How do you write good product descriptions

How To Easily Write Great Product Descriptions

Every Friday, we answer a common question about fulfillment, shipping, or business. Today we will answer the following: “how do you write good product descriptions?” 

The Purpose of Product Descriptions

No matter how mainstream online shopping becomes, there will always be a bit of anxiety that goes with making a purchase when you can’t see or touch the product. Writing good product descriptions gives you a chance to address that anxiety for your customers.

Done properly, well-written product descriptions will have a few benefits. First, when people land on your page, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase (higher conversion rate). Among those who purchase your products, they’ll be less likely to return them because they didn’t understand what they were buying. Lastly, a well-written product description has a good chance of ranking well in Google, pulling in additional leads.

Writing Good Product Descriptions

Writing good product descriptions requires you to understand a bit about copywriting. The ability to write good copy takes time to foster, but the basics are easy to understand. Based on our research through Shopify, Oberlo, and Neil Patel, we’ve come up with a 10 simple guidelines for you to follow.

  1. Make your product descriptions skimmable. Odds are, people won’t read the whole description. Using bullet points or headers helps a lot.
  2. Think about the buyer’s perspective. Some people even create buyer personas to better understand who they’re selling to. The point is: make sure you’re addressing real needs, interests, and questions with your product descriptions.
  3. Stay away from cliches and superlatives. “The best” or “great quality” are meaningless. Specific features such as “waterproof up to 100 meters” are very useful.
  4. Add social proof. If you have good reviews or testimonials, work them into the product description. Show that real people actually like what you’re selling!
  5. Write long descriptions. Descriptions over 1,000 words in length tend to rank best in Google.
  6. Use relevant keywords. Pay attention to the words that best-selling products in your sector use. Identify and use those keywords too.
  7. Use influential words. According to this article on Buffer, there are a handful of words that work better than others in copywriting. Work them into your descriptions when it makes sense and is natural to do so.
  8. Check your spelling, grammar, and the accuracy of your description. Obvious, but easy to forget!
  9. Add high-quality product photos. Combining great product photos and long product descriptions helps your potential customers really understand what they’re purchasing.
  10. When in doubt, A/B test. You may sometimes find yourself torn between two different versions of a product description. If that’s the case, try them both and see what works better.

Final Thoughts

Taking the time to write good, long, detailed product descriptions is well worth it and it will pay off in the long run. By writing great product descriptions, you can make more sales and leave your customers with a better experience. Combine these guidelines with observation of the best-sellers in your niche and you’ll be well on your way to increasing sales in no time!

You’ve done everything by the book. Your Kickstarter campaign is almost ready to launch.

You made a great product. Built an audience. Set up a campaign page.

But how do you ship it?

We put this checklist together to help you get started. It's free.