Product descriptions are an often-overlooked element of digital marketing. Good product and service descriptions may go unnoticed, but bad ones can actually lose sales.
With just a few simple fixes, it’s possible to improve product descriptions so they get noticed and become an integral part of your overall marketing strategy.
Good vs bad product descriptions
The obvious goal of a product or service description is to tell consumers what the offering does and why they should buy it.
A good description:
- Clearly explains a product’s function or intended use
- Offers customer information about value or added benefits
- Includes any relevant information customers might need to make a decision
A bad description does the opposite by confusing consumers with incomplete, disorganised or unclear information that leaves shoppers with more questions about a product or service.
How to write better descriptions
The first step to improving your product descriptions is to understand your audience. A solid buyer persona will help inform descriptions so they hit the right notes with potential customers. Consider demographic, age, interests, gender, location, income and education level, and native language.
A good product description should also show value or feature that will motivate purchasers. Think about buyer concerns, benefits they may find important, what they are looking to have the product do for them and include those features in descriptions to show customers why they should buy your product or choose your service.
Make sure descriptions are consistent with your brand’s voice as part of an overall marketing strategy. Descriptions that are on-brand tend to be more consistent and believable, which can improve sales.
Bullet points make descriptions easier to scan, so shoppers get the information they need in a glance without having to work too hard. High-quality images, infographics and other mixed media can make descriptions more impactful for potential buyers as well.
Certain words will strike a chord with shoppers, so look for ways to include these influential words in your descriptions:
- Amazing
- Announcing
- Hurry
- Introducing
- Magic
- Miracle
- Now
- Quick
- Revolutionary
- Sensational
- Suddenly
As always, be sure product descriptions are optimised for search. Including keywords in descriptions –especially bulleted descriptions – can improve search engine rankings for your product pages.
Conclusion
A good product description is clear, concise, scannable and on-brand. It uses motivating words and features to give buyers increased incentive to choose your product or service over the competition. It doesn’t take much tweaking to improve descriptions and boost sales.
