The biggest mistake I often see on Etsy is that people don't think in terms of audience. Either they think in terms of what they like and start selling products they personally enjoy. Or they focus solely on a specific niche. This mistake is less costly, but it can severely limit you.
So, the first thing to do will of course be to precisely define who your audience is. Analyze your sales, messages, reviews, those of your competitors, etc. And thus, once you have this typical customer, create a potential list of products that you could sell to them and that you want to sell to them.
This advice may seem commonplace, but it is crucial to your potential success on Etsy. The people I know who are successful on Etsy generally have a very specific audience, and they know it very well.
For my part, I sell products to other Etsy sellers. My audience is primarily female, from the US (90%), with relatively high purchasing power, and they tend to make repeat purchases if satisfied. They also tend to give more reviews than average. Their pain points often revolve around lack of time and organization, and what I sell to them generally serves to improve these two points.
So every time I look for the bestseller competition, I ask myself: Could I sell this kind of product to my audience? If yes, I'll start creating it.
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Write your typical customer: My typical customer is…
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