How to Write Effective E-Commerce Product Descriptions
Remember the last time you purchased a product on an e-commerce portal? What was that single most crucial aspect that caught your eye and immensely assisted you in making that purchase decision? Generally, the product description is carefully crafted by the website’s team.
A well-crafted e-commerce product description vividly and succinctly explains, what a product does, and why someone should buy it. It aids users in imagining themselves using the product. As a seller, one needs to find those words/phrases that influence the customers and then use them judiciously. Here are ten tips for writing compelling product descriptions that augment sales.
1. Think: ‘What is in it for the Customer?’
In addition to describing the actual product, your product description should also convey to the customer how the product can help solve their problem. The potential customer always asks, “What’s in it for him?” Center your writing on a solution your brand could provide. For illustrative purposes, let us take an example of a product description for a pair of shoes manufactured by a renowned shoe company.
You see how each description line not just describes the ‘product feature’ but also indicates the ‘benefit to the consumer.’ Some of them are shown below here:
|
Product Feature |
The benefit to the Consumer |
|
Stain and Water-resistant material |
… making it durable and long-lasting wear |
|
3600 Lacing system |
…ensuring a secure and dependable fit. |
|
Molded EVA cushion Midsole |
…providing all-day-long comfort. |
2. Optimize Descriptions for Search Engines
Practically all your content should be optimized for search engines. This also holds for your product descriptions. So, be sure to identify keywords (and variations of the keyword) that your target audience will most likely search for. Include these in your copy (in particular, in the product titles). You can, for example, also include it in your page titles, meta descriptions, and ALT tags. While you will probably not end up as the first search result, this extra effort will help your target audience find your products online much more accessible.
To assist with keywords, there are a couple of paid SEO tools that one could use. However, if you are facing budget constraints, Google keyword planner is an excellent place to start. First of all, it is free! And secondly, you can tap into a vast data pool to boost your SEO. You could also deploy it to track and analyze data on the traffic on your website. Alternatively, you could look at paid tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, and WooRank.
3. Include Social Proof
The beauty of social proof is that it motivates your target audience to take action by showing them that other consumers have already taken those actions. Consumers like to buy popular products. So, in addition to including reviews about your products, you can also identify which products are your top sellers or customer favorite. Perhaps one of your products has been mentioned in the press? This is something that you can include in a product description. Also, social proof can come in handy when customer needs a little push to convince themselves to buy the product.
Naked Wines offers an excellent example of incorporating social proof into your product description. They mention that 96% of 2481 customers would repurchase a particular wine.
https://www.nakedwines.com/wines/benjamin-darnault-picpoul-de-pinet-2021.htm
4. Avoid Cliches and Jargon
Writing a good product description relies on it being easy to understand. Do not use jargon that your average shopper will not understand, as it increases the possibility that they will get frustrated and leave. At the same time, if you are removing Jargon from your copy, make sure to delete all the cliches. Such cliches have zero impact on the end-user and their decision to buy your product. It is advisable for you to be original and use words and phrases not used a million times already by other websites.
5. Be Specific
Generic phrases that people have seen a thousand times have no effect, and you might be better off leaving a blank space on the webpage in terms of impact on the consumer. E.g., instead of saying “Excellent Product Quality,” talk more in detail about the materials used, the product’s processing, the number of skills required for making it, etc. These are some of the things your customers will relate to and care about.
6. Tell A Story
Every superhero has a great origin story. It helps the audience connect with the character. “What is the origin story of your brand?”, “What motivated your brand to create the product you’re writing about?” If the answers to these questions are important to you, they will also be necessary to your customer. A good story breaks barriers and assists you in emotionally connecting with your customer, which seamlessly cascades into augmented conversions and sales. One could share personal stories of customers benefiting from the use of your products.
Let us consider the example of a simple 4Lb axe that commands different prices based on its story’s quality.
https://talkoot.com/blog/dtc-brands-and-product-information-systems
7. Visuals Matter
Though the text is essential, there is only so much you can do with words and information. Have some beautiful product images to go along with your text description. Visuals can be handy for showing off features and how to use your product. Ideas help catch the eye of the user who is in hurry and scanning through the internet pages. You can also make a small video of your product and its usage to help consumers imagine how they will use it.
For example, Vitamix, a brand that sells professional-grade blenders, uses quality images and videos on its product pages to help make the sale.
Without a compelling and captivating product description, it will not matter how great your product is. Writing a good product description, though time-consuming, is relatively easy. Do a little research, improve your writing skills and integrate the above tips to see exponential growth in your website’s performance vis-à-vis sales and revenue.
