3 Best Practices for Writing Product Descriptions

Product descriptions can make or break an ecommerce site.

If they’re poorly written or don’t offer your visitors the information they are looking for right then and there, then you’ll lose sales. But if you can wow visitors with some copy that really speaks to them, then you’re not just selling them on a product—you’re selling them on your business.

Shoppers react to packaging and commercials almost as strongly as they do to the product itself. So, don’t you want them to feel the same way about the product descriptions on your ecommerce website?

We think you do. And we think you should keep reading.

Creating an engaging and informative product description is your chance to get creative with marketing a product that’s already been manufactured and packaged.

If you sell something you handmake, then the content you publish to your ecommerce site has a lot more riding on it. This is your baby, and you’ve got to let the world know that your product is the best.

But how do you manage to accomplish that seemingly Herculean feat?

Not to worry. We’ve outlined how to develop product descriptions so that they attract visitors and turn them into buyers without sounding cheesy.

Know Your Audience

If your target audience is, let’s say, daring fashionistas interested in pioneering their own trends, you’ll want to focus on how avant garde your line of haute couture is.

But what if some of your online shoppers are interested more in enjoying current trends than starting their own?

If you’re selling haute couture clothing, you could instead focus more on how you offer custom-fitted pieces, making it easy for anyone to get in on the latest fashions and look as though they’ve been wearing them all along.

Once you know who your shoppers are, you can develop ecommerce copy with mass appeal.

Write Original, Creative Copy

Too often, ecommerce sites opt to recycle product copy taken directly from the manufacturer. This is a huge no-no for a couple of reasons.

For starters it’s unoriginal. And second, just because it comes from the manufacturer doesn’t make the copy fantastic.

You could be rehashing stale product description copy that didn’t work for them. And if it didn’t work for them, it certainly won’t do you any favors. Even if you’re not a wordsmith yourself, companies like Sūmèr were built to help ecommerce merchants deliver compelling product copy.

If you use fresh and original content for your products, then you’re giving your online store a fighting chance in the SEO game, too. Google picks up on unique copy and keywords, so get creative with your product descriptions!

Test Your Copy

Once you have product copy you’re proud of, the next step is to see how well it does!

You could even write up more than one version of a product description and track the results to compare how each one sizes up in clickthroughs and SEO results.

Being mindful of SEO tactics doesn’t mean stuffing your content with redundant keywords, either. Getting creative involves more than original copy—it also involves the careful application of which keywords you use.

Heat mapping is another way to track the success of your copy. By identifying active areas of your website, you can see where your visitors are spending the most time and what they might be clicking as well. This gives you a bigger-picture interpretation of how well, or poorly, your website may be doing.

Need help wowing visitors with product copy that really sings?

Check out our copywriting services.