by John Larkin
John runs the blog here at eCommerceLift and is a verified Shopify Expert. Interested in an initial growth consultation? Click here
8 years ago
6 Product Description Adjustments you can Make Today to Delight your Customers
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Product descriptions are, second only to your images, the most important area of your product page. Descriptions are your one and only chance to distinguish your merchandise from thousands of similar products on the web, to list its benefits and to convince a customer to make that purchase. |
Great descriptions help remove the question mark
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In a traditional retail store customers can inspect products closely, touching and feeling them before they make a decision. Not to mention the one or more sales assistants on the shop floor helping those potential customers decide which product to choose. Highlighting the product's features and benefits and trying to convince them to buy in this very shop and not next door.
In your e-commerce store there are no sales people and competition is only a click away. Descriptions are the perfect opportunity to grab a potential buyer's attention and do what shop assistants in real life do – make a sale.
So.. how do you write descriptions that sell?
In your e-commerce store there are no sales people and competition is only a click away. Descriptions are the perfect opportunity to grab a potential buyer's attention and do what shop assistants in real life do – make a sale.
So.. how do you write descriptions that sell?
Highlight Benefits not Features
Try to translate your product's features into benefits that are enticing to visitors. For example, if you are selling a hand cream, saying that it contains glycerine and shea butter won't mean much for an average customer. However saying that glycerine protects their skin from going dry and shea butter helps make their hands soft will appeal to customers' imagination and make them much more confident and excited about the purchase.
Use Unique Content
Copy and pasting descriptions from a manufacturers website is a big no-no. Unique, personalized, engaging descriptions are much more convincing and trustworthy. Customers do their research and will quickly notice if your content is duplicated. If you have a lot of products in your store it will require a bit of work to describe them all in unique manner but this effort will bear fruit. As a bonus Google believes that duplicate content results in a poor user experience therefore unique content is much more “liked” by search engines and will increase your chances to be located in a good position on that search engine results page.
Tell a Story
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“Let me tell you a story” - isn't this just the most attention catching phrase? Stories hold our attention and provide information in a way that appeals to our subconsciousness. Information provided in a story format is much more memorable. What's most important, people absolutely love stories so be sure and take advantage of this in your product descriptions.
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 Every product has a story to tell
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Every product has a story to tell. Let your customers know how your product is manufactured. Describe your testing process, or just depict a scenario in which in can be used. Stories can create a need which your goods can fulfill and are a great way to make people excited about your products. If written well, stories are guaranteed to engage potential customers and distinguish your online shop and your brand from your competitors.
Compare these two descriptions of bracelets. The first comes from Littlewoods and doesn't even have description text. The second is from ModCloth. Which one are your more likely to buy?
Compare these two descriptions of bracelets. The first comes from Littlewoods and doesn't even have description text. The second is from ModCloth. Which one are your more likely to buy?
No description at all!
Note how it suggests what to wear it with - getting customers to imagine wearing it
Pick a Writing Style
Simple, short sentences, uncomplicated language and clear messaging are the key for good descriptions. Break your text into chunks, use an appropriate font size and create bullet points and lists for a better reading experience.
Formal or funky style? It depends. Try to understand your customers and write specifically for them. Think what questions they may have, what they would like to know about the product and keep that in mind when writing. You might want to create a customer persona - a fictional character representing your standard customer. Gather your team around and talk about who your customers are, about their background, education, behaviour, attitudes. Add data you might have about how your customers behave in your online store. Based on this create a persona or personas and write for them.
If you have reviews in your store read them to see what kind of language your buyers use and try to reflect it. You could even borrow especially catchy phrases and cite them in your descriptions.
Don't use jargon, it won't make you appear knowledgeable – rather it will discourage potential buyers. Keep it simple and your customers will be happier.
Formal or funky style? It depends. Try to understand your customers and write specifically for them. Think what questions they may have, what they would like to know about the product and keep that in mind when writing. You might want to create a customer persona - a fictional character representing your standard customer. Gather your team around and talk about who your customers are, about their background, education, behaviour, attitudes. Add data you might have about how your customers behave in your online store. Based on this create a persona or personas and write for them.
If you have reviews in your store read them to see what kind of language your buyers use and try to reflect it. You could even borrow especially catchy phrases and cite them in your descriptions.
Don't use jargon, it won't make you appear knowledgeable – rather it will discourage potential buyers. Keep it simple and your customers will be happier.
Optimise for People
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You might be tempted to use your keywords and keyphrases as often as possible all over your website, and, naturally, in your product descriptions. Keywords are important but it's even more important to remember that user experience is a priority. It's not just an opinion, it's also the way Google thinks. So it's not good enough to stuff your descriptions with keywords and consider the job done. Unique, engaging text sprinkled here and there with keywords will be more attractive to your customers and will also perform better in search.
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Highlight Customer Reviews
Ratings and reviews in online stores have great power of influence on potential customers. Research shows that items for which recommendations are provided sell on average 20% better than an item without recommendations. This is the power of social validation. People look to others before they decide what action they should take. When we know what other customers think about the product we feel more compelled to buy it for ourselves. In addition, as mentioned earlier, you can use excerpts from reviews in your product descriptions.
Consider adding a review system to your shop. There are many apps or extensions available for your e-commerce platform that will do the job.
Consider adding a review system to your shop. There are many apps or extensions available for your e-commerce platform that will do the job.
The Bottom Line
The best descriptions are simple, unique and engaging. Make sure you list the benefits of your products and add reviews for social valuation. Oh, and don't forget to proofread!
Got any other ideas as to how e-commerce merchants can improve product descriptions? If so, let us know in the comments area below.
Got any other ideas as to how e-commerce merchants can improve product descriptions? If so, let us know in the comments area below.
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