So, first things first I don’t love the term “dead shop” - there’s so many different levels. A dead shop to me is something that hasn’t been up and running for three to four years, your listings have expired, you’ve closed it down and basically forgot about it.

If your handmade business and shop has gone quiet, your sales have dropped in the last few months and you may be getting a little worried about it, I’d say it was more of a slump.

I’ll be helping you take control of your handmade business and resurrect a ‘dead’ shop. 

There are a lot of nuances with this. Everyone’s handmade business  is different, what you sell is different, how you sell is different, what you’ve done in the past is different…so this will be really useful general advice to get out of the slump.

Dig into your previous stats

Start this journey by identifying when the change and downward trend started in your shop.

• Look at your stats six months before and six months after the slump … your sales, conversion rate, visits and views to your shop, social media engagement.
• Really dig into it on a month by month basis … FYI you should be tracking these on a monthly basis already.
• Track what you were doing in your handmade business and when … what changes you made, new products and so on.
• Also track things going on in your life and the world around us. As handmade business owners we spin all the plates and this can have a knock on effect.
• Look at the marketing side of your handmade business too. Have you been posting as much, have you changed the type of content you were making, have you been posting consistently? 
• Social media marketing is a long game. If your social media has changed and you’ve not been posting as much it can take between two and six months for it to pick back up again…don’t panic.

Your stats are more than just numbers, they paint a bigger story of your handmade business than just numbers. But knowing them will help you to make changes based on facts and not feelings, or panic… we’ve all been there.

You should now have identified things that were going really well and things that you’ve let slip or just weren’t working for you and your business.

Sometimes things that weren’t working can be subtle…they don’t have to be catastrophic. Something as simple as you’ve changed the tone of voice in your emails, you stopped posting behind the scenes content and went all in with sales posts or you’ve stopped going live on social media.

Once these small changes start to gather and pile up they can cause a slump in your handmade business.

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Once you know what caused the slump you can do an epic relaunch of your handmade business… woo hoo!! 

It’s a powerful tactic to generate hype and reintroduce yourself.

You can’t expect to open your shop up again, for people to know you’re back and for the sales to come flooding in. You need to reintroduce your handmade business to people so they get to know you, your brand and your shop's products. 

Get a plan in place before you start to keep on track and cover all bases.

• Decide a relaunch date
• How you’re going to relaunch. Will you do a give away, go live every day, run a discount?…
• How are you going to reestablish your connection with your customers? There is no right or wrong way to do this…do what feels right. Emails, reels, posts, whatever your stats have told you works for you
• Have a think about what excites you. If you were growing from a caterpillar to a butterfly what would your entrance be? 

Find your home hub

This is your ‘go to’ place where your customers and target market can find out more about you, your shop and where you can nurture them. 

As handmade business owners we have a tendency to overdo it with social media and try to do everything. I’d recommend finding the one place your customers will be…this could be Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, emails…

Put all of your energy into this one place… don’t spread yourself too thin. That leads to burnout and overwhelm.

Drive your own traffic

Once you are consistently showing up in your home hub you can start to drive your own traffic to your handmade business….whether this is Etsy, your own website, a bricks and mortar shop.

This isn’t just important during a relaunch, it’s vital for your handmade business once you are back on track. It helps you future proof so you’re not so reliant upon platforms like Etsy driving all your traffic.

By driving your own traffic you are not reliant upon other platforms performance, or when things change having to readapt to the algorithms. You’re in more control of your handmade businesses' performance and visibility.

Having a two pronged approach is hands down the best approach to have…driving your own traffic and leveraging the traffic being driven by platforms such as Etsy.

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Leverage traffic from the platform you are selling on, for example Etsy

Platforms like Etsy are goldmines for customer traffic. The key is to not just exist on these platforms but to optimise your listings and utilise the platform's tools effectively.

Engage with Etsy's algorithm to enhance your visibility and sales by strategically positioning your shop to attract and retain the built-in customer base.

Add listings often

Once you’ve got the previous four tips to resurrect your dead shop in place you should add listings often. HINT…this is listings, not products.

It doesn’t have to be everyday, test to see what works best for your handmade business. I’ve tested adding new listings 3 times a week and that seems like a nice balance. Do this until you start seeing a consistent uptake in sales.

The more listings you have the more eyes you are going to get on your shop, you’re going to appeal to more people and be found in more of your target markets search results.

If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know I love a good old A/B test. So, test the hell out of your shop…

• Pictures
• SEO
• Colours
• Descriptions
• Attributes
• Uses for your products
• Anything and everything

A/B testing allows you to understand customer preferences and market trends better, leading to more informed decisions on product, pricing, marketing…

The last strand of resurrecting your dead shop would be to use ads

Investing in ads for well-performing products can significantly amplify sales. Having an ads budget can help and add fuel to the fire. Again, it’s a long term game.

It increases visibility and attracts more customers to your best selling items. Focus on advertising your proven winners to maximise your return on investment.

🥳Do you want to learn more? We’ve got loads of resources to help you scale your handmade business:

🎧 Listen to this blog post as a Podcast instead 'How do I resurrect a dead shop?'

💙 Is your shop feeling like it's stuck in a rut?

💀 Maybe it's been years since you last updated your listings, or maybe you're ready to dive back in and give things another shot.

👉 Whatever the case, there's no need to despair.

❓ In this episode, I'm tackling the question: How do you resurrect a dead shop? Join me as we explore actionable strategies that will breathe new life into your handmade business, reigniting sales and paving the way for a brighter future.

🥳 Do you want to learn more? 🥳 

We’ve got loads of resources to help you scale your handmade business:

1️⃣ ✨Are you starting a new business? Here's my best resources:👉 Start here  🏃

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👇🏻👇🏻 Choose your own adventure with these resources 👇🏻👇🏻

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