How many times have spent a good amount of time (and money) to get prospective customers to your website and have them view your products– only for them to end up leaving and going to a competitor’s website instead?
When asking yourself what went wrong, you will do well to remember this bit of age-old fishing wisdom, “If you fish with the wrong bait, you catch zilch” (the bait here being your product description). Likewise, if your product description isn’t appealing enough to entice your audience to hit that “add to cart” button, they won’t bite and all your efforts up till that point will be in vain.
The thing with eCommerce stores is that customers can’t see the actual product— your product images and descriptions are all they have to base their purchase decisions on. So it makes sense that they’d place a great deal of importance on your product descriptions.
But as important as they are in determining your conversion rates and sales, writing a product description that hits all the right spots is no easy task. The good news though? With a little bit of practice and some really solid tips, anyone can write a description that sells.
Read on to find out more about how to write a copy that sells.
Know who you’re selling to:
You can’t write the perfect pitch if you don’t know the audience your pitch is directed to. That’s why the first step to writing a product description that sells is defining your target audience. Do this by creating a comprehensive buyer persona of your ideal customer with data collected from market research.
Know who your audience is, their interests, and what product features would most interest them. Know what irks them and reassure them that you understand their frustrations. Follow up with how your product and its brilliant features will help alleviate their pain points and help them realize their goals.
Once you’ve clearly identified your prospective audience, you’ll be better equipped to craft a product description that is entirely centered on the needs of the targeted buyer. And ta- da, you’ll have struck gold.
Don’t be shy with information:
As any frequent online shopper would attest to, there’s nothing more annoying than a website that just skims over the product details, barely giving out any real helpful information.
Never be frugal when it comes to giving out product related information. As an online store owner, it’s your responsibility to give your prospects all the necessary information that they’d require to make an informed purchase decision.
For small online businesses especially, it’s crucial that you include detailed product descriptions. As opposed to a well- established, popular brand, you’re at a disadvantage in the sense that people might be more hesitant to buy from you. After all, they don’t know anything about you or your products. In these cases, an informative product description can instil in them the confidence needed to make the purchase.
Shake things up with a story:
Humans have been hooked on to stories since the beginning of time itself. Who can resist the appeal of a good, ol’ story, right? There’s just something so innately magical about them that creates this unique sense of connection and cultivates emotion.
Great marketers are well aware of the effect that stories tend to have on people, and tap into their power to build conversions and sales. Instead of plainly relaying all product details, be creative, and spark your customers’ imaginations with storytelling. You could use a story detailing how the customer needs the product or how the product would benefit the customer. Or better yet, you can think out- of- the box and come up with any entertaining story revolving around the product—something to hook the customer in.
Ain’t nobody got time for that— make descriptions scannable
You don’t need me to tell you that people have short attention spans. You need only look around (and probably at) yourself to find out.
So how do you convey the necessary information to an audience that only reads about 16% of what’s written on a page? You do so by making your text scannable.
A scannable product description is one that doesn’t waste the reader’s time by forcing them to labor through lengthy paragraphs in order to extract the relevant information. Rather, a scannable description includes bullet points, short, easy to read paragraphs and preferably, different font sizes and tons of empty space. With a neat and clear format, customers are better able to absorb the relevant details with a quick glance.
Optimize for best results
At the risk of stating the obvious, I’d like to reiterate how, in order to get people to read your product descriptions, you need to first get them to your page. Now, how do you do that? Through organic searches of course but why stop there? Why not amp up our chances of getting traffic to your website? This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.
The key to SEO is including the right keywords in your description. These keywords are the most frequent search terms that buyers use to find the product they’re looking for. Using a tool like On Page SEO Checker, you can quickly discover keywords that are relevant to your store. Remember, SEO can be your ticket to landing a spot on the first Google page, so use it wisely.
Watch your words
When writing your product description, remember that nobody wants to read a description that sounds more like a passage from an English textbook than a text meant to educate them about a product. Don’t go overboard with fancy words and adjectives in hopes of impressing your audience. All you’ll manage to do is put them off.
Instead, use a tone that’s natural and in tune with the overall tone of your brand. Read the description aloud to yourself. Does it sound natural? If it sounds like you’re having a real life conversation with a friend, your customers are more likely to connect with you, and therefore, buy from you.
Now that we’re done with all that, only one question remains— are you ready to snag prospects and increase conversions?
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