Etsy Surprises Sellers With Unannounced Changes Offering Optimized Ad Strategies - For A Price
Etsy is beta testing new ads tools for sellers, offering the option to use different optimized ads strategies for a significant cost.
Seller and YouTuber Pam Duthie spotted the new ad options in Shop Manager this week and gave a peak behind the curtain, revealing that in order to even enable the new ads strategies, you have to bump your daily budget up to at least $25 - a significant increase for many sellers.
If the seller chooses to "explore strategies" they'll get a pop explaining the new feature and promoting them to increase their budget to $25 to proceed.
Unlock ads strategies with a higher budget
Right now, we balance your order and return on investment potential. With a higher budget, you can choose from two more strategies:
- We’ll increase potential for orders and revenue - Etsy Ads will aim for the most relevant ad spots, increasing opportunity for visibility and orders.
- We’ll aim to reduce costs and increase return on investment - Etsy Ads will target relevant buyers at lower costs by bidding more conservatively.
Once on the Your Ads Strategy beta page, sellers can select which strategy to use.
Increase Your Orders
Your strategy will be applied in the next 25 hours. For best results, give it 30 days for your strategy to take full effect.
We’ll increase potential for orders and revenue, but at a higher cost per order.
Etsy Ads will aim to make your ads more competitive while targeting the most relevant ads spots. This may increase your visibility and orders, but each order may come at a higher cost.
Good for:
- Jumpstarting orders
- Highly competitive spaces
- Maximising seasonal demand
Balance Your Orders With Returns
Your strategy will be applied in the next 25 hours. For best results, give it 30 days for your strategy to take full effect.
We’ll balance orders, revenue, and ad spend for a steady return on investment.
Etsy Ads will optimise bidding to balance orders, revenue, and return by targeting relevant buyers while managing costs.
Good for:
- Consistent growth
- Efficient spending
- Steady return on investment
Increase Your Return
Your strategy will be applied in the next 25 hours. For best results, give it 30 days for your strategy to take full effect.
We’ll aim to reduce costs and increase return on investment, but ads-attributed orders and revenue may decrease.
Etsy Ads will target relevant buyers more conservatively. This may result in reduced visibility for your ads and fewer orders but should increase your return on investment.
Good for:
- Lowering costs
- Slower growth
- Less competitive spaces
And just one day after enabling the new feature, Pam said she experienced glitches in the system which did not save her changes and reverted the campaign to the default Balance Your Orders With Return option instead of the Increase Your Return option she had selected and confirmed in the previous video.
There's currently very little other information about this new Ads Strategy beta test but it's not surprising that Etsy is using it to try to leverage such a massive increase in daily ad budgets given the most recent quarterly earnings results and Etsy's clear intent to continue to grow their revenue from Seller Services - which includes ads.
Liz Morton
Are you testing Etsy Ads Strategy beta? Let us know about your experience and results in the comments below!
