Key takeaways:
Your business exists because of your products and customers. How you go about selling those products makes a big impact on the number of customers you get and retain. A lot goes into sales and marketing to ensure people know about you and know the benefits of what you’re selling them. An element you shouldn’t overlook is the product description.
Many businesses believe that product descriptions simply lay out the basic details and stop there. But these descriptions can actually be significant components of your marketing strategy.
This guide will cover what this small amount of text can – and should – do for you, as well as how to write product descriptions that sell.
Buyers shopping online, whether on Amazon, Shopify, or any of a million other ecommerce sites, need the option to review product descriptions when they’re considering making a purchase. They may want to know more about product specifications, use cases, and other details that such descriptions typically provide.
Product descriptions should describe your products, but they can also go deeper and make connections with an audience. They should go beyond providing technical information and make the product sound enticing to specific people.
There are all kinds of products out there. Some are more self-explanatory, like a pair of shoes, so the image alone provides a lot about who the product is for and what it does. These descriptions may be short and to the point, whereas a description about more complex products, like a smart speaker, requires additional details.
After reading a product description, customers should know all the features of the item as well as the benefits of buying it. You can use this touchpoint with them to your advantage by writing descriptions that engage and excite them.
There are some best practices when you start writing your descriptions. Follow these tips to boost your connections and increase the likelihood of a purchase:
Know your buyers
You won’t get very far with an enticing description unless you know who will be reading it. Create a buyer persona for each product so you know their expectations, goals, and relevant emotions.
If someone is shopping online for a new laptop, they’re probably going to be more concerned with the tech specs since they already know what a computer does and most brands are pretty recognizable in that space. However, if it’s a product that not everyone would be super familiar with in your audience, you need to start with the basics and talk about why it’s necessary.
Understanding your audience helps you write for actual people. Pretend you’re having a conversation.
Be clear
Product descriptions aren’t places to be mysterious. People want details about what the product does, what it’s used for, who uses it, and everything else about its intended purpose. Be clear when describing this information. If someone doesn’t understand something, they’ll likely move on to a competitor.
Consider questions people may have
Think about what people will want to know about this product. Go beyond giving the dimensions or weight, and consider what you yourself would want to know about it. Write down a few potential questions to get you started and provide detailed answers in your description. There should be no questions left after someone reads the text.
Emphasize the value
Your product descriptions should stress the importance of the item’s impressive features and benefits. People need to feel motivated to purchase something, and you can foster that motivation in a few words.
Go beyond listing features, too. What about that feature will improve people’s lives? Why was a certain material used over another? What are the actual benefits of this product that make it different from others on the market? What problem does this product solve?
Emphasize why someone would be crazy not to buy this product. Customers will be more motivated to buy when the value to them is very clear.
Use your brand voice
Your tone will depend on the item and your audience, but don’t be afraid to incorporate your brand voice into your product descriptions. When you’re consistent across your channels and even with your products, people will trust you and enjoy the satisfaction of that consistency. If your brand voice is typically fun and trendy, for example, use that same language in your product descriptions.
Incorporate SEO
The words you use in your descriptions matter. When people search for products on ecommerce sites, keywords help them find what they’re looking for. Shopify, for instance, suggests placing keywords in your page titles, meta descriptions, ALT tags, and body content to improve your SEO. But just remember to use them in natural, readable ways, since search engine algorithms can tell if you’re keyword stuffing.
Break up long text
Product descriptions shouldn’t be novels, but there sometimes really are a lot of details you need to cover. People may want to scan the descriptions, especially when they’re still comparing options, so make it easy for them to grasp the benefits with more readable content. When you’re dealing with really long text, make sure to break it up. Use short paragraphs and incorporate bullet points.
Your online content is a crucial component of your marketing strategy, and that includes your product descriptions. When you need a little help generating amazing content, ContentBacon is here to help.
We know how to take your brand voice and goals and translate them into content that engages your audience and motivates them to convert.
Get in touch with the ContentBacon team to discuss your needs or check out more information about our content subscription packages.