Etsy recently opened a new advertising platform called "Etsy Ads".
In the introductory email sent to Etsy sellers, they used some pretty powerful statements to describe it:
- "Maximize your advertising"
- "High-impact advertising"
- "Powerful new advertising platform"
* click to expand
The new way to maximize your advertising
Now, advertising with Etsy expands your reach even further. We combined Promoted Listings and Google Shopping ads into one powerful new advertising platform: Etsy Ads. One campaign makes it easy for shoppers to discover and buy your items no matter where they start their search.
Your current campaigns, past performance data, budget, and settings will be moved over to Etsy Ads. Switch to Etsy Ads today to see all the improvements we've made to make your budget go further. Or let us take care of it: we'll move everything over in the next few weeks.
It sounds pretty promising... but I went ahead and dug a little deeper.
What you need to know about Etsy Ads
I still had questions, so I followed the "Learn More" link hidden at the bottom of the page and found the "Bidding" section very interesting:
Since your listings are now being advertised across two platforms, you can no longer customize your bids. When you set up Etsy Ads, you'll keep your previous bid settings from Promoted Listings and Google Shopping, which should maintain your current ad performance. Then, once we have enough data on Etsy Ads, we'll start to optimize your bids to maximize visits from your ads.
Unlike Google Shopping and Promoted Listings, you can't adjust the bids set for each listing. Instead, you can adjust your daily budget and which listings you advertise.
You're still only charged for clicks on your ads, and the cost for clicks is determined by your bid amount.
» Etsy Ads is NOT the same as Promoted Listings
Etsy Ads could very well be the future of Promoted Listings, but I hope this isn't the case...
» When you switch to Etsy Ads, you lose control of your max CPC bids
They disguise this information, because they want sellers to let their algorithm "optimize bids for maximum exposure".
All this really means is your CPCs will likely SKYROCKET (not a good thing).
You want to maintain control of your bids any time you're advertising somewhere.
» Your campaign budget will be split between advertising on Etsy & Google Shopping
So you're paying to bring people to Etsy's website...
Etsy should be paying to bring people to their website - not us!
» After switching to Etsy Ads, there's no turning back
If you opt in to the early access program, they state:
"When you start Etsy Ads, you won't be able to turn your old campaigns back on."
^ This scares me.
» If you haven't already setup Promoted Listings, you're forced to use Etsy Ads
This sucks for new sellers.
It's going to make it hard to run cost-effective advertising campaigns.
IN SUMMARY: I am NOT a fan of the new Etsy Ads
And I strongly advise waiting before opting in.
For more information, check out the YouTube video at the top of this blogpost, which goes a bit more in depth.
Update: Etsy Promoted Listings Removed
If you're selling on Etsy & using Promoted Listings, you need to go to your Shop Manager > Marketing > Advertising page & check your ad spend.
They (very quietly) opted all sellers into the new "Etsy Advertising" platform recently, where we lost all control of our PPC bids, meaning it's likely whatever daily budget you set is being spent, in full, every day.
Click here to go to your Etsy Advertising page »
* click to expand
My daily budget was set to $65.
I would never come close to spending it all because my PPC bids were capped at $0.11.
When we got switched over to the new Etsy Ads platform, we lost control of our bids and are now subject to Etsy "optimizing" them for us (meaning they will skyrocket).
We're basically now paying to bring customers from Google to Etsy - it's TERRIBLE that they did this to their sellers =(
I put together a video explaining in detail why this is our only course of action:
Before I changed my budget to $1, it was spending my full $65 a day budget (with ease).
Fortunately, whoever dropped a YouTube comment on one of my videos letting me know that we were all forced into Etsy Advertising saved me a good amount of money.
Thanks, stranger!
