How To Write a Product Description That Works (With Examples)

When you’re thinking about buying a product or service online, there are two factors that help you know exactly what you’re getting: the image and the product description.

If the image piques your curiosity, the next step in your buying journey is to read the product description. During that brief moment of reading, you decide whether to close the page, read more or make a purchase.

If you don’t know how to write product descriptions for your business, chances are that most of your visitors are choosing the first option.

Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be that way. Learning how to write a good product description is a skill that can be learned and practiced. Investing some time to learn could help you to increase your sales by a significant margin.

Why You Need To Write a Strong Product Description

A product description is more than just an explanation of the item. It is also a chance to sell the product to a potential customer.

Think of product description writing as if you were a sales associate in a store. If a customer asked about a product, you would describe it but also highlight the features and benefits that may be relevant to that customer.

Research by Salsify has found that 87% of consumers consider product content to be extremely or very important to their buying decisions. In other words, product descriptions have a huge impact on sales. If you have ineffective descriptions, imagine how many customers you’re losing.

Another study found that one-fifth of purchase failures resulted from unclear or missing information. If you could fix one out of every five failed sales just by writing a better product description, then what’s stopping you?

We have some effective tips that can turn mediocre product descriptions into persuasive pitches. Now is your opportunity to learn how to write a product description.

How To Write Product Descriptions (8 Tips and 8 Examples)

Learning how to write product descriptions that sell is not an easy task. There are billions of products available online. So, even within your product category, you may be competing against hundreds or even thousands of brands.

However, as established above, writing effective product descriptions matters. The following eight tips on how to write product descriptions that sell will help you to maximize the impact of your product pages. We also have eight examples that show you what great product descriptions can look like.

1) Define Your Target Audience

All marketing should be created with the target audience in mind. Ultimately, it is your audience that you need to convince with your product description. Therefore, your writing should be tailored to that audience (or multiple audiences).

How To Write a Product Description for Your Audience

It will help significantly if you write a clear definition of your target audience. Personas are great tools for defining an audience. The process of creating personas will force you to think through your target audiences more clearly. The following are a few characteristics that you may define in a persona:

• The name, age and picture of the persona
• A description of how the person finds your product description
• The person’s interests (keep these general and relatively broad – the persona represents a group)
• Other relevant details that may affect the purchase behavior

Using the persona, you can establish a more meaningful understanding of your target audience. You can also start to ask yourself questions such as which features and benefits would most excite the persona. Additionally, you may think about how the persona would describe your product to his or her friends. In other words, you can tell the buyer story of each persona to think about and understand your audience.

Product Description Example #1

This is a great example of a product description that is focused on its target audience. Pampers® is known for excellent quality diapers and other baby products. The Pampers® Pure Protection Hybrid Diaper is clearly targeted at mothers who care both about their children and producing less waste. Note the focused tagline “Good for baby, Good for the planet” along with the simple yet clear description of the product.

2) Connect With the Reader’s Wants and Needs

Now that you are thinking about your target audience, you should consider the wants and needs of the people who are likely reading your product description. These needs should be informed by the research and analysis you used for your personas.

How To Write A Product Descriptions With a Reader’s Needs in Mind

Before you begin to write the product description, make some notes about how your product will satisfy the wants and needs of the reader. In some cases, there may be specific features that can help with a need. However, your product description may extend beyond features. Often, customers want to find products that will fit into and enhance their lifestyles.

For example, if you have a camping goods brand, you may be writing a description for a high-end tent. The audience for this is likely looking for fairly in-depth information about the product. They know tents and don’t want to see an overly fluffy product description. However, they are also likely seeking adventure. So, the challenge would be to balance providing detailed information about the product itself while also speaking to the lifestyle your customers are likely seeking.

It can be helpful to think about product descriptions as if you are painting a picture. You want the reader to be able to picture him or herself using the product and being satisfied.

Product Description Example #2

Our next example comes from Converse- a brand that definitely has its voice and style down. With this product, Converse highlights the personality of the Clean Leather Platform Chuck Taylor All Star. Phrases like “iconic looks of ‘90s girl bands” and “edgy vibe” give personality to the shoes, which encourages any girl wanting an iconic, edgy lifestyle to buy herself a pair.

3) Use Natural, Benefit-Oriented Language

Write your product descriptions as if you were talking about the item to an in-person customer. In other words, keep the language natural.

Some writers are tempted to be overly formal or dry. It is okay to have a little fun with your product descriptions. Try reading your draft out loud to yourself or someone nearby. If it doesn’t sound like a normal conversation, consider a rewrite. Of course, you want to keep your tone on-brand, but make sure it is relatable and natural-sounding.

How To Write A Product Description That Sounds Natural

When learning how to write a product description, remember this: most descriptions do not require any technical language or jargon. However, if you have a very knowledgeable audience, consider creating a product specifications section. This will allow you to include the technical details without having to cram them into your main description.

Additionally, you want to focus your language on benefits. For a clothing brand, you may take on the role of an encouraging friend. In other words, your descriptions highlight what you love about the item and why it will look great on the reader.

Thinking about your word choice from this perspective will help you avoid creating descriptions that sound computer-generated. It will also help you stay away from overly puffy language that reminds readers of a too-pushy salesperson.

Product Description Example #3

Natural language is important for readers of any demographic. Check out the Lasse Dante Watch from TrendHim, a watch designed for men. The stylish watch is perfectly complemented by a description that is just as smooth and engaging as the product itself. Notice how both features and benefits are highlighted without it being overly technical, or on the flip side, excessively flowy.

4) Leverage Power Words

You can increase the impact of your product descriptions by using power words. These are strong words and phrases that elicit an emotional response from the reader. They help to conjure a more enticing mental image of using the product.

Depending on the context and usage, different words can fit this bill. These are a few common examples:

• Breathtaking
• Blissful
• Uplifting
• Grit
• Defiant
• Fearless
• Conquer

As you can probably guess, using these words is not as simple as picking a few and adding them to your product description. For example, a pair of working boots may be gritty and help you conquer the day. However, they wouldn’t be blissful or breathtaking. A delicious cake, on the other hand, could be blissful.

How To Write a Product Description With Power Words

The right power words can significantly increase the efficacy of a product description. Nonetheless, it is important to avoid letting them make your description sound unnatural. Additionally, you should avoid being too generic. If every pair of boots on the market is gritty, then the description no longer means anything. A good power word should be both evocative and noteworthy.

Product Description Example #4

Here is a product description that uses power words to its advantage. The Soft Glam Eyeshadow Palette from Anastasia uses words like “essential” and “glamorous” to describe the benefits of the product. To go even deeper, they use rich words like “velvety beige” and “warm chocolate brown” to describe the shades you’ll be getting. Who wouldn’t want to buy eyeshadow with a description like that?

5) Format for Easy Reading

You can use the most enticing and persuasive language in the world and still have an ineffective product description if no one reads it. Formatting is one of the most important parts of creating a good description and is also one of the easiest to change (in other words, you have no excuses not to use good formatting).

Put yourself in the shoes of the reader. They are likely looking at a few options for a certain product and comparing them. That also means that they want to get the top-line information about your product without having to read too carefully. Choosing a highly scannable format can help significantly.

How To Format a Product Description

The right formatting depends on the amount of information you need to convey. Bullet points can be very helpful. Additionally, having a split description with a short description immediately below the product name and a separate, longer description slightly lower on the page can aid readability.

Regardless of the layout you choose, make sure your sentences are short and to the point. Try to include the most relevant information first.

It may be helpful to test your description. Give it to some people who have never seen your product and allow them a short timeframe to read the description (10 seconds, for example). Then, ask them to describe or draw the product. You can see whether people are getting the right idea or not.

Product Description Example #5

Amazon product descriptions are often great examples of how to format in an easy, clear way. This waterproof Bluetooth speaker by Loyfun is nicely formatted into bullet points, but it is still packed with important details.

Of course, Amazon has its own way to format product descriptions. If you sell through Amazon, check out our Amazon product description guide to improve your descriptions with ease.

6) Use High-Quality Images

The above tips have primarily focused on the words used to describe the product. However, all product descriptions should also include photos, and sometimes including videos of the product can make a big difference.

Return to your personas and consider what they would likely want to know about your product. Also, take a look at your product and think about what aspects would be interesting. Every product description should at least include a high-quality image of the product from the front. However, you may need rear and profile shots as well. If there are intricate details, consider some close-ups.

If you have a product that your customers are likely to want a close look at, consider adding a way to zoom in on product images. This will help readers inspect any areas that they are interested in.

How To Take Pictures For Your Product Descriptions

The photos should all have high resolution and be taken by an experienced photographer. There are a few approaches to product photography. You can have an image of the item by itself, staged with some complementary items or in context. Regardless of which approach you choose, make sure there is at least one photo in which the product is easily and fully visible (for example, you may have one photo of just the product and another of it in use).

Product Description Example #6

We’re in love with Harry’s product images, especially the Winston Set. The sleek black razors against the soft pink background are very attractive, and their unique use of shadows and color add to the appeal of each image. The five pictures display each of the products, and the tagline “A luxurious set of shaving supplies, in a box” fits right in with the images.

7) Apply SEO Best Practices

Like all online marketing content, product descriptions should be made with search engine optimization best practices in mind. After all, you want people to find your products and read about them. Good SEO is the key to increasing the online visibility of your products.

How To Write Product Descriptions With SEO

Keywords are at the heart of SEO. Spend some time researching the kinds of terms that your target audience searches for. Keep in mind that generic keywords will typically be more competitive than more specific terms. So, you will have to compete with more brands if you are pursuing “black pants” than if you focus on “women’s mid-rise black professional pants.”

Additionally, more specific keywords can be more helpful because they represent a greater intent to purchase. In the above example, the longer keyword will only attract visitors looking for a highly relevant type of pants rather than all kinds of black pants. Selecting keywords involves balancing audience size, budget and purchase intent.

Typically, search engines rank useful and relevant content the highest. So, don’t worry too much about gaming the system. Instead, focus on selecting relevant keywords and applying them in a useful product description.

Nonetheless, it is a good idea to use some best practices such as including alt tags on your images and a meta description and title on the page. Additionally, make sure your canonical headings are well-formatted.

Product Description Example #7

Nike is a trailblazer in the athletic clothing industry. The extensive branding they have done over the years will help the company be known for years to come. They use SEO to help filter their large inventory. If a customer wanted a Nike Windrunner, dozens of options appear. However, if someone was looking for an XL fleece windrunner, Nike’s carefully designed product descriptions include this in the metadata, making it easy for interested customers to find.

8) Fit the Description to the Product

This tip may sound obvious, but it is deeper than you may expect. All the above tips can help with writing a good product description. However, ultimately, it needs to work well for the specific product.

Some items sell best with just a product name and a striking image. Others need in-depth technical data to attract customers. When creating a product description, make sure you follow the needs of your customers and the product, not just general guidelines.

As mentioned above, you can use testing to determine whether a product description works. You can also use testing to decide whether you even need a description.

Product Description Example #8

Our last example is the Solar Powered Fairy Flower Lights from Best Solar Lighting. We love the combination of the images and easy-to-read product description.

We hope that this helps you realize that whether you sell watches, diapers or landscape lighting, you can create amazing product descriptions that grab the attention of your readers.

Work With a Professional Writer To Write Better Product Descriptions

Although you now know how to write product descriptions, writing them is not a trivial undertaking. As explained above, they can have a significant impact on your sales. Furthermore, they are not easy to write well. Consider hiring a professional writing service to craft your descriptions for you. Experienced writers know how to write product descriptions that sell. The investment in a writing service will pay for itself.

BKA Content provides product descriptions and other marketing content creation services. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business grow.