What do you do to prep your TPT store for a sale?

It’s always important to keep your TPT store up to date, but an upcoming sale often brings in extra traffic and is a great excuse to make sure that everything is in tip-top shape. Go through this checklist before a sale and be ready when the traffic hits!

1) Put your whole TpT store on sale

Obviously, step one to prep your TpT store for a sale is to actually JOIN the sale. After TpT announces their sale dates, you’ll see a banner at the top of your dashboard inviting you to ready your store for the sale. The easiest way is to choose the second option and automatically set your whole store at 20% off – this is the standard.

Important: If you add any new products after you have already set up your sale, they will NOT be added to the sale automatically. You will have to go back into the sale tool and manually select them.

2) Is your TPT store branding on point?

Of course right before a site-wide TPT sale is not the time for a branding overhaul, but it is a good time to make sure that your messaging is clear.

A lot of sellers put up generic banners in their store that announce the sitewide sale. However, there are two problems with this:

1. Generic banners don’t match the branding of your store and can look “cheap”.
2. Generic banners don’t call your customer’s attention to YOUR store.

Try using customized images and messages to draw attention to what makes YOUR products special and how they make YOUR customers’ lives easier.

You can upload new banners to your store here: store banners.

3) Are your featured products up to date?

Don’t forget to check your featured products when you prep your TpT store for a sale. Your featured products are at the top of your store, just below the banner and above “My Products”.

This is prime real estate, so before a sale make sure that these four products are seasonal or products that typically sell well during the current month. Some people put their best sellers in the featured spots, but I don’t recommend this. Usually your best sellers will be at the top of your product list anyway, so if you feature them as well they’ll be listed twice next to each other.

To select them, go to “My Product Listings” and click “quick edit” on the products you would like to feature. Then, check the box that next to “featured”. (If you already have four featured items and would like to change them, you will need to uncheck the old ones before adding the new ones.)

4) Prep your TpT store for a sale with seasonal products

Which of your products are currently “in season”? What products were your best sellers at this time last year? What sells well for you during back to school season is probably very different than from what sells well right before the Christmas holidays or at the end of the school year.

The products that are most likely to sell during the sale need to have up to date listings, with attractive thumbnails, previews, and video previews. Titles should contain keywords and the first three lines of the description also have keywords and be attractive to buyers.

Some sellers tweak the listings of year-round bundles to match the current season. This could be something to consider too, but if you do make sure you have a plan for remembering to update it later.

5) Optimize your featured testimonials

In 2022 TeachersPayTeachers released a testimonial feature that allows you to select two reviews to prominently feature near the top of your product page. TpT will automatically select two of them, but they many not be the best for that particular resource, so it’s important that you check the manually. Find out more about how to select the best testimonials here.

6) Check your bundle game before the TpT sitewide sale

Bundles sell really well during sales! Before a sale is a great time to evaluate your bundles:

• Check existing bundles and make sure that pricing and listings are up to date
• Look at your existing products. What new bundles could you create? (You can bundle by grade, subject, teaching strategy, season…)
• Don’t be afraid to create a few large, high priced bundles. Even if they don’t sell often, they make big money when they do, so they are still worth the small effort.

7) Optional: Make a “bargain bin” custom category

Create the feeling of an in-person store sale by adding a special sale-only custom category. Everyone likes to browse a discount bin! Give it a fun name and use it to scare up a little interest in products that may not be performing well by increasing the percentage discount on these items.

This isn’t the best choice for everyone, but can work really well if done in the right circumstances. Don’t forget to delete the category when the sale is over!

8) Post a new product

A sale (or right before a sale) is a great time to post a new product. Posting a new product ensures that even your most loyal customers will have something new they can purchase, and gives you better content for email and social media than just the sale itself. You’ll have to experiment with the timing to see what works best for you:

• If you post a few days before, the listing has a chance to show up in search results and some followers might even add it to their wishlist.
• If you post it the night before, it will show up in your followers’ email from TpT just as the sale is starting.

Both strategies have pros and cons. See what works best for you!

9) Use your email list

A few weeks before the sale: Do some extra promotion on your lead magnet. If you’re going to promote the sale you your email list, it makes sense to get as many new people on it as possible.

After TpT’s promotion date:
If you have an email list, now is a great time to send them a little reminder about the sale. Highlight a few products that you think might be the most relevant to them, and don’t forget to remind them of the discount code. Many TPT customers will put items in their wishlists with the intent of coming back to purchase during a sale, so a reminder about those items (especially big ticket ones) can get you some extra revenue.

A short series of emails (2-3) will work more effectively than a single email. Here are some ideas:

• Before the sale: Send an email letting customers know of the sale, and inviting them to prepare their wish list. Suggest a few products that you think they might be interested in.
• Start of sale: Announce that the sale is now on, and highlight your best-sellers for the current season.
• End of Sale: Last chance reminder. Highlight your highest price bundle and the extra savings they’ll get if they buy now.

Tip: Avoid using the word “sale” in your email subject line. This can trigger spam filters.

10) Post to your social media

Facebook and Instagram are great choices for sale-specific posts. Pinterest is much slower moving, so don’t bother putting your sale images here – likely by the time they get traction (if any) the sale will be over. Remember that your followers probably won’t see every post you make, so the best strategy is to do a short series of countdown posts to the sale. Don’t forget to promote your seasonal resources and the discount code!

Tip: A lot of people will be posting about the sale. Use custom images, not the same ones that everyone else is using.

TpT Sitewide Sale Prep Summary & Checklist

By taking a little extra time to make sure your store is ready, you can help make the most of the extra traffic and ready-to-buy attitude that a TpT sale provides.

1. Set your store on sale using the TpT sale tool
2. Do a branding check & add custom banners if desired
3. Update your featured products
4. Update your in-season products
5. Choose the best featured testimonials
6. Update bundles & add new ones
7. Try a “bargain bin” category
8. Post a new product
9. Send emails to your email list
10. Post to social media