Etsy + Email Marketing Calendar
How it works
Email marketing is a key part of growing your Etsy Shop and an email marketing calendar will keep you on schedule with regular promotions, product launches and emails to your subscribers.
This calendar was designed with some specific principles:
schedule a sale once a month;
launch 3 products a quarter;
email something helpful once a week.
With this three principles, you can build a plan of consistent audience interaction and communication. Consistency is key when it comes to audience engagement!
Schedule a sale once a month
One time a month (at least!), offer a special promotion to your email list. It can be shopwide or product-specific, and it can be for everyone or just your subscribers.
Here’s some ideas:
subscriber exclusive flash sale — 1 product for a short window of time
shop wide — for 1 week, % or $ off everything
subscriber exclusive code — a discount code only available to email subscribers
bundles or BOGOs — incentivize purchases of multiple products with special bundles or buy-one-get-one offers.
Some tips for successfully using email marketing to promote your sale:
send at least 2 emails for every sale — sale starting and sale ending
add a “don’t forget” sales email — if the sale is longer than 3 days, you can add a “don’t forget” sales email in between
use your previous sales as content — to entice the opt-in, like “last week, subscribers saved 30% on this product, this could be you”
Launch 3 products a quarter
As a rule of thumb, planning to launch 3 products each quarter (excepting Q4) can help keep your shop feeling fresh and your customers wanting to come back for more.
Here are some ideas:
relaunch products at various times of year — remove certain products after a time and bring them back at a later date.
add new colors or styles
add new bundles or value packs
add on accessories that you can outsource — ie: matches for candles, pens for journals etc
some tips for successfully using email marketing to promote your launch:
build a waitlist — generate a list of very interested customers for your upcoming launch
offer presale benefits — like discounts or add-ons
create a launch campaign — over a week with multiple emails getting your list hyped
Email something helpful once a week
For the best results, I recommend emailing once a week. If you can’t make that work, that’s fine — work your way up to it.
Here are some ideas for helpful emails:
tell your story — how did you start your shop? what do your products mean to your life?
share your biggest mistake/lessons learned — it can be humanizing to be vulnerable with your audience and share a moment that you learned something, and that is relevant to your product.
a common mistake customers make — like a FAQ section, get ahead of potential customer objections and issues by sharing some lessons from other customers.
ask for questions — ask them what questions they have about you, your shop and your products. It’s an easy email to write and a great one for building rapport.
answering audience questions — compile some of the questions you received when you asked and answer them! Depending on how long the answer, this could be done over multiple emails.
behind the scenes of how a product is made — people love behind the scenes, so don’t shy away from this kind of content! When you’re creating, making, packing orders, etc, film a video or stop and take notes for a “day in the life” type feature.
how to use this product in a real life scenario — show off your product in it’s intended use. If you make mugs, show it in the context of coffee or tea. If you make cleaning checklists, show how you use it to keep your house clean.
case study of a customer using the product — similar to above, but this time it’s not your experience, but another customer’s.
ask for feedback and product ideas — if you have no idea what to launch next or what your audience needs, just ask! It’s an easy email to write, and it can provide weeks of content and product ideas.
Here are some tips for successfully sending helpful emails:
aim for a 3:1 ratio of helpful vs promotional emails
build consistency — like new products always drop on the first of the month
entertaining emails can be just as helpful as educational ones — don’t be afraid to lean towards entertaining!
