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Time to read: 5 minutes
Product descriptions are responsible for a lot of ecommerce heavy lifting. They need to rank in search engines to score visibility for your products. Then, once you have the customer’s attention, a product description is responsible for keeping it—finding the perfect balance between scannability and je ne sais quoi panache that makes the customer hit “Add to Cart.”
I have personally written product descriptions that have generated millions of dollars in sales, and I’m going to show you exactly how you can do it, too. If you want to write irresistible product descriptions that tell your brand story, showcase your products, help boost website traffic, and (most importantly) sell, read on.
First, let’s get clear about what we’re talking about when we talk about product descriptions. Writing product descriptions requires you to think holistically about the customer experience, which means considering all the elements that go into the product description, namely: product titles, feature bullets, full product description/product details, meta titles, and meta descriptions.
Product title: Your product title is the name of the product that users see on the product page. Your product title serves practical purposes (indicating to the user what the product is), marketing purposes (providing an opportunity to flex your brand voice), and SEO purposes (including relevant keywords help your product rank on search engines like Google, Etsy, and Amazon).
Feature bullets: The bullet point section often included above the fold on a product page. Feature bullets highlight the key benefits and selling points of a product.
Full product description: The full product description is the short paragraph or two that typically falls lower on product page under a headline like “product details.”. This is the place to celebrate everything spectacular about the product and make your copy sing.
Meta titles: A meta title is the version of the product page title that appears in search engine results. Meta titles are often shorter than product titles, as search engines generally truncate copy on results pages. You want to front-load the most important info about your product in the meta title to ensure people see it.
Meta descriptions: The meta description is the short text that falls below a meta title on a search engine page. On Google, meta descriptions are limited to 140 characters. Often, the best use of a meta description is to create a templatized approach that includes your product title and highlights some of your brand differentiators.
Alt text: Alt text describes what’s in an image. It’s an essential tool for people using screen readers, but it can also help your product stand out in search results, as alt text can help your product rank higher in Google Image searches. Ensure all your products have an enticing product image and clear alt text that describes what’s pictured.
Before you can wow potential customers with your pithy prose and breathtaking product features, you need to do a little homework.
Clarify your product details: Take the time to double-check all the details about your product—from materials to dimensions to how product features work. You want to ensure that everything you write correctly reflects the product your potential customers will experience.
Keyword research: Research the keywords, or search terms, most commonly used when customers are looking for products like yours to ensure you’re using language that will help your product appear in searches. Tools like Moz Keyword Explorer can help you do some keyword research for free.
Know the platform: What makes for the best product copy varies by platform. You’ll want to use a different approach on your website or Shopify store than you would on Amazon or Etsy. Spend some extra time learning the requirements, product page formatting, and character limitations for each platform, along with the best practices for product copy on that individual platform.
People skim to decide if a webpage is worth reading. That’s why you need to lead with the most important information—like your unique selling point and recognizable keywords—that communicate exactly what your product is. Don’t make a reader guess. We often hear it said that attention spans are shorter than ever, but digital marketing tells a slightly different story. People’s consideration spans are shorter than ever. Once a customer is hooked, they’ll spend time reading reviews and digging into product details. But first, you have to capture their attention.
If your product is part of a larger collection, you might feel the urge to use some of your product copy space to tout the rest of the collection. If you choose to do so, you want the collection copy to come at the very end. Although, it’s worth mentioning that “frequently bought together” or “customers also purchased” blocks are typically much more effective for cross-selling.
If you’re reading this thinking, “But what about duplicate copy?! I hear Google hates it, but I have two tables that are the exact same except for their size. What do I do?!?!!?”...great question. Google’s stance on prioritizing unique copy is in service of creating the best user experience possible. If two products are virtually the same, the best product experience is to lead with the information that differentiates it and then use duplicate copy. This indicates to users who are comparison shopping, “The rest is the same.”
Now that you understand the architecture that supports the art of powerful product descriptions, here’s what you need to know to pen product copy like a pro.
Who is your ideal customer, and how does this product solve a problem they’re facing? If you don’t have a concrete sense of how to answer that question, it’s time to dust off your marketing buyer personas. The more you can center your target customer, the better product descriptions you’ll write.
Your customer doesn’t care about features. They care about benefits. How will this help me in my life? That doesn’t mean you can’t mention your features. It just means you want to frame them within a larger benefit. For example, SendGrid Marketing Cloud features customizable email templates. On its own, that means nothing to a customer. That changes once we frame it within a benefit. “Design high-converting emails in minutes with easy-to-use templates on SendGrid Marketing Cloud.” Now we’re talking.
Specificity builds trust with customers. Use sensory words that specifically describe the product’s construction. Instead of vague phrases like "high quality" or "great design," describe materials, dimensions, functionality, and what makes the product special. Detailed descriptions can also improve product SEO by using relevant keywords.
Generative AI can be an incredibly helpful tool, helping you optimize product descriptions at scale with limited time and budget. If you choose to use generative AI in your product copy, make sure you have a human reviewing the data that’s been input and the copy that the robot is generating.
Once you’ve put the polish on your product descriptions, it’s time to leverage email to grow revenue. Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns gives you all the tools you need to create winning cart abandonment emails, nurture campaigns, and seasonal email blasts that will help increase your customer lifetime value.
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