Creating a strong and engaging product description is often the difference between a customer making a purchase or moving to another online store. It is an essential aspect of ecommerce and can greatly impact your company’s success.
This guide provides five tips for writing engaging product descriptions to help you stand out from competitors and attract more customers.
#1 Know Your Audience Inside and Out
Before you begin writing, it is crucial to understand your target audience. What do they value? What language do they use? How can you connect with them emotionally? By knowing your audience, you can tailor your product descriptions to resonate with their wants and needs.
Identify Demographics, Interests, and Behaviors
Understanding the demographics of your target audience, such as age, gender, income, and location, is essential. These details can help you create more personalized content and cater to your audience.
Additionally, psychographics, such as their interests and behaviors, can help you determine what motivates them and their pain points. Combined, this information will help you craft product descriptions that speak directly to your customers.
Personify Your Audience
It may be helpful to name and create a persona for your target audience. Develop helpful phrases or names for your typical customer. Something that reminds you of who they are and, when writing, can inform the language you use. The best way to speak to all your customers is to act as though you are speaking to one person.
#2 Highlight the Benefits
While it’s important to outline what a product does, the ‘why’ is what truly resonates with a customer. Customers care less about what a product does and instead just want to know what it solves.
Translate Features to Benefits
Take each product feature and consider its positive impact on the customer. Consider how it will make their lives better or easier. Speak to those things rather than discussing the technology it offers or the service it provides.
Use the FAB Formula ‘Feature – Advantage – Benefit’
FAB is a copywriting formula used in marketing. It stands for “feature, advantage, benefit” and is a great way to write descriptions. First, you start with the feature. Second, explain its advantage over competing products or older models. Third, state how this translates to a tangible advantage for the user.
For example, if you were writing about a new piece of software, you might say something like:
“Because X is updated monthly, you never have to worry about outdated software or paying additional costs for the latest features. This saves you time and money and ensures you’re tapped into the best tools available to get your job done easier.”
#3 Employ Sensory Words
Just because you’re writing a product description doesn’t mean it needs to be boring or straight to the point. Sensory words allow readers to picture the product or what it’s truly like to use it. Product descriptions should tell a story and touch on the five senses whenever possible.
Create an Imaginative Atmosphere
Potential customers read product descriptions because they are interested in them. Your product description should sell them on what their new life would be like with this product in it. If it’s solving a problem, tell them how. If they are missing out by not having this product, let them know that, too.
#4 Optimize for Search Engines
49% of consumers use Google to find new products. If you’re not optimizing your content, even product descriptions, for search engines, you are missing out on traffic and customers. To make your writing more SEO-friendly, follow best practices and stay up to date on any updates Google makes to its algorithm.
Include Relevant Keywords
Start by researching and identifying the keywords and phrases your customers use to find products like yours. Add these strategically throughout your description without overloading the copy with them. Keyword stuffing can detract from the quality of your content and make your product descriptions too prescriptive.
Be Concise and Informative
Your description should be a digestible source of information. Keep it concise, typically aiming for between 150 and 300 words unless the product is complex and requires more in-depth coverage. You want to provide just enough context without overwhelming them with jargon or too much information.
#5 Incorporate Social Proof
90% of customers say they are more likely to purchase a product recommended by another person, even if they don’t know that person. Incorporating multiple forms of social proof can play a huge part in selling success.
Feature Reviews and Testimonials
When a potential customer sees that others have been happy with their purchase, it mitigates their own risk and can be the final nudge needed to make a decision. Highlight these on your product page, or weave them directly into your product descriptions. You can even display reviews pulled directly from your online storefront to show how happy your customers are with your products.
Utilize User-Generated Content
User-generated content, such as photos or videos of your product in action, can provide an honest and real-world view of your product. This serves as proof of satisfaction and a way for customers to envision themselves using it. Encourage users to share their experiences and feature their content alongside your products.
Real World Application
For an example, let’s consider this product description for “Athletic insoles for men over 200 lbs.”
Many writers would write out a product description like this:
About this item
– Designed for men over 200 lbs.
– Provide all-day support and relief
– Heel cushioning surrounds the heel to prevent fatigue
– Durable
– Scientifically designed
Another approach would be to explain the day-to-day change these insoles could create for the wearer.
“Most insoles are expensive and break down easily when used daily. Buying and switching out insoles after just a few weeks is ridiculous and extremely frustrating, especially for bigger men. That’s why we created a new kind of insole. One that provides all-day support for bigger men or those with wide feet.
Our heavy-duty athletic insoles are designed to provide necessary relief and won’t break down after just a few uses.
Imagine less back and knee pain during and after your workouts. The extra supportive heal cushioning ensures precisely that. How do we know? Because we’ve had them scientifically designed by some of the top podiatrists in the world, so they are clinically proven to give you the relief you need exactly when you need it.
Their durability has been tested by our engineers and if you’re not completely satisfied with your purchase, we will buy them back, no questions asked.
With over 4,000 5-star reviews, we can confidently tell you that these will be the last insoles you’ll ever need to purchase.”
See the difference? In the first posting, it listed features and lightly touched on the benefits of the product. In the second, we used customer pain points, sensory words, and social proof, and we gave them a reason to believe that this is the product they’ve been looking for.
Conclusion
Understanding your audience, highlighting benefits over features, engaging the senses, optimizing for search, and incorporating social proof are the cornerstones of a compelling product description. Each word, sentence, and paragraph of your product descriptions should be carefully designed to pull potential customers closer to purchasing.
Doing each of these steps well will ensure that your product descriptions are strong and your sales are even stronger.
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