10 Ways to Write Compelling Product Descriptions (2023) (2023)

Most product descriptions are terrible.

Because who actually reads the texts on your product pages? There are so many other things you can do on a websiteConversion Rate Optimizationthat a product description can't really influence sales, right?

Mistake. In fact, evidence from a study on e-commerce conducted byGrupo Nielsen Normanshows that 20% of failed purchases are due to missing relevant information in product descriptions.

Ecommerce BusinessOwners and merchants are prone to acommon typos(Even professional copywriters do this sometimes): Write product descriptions that simply describe your products.

why is it wrong Because great product descriptions should power your product pages by selling your products to real people, not just acting as pre-configured information providers for search engines (although SEO can't be an afterthought, of course).

Let's take a look at how to write a product description to convince visitors of yoursOnline-Shopcompare

What is a product description?

A product description is marketing text that explains what a product is and why it's worth buying. The purpose of a product description is to provide customers with important information about the product's features and key benefits, so that they feel compelled to make a purchase.

A well-crafted product description guides buyers through yoursconversion funnel. Adding a little creativity will instantly make your product pages more attractive, leading to more conversions from casual buyers.

To be successful in writing your product description, you need to answer the questions customers have about your products:

• What problems does your product solve?
• What do customers think of your product?
• What makes you better than the competition?

A product description should answer these questions in a fun and engaging way.

How to write descriptions of products that sell

Online-ShopsThey often make the mistake of listing product features when writing product descriptions. This is likely to result in lower conversions as people don't understand how the product is helping them.

Let's see how to create perfect product descriptions that sell for you:

1. Focus on your ideal buyer
2. seduce with benefits
3. Avoid "yes, yes" phrases
4. justify with superlatives
5. Stimulate the imagination of your readers
6. Break down rational barriers with mini stories
7. Seduce with sensual words
8. Proof with social proof
9. Make your description scannable
10. Set goals and KPIs

1. Focus on your ideal buyer

To understand how to write product descriptions, you need to put yourself in your audience's shoes. When you write a product description for a large crowd of buyers, your descriptions get boring and you end up reaching out to nobody.

The best product descriptions address your target group directly and personally. They ask and answer questions as if you were talking to them. You choose the words your ideal buyer uses. You use the word "you".

So the dealerhateStart the product description for your I Love Plants Oodie with the first of our product description examples.

🎯Can't stop buying plants? Unbelievable. Don't worry, so do we! Cover yourself in your favorite obsession in our NEW I Love Plants Oodie! For every I Love Plants Oodie sold, a tree is planted across Australia.

When it comes time to write product descriptions for your own ecommerce business, start by imagining your ideal buyer. What kind of humor do you like (if any)? What words do they use? Are there certain words you hate? Do you agree with words like "suck" and "crappy"? What questions are they asking you to answer?

Think about how you would talk to your ideal buyer if you were selling your product face-to-face in-store. Now try to incorporate this language into your ecommerce site so you can have a similar conversation online that resonates deeper.

2. Seduce with advantages

When we sell our own products, we appreciate the features and specifications of each product. We live and breathe our company, our website and our products.

The problem is that our potential buyers aren't all that interested in everyday features and specs. They want to know what's in it for them, how to address their biggest pain points. Successful execution of writing a product description requires you to highlight the benefits of each feature and go beyondcognitive bias.

A great example of a product description comes fromDr. Squatch.

🎯Made with real pine extract, this star bar is as tough as a freshly cut bat. A true MVP for the shower, this heavy hitter blasts away dirt with its grainy composition and ultra-masculine woody scent. Add in exfoliating oatmeal and super-soothing shea butter and you have a blend of natural ingredients that eliminate bad odors.

Squatch suggests that the benefit of their soap isn't just that it gets you clean in the shower, but that the soap is strong enough to remove bad smells. No matter how busy your day was. It also includes a few product benefits, including "natural ingredients" and "oatmeal scrub" to appeal to your ideal shopper persona.

Consider the utility of each of your features. How does your product make your customers feel happier, healthier, or more productive? What problems, failures and annoyances does your product help to solve?

Don't just sell a product, sell an experience.

3. Avoid "yes, yes" phrases

When we run out of words and don't know what else to add to our product description, we usually add something cheesy like "excellent product quality."

That's a "yes, yes" sentence. As soon as a potential buyer reads "excellent product quality," they think, "Yes, yes, of course. That's what everyone says." Have you ever heard someone describe the quality of their product as average, not so good, or even bad?

You become less persuasive when potential buyers read your product description and start saying "yes, yes." To avoid this reaction, be as specific as possible.

In a recent study, a shopper couldn't find the information they needed in the product description, so they turned the website over to Google to get more information about the product. During his search, he found another website with the same product, a more complete description, and a lower price.

Bartmarke, for example, does not describe the quality of its balm as excellent. Instead, they describe every detail and its usefulness.

🎯Whatever your style, Beardbrand Styling Balm is versatile enough to handle it. Designed to work with all hair types, it offers just enough hold to keep thick, curly hair under control, prevent finer hairs from falling out and keep unruly beards at bay, while leaving hair sleek and touchable (without Hardness). , stiff strands, crispy hair here). This product does everything to maintain your look throughout the day. Whatever your style, wear it with confidence with Beardbrand Styling Balm.

Product details increase credibility. Product Details Sell your product. You can never include too much technical detail in your product descriptions. Be specific.

4. Justify the use of superlatives

Superlatives sound wrong in a product description unless you can make it clear why your product is the best, simplest, or most advanced.

Amazon explains why the Kindle Paperwhite is the world's thinnest and lightest e-reader.

The word signature gives the reader the impression that something special is involved. Amazon continues to cite the pixel density (300ppi) and how the reader has an anti-glare display and twice the storage of previous generations.

If your product is truly the best in its category, please provide concrete evidence as to why. If not, soften your product's copy or quote a customer who says your product is the most wonderful product they've ever used.

5. Appeal to the imagination of your readers

ScientificSeekHe showed that when people hold a product in their hands, the desire to own it increases.

You aresell things online, so visitors to your website can't keep your products. Big, sharp photos or videos can help, but there's also a writing trick to increase desire: Have your reader imagine what it would be like to own your product.

Watch the Firebox capture your imagination with a descriptionFizzic's eraser. Show how the product solves the common problems of drinking beer in the pub.

To practice this writing technique, start a sentence with the word "Imagine" and end your sentence (or paragraph) by explaining how your reader will feel about owning and using your product.

6. Break down rational barriers with mini-stories

Including short stories in your product descriptions lowers rational barriers against itpersuasion techniques. In other words, we forget that we are being sold.

Wine sellers like the ones in BritainLaithwaitesThey often contain short stories about winemakers.

🎯The Dauré family owns one of Roussillon's leading wineries, the Château de Jau. One Christmas at the dinner table, they agreed it was time to spread our wings and explore new horizons of wine. The women (Las Niñas) liked Chile and in the end they won and realized their dream of building an estate in Colchagua's Apalta Valley. The terroir is superb, bordering on the Chilean Star Montes.

When it comes to using the product description to tell a story about your products, ask yourself:

• Who makes the product?
• What inspired the development of the product?
• What hurdles did you have to overcome to develop the product?
• How was the product tested?

7. Seduce with sensual words

Restaurants have known this for a long time:Words of meaning increase salesbecause they require more brain processing power. Here's a great example of a chocolate manufacturer's product description.green and black.

Green & Black's sensory adjectives refer not only to taste, but also to sound and touch: "crisp" and "soft".

Adjectives are magic words. They often add no meaning to your sentences and are best removed. However, sensory adjectives are power words because they allow the reader to experience the product text while reading.

Impress your readers with clear product descriptions. Think of words like "soft," "mild," "crunchy," and "bright" when selling groceries.

8. Prove it with social proof

When your website visitors aren't sure which product to buy, they look for suggested purchases. They are often led to buy a product with the most positive reviews and testimonials.

A sportswear sellerShark in the gym, contains customer reviews on each product page. It also displays a rating system to help buyers learn about the product quickly and easily.

Try to include a picture of the customer to add credibility to an offer. It also makes your online business more accessible and identifiable. You can even embed a social media feed full of user-generated content that features real people sharing success stories of using your products.

The above quote has an added impact as it describes the product as popular. The popularity claim is underpinned by a press clipping and the addition "press favorite".

Most buyers are drawn to something that is popular. When it comes to youE-Commerce-Website, highlight products that are customer favorites.

9. Make your description scannable

Does your web design encourage visitors to read your product descriptions?

Here is a great product description example fromteapot and fire. The brand uses markers to quickly and scannably communicate the benefits of the product. Also, the default title "Benefits" will be replaced with "Why You'll Love It".personalize the experiencefor buyers on the product page.

Wrapping your product descriptions in a clear, scannable layout makes them easier to read and more attractive to potential customers.

Leaving buyers' questions unanswered can derail a sale or, worse, cause buyers to abandon not only the purchase but the site as well.

Here are some areas to focus on when designing:

• Engage your web visitor with headlines.
• Use easy-to-scan markers.
• Contains a lot of white space.
• Increase the font size to improve readability.
• Use high-quality product images.

10. Set goals and KPIs

The purpose of a product description is to persuade the buyer to make a purchase. But how do you know if your descriptions work or not?

You should decide on a set of metrics that you want to track on your product pages. Defining these metrics will help you understand which product descriptions are performing best and improve underperforming ones.

Common KPIsMonitor include:

• Exchange rate
• Abandonment of the shopping cart
• yield
• support requests
• Organic Search Rankings

Then you can walk differentlyA/B worthywith a tool likeTrident AB, resulting in higher conversions and more sales for youE-Commerce-Website.

Create your product description template

Unfortunately, there is no template that can write product descriptions for you. Every product and every target group is different and has different purchase triggers. And that's fine, because you want your product descriptions to be unique to your brand.

If you don't know how to write a product description, here are some pointers that can help you create a product description template that works for your products and business.

First answer the following questions:

• Who is the ideal customer?Knowing who your product is intended for is key to writing a good description.

• What are the basic characteristics of your products?Write down all measurements, materials, features, care instructions, and fit details (if selling clothing).

• When is the product best used?Is your cozy blanket perfect for those cold winter nights with a cup of hot cocoa by the fireplace? Or is it more of an autumn night as the sun goes down? Highlight ideal scenarios in which a customer should use your product.

• What makes your product special?Think about your product's unique benefits and why it's better than the competition.

Once you have this information in one document, use the template below to write your product description.

• Write a specific headline that will grab the attention of your target customers.Keep your ideas simple while presenting an immediate product benefit. For example, if you sell a yoga shirt with a pattern, name it Fleck Studio T-Shirt.

• write a short paragraphbased on the basic functions and frequently used information above. Check out the examples above for inspiration to write a fun description.

• Add a bulleted listProduct Features and Benefits. Add the necessary technical details.

• add social proof. You can use oneCustomer Reviews Appto collect product reviews on your website and to embed reviews from third party websites such as search engines or Facebook.

You can now add a product (or change an existing one) to your online store!

A convincing product description always pays off.

As you prepare to write compelling product descriptions for your online store, remember:

• Share your knowledge about your product.
• Tell stories and explain every little detail.
• Try not to be boring and instead delight your web visitors with engaging descriptions.
• Above all, write with enthusiasm, because your passion for your products is contagious.

Illustration von Eugenia Mello