Words of making: how craft and industrial emphases impact market appeal in digital platforms

Abstract As traditionally offline sellers use digital platforms to reach global consumers, online narratives become central to market appeal. Yet digital markets require sellers to address both domain-based expectations, such as tradition and attention to detail, and platform-based expectations of efficiency and scalability. Using Etsy as a research site and drawing on the social constructionist view of craft and Language Expectancy Theory, we examine how the intensity of craft cues, reflecting the craft domain, and industrial cues, reflecting platform characteristics, impact market appeal. Analyzing 17,480 Etsy seller narratives, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship: craft and industrial cue emphasis increase appeal up to a point, after which additional emphasis reduces it. These findings extend research on craft narratives and platform-mediated activities by showing that market appeal depends on cue emphasis: sellers benefit neither from overemphasizing craft cues nor from avoiding industrial cues, offering guidance for craft producers seeking online visibility.