Should you put your Etsy shop on vacation mode or not? Every year as summer nears, we hear that question. Etsy offers the option to put your store in Vacation Mode. You can use it whenever you need to take a break. But should you?
Unless you won't be able to answer customer messages or you will be away for more than 3 months, putting your Etsy shop in vacation mode could mean you are losing out on sales. Instead, put up a late-ship sale can capture more sales and entice return customers if done correctly.
You may have heard that some Etsy sellers advise against it. And it’s true, there are experienced sellers who never use it. On the other hand, plenty do and claim it’s never harmed their shop or sales. So, which is it? And what alternatives are there? But first..
What does vacation mode look like?
When you put an Etsy shop in vacation mode, shoppers and customers will see this message when they visit your shop: "(your shop name) is taking a short break".
How to turn on/off vacation mode on Etsy?
Here are the 6 simple steps if you need to turn on/off vacation mode for your Etsy shop:
- Open shop manager
- Click settings
- Click options
- Vacation mode tab
- Turn it "on" or "off"
- Fill in a brief shop announcement and message auto-reply message and when you turn it off just empty those boxes.
What you put in the “Note from shop owner” field will replace your Shop Announcement. You can also write an auto-reply message here. This will automatically be sent to anyone who sends you an Etsy message while your shop is in Vacation Mode. You can update and re-save both of these as needed.
When you put your shop on vacation, your listings will not be shown in search nor on your Etsy storefront. However, by searching its name, users can still find your shop and will see this notice. Potential customers will still be able to favorite your shop. And your loyal customers will know that no, you haven’t vanished off the face of the earth. You’re just taking a breather!
Does vacation mode affects the traffic & sales after its turned off?
There has been a lot of controversy whether putting your shop in vacation mode would tank your Etsy's search rankings. Many Etsy sellers report horror stories. They say after putting on vacation mode, their Etsy shop views and sales are down to almost nothing, especially after a long vacation. And some even say the stats don’t recover after a year.
As you can see the recovery process of the traffic to the previous levels is very tough and challenging.
Etsy has said that "when you return from vacation mode, you might not see the same traffic to your shop from search as before you went away." In our experience the recovery after vacation is very long and at some cases shops never reached their previous success in both traffic and sales.
Why Etsy vacation mode can hurt your Etsy store performance
Apart from losing sales while you are away, the more important aspect is the long-term damage to your search ranking.
According to Etsy, the algorithm is "gathering information about how buyers interact with other listings" and "once you return from vacation mode and your listings are appearing in search results again, we’ll start to gather up-to-date information about how shoppers are interacting with your listings." This basically means that as far as the search algorithm is concerned, your listings are starting from scratch when you reactivate the store.
Even a short deactivation of your products usually has a major impact on performance, especially when it comes to best-selling listings. It's important to keep in mind the 2-layer system of the search algorithm where the so-called first pass short-lists 1,000 top listings for a given search. Your best-selling listing are in a very competitive environment in the Etsy search algorithm as they are frequently securing a spot among the top 1,000 for high-volume searches. Once you deactivate them, competing listings take up your positions in the top 1K. Once your listings come back from that nice vacation, they've already fallen far behind and need to push through once again to secure a leading spot.
What to do instead of turning on the vacation mode?
1) In most cases, the best option is to extend your processing times
This option is what we recommend over using Vacation Mode. It keeps orders coming in but allows you extra time to get your orders out. However, if you do this, make sure to alert your buyers. Update your shop announcement with current order processing times and add them to your order confirmation message. If you have an image slot available and your customers are very time-sensitive, you may want to add it there too, and/or in your listings’ descriptions. This way, your regular customers won’t be surprised when their order takes longer than usual to ship.
Extending processing times of already placed orders is also an option you may use when under pressure, or if you just need a bit more time. Simply message your buyers and ask them - do they prefer to wait a while longer for their items, or to cancel for a full refund? While this is acceptable, it really isn’t a viable option for a high-volume shop. And it’s important to note that Etsy only allows you to extend processing time once per order! So if you are uncertain when you’ll be back, allow for that. It’s always better to cancel an order than ship it late.
2) Deactivate some of your listings or listing options
If you need to go away and can't complete personalized items for example, you can deactivate certain listings or drop the personalization option. Just keep in mind - never deactivate your bestsellers. Deactivating listings has the same effect as vacation mode - they are removed from the Etsy algorithm and you need to play catch-up when you come back.
3) Raise prices on your bestsellers and/or most time-consuming products
Sometimes this can be another option when you are under pressure. It’s only fair that you price your time a bit higher if you are meeting high demand! This will, theoretically, slow down your sales a bit. However, you may just find that your profit stays the same or even increases. This can be a good way to test the market and see how price-sensitive your audience is. Just keep in mind to use this approach with high caution if you are a high-volume store.
What to do after resuming your Etsy shop
Did you use Vacation Mode or opt to deactivate all your listings for more than a few days? Well, that's unfortunate but in this case you want to move quickly to make sure you are on top of all possible drops in your Etsy performance.
Make sure to review your top sellers every week to check which keywords are bringing less traffic to the store. This is where you lost ranking so make sure to optimize your listings with big focus on these search phrases. You will see the complete picture 3-4 weeks after you reactivate the store. Be consistent and keep checking to find areas and listings that need urgent attention.
If you've been away for a while, one of the best ways to bring buyers back is email marketing. Greet your audience and let them know you are accepting orders with an attractive promo code. This will bring an extra boost to your orders which can help you some of the lost traction in the algorithm.
Conclusion
We never recommend turning on Etsy vacation mode if you intend to keep your store active. The way the Etsy algorithm is structured means your listings can lose key positions in search and the store can experience big traffic drops after the vacation mode. In most cases, the best option is to extend your shipping times while you are away and let buyers know once you come back. This will help you maintain consistent traffic and sales and will allow you to recover quickly from any slowdown during your time away.
