Having great products at affordable prices will help to attract a lot of customers to your ecommerce store. Convincing people to buy your items – however – relies on having detailed product descriptions that will customers love.
The better you connect with the audience, the more effective your copy becomes.
Many ecommerce sellers fall short in this area because they don’t know how to write compelling product descriptions. Follow these 7 tips to make your products more appealing to shoppers that visit your site:
1. Know your target audience and write for them
Unless your brand uses a specific voice for all products, you should cater each item’s description to the people most likely to buy it. For instance, you wouldn’t use the same voice to describe a shaving kit for men and a shaving kit for women.
When writing a product description of a shaving kit for men, you should adopt a masculine tone that uses words men connect to. You might point out that the shaving kit includes beard shampoo, a beard brush, a razor and beard oil imbued with the essence of cedar.
A similar kit for women would focus on healing shaving creams, organic skin conditioners and razors that won’t nick sensitive skin. Adopting a more feminine tone will help you form a stronger connection with women. By doing so, you’ll encourage women to buy the kit.
...cater each item’s description to the people most likely to buy it.
The same philosophy applies to every product. Keep your audience in mind when writing product descriptions. The better you connect with the audience, the more effective your copy becomes.
2. Use evocative words that paint a picture
You have a limited number of words to describe your products. Avoid plain, everyday words in favor of evocative words that paint a picture.
For example, you could describe a hat as a “fitted cap with your favorite team’s logo.” That’s an accurate description but it doesn’t make you picture the hat in your mind. Instead, use a description like “a durable, fitted cap with a logo that tells the world about how much you love your favorite team.”
Avoid plain, everyday words in favor of evocative words that paint a picture.
Suddenly, you have a description that people can imagine. Doing this forces potential buyers to think about what they will feel like while wearing the hat. Once the idea of wearing the hat gets into their heads, you’re halfway to finalizing the sale.
3. Describe the product’s best features
Focus on the best features of your products. When describing a portable coffee mug, you might mention that the mug keeps beverages hot for up to 12 hours, has an insulated exterior that won’t burn hands and includes a top that prevents spills.
For the general description, you don’t have to go too deep into the details. Just write a short description –one-hundred words or so– that summarizes the product’s best features.
4. Provide in-depth information to help buyers choose
Ecommerce stores give consumers a lot of options. Overall that’s great news for shoppers but the wealth of options available can make it difficult for people to decide which product to choose.
Under your general product description, you should provide in-depth information that helps consumers make decisions. Answer questions like:
- How big is the item?
- How much does the item weigh?
- What’s the item’s height and width?
- What material does the product contain?
- Does the item come with any accessories?
The more detail you can give, the easier you make it for shoppers to decide whether they want to buy the item. In the long run, you’ll process fewer returns by giving your customers more details. If you spend a little time on this it will reduce the number of customers that are disappointed when their orders arrive.
5. Explain how the product solves a problem
Every good product solves a problem, right? Essentially, that’s why people buy things. Case in point – people buy art prints to make their walls more attractive, they buy cars so they can reach destinations quickly and so on and so forth.
If you sell flannel shirts, describe how the clothing will keep you warm on chilly days
Don’t assume that every person knows what problem your products solve. Some people may not know that flannel shirts keep cold weather at bay. If you sell flannel shirts, describe how the clothing will keep you warm on chilly days. Additionally, other people may not know that a specific video game helps kids develop problem-solving skills. So, you'd want to emphasis to potential buyers that the game is educational.
6. Use bullet points to make reading quick and easy
More than 63 percent of ecommerce sales take place on smartphones. By 2021, nearly 73 percent of sales will take place on mobile devices.
As people start using mobile devices more often to shop, you need to adapt to the smaller screen size by using bullet points. Even on a large screen, bullet points help shoppers find the information that they need to make purchasing decisions.
How you write product descriptions can affect a person’s buying decision.
You can include bullet points in your descriptions or add them after a paragraph. Don’t worry about sounding repetitive. As long as you include the information that people need, they’ll ignore the extra content.
7. Focus on items that need descriptions
Some items need detailed descriptions more than others. A plain, white T-shirt doesn’t require a long explanation. For everyday items, write short, evocative descriptions that will grab the attention of shoppers and search engines.
Uncommon items, however, need detailed descriptions. A motion-activated nightlight for a toiler (yes, such a thing does exist) deserves an explanation. Without plenty of detail, most your customers might stare at the image and wonder why they’d ever want a creepy, blue light in their toilets.
Search your catalog for uncommon items and give them a little more attention so your customers don’t feel confused.
How you write product descriptions can affect a person’s buying decision. Keep practicing so you can hone your craft and sell more items.
We'd love to hear your tips on writing effective product descriptions. Share your thoughts with us below!