How to Write Good Product Descriptions

So you have a broad range of products, a loyalty program, and advertising activity, but that doesn’t guarantee great sales. Booming sales are challenging to do without understanding how to describe a product so that a potential user wants to buy it.

According to an eCommerce study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group, 20% of unsuccessful purchases are due to a lack of product information.

What Is a Product Description?

A product description shows a product value on your website, explains what a product is, and why it’s worth purchasing. Proper product descriptions should emphasize the features and benefits of a product, which will influence a potential customer to buy it. Such a description should include an explanation of how it can solve a customer’s problem. Customers pay to find a solution to some problem they need to crack; that’s why this is the perfect content to show why your product is the best for them. Sometimes technical writers take part in creating product descriptions; that’s why it is important for them to know how to write a good one.

How to Write a Good Product Description

SEO has a repeated character: more people find your site – more visitors and more sales. Higher conversions show Google that your website is good, and this will help you rank higher. To get there, you should have great texts in your product descriptions.

Here are the tips for creating perfect product descriptions that will sell for you:

• Know the customer. Effective product descriptions are about defining who you’re talking to and why they should care about your product. When writing such descriptions, it is crucial to use phrases and words relevant to your target audience and their uses. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience.
• Present benefits and features. Your potential buyers are not interested in complex technicalities, features, and specifications. They have their sore spots, and they need to address them. You should highlight the benefits of each feature to successfully execute the aim of a product description. Description of benefits will require creativity and knowledge of your target audience. Remember to use positive adjectives that spotlight them.
• Format of the product description. You don’t need super long product descriptions. They should be short and easy to read. Remember, you’re writing for humans. They decide whether to buy your product or not, relying upon the information you give them with your product description. Since benefits and features are the highlights of your product, they should be displayed as bullet points. Sometimes users skip the description and just scan through the key moments. This can influence conversion and make it happen faster. Distraction can happen anytime, and this you cannot afford. Along with the bullet list, you should use detailed product images and a clean design.
• Emotional side. Everyone loves a good story. Telling stories is a part of what makes us human. Besides, it is a powerful marketing tool. Your product should tell a story to appeal to sentiment. Share your knowledge about your product – a story behind it, try to explain every detail. Charm your web visitors with seductive descriptions. Write with enthusiasm because your passion for your products is contagious. Immerse your potential customer in a situation where your product can be of a help to them.
• Social proof. Increasing conversion rate optimization is done with the help of social proof. So adding it to a product description is a must for conversion. Social proof includes product reviews on different review sites, marketplaces, hollers on social media, or video reviews. When your website visitors are unsure which product to purchase, they look for suggestions about what to buy. Experts’ opinions or ratings also assist in building trust. Social proof psychologically impacts visitors at the very moment they’re looking to make a buying decision.
• Relevant keywords. It is important to keep your keywords in mind. They will bump your pages up in the search ranking, which is very important from a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective. Such keywords build up credibility, collect, and display product reviews, bringing SEO benefits to your product pages. Add keywords in headlines, use synonyms and relevant phrases that characterize your product. In this article, you can find more SEO Tips for Technical Writers.
• Instructions and manuals. Add them where it is necessary to show everything that your product is capable of. The purpose is to help visitors get extra details right on the page without going somewhere else. You’re saving consumers’ time by adding instructions within the product description, both speeding up the conversion process and reducing the risk they’ll wander off to find information and never come back.
• Metadata. You’ve covered almost all the important product information by now that can help in boosting your conversions. You have the list of keywords, so you’re ready to write the title and subtitles of your product description. With your headings written, you can include your transactional keywords in the details about your product, as well as in the product description to make it rank and convert.
• High-quality, detailed images. Try to figure out how you want to present your product description, whether as text or graphics. Usually, We don’t recommend graphics alone as you’ll miss out on chances to rank in search.

At this point, you should have a product description that’s engineered to convert potential buyers — though, of course, we’d recommend you test it!

Product Description Template

As we said above – good product descriptions can potentially influence a purchase decision. Reading on screens has changed the way people consume written content. Consumers’ attention is a scarce resource, and you need to make the most of the time you have with a potential customer. That is why it’s so important to create compelling product descriptions that are easy to digest. Here are some formatting tricks to grab — and keep — customers’ attention for better conversion rates:

So here are some guidelines to be included in an excellent product description to keep customers’ attention:

• attractive headline;
• eye-catching images;
• an introduction should be placed before benefits;
• scannable lists of product features and benefits;
• powerful social proof;
• call to action;
• instructions and manuals, if needed.

Examples of Good and Bad Product Descriptions

Let’s take a look at a bad example of a product description:

source: Amazon.com

It is hard to understand at first sight what a company offers. Any visual would clear the situation. The description is scarce, and no bullet lists or something of a sort is present. We only read that this is a twin blanket of a “dinosaur squad” color, whatever it could mean. It doesn’t spark interest to buy the thing.

The opposite example is Anda Seat. This company sells office/gaming chairs and desks. Take a look at how they describe their video game chairs:

source: Amazon.com

Anda Seat lists the main features, clarifies what benefits each of them provides, highlights the crucial details with bold font, and furnishes each benefit with images. The phrase “The best only use the best” makes you want to have this chair, especially if you really are adept at games.

Also, note how the visuals make it easy to imagine you sitting in that comfy chair. Again, this helps paint a picture that sticks with shoppers and can influence purchasing decisions.

Conclusion

Product description contributes to a positive customer experience and the credibility of your store. It can help your online shop rank higher. If you’re not optimizing your product descriptions, you’re certainly splashing money.

It may take some time and creativity to understand what elements to include in your descriptions. They can tell stories, answer questions, and speak to your target audience in a way that builds connections. They can also really help boost your page’s ranking in search engines and bring more traffic to your online shop. Make sure they get the attention they deserve!

Good luck with your technical writing!
ClickHelp Team
Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices