White Blue Industrial Star Print by Agnieszka of Bialakura
I see it a lot. An artist launches their website or their Etsy shop and they are really excited! Maybe they even do the promotional work that’s necessary to get noticed and make sales. But they end up disappointed. It just didn’t go as well as they thought it would.
And then there are artists who have been at it for a while now, but they are never sure if their stats are up to par. They don’t know whether their marketing is working or not because they have no expectations to compare the numbers to.
So I want to curb both problems today, by just coming out with it and telling you what you can expect.
First, overnight success doesn’t exist. Even the artists that get swept up by a big-name gallerist or collector put in some work before that gallerist or collector knew they existed. And so it will be for you too. You will not get success handed to you on a pretty little platter the moment your site goes live on the wide expanse of the internet. The internet isn’t magic.
What will happen, though, is that if you put in the work you can expect a certain level of results. This is usually called “conversions” in the business world. For instance, if you are at an art fair and 100 people come to your table, but only 15 purchase, your conversion rate is 15%. That’s actually a really high conversion rate, so most likely the people at the fair were your target market.
But let’s talk about the online world, since that’s less familiar to most people.
The number of people who visit your site is almost entirely dependent on how much you promote your site. Throw the site up there and ignore it? You’re looking at 5-10 visitors a week – random people who found you in the depths of the internet or people who know your name and googled for you specifically. To get more visitors to your site, promote it more. Websites, blogs, online magazines, social media, forums for your target market, etc.
Of those site visitors, typically around 2-5% will sign up for your email list, depending on where you place the opt-in form, what it looks like, and what it says on the form about what they’re signing up for… and whether those site visitors are in your target market.
I know that sounds low, but it has to be a perfect fit for someone to give you their email address.
Of those same site visitors, 1% are likely to buy if you have a normal site. If you have a shop, like Etsy for instance, that number is usually higher since the shop is optimized for making sales and almost nothing else. This is almost entirely dependent on whether the site visitors are in your target market.
In your email, you can usually expect about 35-45% of your subscribers to open each email. These people might be different each time or many of them may be the same. Lots of people will open every email, and lots of people won’t. Opening has to do with your subject line and whether the person likes the content you typically put in an email, as well as whether they recognize the name in the “from” field.
And you can expect 10% of your subscribers to purchase from you, or thereabout.
Your subscribers are much more likely than site visitors to purchase from you because they have gotten to know you a little more and are reminded of your frequently so that when they’re ready to purchase you’re there. It’s also more likely that people who will eventually buy will join your email list.
Aside from being able to compare numbers, the takeaway here is to not just promote everywhere but to promote to the right people for the optimal number of people joining your email list and buying your art.
So how do your numbers match up? I’d love to know in the comments.
So, to take the numbers further, for every 500 people – in your target market ONLY – who visit your site, ONE may buy ONE of your pieces.
98% of the people coming to your site are NOT your target market. So if you want to sell ONE piece per month, you need to have 25,000 unique site visits per month.
Sobering!
Thanks so much for the numbers, Laura! Those alone should be enough to light a fire under our marketing butts! 😀
Cheers!
You could take the numbers that far, Keena. But I think in reality it’s more like every 5,000 or 10,000 unique site visitors.
This stuff definitely should be taken with a grain of salt too. They are typical numbers, but each art business has TONS of different factors that influence these numbers. So sort of like your BMI, it works for big populations but on an individual level it’s better as a guidepost than actual exact expectations.
So yes, it should light your marketing butt aflame! But don’t hinge all your plans on getting exactly 25,000 visitors to your site so you can sell one piece.
Ah and I forgot to mention! SOME people won’t sign up to your email list before buying. So you will get some sales outside of this estimate. They are just almost impossible to predict.
Wow…So, I am getting crazy good visitors. in the average range of 200 or more per day. But, so far my conversion is zero. I’m still working on figuring how to better market and increase that zero to an actual number.
*walks away mumbling and looking for better cross posting, link options…
200 each day is pretty great, AJ. I think most people start out with just a handful in a week, some days having no visitors. And then it of course grows over time, the more your site is out there in internet-land. Most people making fulltime levels of income online, in all sorts of fields including art, are seeing like 1,000 a day or so. But at 200 you should be seeing sales.
So my thought is two things. a) those 200 might not be the type of people who like your art. How are you getting the 200 to your site each day? Is it from places your target market spends time or looks at? Or is it just random 200 people you’re able to make click?
b) when they hit your site, are they impressed? do they feel compelled to buy? are you making it simple for them to find something they love and purchase it?
Sure cross posting and getting your link out there is good, but it takes a lot of time and energy for that to pay off. It’s much easier to just look for spots your target market is already at and put yourself in front of them there. Old school Public Relations is the most effective with the least amount of time/energy put into it.
Thank you so much for your response, and feedback! On the traffic, some is coming in from just random, some from the tweeting, etc. I’m working on getting my site linked/posted in the places where some of my customers come from, and actually picked up a sale today! Part because of the site, part because I’ve known this customer for sometime, and it was finally the right time for him to make the custom order happen.. I think it finally really hit home that I can make the herald pendant he wants. So, yes, better placement of my website is the order of this week!
Awesome! Keep me posted!
Perfect timing for me to see this Laura.My new website went live just a few hours ago… http://www.artbt.co.uk I have yet to work out my target market though…. I find your posts so interesting. Thank you.
I love your artwork, Brigitte! Glad you enjoy my blog. Good luck with your site!
Thank you Laura