How To Write Product Descriptions That Sell

In a world where online shopping is so popular, it can be difficult to make your product stand out from the crowd. Wondering how to write product descriptions that sell? Plenty of businesses (including big brands) make the mistake of just describing their products, when really, they should be aiming to write in a way that will sell the product. The Business Fairy have years of experience in setting up e-commerce websites and know just how to talk about products in a way that engages and excited the consumer.

A product description is a marketing copy that aims to explain to the potential customer what the product is and why the they should buy it. The purpose of a product description is to supply customers with details around the features and benefits of the product so that they know exactly what it is they are getting. With this in mind, take a look at some of the tips we’ve put together below.

Focus on your ideal buyer

When you are writing a product description, you need to keep your target market in mind. If you go off track and start writing for a varied group of people, your descriptions will become less meaningful and make less of a puch, ending up not really addressing anyone at all. The very best of product descriptions will always address the buyer directly, in a personal manner. The aim is to ask and answer questions as if you’re having a conversation with them. Below is a great example of a product description by Jeffree Star Cosmetics. Here, Star clearly knows his buyer: young, trend and into the fantastical. His product range is alien themed, so he addresses the buyer as ‘earthlings’, which is casual and fun, while also getting the tone of the product across. He also knows that his younger audience are more aware of the environment, and makes sure to note that even though his product is “out of this world”, it is still vegan and cruelty free, ticking all of the boxes for his ideal customer.

The main takeaway from this tip is to consider how you would speak to a customer if they were in store, and then try to translate that to a written format.

Entice with benefits

When we are talking about the product that we are selling in real life, you will tend to get excited about all of its features and specifications. You love your company, brand and products and that passion will clearly come across. When you are writing your product descriptions, not much should change. Take a look at this product description by Irish home wear and lifestyle brand, SuperFolk. They write beautiful product descriptions, promising that if we buy on their prints that we will ‘bring the sea home’ and that their print is far more luxurious than others because of their use of traditional Japanese paper.

In this age, potential customers are not as interested in the mundane features and specs. Although this is still important to include, they want to know the reason why they should buy your product. By highlighting the benefits of each feature, you are enticing the customer to click ‘buy’.

Don’t just sell the product, sell the experience.

Avoid cliche phrases.

Phrases such as ‘excellent product quality’ should be avoided at all costs. This phrasing is far too common, and also vague, as if the writer doesn’t actually know what the product is all about. Mundane phrases will be quickly scanned over by the reader, and not taken in. Instead of this, try to talk about the excellent quality of each feature, and why it is beneficial to the buyer. For instance, if you were writing a product description for a handbag, instead of saying ‘excellent product quality’ you could say: ‘genuine hand sewn construction for longer durability and a luxurious finish’. This sounds not just far more interesting, but far more passionate about the product, too. Product details add credibility and will help sell your product. You can never include too many technical details in your product descriptions so be specific about how your product is so special.

Appeal to all of the senses

Somethings that many marketing specialists know: sensory words increase sales, because they engage more brain processing power. By targeting multiple senses, you will see far more results. Here’s an example of chocolate maker Green and Black.

Because Green and Black use sensory adjectives that don’t just refer to taste, but also to sound (‘crunch’) and texture (‘smooth’).

Adjectives can however, be tricky words. A rule of thumb is if they don’t add meaning to your sentences, you’re better off deleting them. However, sensory adjectives are power words because give your reader a taste of an experience before they buy the real one.

You should aim to dazzle your readers with you vividly tantelsing product descriptions. Words like ‘velvety’, ‘smooth’, ‘crisp’, and ‘bright’ are always  a good starting point for product descriptions.

Use social proof

When questioning whether to buy a product, what’s the first thing that you would do? For most it would be to check the reviews. In our experience in creating e-commerce websites, it’s always a great idea to add a testimonial into your product description, along with some thumbnails of any press your product has received in the past. If your product has the confidence of other consumers, your future customers will be far more likely to trust you and buy your product.

Including an image of a person can also add credibility to a quote, making an online company more personal and approachable. As people, we tend to follow others, so most buyers are attracted to buying something that’s popular and they know others have used and liked. When it comes to your website, highlight the products that are customer favourites, or even have a section for ‘best sellers’.

These are just a few tips for when you are writing your product descriptions, and of course there are plenty more ways to enhance your descriptions. However, if you really want to sell your products, you will need to have a great e-commerce website, too. Here at The Business Fairy, we are highly experienced and skilled at creating bespoke websites for online businesses. Take a look at our website design page for some examples or contact us at info@thebusinessfairy.ie for more information.