up the CAN-SPAM Act, which protects consumers from “unwanted mobile service commercial messages.”
Consult a legal professional and do your research to know the laws in your location.
Transactional Email vs. Marketing Email
While you’re here, let’s discuss the difference between transactional email and marketing email.
A transactional email provide important information about the order. The Etsy seller handbook states you can send up to four emails in each transaction, which are as follows:
- Order confirmation. Shops usually send this email automatically after a customer completes a purchase. It usually includes an order number, payment instructions (if the buyer hasn’t paid yet), and a summary of their order details.
- Shipping notification. You can email the tracking information and estimated delivery dates when you’ve shipped the order.
- Delivery notification. This email confirms the order’s successful deliver.
- Review request. Etsy highly suggests you send a follow-up email to thank the customer and ask for feedback. However, it should be free of any promotional content.
On the other hand, a marketing email may contain:
- Promoting your new or existing products
- Announcements of your sales events, limited-time offers, and discounts
- Seasonal campaigns
- Newsletters or curated content about updates and collections in your shop or industry
- Personal recommendations tailored to the customer’s behavior or preferences
How To Collect Email Addresses the Right Way
You can still build an Etsy mailing list if you do it correctly. Here are some do’s and don’ts to remember:
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How To Collect Emails on Etsy
Here’s a step-by-step guide to building and growing an email list for Etsy business owners.
1- Choose an Email Service Provider.
An email service provider (ESP) helps you manage your overall email marketing campaigns, allowing you to:
- Create a professional-looking email campaign.
- Segment your subscribers.
- Create a landing page.
- Automate email sequences, such as a welcome email or abandoned cart reminders.
- Deliver targeted messages.
- Integrate with Etsy and sync customer data.
- Provide analytics and reporting for tracking your campaign’s performance.
Some tools might offer more, while others might have basic features but for a lower cost. When choosing an ESP, consider factors like your budget, email list size, and your content.
Here are some of the most popular options for Etsy sellers:
Before investing in one of these, take advantage of the free trials to see if they fit your needs.
2- Create an Incentive.
Increase the number of signups by offering an incentive for someone’s details.
In some way or another, inviting people to sign up is just like selling a product—there needs to be an exchange of value. Provide something of value if you want people to sign up for your list.
Here are some incentive ideas to encourage people to sign up when you collect email addresses:
- Free training videos related to your expertise (ex., offer a short video course on calligraphy if you’re a calligrapher)
- A discount code on the next purchase
- A freebie, like a phone or a computer wallpaper
- Links to helpful resources
- Early access to your upcoming items
- An idea board with tips related to the things you sell
- Usage and styling ideas for your products
- An interactive coupon wheel with various prizes
3- Create a Simple Landing Page.
Your opt-in link must lead to a dedicated landing page. When people visit it, they can sign up for your mailing list.
Note that many of this page’s visitors may not have made up their minds yet about signing up. The landing page should compel them to do so.
A good landing page typically consists of the following:
- An attention-grabbing headline that’s direct to the point
- Concise and persuasive copy that highlights the value they will receive
- A prominent opt-in form where visitors can enter their email address (other details are usually unnecessary)
- A strong call-to-action button that gives them the final push
The landing page should also have relevant images to help your users better understand your offering. Use your brand’s images and colors to keep it consistent.
Your opt-in should be sleek and straightforward. You don’t want it to be too long, but you also want to provide a concrete reason Etsy customers should join your email list.
To increase conversions, optimize the page for mobile devices.
Check out these tools to help you create a simple yet effective email opt-in.
4- Promote Your Email Opt-Ins.
Promote your email opt-in to get more subscribers. Here are some strategies you can try as an Etsy shop manager.
Next, let everyone know about your mail list. Here are some strategies you can try as an Etsy shop manager.
On Your Etsy Shop Banner
You can grow your contact list by creating an Etsy banner promoting your newsletter. The only downside is you can’t add a link.
If you want to display the opt-in landing page’s URL, use a link shortener. It provides an easy way for shoppers to enter it into their browser’s address bar.
On Social Media
If you have a social media account connected to your Etsy shop, encourage your followers to subscribe to your mailing list. Create social media posts that entice followers to go to your landing page and subscribe.
On your Facebook account, you can also add a link to your email opt-in on the button below your Facebook cover. On Instagram, you can add the link to your bio.
You can also join Facebook groups and post links to your mailing list while following each group’s rules and avoiding spamming. Try to add value by giving tips, sharing insights, or telling a story before inviting someone to join your mailing list.
To Your Existing Customers
Reaching new customers can be five times more expensive than keeping existing ones. As such, it’s a good idea to invite existing Etsy customers to join your email list.
It’s easier because you already have a relationship with your existing customers.
While Etsy doesn’t allow you to send unsolicited Etsy conversations to get email sign-ups, there are some ways to collect customer emails.
One way is to add an inline sign-up. You can also print a physical card and include it with the product once you ship it out.
On Your Website
If you have your own website, add an opt-in there too. Add it on the home page and create a pop-up to get people to subscribe to your email sign-up list.
You can buy a theme with built-in integration to email marketing services or even use a free plugin tool with basic features on your site.
How To Email Etsy Customers
What’s next after collecting all those email addresses?
Once your audience signs up, you must continue delivering value to keep them engaged and interested. You don’t want them to forget about you enough to mark your next email as spam.
Remember, your goal is to use this channel to nurture your relationships and build your trust factor. Send regular newsletters with updates, interesting stories, tips, and other information that can directly help your buyers.
How Often Should You Send an Email?
While you want to stay in their minds, you still don’t want to bombard them with your presence. As a consumer myself, I will unsubscribe, block, or mark marketing emails as spam if I think the business is pushing too hard.
A monthly newsletter is a good start, with the occasional announcements of new items and upcoming sales. You can also push for every other week or weekly but only do this when you’re sure you’re providing value with every email you send.
How Do You Know If Your Strategy Is Working?
Continue to monitor your performance by tracking the important analytics, like:
- Open rates
- Click-through rates
- Conversions
Use this data to adjust your strategy and optimize your email campaigns. Experiment with several elements, including your subject lines, send times, and incentives.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Should I Use My Given Name or Etsy Shop Name in Etsy-Related Communications?
Using your name offers a more personal approach. People are more likely to warm up to you if you use your given name rather than your Etsy shop name.
You can add your shop name as a note in your email so that your subscribers can connect the email they receive to your shop.
What Information Can Etsy Sellers Send to Email List Subscribers?
Here are examples of content you can send to your email newsletter members.
- A shop announcement
- Sales and discount offers
- New products
- Testimonials and customer feedback
- Blogs and articles
- Videos connected to your expertise or products
Can You Collect Customer Emails on Etsy?
Yes but with ethical means. You can’t send unsolicited emails to your customers who haven’t subscribed to your mailing list even if you have their email. To collect customer email addresses in an acceptable manner, use an opt-in process where you detail the incentives and content types they can expect to receive.
How Do I Get Emails From Etsy Sales?
When you receive an order, you can find your buyer’s email address in these locations:
- Order notification email
- Order details page
- CSV export
However, you can’t use this email address for anything other than Etsy-facilitated transactions. Respect their privacy and if you want to include them in your mailing list, get their consent first.
The Bottom Line
Not many Etsy sellers utilize this marketing channel to increase their conversion rates and expand their reach.
This is the best time to take action and stand out from the competition.
Hopefully, my guide has made it easier for you to build your email list on Etsy. Start building your email list today and use the tips I outlined in this article.
If you want to get more email subscribers, promoting your opt-in isn’t enough. You should also know how to promote your Etsy shop.
