What’s the biggest mistake you could make when writing product descriptions?
Right now you’re probably thinking about neglecting to include enough information, forgetting about the CTA or writing in a monotonous style. While all these are valid points that could affect the effectiveness of your copy, the biggest mistake is writing a product description that focuses on just presenting your product.
Wait a minute. How can that be wrong, you may ask yourself. Isn’t that the entire purpose of a product description?
Well, it’s not.
Your purpose is to sell your product not just write a mere presentation of its features and benefits.
Let’s look at five simple ways to write products descriptions that sell like crazy.
Define Your Ideal Buyer
The secret to writing a product descriptions that makes you money is understanding who your target customer is and what makes them tick. Don’t try to please everyone – you will end up with a description that is sloppy, too general, and ineffective. Instead, write with your ideal customer in mind and address their personal needs, worries, and problems.
Ask and answer questions like you would if you were having a conversation with them. Choose the words your ideal buyer would use and write in the second person.
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by all this, then you should do the following exercise. Ask yourself simple questions about your target audience, such as: how old is your buyer, what does he or she like to do in their spare time, how do they talk, are they more serious or more fun, do they appreciate humor?
Answer these questions and come up with other ones until you have a clear picture in your head.
Define Your Voice
It may not seem like it can make that big of a difference, but your tone of voice can set you apart from your competitors. It speaks about your company’s culture, your personality, and ultimately, about the products or services you offer. It also gives buyers a hint of what to expect from you and your products.
Ask yourself, if you were to speak with your ideal customers in real life, what tone of voice would you use? Then, choose your words carefully as it can influence the audience’s response.
Check out some actiable ecommerce tips to drive sales!
Avoid Clichés
Whenever we get stuck and don’t know what else to write about the product, we often use bland phrases that have little meaning and provide no real value. We’re talking about clichés, such as “great quality” or “excellent craftsmanship.”.
That’s the part where most of your prospects will stop reading or just roll their eyes at your uncreative choice of words.
We know you believe in your product and that you genuinely think it’s the best on the market, but avoid boasting about it this way. Instead of describing the quality of your product, focus on explaining its specific features and how your customers can benefit from them.
Use Numbers and Be Specific
Which one of these claims is more persuasive to you?
- Our insulator will significantly decrease your energy bill.
- You will be able to save $120 on your energy bill with our insulators.
The second statement isn’t just a vague claim, but it has numbers to back it up. Thus, it becomes more specific and believable to your customers.
Anyone can make impressive claims, but not everyone can give detailed statistics and metrics. Customers want to receive accurate information about the benefits they are about to get, not just empty promises, so make sure to give them just that.
It’s Not Just What You Say, But Also How You Format It
So, you are pleased with how your product description turned out. But, don’t pop open the champagne yet. If the content is not structured and designed well, people aren’t going to read it.
You may have heard, that people don’t read online content but merely scan it. In fact, according to one study, 55% of web users spend less than 15 seconds on a page. That’s why it’s paramount to structure your page and make it easy to scan.
For example:
- Center your headlines
- Make them big and clear
- Use subheadings to break up text
- Keep the lines short (80 characters per line max)
- Keep the paragraph short (2-3 sentences per paragraph)
- Use bullet points, lists, tables, etc. to make it easy to
A good product description is not going to be enough if you want to sell like crazy. Think about your descriptions as stories that entice your prospects and make them curious to learn more. Describe how the product came to be, its features and qualities, and how your customers could benefit from it. Help them imagine a world where they can’t live without your product.
