Business Tip # 3 - Track Your Progress

Ok, so Etsy and Metricly has made the post I had been agonizing over how to adequately explain, so much easier. When I originally intended to post this, Etsy first introduced Metricly and I wanted to check them out - crossing my fingers that they would be user friendly and provide all the info I wanted to discuss.

When you have a variety of products you sell with a range of prices, it's important to not only track your sales/purchase dollars, but also which items sell the best. Also helpful to know is your average sales dollar, your average sales per week, and what percentage of which product do you sell the most. For instance, passport covers remain about 40% of my business while Travel Clutches are about 15% (and rising). Adding the Travel and Portfolio clutches have raised my average sale dollar about 35% - this of course, depends on the month.

Tracking your sales also helps you to visually see which products aren't working. For instance, I invested in a 2-1/4" Button Maker Machine last year. I purchased a snazzy one because, as is I'm sure is the case with every entrepreneur, I just knew this was the next big thing. This idea was a perfect way to use up scrap paper and fabric and would be great 'add-ons' to my orders (would you like fries with that?) It was a great idea, but I didn't market it properly so it was not the next big 'Money Maker' I thought it would be. I was able to realize this by tracking my daily sales as well as views for my Pocket Mirrors/Bottle Openers. So I scaled back this section of my shop to alleviate what I had determined was a bit of  clutter. Magnets, on the other hand, are pretty popular so I'm planning on expanding this section of my shop.

I did the same thing with my Vinyl Book Covers. I sold them very rarely and because I sold them rarely, I could never really gain enough buying power to buy a lot of supplies to make the profit I wanted. They were a great idea and when people bought them, they loved them.  Want to know something else? I really did not enjoy making them. They were a pain to make, a pain to package and a pain to ship. When I eliminated them completely, I did not at all notice a dip in sales. If anything, my sales rose.

So my point in all that, is you have to pay attention to what sells.  Not every idea you have will be a good one-and this is a topic all to itself! Paying attention helps streamline what you offer to your customers and keep your online business looking cohesive.

So, if you have an Etsy Shop, Metricly is an awesome new function that helps you do all that. To explain it better than I could, check out this link and set up your Metricly account!

What I love about Metricly, is it is SO user friendly. So much more so than Google Analytics and it provides information more directly related to your shop. PLUS, you can incorporate GA into your account as well as Mail Chip to see if your newsletters have an impact on sales.

Which reminds me, I set up a Mail Chimp account weeks ago and have not yet sent out a newsletter!! I have to move this up on my 'To Do' list since Holiday Season is approaching.