EP 11. How to Create an Etsy Listing That Makes Sales | The 3S Listing Framework You Need To Know

If you have listings that aren't making sales and you don't know why, this episode is for you. Today I'm introducing the 3S Listing Framework — the framework I use to build every listing in my shop and the one I come back to every time a listing isn't performing the way it should.

Every Etsy listing has three jobs. It needs to Show Up in search, Stop the Scroll, and Secure the Sale. When all three are working together, that listing makes you money. When even one breaks down, what you have is a dead end listing — a buyer hitting a wall somewhere in their journey and turning around to find another one.

In this episode I break down each of the three jobs, explain what drives each one, and share how the 3S Listing Framework works both as a building guide for new listings and a diagnostic tool for listings that aren't performing. I also introduce the Listing Loop — the reason why all three jobs have to work together and why you can't just focus on one and ignore the others.

This is the first episode in a four part series. Over the next three weeks I'm going deep on each S individually so that by the end you have everything you need to create listings that convert into sales over and over again.

Mentioned In This Episode: THREE LISTING AUDIT
I personally review three of your Etsy listings and give you a written breakdown plus a short video walkthrough covering all three S's. What's working, what isn't, and exactly what I would change. $27. — melissacarroll.co/audit 

Follow the show: 🎙️ Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Spotify

Have a question for What You're Wondering? Submit it to melissacarroll.co/question

Find me online: Website: melissacarroll.co Instagram: @TheModernEtsySeller

Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it helps other sellers find the show and means the world to me.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hey there, and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy. I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life. Here you'll find simple strategies to breel behind-the-scenes insight and the clarity you need to stop second-guessing and start moving forward. One intentional step at a time. Let's get to it. If you have listings that have been sitting there and not selling and you don't know why, or if you are wondering how to create a listing from the beginning so that it has the best chance of making consistent sales, then you are going to want to listen to this episode. Because today we are going to talk about the three separate jobs that every listing must do in order to make you money. Let's get into it. So, no matter what you sell, whether it be print-on-demand products, digital products, or homemade products, each listing you create must do three things to turn a random person on the internet into a customer. If even one job is not getting done, then what you have created is what I refer to as a dead-end listing. A buyer is hitting a dead end somewhere on their journey with your listing and they are turning around to find another one. I want to walk you through a framework that I use to create every listing and to diagnose a listing that isn't performing. And you're going to notice that I love a framework or a method or a visual organizer or any kind of tool really that makes understanding something easier. I love to use them and create them and teach with them because I think it's a very effective way to take either a lot of information or a complex concept and make it easier to consume, understand, and apply. They allow you to take like a big idea and break it into smaller, structured parts that make sense. So the framework I want to introduce you to today, I call the 3S listing framework. The three S's are the three jobs that your listing has to do if it's going to make sales consistently. The first thing every listing needs to do is show up in the search. That's the first S. The next thing it needs to do is stop the scroll. So that's the second S. And the last thing it needs to do, the third S, is secure the sale. Okay, so let me repeat that actually. Every listing needs to show up in search, stop the scroll, and secure the sale. When you build a listing from having an idea all the way to hitting publish on Etsy, there are a lot of details that you will be inputting into that listing. Things like the title and the images and the price and the category and so many other things. Lots and lots of things. Each of those details together form a picture of what your product is. And each individual detail supports one or more of those three jobs. So let's break down each of those three jobs, what they actually mean, and which parts of your listing are responsible for doing them. So let's start with the first job, showing up in the search. Because before somebody can buy your product, before they can favorite it or click into it, they have to find you. And this is where a lot of listings hit their first dead end. They're not showing up in the search. You can have an amazing product, something that people will want. But if Etsy doesn't understand what you're selling and who to show it to, your listing will be very difficult to find. And a listing that nobody finds never gets a chance to do anything else. Showing up is primarily about your SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and you have probably heard of it before. But simply put, it is using the words and phrases that people are actually searching for within your listing. That's it. The more your listing speaks the language of your buyer, the words that they type into the search bar, the better your chances of showing up in front of them. So the parts of your listing that are the main drivers of showing up are your title, your tags, your category, and your attributes. These are your primary signals to Etsy. Your listing description and your main photo, along with a few things outside of the listing, play a smaller supporting role here too, but they can help. So over the next three weeks, I'm going to go deep into each S in this framework. I had thought about doing one long episode, but I really think the shorter ones are easier to digest. But honestly, let me know your thoughts. Do you prefer shorter or longer episodes? You can email me at Melissa at melissacarol.co. I would actually be really interested in hearing what you thought. Um, but I decided against it. So next week, episode 13 is going to be all about what you need to do to ensure you are showing up in the right searches so that the second S, which we're going to talk about here in a second, can begin working. So let's get into job number two. Once your listing shows up in the search, it immediately moves into job number two, which is stop the scroll. Because showing up isn't enough. Your listing is now sitting beside dozens of other listings that are competing for attention. And buyers are making very fast decisions as they scroll. They are not carefully analyzing every option in most cases. They're scanning through all the listings that have shown up. So your listing has to visually communicate enough interest, relevance, or curiosity to make somebody stop and click. This is where your main photo becomes incredibly important. That main thumbnail is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. It needs to catch attention, quickly communicate what the product is, and help the right buyer immediately feel like, oh, this might be for me. The listing has to visually connect with that person it's meant for. Also, really important in stopping the scroll is your actual product itself, along with the design you put on it. The product has to be something people want and the design has to feel relevant to the buyer. If you choose to create text-based designs, that's what I do, then it has to be clearly visible and invoke emotion. Playing supporting roles here in job number two are the other things that buyers can see directly in the search. So that would be the first few words of your title, the video if you have one, which I recommend you do, and your price, plus your reviews. But reviews are not something you fully control, so they are not something I want you stressing over right now. All of those things work together to either grab attention or create a dead end. When you are stopping the scroll, you will see it in your visits, in your favorites, and in the traffic sources. The numbers will tell you that people are stopping and clicking into your listing. So a full stop the scroll episode will air in two weeks, or it's episode 15 if you're listening after this one airs. And we will do a much deeper dive then into exactly how to create listings that stop the scroll and earn the click. Now let's talk about the third and final job, which is securing the sale. Because getting found and getting clicked still do not guarantee a sale. At this point now, the buyer is inside your listing and they are looking for reasons to feel confident enough to buy or reasons to leave. This is where your listing has to answer questions, reduce hesitation, and build enough trust that the buyer feels confident clicking add to cart. This is where all your other images become important. In stop the scroll, your main image was trying to earn the click. Inside your listing, your additional images are going to help answer questions and show details and demonstrate quality, help the buyers imagine owning or gifting the product. Your description plays a role here too, and so does your pricing, your processing time, your shipping information, your personalization instructions if you have it, and sometimes even details throughout your overall shop. All of those things work together to either build confidence or create hesitation. And hesitation often turns into, you guessed it, I'm sure, a dead end. We will talk much more about securing the sale, everything that happens after the click, and exactly what your listing needs to do to turn views and visits into purchases in episode 17. Now, there's one more thing. There's something really important I want you to understand about how these three jobs connect. They are not separate, they feed each other. Etsy is watching what happens after a buyer finds your listing. If people click and buy, your listing gives positive signals that can help it show up more in search. The number of times I get back-to-back sales of the same item is really telling here. On the other hand, if people click and leave without buying, that can signal to Etsy that your listing is not delivering what buyers are expecting, which means listings that convert well often get shown more. And getting shown more creates more opportunities to convert. And that is the listing loop. And it's why you cannot just focus on one job and ignore the others. A listing that shows up but doesn't stop the scroll never gets the click. A listing that gets the click but doesn't secure the sale can actually hurt its own ability to get shown more over time. All three jobs have to work together. Now I want to remind you of something before we wrap up. You can use this framework in two ways. If you are building a new listing, use it as your guide. Think through all three jobs as you build. Make sure every detail you add is supporting at least one of them. And if you have listings that are sitting there and not selling and you don't know why, this is where you can start. Look at your listing through the lens of this framework and the three jobs your listing needs to do. Look at them one job at a time. Because one of those jobs, or possibly more than one, is creating a dead end somewhere. And you need to figure out where it's breaking down because you don't need to fix everything. You need to fix the right thing. And the 3S framework helps you determine exactly where to start. Over the next three weeks, as I said earlier, I'm going to go deeper into each one of these. And at the end of this series, you should be able to create listings that convert into sales over and over again. But I also wanted to share that I offer a three listing audit. So if you have listings that aren't performing and you're not sure which job is broken and you don't feel confident in figuring it out, I can look at them for you. With this listing audit, I personally review three of your listings, three listings of your choice, and give you a written breakdown plus a short video walkthrough covering all three S's. I'll let you know what's working, what isn't, and exactly what I would change. And the cost of this is $27. If you're interested, the link will be in the show notes, or you can go to melissacarroll.co slash audit. In the meantime, make sure you're following the podcast on your favorite platform so you don't miss a single episode. And thanks for joining me today. I'll see you next time.