We asked for a peek,
but ended up with an eyeful.
A peek? Yes, a free ‘peek’ into any site. A few Etsy Maine Team members dropped our Etsy shop links to request a peek from UserTesting. UserTesting.com is a user site research service that offers video user reviews of websites. The peek, via a random user’s 5 minute review, shows the reviewer’s screen while you ‘listen in’ as the reviewer talks aloud about his or her impression of the site. Check out my first peek below.
Have you stopped laughing?
Uh, me neither. I learned so much!
For an Etsy shop owner, a peek can be an eyeful and an earful at the same time. I’ve had an Etsy shop since 2008, I’m practically a lifer, folks. So my perception of an Etsy shop is completely different from someone who is either unfamiliar, or vaguely familiar with Etsy. Not a small group by any means! And one to keep forefront when working on your Etsy shop. However, Joan Vermette of Mad Pow, a user experience researcher on our Etsy Maine Team suggests you take these peek reviews with a grain of salt, rock salt.
“as a website usability professional for nearly 17 years, I have real doubts about the usefulness of Peek User Testing for looking at your Etsy shop. Most of the feedback I’ve seen has to do with how well the Etsy interface works, and little to do with things we as Etsy sellers can actually change.Secondly, you would need to do this about 6 – 8 times in order to start seeing trends amongst the responses, and therefore be able to learn what is a real issue, and what’s a one-off response particular to a specific user.Thirdly, you’d want to have some control over who takes the test, so you’re sure they’re in your target market/audience. In the case above, this woman didn’t seem to even really know what your products are. For a five minute test, that’s a lot of time spent ramping up.”Excellent advice, but still, there seems to be bits of good info to be sliced from every review. Mine was particularly funny/awkward to me, but I still took away that I need to be writing less clever Etsy-speak and more straight-up detail in my shop announcement. And what about that elf, folks. Should I keep him?
Oogle these Etsy shop Peek reviews
and then ask for your own.
Check out my Etsy Maine Team-ies peek links below and stop into their shops. What would your user review sound like? They’re about 5 minutes each, some truly informative, some not. Still, an excellent reminder to keep the new-to-Etsy user in mind when writing those shop descriptions and about pages.
Julie of Abigail’s Attic Accessories, peek & peek She’s also applied to be a user reviewer as well and says we should cut our reviewers some slack, “It’s hard to remember to talk the entire time you are on the site. It is also a “pressure” thing to get it all done in time. I had to answer a question I couldn’t find the answer to. I think if I had more than 3-5 minutes, I would have been able to find it.”
Lauren of Bird and Bear Boutique : peek
Lauren of Sunflower Freckles : peek
Nykki of Nykki Makes : peek
Joy of Coastal Art Glass : peek
Paige of Camelot Creations : peek
Jeni of Jeni’s Jewelry and More : peek & peek
Michelle of SoulShine Soap : peek
Anne of Carrington Lane Bakery : peek
Kirsten of Anabelfuzz : peek
and yes, here’s mine, Dory of worthygoods textile : peek
Free peek here.
What did you think of your peek?
No, it’s not instant results, you’ll have to wait a couple days to get your peek, but when you do… Tell me! You loved it? You Hated it? Want me to add your peek to the list? Just leave a comment, let’s get this conversation going.
worthygoods textile 