Do your product descriptions stand out among the rest?
If the answer is yes, chances are good that you have high performing sales. This question is paramount when considering your business since your sales are directly influenced by your product descriptions.
Think about it. When a potential buyer views one of your products that you are trying to sell, they want to know as much information as possible. They care about the product features and details. More importantly, they need to know how this product will benefit them. Therefore, the text you provide should never be boring. Instead, the description should both inform and entertain them in an effortless manner.
But how exactly do you create this effect? What techniques can you implement when crafting your e-commerce product descriptions? Let’s look at the writing tips that are sure to skyrocket your sales.
Determine Your Customer
It all begins with your clientele. Identify your buyer persona, or the average type of customer you envision purchasing your products. Remember how you kept your buyer persona in mind when you originally thought about the products you wanted to sell? You’ve evaluated their wants and needs, then developed solutions through your product offer.
Now it’s time to write your product descriptions based on your buyer persona. Select your ideal customer base, then answer these questions:
- What is their highest education level?
- What makes them laugh?
- What gets them emotional?
- What type of approach do they prefer—serious, funny, sophisticated, personalized, etc.?
- How can you solve their problems with your products?
By determining these answers about your buyer persona, you can expertly target the information and writing style you should use for your product descriptions. This way, the average person browsing your products would obtain the exact information they need through an engaging format.
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Highlight the Product Advantages
Although a buyer wants to know about a product’s features and specifications, they don’t want to read a dull description. They want to know why your product is better than any other competition on the market.
This doesn’t mean you have to be overt with comparing your product’s benefits with that of a competitor’s. Yours may be better, but don’t make the description a battle between brands—customers can see through arrogance and poor taste.
Simply highlight what makes your product in a class of its own. Is your product more cost-effective? Is it of higher quality? Is it more innovative? Is it easier to use? Let customers know.
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Use a Readable Format
Here are two examples of product descriptions for the same product and brand of eggs:
Pasture-Raised Eggs
Everyone loves the outstanding quality of our pasture-raised eggs. Each carton contains twelve eggs from ethically-raised chickens. We never use any hormones, antibiotics, or filler feed. Every chicken is given 200 square feet of pasture to roam daily. All of our eggs have been collected, washed, and hand-packaged on our local farm.
Pasture-Raised Eggs
- Ethically-raised chickens
- No hormones, antibiotics, or filler feed
- Outstanding quality
- Each chicken roams on 200 ft2 of pasture daily
- Eggs are processed and packaged locally
Which description caught your eye the most? Typically, people gravitate to the second one. Numbered bullets, key points, and short phrases are the best for an easy read. Online consumers would much rather scan simple descriptions like the bulleted one above over any kind of chunky text displayed. Keeping it short and sweet will gather significantly more traffic.
Add Honest Customer Testimonials
“Shoppers may not believe the hype of your product, but they are more likely to believe true reviews of other customers. Adding honest reviews from those who have previously purchased your product will only enhance your brand credibility.” - shares Frank Berner, Sales Director from Careers Booster.
Therefore, whenever a customer purchases your product, allow them to leave a review that becomes published on your website. If you’re delivering high-quality products, you shouldn’t have a problem showing positive feedback.
Once you have a longer list of reviews, you can even feature a customer quote in your product description to encourage people to look at the remaining reviews. The more people who see how great your product benefits customers, the better your sales will be.
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Use a Storytelling Method
Sometimes, certain products are better described when there’s a story element to the text. For example, if you’re writing about wine, it would be beneficial to state the town or region where the wine is produced. Describing products with a bit of background knowledge can enhance the connection a customer makes with them.
A simple storytelling sentence can paint the picture of where a product originated, how it was made, or what kind of company creates it. Instead of just stating the obvious features, this method captivates people and encourages them to buy.
Edit Before Publishing
This may be fairly obvious, but a description containing the slightest flaw can cost you big time. Not only does this reflect poorly on the product itself, but it’s likely to deter people from your e-commerce website entirely.
Editing is just as critical as the writing process for every description. Have you ever seen a faulty product description? It says a lot about the company. Mostly, it conveys the message that if you didn’t appreciate the details of a basic description, the product itself might be compromised in quality.
Make sure to hire an editor that catches poor grammar, false content, and sentences that don’t flow well.
You’ll Only Get Better with Practice and Time
Product descriptions aren’t rocket science, but they do involve an element of psychology. After all, you do have to base your whole e-commerce business on your buyer persona’s purchasing decisions. It requires careful research, testing, and finalization of what best attracts your customer base.
Complicated? Only in the beginning. However, you’ll find excitement in delivering products that solve the problems of your target audience. While it may be a thorough process, it’s also very rewarding. By making a serious effort with writing effective product descriptions, all it takes is time before you’ll see a substantial difference in sales.
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About the author:
Eva Wislow is an entrepreneur and career coach from Pittsburgh, PA. Eva maintains a strong interest in bringing the digital revolution in human resources. Eva has a degree in Psychology and she is focusing on helping people discover their true calling. She writes for Business.com and other well-known resources. Follow Eva on Twitter.
