How to Write Product Descriptions that Sell 

Write Product Descriptions

In the bustling marketplace of online commerce, where myriad products vie for attention, crafting captivating product descriptions is your secret weapon to capture the hearts and wallets of potential customers. 

These descriptions serve as your product’s voice, eloquently conveying its unique features, benefits, and value proposition.

But how do you transform ordinary product descriptions into persuasive prose that drives sales? 

Step 1: Know Your Audience – Write Product Descriptions

Before embarking on your descriptive journey, it’s crucial to understand the audience you’re seeking to captivate. 

Who are these potential customers? 

What are their pain points, aspirations, and interests? 

For instance, your online shop offers rain boots. Why would people buy them? To keep their feet dry and warm during rainy, cold days. 

Their pain point is shoes that don’t protect against rainy, cold weather. 

What’s the age group, gender, or category of the group of people you hope to sell to?

By delving into their demographics, you can tailor your descriptions to resonate with their specific needs and desires.

Step 2: Focus on Benefits, Not Just Features – Write Product Descriptions

While features describe the product’s physical attributes, benefits speak to the tangible and intangible improvements it brings to the customer’s life. 

Instead of simply listing specifications, articulate how your product alleviates their pain points, enhances their experiences, or fulfills their desires.

If you’re selling water repellent boots, only stating the fabric or this feature may not address their pain points. Yes, you state that the boots will not take in water. But you don’t openly state the benefit.

Instead of just stating the water repellent feature, say something like, “Your feet will never be soaked in water with the upgraded feature.”

Step 3: Evoking Emotions with Vivid Language

Transform your descriptions into sensory experiences by incorporating vivid imagery and descriptive language. 

Aside from images, adding visuals such as videos (like try-on’s) allows individuals to see what your product looks like in real life. Visuals and product descriptions go hand-in-hand.

Let your words paint a picture in the reader’s mind, allowing them to feel the texture, envision the colors, and imagine the aroma of your product.

Step 4: Create Urgency – Write Product Descriptions

Encourage immediate action by incorporating phrases that create a sense of urgency. 

Limited-time offers, exclusive promotions, and “while supplies last” scenarios can nudge potential buyers into making a decision before the opportunity slips away. 

Adding a display of item counts allows users to act fast, hoping to get one of the last pieces. 

Step 5: The Language of Persuasion – Write Product Descriptions

Strategic use of power words can significantly enhance the persuasive power of your descriptions. 

Words like “new,” “improved,” “guaranteed,” and “exclusive” can subconsciously trigger a sense of value and urgency.

Here’s a sentence using power words: ‘Strolling out in the rain with your new and improved rain boots offers you a stress- and wet-free experience.’ 

And this is the weaker version: ‘Strolling out in the rain with your rain boots offers you a stress- and wet-free experience.’

Step 6: Conciseness and Scannability – Write Product Descriptions

In the fast-paced world of online shopping, attention spans are fleeting. 

Make your descriptions easy to read and scannable by using bullet points, headings, and subheadings. 

Break up the text into digestible chunks, allowing key points to stand out.

Step 7: Social Proof – Write Product Descriptions

Social proof builds trust and encourages potential buyers to take the plunge.

This phenomenon, termed “social proof” by renowned psychologist Robert Cialdini in his influential book “Influence: Science and Practice,” is deeply embedded in our social nature.

Cialdini observed that when we encounter uncertainty or ambiguity, we tend to observe the actions of others to determine the appropriate course of action. 

This behavior stems from our desire to conform to socially accepted norms and avoid making costly mistakes.

In the context of product descriptions, social proof can be a powerful tool to build trust and credibility and encourage action from potential customers. 

By showcasing positive testimonials, reviews, and ratings from satisfied customers, you provide tangible evidence that your product delivers on its promises.

Social Proof and it’s Influence

Studies have shown that social proof can significantly influence purchasing decisions. 

For instance, a study by the Baymard Institute revealed that 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. 

This highlights the persuasive power of social proof and its ability to sway consumer behavior.

When incorporating social proof into your product descriptions, consider the following strategies:

1. Select high-quality testimonials: Choose testimonials that are genuine, insightful, and specific to the product’s benefits. Avoid generic or overly promotional statements.
2. Display customer ratings and reviews: Showcase prominent ratings and reviews to provide a collective assessment of the product’s overall performance.
3. Utilize social media endorsements: Feature endorsements from influencers or celebrities who align with your target audience and resonate with your brand values.
4. Highlight awards and accolades: If your product has received industry recognition or awards, display these accolades prominently to enhance its credibility.
5. Encourage customer participation: Encourage your customers to leave reviews and share their experiences by providing easy-to-access review platforms and incentives for participation.

Step 8: Search Engine Optimization – Write Product Descriptions

Incorporate relevant keywords throughout your product descriptions to improve their search engine visibility. 

This will ensure that potential customers find your product when searching for related terms online.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to make sure your product descriptions are SEO-friendly and optimized for search engines:

1. Identify relevant keywords: Conduct keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords that are relevant to your products.
2. Optimize Product Pages: Use clear and concise product titles that include your keywords. Keep in mind that they should be informative. Use high-quality images to showcase your products. Don’t forget to include the keywords in your URLs
3. Optimize Category Pages: Clear and concise category titles, informative category descriptions, and relevant keywords throughout your category pages. 
4. Optimize image alt tags: Include descriptive alt text for your product images, incorporating relevant keywords to improve image search visibility.
5. Optimize Website’s Technical SEO:  Make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your website by making it mobile-friendly, fast, and reliable. With the help of your web hosting provider, create sitemaps and submit them to search engines. Use a robots.txt file to tell search engines which pages to crawl and which pages not to crawl. 
6. Monitor and adapt: Regularly monitor your product descriptions’ SEO performance and make adjustments based on search engine ranking trends and keyword effectiveness.

Step 9: Proofread and Edit – Write Product Descriptions

Ensure your product descriptions are free of grammatical errors, typos, and inconsistencies. 

A polished and professional presentation reflects the quality of your product and enhances its perceived value.

Step 10: Continuous Improvement – Write Product Descriptions

Writing product descriptions is an ongoing process of experimentation and refinement. 

Monitor the performance of your descriptions, gather feedback, and make adjustments based on customer behavior and analytics.

Write Product Descriptions that Sell

By following the steps above, you will be able to write product descriptions that sell. Keep in mind that in order to keep receiving and maintaining potential customers, you need to revisit your customer pain points and align them with your targeted audience.