Product descriptions can make or break e-commerce campaigns, so it’s important to get them right. Here are our top tips to ensure that your product descriptions pack a punch.
When writing product descriptions, it’s important to find a healthy balance between persuasion and practicality. We all want to make people believe that our products are the best in the world, but sometimes less is more.
One of the mistakes a lot of advertisers make is grossly overstating their product. While you might want to make your customers believe that your product is amazing, you don’t want to make them think it’s too good to be true.
Getting Started
The first thing you should do before writing any description is to do some research. Find out everything you can about what you’re selling and about the competition. A simple Google search for your product will probably yield a lot of results and can be a goldmine for inspiration.
When you begin your research, try to answer these questions :
What does the product do? Why would someone buy it? What features does it have? What problem does it solve? Who is it for?
Are there any similar products?
What are the differences between my product and theirs?
How do my competitors describe their products?
Are there any product reviews and what do they say?
Once you have found answers to these questions you’ll have a basis for a good product description.
Practical Tips for Product Descriptions
Here are some tips to help you write your product descriptions so that they provide the information people want and the motivation they need to buy.
Don’t Exaggerate
One of the easiest ways to ensure that you avoid overstating your product is to limit the number of adjectives and adverbs you use. If it’s been a long time since you studied grammar at school, don’t worry; they are pretty straightforward and easy to understand.
Adjectives and Adverbs:
Adjectives describe nouns e.g. an amazing gift.
Adverbs describe verbs e.g. It works amazingly.
Adjectives and adverbs are important, but overusing them will almost certainly increase the already highly overwhelming chance that your potential lovely big new audience will quickly lose their already seemingly limited patience. See?
You should also avoid vague adjectives such as: innovative, state-of-the-art, unique etc. These are known as absolute adjectives and they have no meaning without context.
For example, ‘This [product] is great!’
Your product might be great, amazing, awesome, wonderful etc. but that doesn’t tell the customer anything of value. The key to writing successful product descriptions is being able to convey to people why your product is great.
Instead, put your effort into saying why it’s great. Does it have a long battery life so that you can take it out without a charger? Does it fit in your pocket? Are customers satisfied with it? If you answered the questions about your product successfully then this is where you can use it.
Consider the image you’re presenting
One of the keys to selling a product comes not from the description of the product, but from the description of the world it gives you access to. This will obviously depend upon the product you are advertising but you will always want to make the customer feel like they are getting a quality product. To find out more about how to do this have a look at our article on The Art of Selling.
Check for mistakes
Customers will run a mile at the first sign of a mistake. This doesn’t matter as much in foreign markets where English isn’t the native language, however, it is vital if you expect it to be taken seriously by native speakers. One way to ensure your articles are looking their best is to install Grammarly. This works across platforms and will ensure that your mistakes are picked up and corrected. What’s more, it isn’t just a simple spell checker; it also corrects mistakes in your grammar.
Remember! Keep it simple
Tell your visitor you are selling and why they need it. Don’t be afraid of trying out new styles, but be sure that they are relative to your demographic and the product.
For more tips and information on producing great, no nonsense copy for your marketing campaigns, visit our copywriting section.