How to take your product descriptions from good to great

Now we’d like to think you have a pretty good idea of who you’re targeting. But even if you think you’re sure, it always helps to really get under the skin of your audience before creating product descriptions.

So your readers can relate to what you’re selling, you need to talk about why your product can solve your customers’ problems and why it’s different to your competitors’. But that’s not all. Your content also needs to be written in a voice they can identify with. Brand voice is all about building trust through familiarity, and so by outlining your buyer personas, you can ensure that your brand personality resonates with your readers.

Because you want to be driving traffic from organic search, you’re going to need to factor in those key search terms. We’re talking long-tail queries, branded keywords, and all-round helpful phrases that will let Google know you’re exactly what the user is looking for.

However, if your user is coming from an ad or is referred straight from a Google search, they won’t have visited other parts of your site first, so are going to need a short history of who you are, what you’re selling, and why they’re buying. There’s a high chance that your product page will be the first interaction a user has with your website, so think of these pages as being just as important as your homepage. The more thorough your descriptions, the better this will be for SEO.

When it comes to selling online, creativity = conversions. Sure, your customers can see what your product looks like through a collection of top-notch photos and videos, but seeing isn’t just believing. If they can’t physically hold it in their hands, then you need to do more to convince them to purchase it.

Use sensory words to help your users imagine what it’s like to touch, taste, and even smell your product. Plus, speak directly to them using ‘you’ and ‘your’. It will build emotional connections between you and your reader and help them to envision how much better their life would be with your product in it.

Your user will be shopping online for a reason. It might be for convenience, they might need something to be delivered quickly, or they could be looking to send your product as a gift - directly to someone else. This is why you need to be clear about how your product will get to them.

If they can include a personal message and get it gift-wrapped, then why not shout about it? If it’s guaranteed to reach them the following day if they order within the next two hours, then make sure this stands out. And when it comes to returns, if they know they’re hassle-free, then they’ll be much more likely to buy in the first place.

We spend our lives online. So when it comes to user experience, our expectations are high. We don’t want to have to work for information, and if you’re dealing with impatient shoppers that don’t have the time to read lengthy descriptions, you need to create content that’s scannable.

Use short headlines, easily digestible sections, and lists of bullet points. They’re great for breaking up product descriptions and helping users get all the information they need, fast. Including specifics can help add credibility to your descriptions, and listing out practical details (such as how-tos, installation guides, and washing instructions) will turn your product page into a handy reference point that readers can return to whenever they need to. And returning visitors are always a bonus.

Your website content is something that should be constantly evolving. Something that might have worked well in the past might not be so successful now.

Monitoring things like conversion rates, cart abandonment, and traffic to your product pages are a great place to start. Take a snapshot of how you’re doing, look at ways you can improve your content, and change one thing at a time. This will give you a better idea of what’s working and enable you to make positive changes to your content without impacting your conversions.