If you struggle writing a compelling product description, then I’m sorry to say there is no magic formula that will make writing them easier. But there is a lot of knowledge that you can use to help you write better product descriptions. Descriptions that meet your customers’ needs and gives you your unique selling proposition.
I have written before on the psychological factors that you need to think about when writing a product description. This covers WHY the customer wants things.
You also need to make sure that the product description is always about the customer and not about you.
If you can do this and keep the product description enticing, then you are on to a winner.
What are customers looking for?
It is often said people buy things for emotional reasons and then talk themselves into the logic of buying it. This supports the following quote.
“People don’t buy features, they buy benefits. Features answer the question, what is it? Benefits answer the question, what’s in it for me?”
Tom Abbot
What this means is people first decide to buy because of the benefits they will get. They then justify their purchase with the features it has.
You have to help your customer by understanding what kind of things will help them buy emotionally. From your perfect customer’s profile, you should have detailed what their emotional reasons are for buying. Use this in your descriptions.
Your customer profile should also cover the type of words and language that your perfect customer uses, this should also be in your copy.
If you understand your perfect customer, then you are also in an excellent position to help the search engine out. You can use your customer’s words as the keywords you want to focus on as tags. This means you get the right people to your shop and then keep them there.
How to help customers get what they want?
When a customer searches for an item, what they are looking for is specific. This is the context of their search. For example, if they are looking for a pair of red sandals, the search results they get will fit the context of this search. They use the search ‘red sandals’, and they will get a whole heap of items that have tags in them that match ‘red sandals’.
What this search doesn’t cover is the reason why they are buying red sandals. So even though they search for the context, they have an ulterior motive of why they are looking. This is the intent of their purchase. For example, they may want a pair of red sandals, but what they are really looking for are some red sandals that are fun, comfortable to wear all day without slipping off, don’t rub and make their legs look slim!.
If you can understand the intent of their search, then you can address that through the copy of your product description. Using some of the intent words in your tags will also help you in searches.
An easy way of trying to work out the intent of the purchase is to first list all the features.
Answer questions like:
- What materials is it made from?
- When can it be used?
- What are the dimensions?
- What is included in the product?
- Are there any key features or unique selling points?
Next, think through each of the features on your list and write down a corresponding benefit. This is where you are trying to describe what is in it for your customer. Try and have a benefit for each of your features.
Think about ideas such as:
- How they will feel in different scenarios
- How others will feel about them
- The enjoyment they will get
- The transformation they will see
- What it could protect them from
Once you have your list of features and benefits, work these into your product description.
Does a product description template work?
I covered the theory on what you need to include in your Etsy Product description in a previous post.
In summary, you should try and include some of the following in a product description:
- features and benefits
- reviews and testimonials
- the story of items design
- your credentials
- details about the scarcity of the item
- guarantees
- care instructions
If you want an easy way of putting that all together, then the best thing to do is create a template for yourself. This will help you create a consistent feel to all your products. It will also make sure you always include all the key factors that turn a browser into a buyer.
If you would like my suggested template for writing a product description look here .Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Please check out our privacy policy for more details.
