Etsy have introduced Etsy messages, a new feature aimed at supporting the customer-seller relationships, designed to help ‘Etsies’ compose personalised responses that could lead to more sales and loyal shoppers.
A personal touch can have a significant impact on building trust with buyers. Whether it’s a handwritten note enclosed with an order or it’s a professional, personalised, and prompt reply to a question, these interactions can help to create a positive experience for shoppers and influence their decision to write a positive review and come back to purchase again.
When buyers are considering a purchase, they tend to make that decision quickly. According to Etsy research, most buyers on the marketplace make their purchase decision within 24 hours of sending a message to a seller. When they received a prompt response, buyers were more likely to complete a purchase. Conversion rates were highest when buyers received replies from sellers within two hours.
Etsy are introducing saved replies, formerly known as snippets, which are created to allow merchants to respond promptly to common questions from buyers. It will allow sellers to leverage pre-written answers that they can tailor for each customer. The new initiative aims to save merchants’ time but also reduce their response in time, helping merchants to focus on the needs of their business.
Merchants can begin this journey by going to their inbox and clicking on ‘saved replies’ to create or edit a pre-written response. Etsy have already composed a few saved replies for merchants on some of the most common categories of questions that buyers ask sellers. Merchants may edit or personalise those templates to suit their shops’ needs. Etsies can create and store up to 250 saved replies and create up to 50 categories to organise them.
When a seller is composing a message to a buyer, they can click on the saved replies button to add the pre-written text to their message that they can personalise before sending. For added convenience, in the coming weeks, Etsy will be automatically suggesting some of the most frequently used saved replies, which merchants may add to their message with a simple click.
Many sellers use coupons to encourage repeat business. That’s why Etsy made it easier for merchants to include a coupon in their buyer responses with just one click. While composing a message, sellers need to click Coupons below the message to select one of their active coupons and add it to their reply.
Etsy are inviting sellers to join the marketplace for a live walk-through on the Etsy Success Facebook on the 24th of October at 11 a.m. ET.
