All the data I track during Faire Market

I’ve been using Faire as one of my wholesale channels since 2018 and have been participating in Faire Market since the summer of 2020, but only this year did I realize that perhaps not everyone tracks the same amount of data from each event or in the same way that I do.

During this summer’s market, still going on as I write this, I’ve felt prepared and like I knew what to expect (even if it was to be prepared for the unexpected), simply because I could access the stats that were important to me so easily.

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So I thought it might be useful to share what data I currently make note of, in case it’s helpful to any other makers. While I’ve been through about a dozen of these events since they started, I think tracking data can be especially helpful if it’s your first market, to make the next one less intimidating.

Here’s the data I currently track:

1. Show specials: discounts (including Faire’s match) and order minimum tiers

2. Revenue and order number goals: I tend to set this at 10% above my most successful previous Faire market, mostly for curiosity’s sake.

3. Number of orders per day of the market

4. Total number of orders

5. An estimate of how many orders came from what type of outreach (although this can be a little tricky to track accurately since folks usually receive multiple touch points from me)

6. Total number of new accounts, and how many of those new accounts are Direct orders

7. Total revenue, based on the payout amount (so that discounts and fees are removed)

8. AOV: average order value

*Editing this list post-market to add a few more stats I ended up noting this year. It ended up being my most successful market ever, so I wanted to capture a bit more data!

9. Visitors: how many unique visitors to my Faire shop, and how many were new

10. How many visitors per order, and the visitor order rate percentage

11. Marketing order rate percentage estimates (to plan how many emails or dm’s I need to send if aiming for a specific goal number of orders next time)

12. Percent increase from my prior best market, and from the most recent market

I also take notes on the following for each market:

1. When I sent outreach emails

2. How often I send newsletters through my ESP and through Faire

3. Which stockists (or groups of stockists) I send Faire messages to, and on which days of the market

4. Which leads (or groups of leads) I send personal emails to, and on which days of the market

5. Examples of messages and emails I’ve sent, so I’m not starting from scratch each time

6. Any ideas I have for changes or additions to make the next time around

What I no longer track (but could be helpful for you!):

In the past, I also tracked the following data. It’s not as important to me anymore since I now have a better general understanding of these numbers or can access them in other ways, but it was very helpful to see in earlier years:

1. How many orders came in without a discount (as in, they ordered below my lowest discount tier)

2. Subtotal of revenue before discounts and fees are removed

3. Total cost of discounts, fees and Faire commissions

4. Percent cost of discounts/fees/commissions to subtotal

5. Percent increase/decrease of revenue and cost from the previous market

6. Percent of stockists that received email outreach or newsletter(s)

How it’s helped me

This summer, I felt like I knew exactly how much marketing I wanted to accomplish and on which days, because I could see what marketing statistically made a difference last time. It also helped me to stay pretty neutral and focused on what I want to get done based on my own prior markets. I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I left social media was to stop comparing my own business to what others were sharing, and I’m really grateful to actually notice that lack of external comparison this time around.

Sticking with my own numbers, and getting to see the progression of them year after year on a single page in my digital notebook has been immensely helpful. It helps me to set my expectations for the market, and to not be too surprised if I have more or fewer orders on a particular day compared to the prior year (because one thing my data shows is that the pace of the market seems to fluctuate every time, even when I end up around the same place in the end).

While I track this data day-by-day, if you haven’t been doing this yet, I encourage you to make a few notes for yourself while the memory is still fresh! It doesn’t have to be complicated (I’ve simply been adding notes to the same single OneNote page I’ve used since 2020). But it might help you to go into your next market with a clear head and realistic expectations, to focus a little less on external social media comparisons, and remember the little details of what you want to work on the next time around.

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Take care,