Maximize Profits with Powerful Product Descriptions

How to Write Product Descriptions to Boost Sales on Your eCommerce Store

So, you have the traffic flowing to your landing page but you’re not getting many sales? It’s a common problem that many ecommerce businesses run into, watching potential sales slip through their fingers at the final hurdle. The reason for this is that the product descriptions aren’t good enough.

What many people don’t realize, is that your product descriptions are like a tightrope at the end the sales funnel. They have the power to make people finally decide to purchase something from your online store, or else send them for the exit door, most likely never to return. The reality is, well-written product content is crucial to conversion rates. What might surprise some people, is the secret about this part of your funnel.

The Secret to Writing Successful Product Descriptions

Here it is. The secret is talk less about your products, and more about your customer. In any business, it is vitally important to know your customer. When it comes to ecommerce, this is essential if your business is to stand out from the pack. Research from OneSpace demonstrates just how important product descriptions are. Their report found that:

• 90% of all consumers do their shopping online.
• 87% of ecommerce customers consider product descriptions as one of the key factors when deciding to purchase.
• 98% of online shoppers have been put off making a purchase because of poor product descriptions.

It’s important that you harness the power of persuasion in your product descriptions. This can be done once an ecommerce business truly understands the purpose of product content.

What Is the Purpose of a Product Description?

Many ecommerce businesses believe the purpose is simply to get the customer to add items to their cart or even make an immediate purchase. This is the final stage of the conversion funnel, before the visitor either goes to the checkout or navigates away from your online store.

At this critical point, product descriptions should focus on the customer. With clever storytelling, your business can convey the benefits this product can have on a customer’s life. By creating an emotional connection, businesses can grab attention and attract people, ultimately securing a sale.

7 Steps to High-Conversion Product Descriptions

The core concept is to speak to the customer instead of rambling about the product. Let’s break that down to learn how to make your product descriptions connect with your audience:

1. Use Emotional Language

When people are shopping online, they can’t physically interact with your products. It is down to your copy to convince them, and you can do this by using emotion. According to Kissmetrics, emotional response influences buying intent more than the ad content – the ratio is 3-to-1 for television commercials and 2-to-1 for print adverts.

Stories move not only people, but they also move product. By weaving a vivid fantasy through emotive language and powerful words, you can create engaging descriptions of just how wonderful it will be to own your product.

2. Focus on Benefits, Not Features

People buy results, not features. People want to solve the problems in their life. If you want to boost sales on your ecommerce store, your product descriptions should explain to visitors how exactly your products can solve their problems. Writing benefits-focused copy will engage more people, making a sale more likely.

3. Don’t Use Filler Words

When someone reads something like, “our shoes are excellent quality”, how does that convince them to buy? Instead of simply padding out your copy with fluff, get specific. Explain every feature and tell the customer how it is beneficial to them. By adding specific details, your product descriptions have more credibility. Ultimately, these technical details and their clear benefits will sell your products.

4. Tempt with Social Proof

There is no denying the power of social proof. No matter how good your copywriting, images and brand voice are, the truth is that people want to hear from other people too. Almost 70% of people will look through product reviews before they make a purchase online.

Your ecommerce business can leverage the power of social proof by including social media buttons on your product pages or including social proof in the actual description itself. For example, if your product got any major recognition or awards, you can let visitors know this, thus making your product seem more attractive. Experimenting with different social proof tactics such has celebrity endorsements and customer testimonials can have a massive impact on your conversion rates.

5. Format for Skimmers

Even the best writers in the world may struggle with this. Emotional language and power words will lose their impact if your content isn’t easy to digest. In ecommerce, it’s important that visitors can quickly scan your content, getting all the juicy details immediately as they skim to the bottom of the page. Use bullet points and short paragraphs with conversational language to make your product descriptionsshort and sweet.

6. Optimize for User Searches

As with any online business, ecommerce stores must not forget about SEO. The ever-evolving backbone of successful online content is now more about user intent than ever before. By going beyond keywords, your can create informative, engaging product descriptions that answer search queries and interlink your range of products to provide a better user experience. In the end, smart SEO practices will allow your ecommerce store to win over customers and search engines, allowing you to rise above your rivals.

7. Back Up Claims with Facts

Simply boasting about how great your product is will rarely be enough to win customers. Just as they are keen to see reviews and social proof, many people are likely to have questions of their own. If you do make any superlative claims, make sure to back it up with numerical facts from trustworthy sources. Not only will this make your content more credible, it will draw the reader’s eyes, helping them focus on the content.

Using Product Descriptions to Close the Deal

Writing product descriptions for your ecommerce store should not be some mere afterthought. Ecommerce businesses need to realize that product descriptions are part of the dangling carrot. Taking the time to create emotionally compelling, easy to digest content on your products page will enable your brand to make a connection with the audience.

By optimizing your product descriptions for search engines and backing it up with hard facts and social proof, you can harness the power of this final touchpoint in your conversion funnel to clinch sales and drive up your conversion rates.