How to Write Better Product Descriptions

If your website or catalog isn’t selling enough products, take a look at the description.

There’s nothing wrong with listing every single feature or “what’s included” because sure, that stuff matters.

Sort of.

The infomercial approach (highlighting every feature)might also be why your product descriptions are actually costing you, potential customers.

Address your audience and understand why they buy your product.

Do you know which problems your products solve? Can you give a tangible example or story that will make your visitors stop browsing and start buying?

Are you giving traffic a reason to choose you or a reason to shop around for the same product at a better price? Because if you are, they’ll find a better deal somewhere else… even if the cost is equal.

Push the right button(s).

Everybody has a “hot button”, something that ignites passion, anger, compassion, or some other powerful emotion. Your core audience, collectively, shares a hot button—at least one.

Case in point- weight loss products don’t sell because of the ingredients. That first spark of interest happens when a potential customer feels the frustration (that other efforts have failed) and the inspiration (that your product gets results).

Embedded throughout your entire website, there must be a consistently voiced message that ignites emotion. It’s okay if you lose some customers because they don’t agree with your message… it just means you’ll win over the customers who do share in the passion.

For an example of how to brand your products, look to diamond commercials that highlight the feeling of love and the promise she’ll say yes. Or look to alcohol commercials that talk about fun times (*drink responsibility) rather than rattling off ingredients or bottle features. Because you aren’t selling a product, you’re selling something that your audience wants.

Use this easy cheat to transform Features into Benefits.

So your tablet has a lightweight design, and it only weighs 10 ounces? To you, this is a selling point. To a potential customer, this data is a pretty boring feature because it doesn’t immediately apply to me personally.

Once you’ve listed out every selling point feature that is unique to or awesome about your product, you can transform it into a benefit with ease by adding a “so…” and then completing the statement with something more personal.

As it relates to the previous example, you have a “tablet that is designed to weigh so little that you can easily use it with only one hand, and you can carry it anywhere.”

Use that trick in product descriptions and suddenly, your customers will start to care a little bit more about that feature!