Etsy Seller Interview with Erin of OneSunnyDayDesigns

How OneSunnyDayDesigns got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

I was supposed to get married in October 2020, and the wedding ended up being called off. At that point in time, I had already started making wedding items and wanted to sell them, so OneSunnyDayDesigns was created! This was a pivotal moment in my life, and opening my Etsy shop allowed me to have a creative outlet (I am an avid crafter!). To my surprise, people kept buying the products even after I had sold all of my wedding items, so I kept making them and adding new listings! Each time I got a sale, I was inspired to get even more creative and add new items to my shop. My Etsy journey has been incredible; I didn’t expect to get any sales, and now I have almost 3,400 sales!

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite listing in my shop is the  skinny pastel tumblers.. I originally made these for a bachelorette party for my best friends and decided to use them as a new product for my shop (the names on the tumblers in the listing photos are all of my friends!). This is also my most popular product; I absolutely love them! I think they’re a big hit in my shop because they are the perfect gift for really any occasion—I've had people order them for bachelorette parties, wedding party gifts, teacher gifts, or just a tumbler for themselves to have. I’ve also made these for several large events, including nonprofit organizations. My absolute favorite story about these tumblers is that my roommate went down south for a wedding and walked into a random bar in the pouring rain and saw out of the corner of her eye one of my tumblers, purchased from my shop! A group of girls on a bachelorette who had purchased my tumblers happened to be at the same bar and brought my tumblers with them. I cannot describe the joy that I felt when I got that text message from my roommate—it was really an incredible feeling knowing my customers loved their purchases and my shop was noticed 700 miles away!

I also love the  canvas zipper bags in my shop. I use one myself, and it’s perfect for weekend trips or a sleepover. My best friend uses one of my bags for her first job as a teacher, and all of her kids noticed her monogrammed bag when trying to guess her name! They’re also great for wedding gifts and bachelorette parties. I always try to make all of my products affordable and something that I know will make a great gift.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

My first sale was about two weeks after I opened my shop, and let me tell you, I was ecstatic! I have a self-made background in keyword research and SEO, so knowing what description to put where and what to include in the title of the listing is super helpful. My shop is mostly found through Etsy search and SEO (keywords are key). I also post occasionally to my Pinterest account (I have 35k followers), but the majority of my sales come directly from the Etsy app. I intend to launch a website soon and dedicate my Pinterest account solely to my Etsy shop. I have dabbled in Etsy marketing and ads, but I’ve found that SEO is really the absolute key to generating more sales.

Managing OneSunnyDayDesigns

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

OneSunnyDayDesigns is a one-woman show! I rely heavily on my Cricut and my laptop, as well as Canva Pro, to create designs and templates. I also have a paid membership for Cricut, which gives me access to more images, more fonts, etc. I’ve made several purchases on Etsy and Creative Market to download more fonts to offer for my products. To ship my products, I try to recycle as many boxes as I possibly can for more "sunny days' ' ahead. I also try to include a small "gift" whenever possible (whether it is a free straw cleaner or a colored hair tie) to show my appreciation to my customers. I use Amazon to find decently priced shipping supplies—if you dig hard enough, you can find deals on cute boxes! It is safe to say I am a regular at the post office—they know me by name there at this point!

The future of OneSunnyDayDesigns

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I can’t wait to expand my shop and include more listings. I have at least five or six products I want to add in the next few months, when time and life allow it. I’d love to reach 5,000 sales by the end of the year; that alone would exceed my expectations of what I previously had for this shop! I also want to create a website for my shop and keep utilizing my Pinterest account to promote my products. I don’t have an Instagram account (I’m a bit shy on social media sometimes!) but I’m hoping that I’ll start one of those too.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Research, research, research I must have read through at least 200 articles before I had the guts to finally launch on Etsy. I made sure I knew exactly what I wanted to sell, including all of my personal wedding products in addition to new products as time went on. I looked at competitor shops, I looked at their reviews, I looked at what keywords worked in the Etsy search, and I googled literally everything. I’m still learning, but this journey has been so rewarding in more ways than one, and I’m so happy I took the jump and finally made it happen. Also, be mindful of Etsy rules and regulations, keep your shop updated, and great photos are a must. I am still trying to perfect this.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: This varies month to month.

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 5%