How Product Descriptions Help to Sell Products & Services

As a business owner, you understand that your success depends on your ability to sell products. But did you know that the key to boosting sales could be as simple as writing a killer product description?

Your product description is more than just a list of features and specifications – it’s a powerful tool that can help you convince customers that they need your product in their lives. A great description should highlight the unique benefits of your product, showcase its features, and provide customers with a reason to buy.

But don’t underestimate the power of a lackluster description. If you’re not putting enough effort into your product descriptions, you’re missing out on potential sales. Customers need to be convinced that they’re making the right decision, and a poorly written product description will leave them unsure and hesitant.

So, if you want to take your sales to the next level, it’s time to focus on crafting high-quality product descriptions. By investing in great descriptions that engage and inform customers, you’ll build a reputation for excellence and attract more buyers to your business. Get ready to take your business to new heights with compelling product descriptions!

What Makes A Good Product Description?

Before we take a detailed look at how to to write a product description and how it can help to boost your sales, it is worth taking some time to look at just what makes a good description in the first place. Knowing what a great product description can do for your business certainly makes this worthwhile. The first benefit is an impressive increase in sales.

A good product description can be likened to a sales pitch. In fact, it may be closer to an elevator pitch given the limited time that you have to grab attention, convince, and then close the sale. A great product description gives buyers all that they need to know to take that final step and buy.

A well-written product description will also tell your customers something about you and your brand. When written with your ideal customers in mind (something that we’ll come onto later) it can act as a tool to bring you closer together and align your values. 

Some of the best product descriptions will even drive more traffic to your site. Written with SEO in mind, using the correct keywords will lead to your site, and products, appearing higher in the search rankings. 

How To Write A Product Description?

When writing a product description you should consider what layout to use and what your customers are most likely to respond to. This will depend on the product you are selling and the audience you are targeting. You may decide that a long paragraph giving all of the product information is the right way to go, or you may decide that bullet points are the best way to get your point across.

Whichever layout you choose, you need to consider that your product description is there to educate your customer. Alongside a photo of your product, you want your description to expand on their knowledge of what they think they know about the product and ensuring you answer any questions that they’re going to have.

You want them to read your product description and know everything they could need to know about the product that is on offer. You want to leave them with no questions about what the product can do, because if they’re unsure of what it offers they’re likely to postpone buying the product. If they close the tab with the intention of coming back later to find out more, you may find they never return to your website and you’ve lost a sale.

The Importance Of Knowing Your Audience 

There may be technical tips that can be applied to all niches when it comes to writing a great product description. However, every niche, industry, and sector is going to have different audiences. To get the best out of your product descriptions, you are going to need to know who you are writing for.

It can be useful to use a buyer persona. This is a way of creating a profile of your ideal customer. It allows you to consider all of their likes, dislikes, wants, needs, and pain points. You could be selling top-end expensive, luxury watches, or you could be looking to sell the most up to date smartwatches. The chances are that these customer types will have very different personas and your writing style would have to account for this.

A bland product description that is written for anyone who may stumble across your product is unlikely to result in many sales. If you know your customer and have written for them, your product description will resonant with them and turn their visit into a buying action. 

Do You Know How To Tell A Story In A Product Description?

Now you have an idea of who your ideal customer is, you have a way to write a description that really hits home. To have the biggest impact possible, your description is going to touch on their emotions. Facts, figures, pros, and cons, are all for the rational side of the brain. Your product descriptions need to go beyond that and get emotions involved.

There is an old adage about not working with children or animals. The flip side of that is that both of these work really well in advertising. Why? The cuteness of a child or an animal hits our emotions and makes us want to buy. Now, of course, there is no suggestion that you are going to need to involve a whole farmyard in your copy, but it is worth considering why some companies do what they do.

To tap into emotions, your product needs to have a story. Rather than just telling someone that this is the best, tell them why. Give some examples of how real people (even if that is just you for now) have really benefited. Use words that provoke emotional responses and get past the logical part of a buying decision.

How Product Descriptions Help to Sell Your Products

You already know how good your product is, the people that have bought from you before already know how good your product is – but someone new to your brand may take a little more convincing.

When someone is on your website, they already have an interest in what you’re selling so you know you have a potential sale there ready to grab. However, people can’t buy from photos or videos alone so you need to give them something more. Think of your product description as the equivalent of your customer going to a shop and holding the product in their own hands. They get to know how it feels to hold, what texture it is, how heavy it is and get a real feel for the product. By writing a good product description you’re letting them imagine this and get that feeling from behind a computer screen – and that is what will help you to generate sales.

It is also worth bearing in mind that search engines pick up product descriptions as part of your website text, so using some SEO optimised keywords can also help. Being recognised by the likes of Google and boosting up the rankings to page 1 is a sure-fire way of generating sales, so it makes sense that you take this into account when deciding what words and phrases you’re going to use in your product description.  

How To Describe A Product

When writing a product description, you’ll want to concentrate on the features and benefits. This lets the person know exactly what the product does and what a difference it will make to their lives. Ideally, you should use lots of positive language which will help persuade the reader that purchasing your product is the right thing to do.

Recommended words to use include:

• Introducing
• Genuine
• Sensational
• Revolutionary
• Amazing

When writing to describe your item, you also want to add a sense of urgency to the product. The person reading it should already want the product based on the product description you have put together, so throw in some words that let them know they’re missing out by not purchasing it immediately:

• Now
• Quick
• Selling Quickly
• Hurry
• Suddenly

When considering how to describe a product, you want to be truthful but also excited and positive. Letting the reader know what they’ll gain by owning whatever you’re selling & what a positive effect it will have on their life is definitely one way to ensure they you’re generating sales. 

You might want to look up how to write a product description and you’ll find lots of handy tips online – this glossary may help you break down what they’re talking about and help you put together some great product descriptions.

You should remember that everything on your website needs to be pleasing to the eye and easy to read, product descriptions are no exception. Try to avoid having numerous lines of text which the reader is likely to scan quickly and not take everything in. Headers, bullet points, photos and even varied text sizes will definitely help to keep people interested.

You have spent time and effort creating a product description that ticks all the boxes so you want to make sure this is seen and read by as many people as possible. The last thing you want is the customer feeling overwhelmed with information and closing the page.

Ensure that you put lots of information about the product, but in bite-size pieces which are easy to read and digest. This is the best way to make sure that your reader takes in all of the information, and when combined with your persuasive and informative text the best way to ensure that you’re generating as many sales leads as possible.

Consider The Images That You Use

The first thought when it comes to product descriptions is of text. Of course, the words that you use matter and the right words can see a real boost in sales. However, remember the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”? There are some great benefits to using images in your descriptions.

The obvious is to include top quality photos of the product itself, but there are other images that can have an impact too. Think about the setting where your product will be used. Consider the type of person that will be using it. What images can you use to signal that your product is used by those who are successful or maybe those who are seeking calm and relaxation?

When you have selected your images, be sure to optimise these for Google. Including things such as alt text can help Google to pick up on the images that you have used and this can assist when it comes to your ranking.

Learn From Your Customers

Your customers are a fantastic source of information and you should be learning from them every day. If a customer approaches you with a question about a product other people have likely wondered the same but not approached you – resulting in a lost sale. As well as answering the customer direct, you should consider how you can amend your existing product description to ensure this question is answered. This could be via a FAQ section on the product page, or just adding a couple of lines or bullet points to the existing paragraphs you already have.

How To Make Product Descriptions A Priority 

When it comes to selling online there is so much that goes into developing a website. It could be that this is outsourced, but you have a major input as you know exactly how you want the site to be. The same with the content. You may write this yourself, or if you recognise your own limitations you may choose to use a professional writer. Again, you want the very best. For some reason, product descriptions are often viewed differently.

They tend to be an afterthought. After a great design job, products are thrown up and brief descriptions are added. The same thought should be given to your product descriptions as is given to every other element of your business. We hope that what you have read has highlighted just how important descriptions are and how you can use them to move your business in the right direction.