We're An Etsy success story with 5 Stars over 40,000 sales - but we're so lost on Shopify!

Shopify Discussion
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Topic summary

An Etsy-proven business (40,000+ sales, 5-star rating) is struggling to grow Shopify sales and online visibility. Current SEO feels slow and competitive; Google Ads yield occasional sales but aren’t profitable. Immediate goal: reach at least five sales per day with cost-effective tactics.

Key difference noted: Etsy provides built-in search traffic, while Shopify requires proactively sourcing traffic from multiple channels.

Recommended actions:

  • Strengthen social media, especially Instagram: share behind-the-scenes videos (production, shipping, thank-you notes) and connect the feed to the site for social proof. A cited stat claims 76% of customers buy products seen in social posts.
  • Add a blog and use storytelling (e.g., mother–son journey) to build brand affinity and trust.
  • Collaborate with micro-influencers: gift products in exchange for content for social and the store.
  • Convert Etsy buyers to Shopify with discount inserts in Etsy orders.
  • Implement post-purchase surveys to learn how customers found the shop; reward with coupons/points and double down on the strongest channels.

No decisions or outcomes yet; the thread remains open with actionable advice offered.

Summarized with AI on January 8. AI used: gpt-5.
1

We - a mother and son team - are seeking guidance to elevate sales for our online Shopify store, annstylestore.com. We’ve garnered positive reviews and have a loyal customer base, but our online visibility remains limited. Our Etsy shop has been a success story with over 40,000 sales and a consistent 5-star rating. However, translating this success to our Shopify venture is proving very difficult. We offer a diverse range of fashion accessories and have the unique capability to create custom print shirts, thanks to our in-house printing setup.

Our current challenge is amplifying our online presence. While we understand the value of SEO, its slow pace and difficulty in competing with well-established companies are notable hurdles. A previous marketing effort through a specialist on Fiverr did yield some sales, but the cost was not sustainable against the profits. We are currently marketing through Google Ads, and it occasionally gets sales, but not enough for a profit against the marketing.

We are specifically looking for cost-effective and impactful strategies to increase our site’s traffic and awareness. Our immediate goal is modest: to achieve at least five sales per day. Additionally, we would greatly appreciate advice on prioritizing our steps to achieve this goal, ensuring we focus on the most effective actions first to build our online presence and reach our target sales number.

Thank you so much.

2

Hi Loveanniek,

This is Amee from Gojiberry - Shopify Survey & Feedback App.

First of all, congratulations on getting your Shopify store running! Your site looks quite wonderful and well-made. I have to say Etsy and Shopify are two different games! Having been on Etsy myself I think one of the main differences is that you are no longer getting traffic via a platform search engine. The shift in thinking needs to go from having traffic fed into your store to finding your sources of traffic from various avenues.

I took a look at your store and have a few suggestions that will help increase your conversion rate:

  1. Connect Social Media. I went ahead and followed you on IG! Driving traffic from Instagram could help boost your sales if you do it right. Currently, I see you mostly have product images – which is not as interesting as social media content. Since you already have a running business, take videos of your process – how you are making the items, and printing the T-shirts. Videos of you shipping things and adding thank you cards. Give your Instagram a strong personality and presence, and you will start attracting a following.

Once you have an interesting and active feed, it would help to connect the feed to your main site, thus giving it more social proof. Research shows that 76% of customers buy products seen on social media posts.

  1. Adding a blog. You are a mother-and-son business – unique in some ways. Why not write about what it’s like? I just recently wrote a blog post about the power of story telling for reference.

  2. Influencer Collab. Since you have visually appealing products, it would be good to connect with micro-influencers, send them some of your pieces, and ask them to create some content for your social media as well as your Shopify store.

  3. Connecting with Etsy. If you wanted to eventually convert Etsy customers onto your own Shopify store, why not create a discount insert for every Etsy buyer? If they decide to return and buy some more, then they can visit your Shopify store instead.

  4. Ask your customers! (Most effective for increasing conversion) When you have some converting customers, ask them how they found out about your shop. You can easily do so with a post-purchase survey app, and reward your customers with coupons/points to keep them coming back again. Once you find out your strongest marketing channel, focus more effort and money on that.

Hope this helps!

Amee | Gojiberry Team