How to Create Product Listings that Sell

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Step 1: Write a short, enticing product title 

Step 2: Create and feature excellent product photography 

Step 3: Complete all product detail fields, even if optional 

Step 4: Consider offering free shipping 

Step 5: Write a detailed product description, including details on return policy 

Step 6: Encourage reviews from customers 

You can have the most amazing product in the universe, but if shoppers don’t have basic information about your item when they’re browsing MakerPlace, you’re losing sales. This is especially true for handmade goods, which are often personalized or customized to a shopper’s specifications. 

Your product listing page is the best chance to convince shoppers to buy your product. The Good retail consulting company notes, “shoppers want to be able to see exactly what your product looks like, what it’s made of, the dimensions, what others think of it, and ultimately whether it meets their needs.”  

MakerPlace research has found the same is true, with customers reporting detailed product listings and excellent product photography as among the top components that have given them confidence to make a purchase. 

Let’s get you set up for success. Follow these tips so you can optimize this important page and create the best possible product listings you can. 

Step 1: Write a sharp, clear, enticing product title  

Your title should be clear, descriptive, crisp and brief—not spammy and stuffed with keywords. (You have max 140 characters) 

Do: “Custom Canvas Tote Bag with Embroidered Ironic Sayings” 

Don’t: “Canvas tote bag, tote bags, canvas bags, book bags, purses, embroidery, embroidered, ironic sayings, personalized bag” 

Your product title is also your page title, which, when formatted well, can help boost your SEO and help increase your chances of being found in customer searches. 

A Note About Overusing Keywords 

When it comes to those keywords so many of us love to use, it’s OK to use them — but VERY sparingly and strategically. Use them in your title, once, and toward the beginning of your product listing.  However, keywords are not the single most important thing about your listing.

In fact, overly stuffing keywords in your title, or including a laundry list of them separated by commas in your product description, could harm your SEO.  

Write like a human, to humans, so your product description is easy to read and understand. Channel your enthusiasm and follow the suggestions in the headline template in step 1 and the product description template at Step 5. 

Learn more about optimizing product titles

Step 2: Create and showcase excellent product photography 

We can’t emphasize enough the importance of high-quality product photos! 

• Your primary (first) image should be a clear, centered, well-lit, in-focus, text-free, logo-free, attractive image of only your product on a simple background. 

• Your primary product image should represent the number of items you are selling/what people will receive. 

• Include multiple images (up to 10). Consider taking photos of your product from different angles, front and back, as well as images that show size in scale next to a household object and an image that shows the product in use/in a setting one would use it.   

Get more details and tips for creating outstanding product photography and guidance on uploading videos, too 

Step 3: Fill Out all the Product Detail Fields, Even if It’s Optional 

We highly recommend that you add as much information as possible when building your product listing. In addition to providing answeres to shoppers' questions, this information is also used for assisting with customer search results, so be sure to add every bit of detail you can.

People like information and choice, so be sure to complete all the fields available to you in your seller portal on the product listing page set-up. Details are important – add at least three attributes and as many as you can that make sense for your product. Provide specifics on size, colors, styles, personalization options, and other details product may have. 

In the seller portal, you can select and add detail for the following, depending on your product category: 

Product Details 

• Primary color — Use this if your product only comes in one color. If you want to offer a choice of colors, you can create a Product Variant. 

• Color theme (jewel tones, earth tones)

• Size — Use this if your product only comes in one size. If you want to offer other sizes, you should create a Product Variant instead. 

• Style — Choices vary by category 

• Materials — Choices vary by category and this option is not available for every category 

• Gemstone —  For jewelry category only 

• Occasion (birthday, anniversary, new baby, etc.)

• Holiday (Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc.)

• Who It’s For/Recipient (with the choice to select multiple options)  

Creating Variants on Custom Details:

You can still create custom variants for customers to select via dropdowns in the “Product Variants” section of the listing page build when you create a listing in the portal. You can create up to two variants total, and those will appear at the top of your product listing page. 

Read more about how to add details and variants to your product listings.

Step 4: Consider Offering Free Shipping and Shorter Lead Times

Free shipping and lead times are big factors in getting customers to click both “add to cart” and ultimately “buy.”

MakerPlace data shows that customers who offered free shipping vs those who did had a 78% increase in sales. If you can’t offer free shipping, at least consider offering multiple shipping speeds/price ranges and be sure that your shipping costs are proportionately less than your product price.

Likewise, the less time it takes you to make a product, the more likely a customer will buy it. Here again, MakerPlace data shows a 79% increase in conversion (sales) for makers who offered a 3-day lead time or less vs those who offered more than a three day lead time. Try to tighten up the lead time required to make a product before you ship it as much as possible—or make items in advance as often as you can.

A general rule of thumb: compare your shipping price to your product price. Buyers often walk away if the shipping costs more than 10-20% of your product price. Consider creating bundles of items frequently purchased together or themed items (i.e. a sticker, notepad, and card) to reduce the relative cost of shipping for buyers. Get more tips on setting your shipping prices. 

Step 5: Write a Compelling, Detailed Product Listing Description

Your product description can also have a huge impact on getting a customer to purchase your handmade item. The key to creating complete product listings is to answer as well as anticipate any questions customers may have about your product. Details will help shoppers decide if this is the product for them. And, you need at least three sentences in this field describing what is important for the buyer to know.  At the very least, explain what your product is, how it can be used, what it is made of, what size it is, what colors it is available in, and what product warnings apply.

Use the subheaders provided below as a template for what you write in your Listing Description box to make it easy for your customer to scan the page and find the information they want. Though some of this information is input when you create a product listing, you can elaborate on those details here, which is also good for SEO.  

About the Product

In this introductory paragraph, think about what you would tell a shopper if you were chatting with them in person at a craft fair. Include details such as:

• What your product is 
• Why your product is unique 
• What inspired you to make it
• How customers can use the product, if not obvious  
• What colors it comes in
• What styles/variations it comes in

Handmade Details

Elaborate on details about how your item is made and who made it. 

• Include anything special about how it’s made.

• If you had help, describe specifically who helped make it.

Product dimensions/Apparel Sizes

Include actual measurements or dimensions of your product here, and any helpful references to scale. “About the size of bagel,” for example. 

Spell out your size options. Explain here if your sizes run big or small, and you recommend customers size up or down.  

Product materials

Include specific details on the materials used to make your product. If your necklace was made with sea glass sourced from the southeastern shores of Lake Michigan, for example, note that here. Though you should also select "materials" in the Product Details fields, clarifying details here is especially important if the item is going to make skin contact with the buyer or gift recipient.  

Lead time

Reiterate and clarify lead time. If it takes you 3 weeks to custom knit the sweater be sure to note that here.

Product warnings

If your product requires any legal labels or warnings, you are required to include them in your product description per our seller agreement.  

Makes a Great Gift For

Briefly note what sort of person the item is best for and why your recipient will love it. You can mention specific holidays such as Mother’s Day, life occasions such as first-time mom, someone starting a new job, a housewarming, or include personas such as food-lovers, art enthusiasts, or musicians. Being specific can makes it fun and engaging: “Perfect for the office supply obsessed.”  

Personalization available

It's helpful to clarify any personalization you offer. If you need the buyer to fill out personalization details, be sure to make providing personalization details mandatory in your product listing setup so the buyer provides the details you need for personalization.

Template example:  

What can be personalized: 

Ornament with family last name 

What to provide for personalization:

Family last name, styled as such: The [Last Name] Family 

Care/washing/cleaning instructions

If applicable, include this information. For example, if you’re selling a beautiful cutting board, briefly explain the care and what solutions to use. 

Return/Exchange Policy

Though this is also communicated near the top of your product detail page. Since you can set a return policy for specific products, you may want to clarify in the product description what your policy is, especially if the item is personalized. Learn how returns work at MakerPlace.

Additional tips

• Write in a friendly, approachable, human, voice but don’t be overly familiar or use crude slang 
• Write as if you’re talking to a friend and trying to explain what makes your product fantastic. 
• Focus on the benefits of your product, and why people should buy it 
• Consider what your customer’s pain points might be and how your product can help solve that problem 
• Strategically pepper in keywords to help with organic search traffic. This does NOT mean to include a laundry list of keywords at the end of the product description. 

Step 6: Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews

Reviews help boost buyer confidence to make a purchase and they are good for SEO of your product listing. Though you can’t control what sort of review you’ll get or if you’ll get them, you can encourage your customers to write reviews.  

Send a follow-up message in the MakerPlace portal to your customer thanking them for the purchase, and encourage them to leave you a review if they had a great experience. They will likely want to help you succeed.  

Tip: If your product page is active and you have inventory, you can provide your customer with the url in the message portal to the product page to prompt the review. The link won't be live in the message portal, but encourage your customer to copy and paste it into a browers to get to the product page to leave the review.

If you follow these steps—especially our recommendations for headline writing and the template in the product description section—you will have the tools you need to provide customers with the information they crave. And that can increase your chances of making a sale.

Next step: rinse and repeat on all of your listings. Happy selling! 

Did You Know?

Writing a compelling store description and maker profile can help connect with customers. Get tips on beefing up your bio.