Jenkinson & Associates
Marketing With Results

How To Write Great Ecommerce Website Product Descriptions?

Attracting potential customers to your website is all well and good, but is largely redundant if they don’t take action. Assuming you’re selling products via your website, it’s the sales you close that will ultimately determine your performance.

Massive volumes of traffic are one thing, but conversion rates mean so much more.

This is precisely where the power of product descriptions must not be underestimated. Research having shown that an outstanding product description can often make the difference between a conversion and a customer who takes their business elsewhere.

Consistently pristine product descriptions are about far more than keeping up appearances. They speak volumes for your professionalism, your pride and your position within your niche.

With this in mind, here’s a brief rundown of the 8 most important tips for producing killer product descriptions, every time:

• Avoid Repetition Where Possible

Don’t make the mistake of copying and pasting chunks of text into numerous product descriptions across multiple pages. Not only does it look lazy and unprofessional, but it could harm your SEO profile with the major search engines like Google.

• Be Meticulous with Spelling and Grammar

Even the slightest issue with the quality of your writing could send entirely the wrong message to prospective buyers. Minor mistakes in spelling or grammar can be all that’s needed to view your website (and the business behind it) as amateurish at best.

• Use an Appropriate Tone and Voice

Think carefully about the audience you are attempting to win over when writing your product descriptions. Make strategic decisions as to whether to use a formal or friendly tone of voice.

• Focus on Benefits, Not Features

Consumers don’t generally buy products based on their features and functionalities. Instead, they base their purchase decisions on how they stand to benefit from buying the product. The best product description are therefore those that focus on how the product in question will solve the buyer’s problems and generally improve their life. Your job being to make them feel they simply cannot live without whatever it is you’re selling.

• Keeps Things Concise Where Possible

Unless it is absolutely necessary, it’s advisable to keep your product descriptions concise and to the point. The reason being that oversized blocks of unbroken text are almost always unattractive, reducing in elevated bounce rates.  If you’ve a lot to say, consider splitting it between multiple tabs, or presenting the information in a more visual form.

• Provide Multiple Images

Speaking of visuals, one image alone isn’t enough. You need to give prospective buyers the closest possible approximation of a 360-degree inspection of the products you are selling.  This means ultra-high-quality images from a variety of angles, with the option of zooming in or out at a click.

• Consider Lifestyle Imagery

This means showing pictures of your products being used in a real-world setting. Lifestyle imagery can be surprisingly effective, helping the customer visualise how they stand to benefit from your products. The appropriate use of props can also help customers visualise their prospective purchases in context.

• Incorporate Appropriate Keywords

Last but not least, you need to consider the extent to which your product descriptions can and therefore should enhance your SEO profile. You want your product pages and your website to be found in the first place, which means the strategic incorporation of appropriate keywords. Never make assumptions where keywords and key phrases are concerned – conduct the necessary research to find out exactly what your audience is looking for.