Etsy announced Wednesday it has evolved its search and discovery experience to factor in the quality of listings, including listing detail, photo quality, and customer service track records. Etsy said it was also delivering more diversified results so that buyers can explore a wider variety of options and discover more sellers.
Etsy told EcommerceBytes that since incorporating those changes earlier this year, approximately 70% of shops on Etsy have more visibility in search. Etsy has also seen an increase in the number of 4- and 5-star reviews sitewide and a decline in the rate at which buyers request refunds.
With 100 million listings from millions of sellers, it hasn’t always been as easy as it could be for Etsy’s hundreds of thousands of buyers to find what they’re looking for, discover new shops, and connect with sellers they can rely on, it said.
“While relevance and quality are key, we also want to make it easy and fun to explore the incredible breadth and depth our marketplace has to offer. We are optimizing our search results to showcase a broader range of items from more sellers,” Etsy said in its announcement. “This is particularly helpful when you don’t know exactly what you are looking for.”
It used the example of searching for “Halloween accessories” – “you likely don’t want to see only ghost earrings. Instead, we’ll surface a wide range of items, which may include everything from Halloween-themed hair clips and jewelry, spooky home decor and even personalized trick-or-treat bags,” Etsy said.
For longtime sellers, that may call to mind the so-called clumping issue that plagued Etsy search 10 years ago.
Diversifying search results helps buyers and creates opportunities for more sellers – in fact, “serving up a broader array of listings has led to approximately 70% of shops on Etsy having more visibility in search,” Etsy said.
Etsy also said that one of the most common requests from Etsy sellers is for increased transparency into factors that impact visibility in search. On Wednesday, it announced a new Search Visibility Page that provides sellers with actionable insights and tips to improve their position in search and recommendations on Etsy. “Insights include listing image quality and quantity, return policies, message response times, and shipping prices for certain listings”
The AuctionBytes Blog has more about Etsy’s plans to boost visibility of listings with shipping costs under $6 and its new tool for sellers that lets them easily lower shipping while raising the price of their listings.
And Etsy published the following video to YouTube:
