The product descriptions on your online store help customers decide to make a purchase. Here’s how to write descriptions that point up product’s benefits and persuade customers to buy.
In today’s competitive online shopping landscape, offering a great product doesn’t guarantee you will earn a profit. In fact, according to Etailinsights, there are 7.1 million etailers today. But many aren’t as successful as they could be. If you want to beat the odds and best the competition, you need to ensure your product stands out from the pack.
A good product description is a consumer-focused examination of an item designed to persuade buyers to purchase it. This piece of marketing writing might include the product’s physical attributes, as well as key benefits, purpose, and pricing. Here are some tips for writing stellar product descriptions that will surely sell your wares:
Know Your Buyers
It’s impossible to craft product descriptions that will lure your target audience if you don’t know who comprises this group. Before writing a description, take time to assess your customers’ needs and create one or more buyer personas, or imaginary representations of your ideal customers.
Start by considering the reasons these individuals would want to buy your product. Once you’ve identified the dearth your product fills in their lives, you can craft a description that explains how your item satisfies that need. Additionally, you should specify why a buyer should choose your product over one offered by a competitor. The goal is to create a unique product description for every category of buyers.
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Incentivize Customers to Buy Now
With the average e-commerce business suffering a shopping cart abandonment rate of 68.63 percent, owners can’t afford to let interested customers slip through their fingers. A good product description doesn’t just leave customers feeling intrigued; it incites them to buy the item in question right now.
As an entrepreneur, you can incentivize shoppers by letting them know a deal is special or short lasting. For example, an apparel business might note that a dress is a necessary summer staple or mention that a jacket is only available in limited quantity. Additionally, sellers can motivate buyers to part with their credit card information by suggesting that the current price will soon be rising. Congratulate customers on locating such a great bargain and boost the chances of making the sale.
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Watch Your Tone
The tone of your product description should match the tone of not just the product you’re selling but also the business as a whole. For example, the website of an online toy company will likely feature more whimsical descriptions than a business selling life insurance.
When crafting product descriptions, it’s important to let your writing style convey your tone rather than state it outright. Instead of saying that your company is committed to helping the environment, try mentioning that your product is made using recyclable ingredients. Similarly, it’s better to incorporate humor into your product description than to say you’re a fun-loving company.
Be Specific
If you’re using a template to write your product descriptions, the odds are good that your sales figures are suffering. While strong product descriptions include many of the same elements, savvy marketers tailor their listings based on the unique type of item being sold. For example, descriptions of electronic items tend to require far more technical detail than those selling jeans. When creating your product description, ask yourself what a customer would want (or need) to know before buying the item and make sure your text addresses those concerns.
Here are some of the most common elements included in a product description:
- Creative name
- Dimensions
- Materials
- Features
- Function
- Options
And don’t forget to include one or more attractive photos of your product. Showcase your product in action so potential buyers can imagine themselves using it.
Focus on SEO
Writing a product description that appeals to your target buyer is only half the job; you also need to ensure your descriptions are SEO-friendly so customers can find your business when they search on Google. Start by researching the keywords and phrases your buyer persona utilizes in web searches and then include them in headlines, subheads, meta tags, and of course the description you write. For best results, be selective with the keywords you choose, as you don’t want to create content that reads as “salesy” rather than informative. Additionally, you should avoid jargon unless you’re certain the buyer persona is familiar with the terms.
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Hire a Strong Writer
Just because product descriptions tend to be short doesn’t mean the quality of the writing is unimportant. On the contrary, crafting descriptions that are rife with grammatical errors and awkward phrasing can make buyers think that your product and business are equally flawed. The best descriptions aim to create a picture in the minds of readers by utilizing more verbs than adjectives. Write that a dress has a skirt that blows in the breeze and colors that shine in the sun rather than saying it’s “beautiful.”
