7 handy tips for writing better product descriptions (2022)

7 tips for writing better product descriptions

So how can you go about overhauling your approach to crafting descriptions for the products you sell? Here are seven proven and tested tips to help you get started.

Remember who you’re writing for

Always keep the customer in mind when coming up with unique product descriptions. Or to be specific, think about who you’re trying to sell to, and speak to their preferences and interests.

For example, if you stock sustainable goods, weave this into the way you describe products and expound upon the eco-benefits each represents. Don’t just copy across the manufacturer’s basic details on features and functions, but give the description some texture so that it gels with your target audience.

Highlight specific selling points

Don’t just tell visitors what a product can do; that should be obvious from the specifications. Go above and beyond by giving examples of how they can use it, and what these benefits will mean in a given context.

It’s a process of translating features into marketable, identifiable advantages which scream ‘buy me’ as soon as a potential customer arrives on your landing page.

Use third-party tools to enhance specialized product descriptions

For certain categories of product, precision and accuracy are important when it comes to the description.

Auto parts are a great example of this, because there are so many permutations of particular components that you have to get every detail right.

Using tools to incorporate Shopify fitment data is ideal for this purpose, as integration with third party platforms allows you to automate the inclusion of descriptions for specialized products, saving time and effort.

Read back what you’ve written

Rushing out product descriptions without proofing them won’t just lead to the likelihood of typos being published on your site, but will also make it impossible to know if you’ve written in a readable, coherent and engaging way.

Readability for product descriptions is important because you don’t want customers to stumble over verbose sentences or industry jargon. Instead you should aim for a tone that’s warm, conversational and easy to absorb at a glance.

Keep it brief

Sure, you can pour out very long and detailed product descriptions which are written in prose that would make a novelist jealous. But the fact of the matter is that most visitors simply won’t read anything that’s longer than a few sentences.

As such, it’s better to focus your efforts on descriptions that are short, sweet and perfectly put together with the information you need Bullet points can also be handy as a way of conveying the selling points without resorting to full sentences.

Remember the role of SEO

While your product descriptions have to be written to engage real customers, you also need to recognize that these people won’t be finding out about your site in the first place if it isn’t ranking well on search engines.

SEO tactics should be used carefully, because it’s possible to over-optimize to the point that your content feels artificial to flesh and blood readers.

Researching keywords that are a hit with your target audience, and making sure that you aren’t competing against much bigger online retailers for visibility on particular terms, is a priority here.

Test different approaches

As an online store owner, you can access in-depth analytics for each product page, and so you can also afford to tinker with particular description writing techniques to determine which is pulling in the punters and boosting sales, and which is failing to connect.

With that, your product description writing endeavors should be able to go from strength to strength, and send sales soaring.