Product Description
In the e-commerce world, your product page is what tells your customers as to WHY they need your product. Since they can’t touch or feel the product, they rely on the photographs & product description to give them the idea of how it feels, what problem does it solve & why it’s different from other products in the market.
Check out the training on adding products to your store
As shoppers rely on a combination of their imagination, image of products and description to enhance the feeling of owning the product, the more powerful the feeling, the more likely are the chances of them purchasing it.
Therefore, you can imagine product description as an art of exceptional storytelling using journalism and prose writing. In order to craft a compelling product description, start by answering the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of the story.
+ Who is the product for? Women or Men or both? What’s their age group? Kids, Teens, Grown ups, retirees? What is their lifestyle demographics? Sports enthusiasts, new moms, dog moms? Anything else that defines them?
+ What are the basic details of the product? It’s attributes such as dimensions, material, features, functions and more?
+ Where would the product be used? Indoors or Outdoors? Car or Office? Home or Garage?
+ When would the product be used? Is it a seasonal thing or all year round? Do you use it at night or during the day? Does it have a short shelf life or a large one?
+ Why is your product different/better than your competitors or the ones available on-the-shelf in retail store? Focus on the values and features of the product.
+ How does the product work? Does it require anything extra like an add-on? Not all products need to have this point but if it’s an electronic device then this point is a must.
Once you have all the above mentioned information, you can focus on formatting them in a way that is —
It’s easy to read on the website
Does not confuse the shopper or bore them to pass and check out another supplier.
To make this happen, it’s a good idea to have the information listed in bullet points that covers all the main aspects of the product. Having said that, bullet points don’t tell tales too well. They look cold and makes the shopper think that you lack emotions and imagination. Even though they are good to glance, they don’t form a connection with the customer. Therefore you need a mixture of both.
Storytelling can be best done in form of short, fun and quirky paragraphs. Before you start writing the next description, ask yourself - If you were at a party telling someone about your brand and your products, how would you describe it to them? What would you say that would make them believe that you have an amazing product and they have to have it right now?
Here’s a formula that would help you write and express your product description better -
[Paragraph(s) of Prose] + [Bulleted List of Specs or Features] = [Engaging Product Description]
I know you thinking, but this is going to take a lot of time! How will I be able to list high volume of products if I utilize so much of time in writing a single product description? Can’t I just use what I have? May be re-word a little?
The answer is sadly NO!
Using the above pointers and formula you’ll start to notice -
Increase in conversion rate i.e. shoppers willing to shop more than just looking around
Decrease in cart abandonment i.e. more sales and less people leaving the cart without purchasing
Less returns
Less calls and queries from shoppers as you’ve stated all the information about the product and left nothing to shoppers imagination
Better search rankings on Google and other search engines as you are creating unique content on your website rather than simply copy pasting like everyone else.
Here are 2 different product description examples -
Description 1
Description 2
You spot the difference between the two?
Description 1 has all the details laid out from how the top feels, the fabric & the size; the seller went a step further and added the type of garment to pair it with, whereas the Description 2 is short & shares nothing about the fabric, the fit or any other details.
When writing the product description DON’T leave anything for your customer’s assumptions because that often lead to returns & unsatisfied, angry customers. Be sure you have all the details mapped out for them to make a decision whether or not to make a purchase.