How to Write Product Descriptions that Sell

Ecom Academy
8 min readApr 21, 2021

A product description is a selling copy that describes what a product is and whether it is worthwhile to buy it. A product description provides consumers with valuable details about the product’s functionality and advantages such that they are compelled to purchase.

However, both entrepreneurs and advertisers are sensitive to a typical flaw that occurs when creating product details. Also, skilled copywriters make mistakes from time to time, such as composing product reviews that only explain the goods.

Why is it incorrect? Since great product details would supplement your product pages by marketing your goods to real customers, not only serving as back-of-the-box detail dispensers for search engines (of course, search engine optimization cannot be an afterthought).

Let’s take a look at 9 easy tips to persuade customers to your online shop with compelling product details.

1. Concentrate on the target customer.

When you write a product description with a wide range of customers in mind, the explanations get wishy-washy and you end up approaching no one.

The best product descriptions speak clearly and personally to the target customer. You ask and answer questions as if you were conversing with them. You get to pick the terms that your ideal customer will use. You use the pronoun “you”.

This is how Think Geek begins the product description for an LED Flashlight

🎯 You know what’s sucky about regular flashlights? They only come in two colors: white or that yellowish-white that reminds us of the teeth of an avid coffee drinker. What fun is that kind of flashlight? We’ll answer that: NO FUN AT ALL. You know what is fun? Using the Multi-Color LED Flashlight to cast a sickly green glow over your face while telling a zombie story around a campfire. No campfire? Make a fake one with the orange light!

Begin by imagining the perfect customer while writing your own product details. What kind of humor (if any) does he or she enjoy? What are the words he uses? What vocabulary does he despise? Is he comfortable using terms like sucky and crappy? What questions does he pose to you that you can react to?

Consider how you would approach your potential customer if you were marketing your goods in person to integrate the language into your eCommerce pages so you can have a more in-depth chat online.

2. Generate benefits

We get excited about individual product characteristics and specs as we market our products. We are obsessed with our business, our website, and our goods.

The issue is that our prospective customers aren’t as interested in mundane features and specifications. They want to see what’s in it for them — how it will alleviate their most pressing concerns. That is why you must emphasize the advantages of each element.

This is how Method Home explains one of their hand wash gels.

Method Home claims that the value of their soap is that it not only softens and cleans your hands, but that it also rouses the holiday spirit, rendering the holidays more cheerful and even more pleasant.

Think of the advantages of each of the features. How does your product make your consumers feel happier, healthier, or productive? Whatever issues, flaws, and annoyances do your product assist in resolving?

Don’t just sell a product; sell an experience.

3. Stay apart from yes, yes phrases

When we’re at a loss for words and don’t know what else to say about a product, we always turn to something generic like “high-quality products.”

That is a yes, yes word. When a prospective customer reads “high-quality products”, he thinks, well, yes, of course; everybody says that. Have you ever heard anyone classify the quality of their goods as normal, not-so-good, or even bad?

When a potential customer reads the product page and continues saying yes, yes to themselves, you become less convincing. Be as precise as possible to prevent this reaction. Zappos, for example, doesn’t define the performance of a pair of shoes as outstanding. Rather, they explain each technical detail as well as its benefit.

None of the bullet points above explicitly reference the product’s performance, but each one gives you the sense that it is of high quality. Each point often follows a simple pattern of emphasizing a function and a benefit:

🎯 genuine hand-sewn construction (feature) >> durable comfort (product benefit)

Product specifics boost trust. Product specifics help to market a product. There is no such thing as using too many product descriptions on the product pages. Be as descriptive as possible.

4. Justify your use of superlatives.

Explain your use of superlatives.
Amazon describes that the Kindle Paperwhite is the most advanced e-reader on the market:

The term patented conveys to the reader that this is something unique. Amazon then quotes some statistics to demonstrate that the Paperwhite has better contrast and excellent resolution, as well as a great advantage: Even in bright sunlight, Paperwhite delivers clear, crisp text and images with no glare.

If your product is the greatest, provide clear evidence to prove it. Otherwise, tone down your sales copy or mention a client who insists your product is the best they’ve ever used.

5. Make use of the readers’ imaginations.

Academic research has shown that as people keep an item in their hands, their desire to buy it is greater.

Since you’re selling online, your customers won’t be able to hold your items. Big, vivid images or videos can help, but there’s another copywriting technique to enhance desire: allow your reader to visualize what’s it like to possess your product.

For example, here is how Think Geek utilizes a definition of their product to spark your interest:

🎯 There is a person who is the hero of every BBQ or family cookout and that is the Grill Master. We always looked up to our Mom or Dad as they tended the grill and looked forward to the day when we could be in charge of charring the meat stuff and searing delicious slices of fresh pineapple. Now that we’re adults, it’s finally our turn, and technology has smiled upon us, giving us a tool that is destined to impress.

To put this copywriting strategy into effect, begin a sentence with the word “imagine” and end your sentence (or paragraph) by expressing how your reader will feel if they purchase and use your product.

6. Mini-stories can help you break down logical walls.

Implementing mini-stories into the product pages eliminates the rational obstacles against persuasion tactics. To put it another way, we forget we’re being advertised to.

For example, wine sellers like Laithwaites frequently tell short stories about winemakers.

🎯 The Dauré family own one of the Roussillon’s top properties, the Château de Jau. Around the dinner table one Christmas, they agreed it was time to spread their wings and look to new wine horizons. The womenfolk (Las Niñas) fancied Chile and won out in the end, achieving their dream when they established an estate in the Apalta Valley of Colchagua. The terroir is excellent and close neighbors of the Chilean star Montes winery.

When it comes to sharing a story about your brands, ask yourself:

  • Who creates the product?
  • What sparked the idea for the product?
  • What challenges did you have to conquer to produce the product?
  • How was the product evaluated?

7. Use sensory expressions to seduce

Restaurants have understood for a long time that sensory terms boost sales, since they create more computing power in the brain. Here’s an example of chocolate maker Green and Black.

Green and Black’s sensory adjectives provide not only flavor but also tone and touch: crunchy and smooth.

Adjectives are complicated to remember. They always do not bring sense to the sentences and can be eliminated. Sensory adjectives, on the other hand, are powerful words because they enable your reader to feel your descriptions as they read.

Using vivid product descriptions, you can dazzle your readers. Think about words like velvety, smooth, crisp, and dazzling.

8. Entice with social proof

When the website guests are confused about which product to buy, they search for reviews. They are often persuaded to purchase a product with the highest amount of favorable reviews. There are, however, other ways to integrate social proof into the product pages.

Online furniture retailers Made.com hints at a product’s appeal:

Using a person’s picture in a quote increases its credibility; it also makes an online business more personal and approachable, allowing buyers to contact for answers to their questions.

The prior quote has additional pressure since it portrays the product as iconic. The claim of popularity is enhanced further by a press snap and the term press favorite.

The majority of customers are drawn to purchasing something popular. When it comes to your eCommerce site, spotlight the items that are popular with your customers.

9. Make sure your explanation is scannable.

Is your website’s layout motivating people to read your product descriptions?

Here is an excellent example of a product description from Innocent Drinks.

Product specifications that are displayed in a simple, scannable layout are easy to read and more attractive to buyers.

Here are several tips to remember before creating your own:

  • Use catchy headlines to entice visitors to the website.
  • Use bullet points that are easy to scan;
  • Make use of white spaces;
  • Increase the size of the font to improve readability.

A convincing product description will always compensate for your investment.

Tell stories and describe even the most minor information. Instead of being bland, try to entice the customers with seductive details. Most importantly, compose with excitement, and your love for your brand is spreading.

Get more exclusive content and business tutorials on EcomAcademy blog site.

** Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. If you buy a product or service via this link, it does not increase your costs. On the other hand, it gives you discounts and earns us a small commission which allows us to make detailed reviews like this.

--

--

Ecom Academy
0 Followers

Ecom Academy is a resource and community exists to inspire, educate, and support young entrepreneurs.