How to Write Product Descriptions that Drive Sales

Here Are Some Tips On How To Write Product Descriptions!

If you sell products online, then your product descriptions could either be making you money, or costing you money! 

Today, we’re sharing 6 tips to keep in mind when writing out your product descriptions that can apply to any industry.

So read till the end of this post to learn how to write product descriptions that drive sales. Let’s get started!

6 Tips On How To Write Product Descriptions

1. Address your target audience directly
2. Focus on the benefits, not the features
3. Be informative
4. Use descriptive language
5. Short and easy one: make it easy to read
6. Use keywords for SEO

Tip #1: Address your target audience directly

If you’ve seen a handful of our posts, you’ve seen us preach about how you need to address your target audience’s goals and pain points. 

If you don’t know what your audience’s goals and pain points are, read our post on digital marketing for beginners next. 

But essentially, it means to talk to your audience, don’t talk about your company. 

And this same principle applies to your product descriptions. 

Your descriptions should feel authentic and organic like a human wrote them.

And, they should directly address the things your audience cares about as it relates to the product. 

If you don’t know what those things are, that’s where a researched list of your audience’s goals and pain points comes in handy. 

Your product descriptions should allow the customer to see how this product would make their life better or easier.

And the rest of the tips in this post are going to show you how to do that. 

Tip #2: Focus on the benefits, not the features

The next tip we have on how to write product description is that…

…once you’ve got your list of customer pain points and goals nailed down, this step becomes infinitely easier to do. 

So let’s look at a few examples. 

If you sell hair care products for curly hair, instead of talking about how lightweight the product is…

…or how it comes with a special applicator, talk about the benefits.

In this case, it could be how it makes your curls light and bouncy without that crunchy scrunched feeling. 

Or how it enhances your natural curls while minimizing frizz.

This language focuses on the benefit or end goal the customer is trying to achieve with your product…

…instead of talking about the product itself. 

Let’s look at another example using a cookware set that caught our eyes recently.

Caraway is a company that offers cookware, bakeware, and linens, and their cookware set, in particular, has been taking off this year. 

Let’s look at their product description for their popular cookware set.

“Ditch the chemicals with Caraway’s ceramic-coated cookware.

Our complete set has everything you’ll need for healthy cooking in your kitchen,

staying organized with both our pot and lid holders, and looking good while doing so.”

So right off the bat, this addresses 3 things that we care about when it comes to our kitchen:

• using safe,
• toxic-free material,
• a clean, organized kitchen, and
• a beautiful kitchen, aka aesthetics.

Now you’ll see in their product description they actually have a separate section for “Features” and “Free-Of” which in this case.

And in a lot of eCommerce cases, we think is really smart, and we’ll talk more about why in a second. 

But we think it’s important to note that they didn’t lead with “Oven Safe Up to 550°F” or “Free of PTFE” in the description box. 

They led with customer-oriented benefits. 

Tip #3: Be informative

The next tip we have on how to write product description that converts is probably an obvious one.

Once you’ve gotten their attention with an opening line or hook that directly addresses your customer’s needs…

…you need to give them more information. 

Use this space to preemptively tackle any objections they may have and answer FAQs, or frequently asked questions.

Rolling with the Caraway cookware example, this is what they do in those other two tabs we mentioned, their “Features” and “Free-Of” sections.

For instance, if they got someone’s attention with the verbiage about “ditching chemicals” and “healthy cooking”…

…that person will probably want to know more specifically how and why this cookware is safer and better. 

The free-of section tells the customer upfront about the toxic material that their set does not contain.

Someone who is interested might also have general questions before buying like, is this set compatible with a gas stove?

Are the pots and pans non-stick?

Caraway answers questions like these upfront in the features and materials section.

Thus, allowing viewers to come to a conclusion in their buying decision, quicker. 

Examples of what this could look like for other industries include listing every common measurement you can think of for an article of clothing…

…and doing so for each size you offer it in.

Or giving the dimensions for a piece of furniture. along with instructions on how to take care of it or clean it.

We recently made a post on how to sell a product or service, and in it, we talk about making a list of your customers’ objections, pain points, and goals. 

So if you read that post, and you have that list, that makes this step in writing your product descriptions a whole lot easier. 

Tip #4: Use descriptive language

When you’re selling something online, customers cannot see the item in person.

So if you want to learn how to write product description that sells, keep in mind that it needs to use vivid, descriptive language…

…that allows the person to fully envision what the product looks like, feels like, smells like, etc. 

This will look different depending on what industry you’re in and what it is exactly that you’re selling.

But just think of what people would do with the product if they could see it in store before purchasing. 

For example, if you sell candles, the first thing people would do in store with them is to smell them, right? 

So if they can’t do that, your description needs to replace that sense for them and tell them in beautiful detail exactly what your candle smells like.

This candle company for example is Charleston-based and names its candles after the different areas in Charleston.

They have a menu bar at the top that allows you to go straight to a candle by the scent category, and each candle label contains the three key notes.

Like this one, for example, is called Folly Beach, and the key notes are citrus, sea salt, and jasmine. 

So you can see at a glance what the candle will smell like but then the product description takes it even further.

“This candle will fill your room with that fresh sea air musk that will take you back to memories of building sandcastles and body surfing in no time.”

And then below that, they have the full note profile.

So beyond just saying “it smells citrus-y,” they really immerse you in their Charleston world…

…and help you envision exactly what this candle would smell like.

If you sell clothing, describe how the item feels both physically with how soft it might be as well as emotionally with how good it makes you feel to wear it. 

If you sell home decor items, paint a picture of the ambiance, this item creates in a home.

No matter what industry you’re in, if you sell products, you can and should find a way to include figurative language in your product descriptions.

Just be sure that when you’re crafting these visually-driven descriptions…

…you don’t want to exaggerate or describe things in a way that’s not necessarily true.

50% of online shoppers have returned the products they purchased stating the reason was that the goods did not match the descriptions.

So be descriptive, but be equally accurate in your product descriptions.

Tip #5: Short and easy one: make it easy to read

We’ve said this before on our posts, but people will not read a massive block of text. 

So space out your sentences well, keep them short, and get to the point sooner rather than later.

This will help your customers skim through your product descriptions faster and easier to get the information they need.

Thus, giving them another positive interaction with your brand. 

Tip #6: Use keywords for SEO

SEO stands for search engine optimization.

And it’s the all-encompassing word for all the things you can do to help your website rank higher in the Google search results. 

So how to write product description that drives sales? Optimize them!

For instance, going back to the Caraway Cookware set from the beginning…

…if someone typed in “non-toxic cooking pan” on Google, Caraway would want their website to be the first search result that person sees on Google.

SEO is the process that helps you achieve that. 

But when talking about product descriptions specifically…

…it’s important to remember to use strategic keywords in them for the purposes of SEO.

Keywords are the search terms people enter into Google. So in the example from before, “non-toxic cooking pan” would be the keyword. 

And if you want your website to appear when that keyword word is searched, you need to have that keyword sprinkled throughout your website. 

In order to execute this step effectively, you’ll want to first do some keyword research to understand which keywords have a high search volume. 

Because you don’t want to optimize your descriptions for keywords that nobody is searching on Google.

That won’t help you draw any new, qualified visitors to your website. 

Once you’ve got a list of relevant keywords with a decent search volume…

…then you can work them into your product descriptions as organically as possible. 

If you want to learn more keyword research tips, then here’s our post for that.

And those are our 6 tips on how to write product descriptions that drive sales!

Now some of you may be wondering, what about the product images? Or reviews?

While those components are important, and should be included with thought, they’re technically separate from the written product descriptions. 

And studies have shown that the most desired types of information that consumers seek about the products that they view online…

…are product descriptions first at 76%, then reviews at 71%, and images at 66% – in that order.

So make sure you’re building your product descriptions with these 6 tips in mind. 

Otherwise, that wraps up everything we had for y’all today! For more eCommerce marketing ideas, you can read this post next.

Or you can also check out our eCommerce marketing services here if you need help in promoting your products. Get in touch with us today!

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