If you’ve ever looked around inside of your Etsy dashboard, it can seem a little bit confusing.
There are a lot of stats and analytics that Etsy provides to us – and while these are quite useful to have, it can be a little overwhelming if you aren’t sure what everything means.
One of the most common questions that Etsy shop owners wonder is this – what is the difference between views and visits on Etsy? Why are views so much higher than visits, and how can I make sense of both of these numbers?
In this article, I’ll cover everything you need to know.
Etsy Views Vs. Visits
Put simply, the difference between views and visits is this:
Visits are the total number of people that have landed on your shop or product pages. Views are the total number of listings viewed.
Therefore, if one person comes to your shop and views 5 different listings, your Etsy stats will show you having 1 visit, but 5 views.
Interesting, right?
While we all want to have as many visits as possible, the discrepancy between these two numbers can also prove quite valuable to know. For example, if people tend to view a lot of items before leaving your shop or making a purchase, this at the very least points to the fact that your items were interesting or appealing enough to be clicked on.
While visits are arguably more important, a large difference between views and visits may indicate that the items in your shop are catching people’s eyes, and they’re being clicked on.
Hopefully, it’s leading to sales for you!
To calculate the average number of items each visitor views, simply divide the number of views by the number of visits. This number is also available on the detailed Etsy stats page.
If you try out a new Etsy strategy (such as changing title structure or your listing photos), you can analyze how this number changes to test out the effectiveness of your changes.
Etsy Stats Lag Behind A Bit – Keep Note Of This!
Some people may wonder why their Etsy stats don’t seem to be updating, even when they know that they’ve received visitors.
Others may have their dashboard report that they’ve received views, but without any visits! That doesn’t make any sense, right? It’s no wonder why all of this can seem so confusing!
It appears that the ‘views’ stat updates in real time – the data will appear on your Stats page as soon as it happens.
The ‘visits’ metric however is only updated periodically – around every 6 hours. This number may also drop unexpectedly, usually due to bot traffic being filtered out.
Etsy wants to give you the most accurate analytics possible, which explains some of these issues.
Are Etsy Stats Accurate?
Etsy does everything they can to ensure the stats they provide are as accurate as possible.
This is why there is often a delay in reporting, and numbers can continue to be adjusted even after the data is reported.
For the most accurate stats, wait at least a day before checking, and zoom out to view data on a monthly level at the narrowest.
This is because random day-to-day fluctuations or current events can have a large yet unpredictable effect on shopping behavior, and these factors are not always obvious.
By measuring your results on a monthly or even a quarterly basis, you can have a better idea of what’s working and what isn’t.
Are Views Or Visits More Important On Etsy?
Both are important, but I would recommend focusing more heavily on the number of total visits.
Ultimately, it is the number of people that arrive to your shop that have the greatest effect on your sales. While views are nice and people viewing more items on average is a good thing, it doesn’t really matter a whole lot unless these views are also converting to an increase in sales.
Being that Etsy is a place where people like to browse and ‘window shop’, views on their own may not paint an accurate picture of how well your marketing efforts are performing.
After all, the views metric can be seriously impacted by just a few people viewing a LOT of items for example.
An increase in visitors prove that your products are reaching more people, which can give you confidence in your Etsy marketing strategy.
How To Increase The Etsy Views To Visits Ratio
Although visits may be a more important metric when it comes to your Etsy shop’s bottom line, increasing your views per visit is also quite important.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to help. Some examples include:
- Updating your product titles and descriptions to be more appealing. Before you can sell your products, you must first ‘sell’ the visitor on clicking your listing. Beautiful product photography and enticing titles can help with this!
- Linking to other items within your product descriptions. If you have products that you think would go well together, you should definitely let customers know! Using the description to draw shoppers to your other offers is a great way not only to increase Etsy views, but also increase your average order value. This is known as cross-selling and it’s a wonderful way to make more money with the same number of visitors.
- Utilize one of your photo slots to draw attention to the other item categories you have for sale, or any promotions that you have going on. Many Etsy shop owners successfully increase shop activity by offering discounts if customers purchase multiple products. This is a wonderful way to encourage people to browse your shop and look around!
Conclusion
To summarize, here is the difference between views and visits on Etsy:
Views are the total number of listings viewed, while visits are the number of people who have visited your shop. Because one visitor can view multiple items, your views stat should always be higher than your number of visits.
Because there is a delay in reporting, these numbers may not be finalized until the next day.
I hope you’ve found this article helpful. Of course, if you have any questions about Etsy stats or anything else about selling on Etsy, feel free to ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you succcess!
– James McAllister
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