5 Rules: Write Product Descriptions that Sell TO YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMERS

Speak Your Ideal Customers Language With A Compelling Product Description!

LEARN WHY YOUR PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS DIRECTLY IMPACT THE SALES OF YOUR PHYSICAL PRODUCTS!

You tell me, is “a picture (really) worth a thousand words” as the saying goes?

As visual creators, we like to think the value is in seeing our design, wanting our products, and hoping the visual itself makes the sale, BUT without clear descriptions of the products you are selling online you are unable to optimize the power of compelling descriptions that create sales.

Not only do the right words engage your customers, but if keywords are researched properly, you will drive traffic to your website through SEO as well. But in an effort to keep this post simple, we will leave the step by step SEO training to the experts and focus on these 5 easy rules to write compelling product descriptions.

As a creative entrepreneur, your goal is to share detailed information about the physical products you are selling online. And there is no better placement than in the product description which shows up on the page with your products visual, your price and the “Add To Cart” button. Your descriptions should be carefully written to achieve several goals that lead to the sale.

Creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, product designers & makers can make the mistake of believing that their work will sell itself, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Look, we all know outstanding images are essential to represent your product and business both professionally and trustworthy. Thought out, branded photography adds to your credibility and make your products stand out.

But visual eye candy is not enough.

Writing compelling product descriptions are a critical tool to engage your ideal customers and enhance their shopping experience, which will in turn increase your sales.

There is a lot of “noise” in the crowded online marketplace with millions of items for sale and new businesses’ popping up every day. To make your physical product based business stand out, you have to fully engage with your customers by giving them a compelling reason to buy from you.

Ok, let’s try this thought process:

Let’s say a customer just landed on your selling platform/website, looking for the perfect product that fits his/her needs. They are going to either browse a little OR more likely, if they don’t get the feeling that your product relates to their style or desire, they may bounce within seconds.

You want to retain their attention as long as possible because there are several more buying decisions they need to make before feeling convinced to click the “Add To Cart” button on your site.

Which means – the product description is one of the most important aspects of your online shop when it comes to getting your customers to click “Add To Cart”.

But…

Even though your product copy holds incredible power, writing GOOD PRODUCT COPY can be hard to come by.

Many physical product based entrepreneurs struggle with this task and out of frustration, or time limitations, they put little to no effort into writing compelling product descriptions that sell, especially when writing copy for a long list of product offerings.

LET ME HELP. I have broken this down into 5 easy-to-follow rules about product description writing that will help you create product copy that sells.

Note: Since this blog post is about writing compelling product descriptions, it goes without saying that your product photography must be top notch and following SEO tactics with keywords will pay off big time… but that’s not our focus in these 5 steps. I want to talk about how you can develop your own unique brand voice that your customers relate to.

1. Speak Your Ideal Customers Language

Are you sure you know your ideal customer?

The first step to writing product descriptions is to define your target audience. There is no substitute for having a working profile of the shoppers you are targeting when writing your product descriptions.

List all possible customers that you think could have the problem your physical product addresses. You'll start to see the consumer group you may have the biggest opportunity to sell to.

As you are writing your product description, I want you to keep these questions in mind so that you are equipped to write product descriptions that actually sell to your ideal customer.

• What motivates this person to look for the type of products you offer?

• What features or benefits would interest this person the most?

• How did this person arrive on your website?

• Why would this person specifically be interested in your online store?

• How would this person describe your products to a friend?
  

Here are some examples to get you thinking:

• Is she thrilled to wear amazing handmade, unique jewelry and loves receiving compliments from all her friends?

• Is she environmentally conscious and wants to buy your up-cycled, thrift fashion finds and feels good about her contribution to the cause?

• Maybe she is working on creating a clean skin routine, free of fillers and toxins and wants your spa pure skin care line?

Product Designers, Makers, Artists and Physical Product Business Owners who produce written content that really speak to their ideal customers are more likely to get noticed, followed and subscribed to, because they make an important connection with the consumer and reflect what they want.

For example, take a look at this product by Best of Nature.

The buyer persona is not just any man.

Instead, the buyer persona is an Urban Lumberjack interested in a beard oil.

Now the question is, what problem did he experience with his beard to end up shopping on Best of Natures website? This has not been addressed in the listing.

Bullet points are a great way to cover a lot of your customers benefits when buying your product. In this case, the potential buyer would likely be interested in learning about these remedies/benefits in the product description.

If his beard is dry and itchy, this beard oil will condition & soften it for manageability, keeping his beard looking healthy. There’s an added benefit to the moisturizing essential oils, they mask the unpleasant scent of food odors that are common with beards.

2. Share Your Product Benefits & Features

Your physical product was designed & developed with a clear understanding of your customer’s needs, right?

Focus on your Products Benefits.

Ask yourself:

What are the benefits your ideal customer gains when they purchase your product?

As a business owner, you are understandably excited to share all of the qualities of your products. You want to show that your product has the best features and most unique materials, quality ingredients or design.

But here’s the mistake many business owners make, the consumer is not necessarily interested in the mundane features of the product. Instead, they want to know how it can benefit them.

Benefits tell your ideal customer what's in it for them. So start to describe the added benefits that your product solves for them. This is the content that will peak their interest.

For Example: Do you think a positive way to describe your products benefits can be how convenient your product is? Will the words natural, sustainable, or light weight appeal to your consumers? You know your customer, are you speaking to their peak interests? Perhaps, not here! THESE ARE BORING product descriptors! Although these descriptions may be an important characteristics to your product, it is not compelling to the benefits your customers are looking for.

Does your customer have a specific problem that you have solved for them?

Have your addressed something they wished for & hoped someone would come up with a solution?

This is the content that speaks to your customers. They are searching for those benefits.

Now, product features are different than the benefits.

Features are actual descriptions of what your products are. You want to be able to define which features would be of most interest to your potential buyers.

Features are things like size and weight, whether a product comes fully assembled for connivence, if a piece of jewelry comes in a gift box, natural ingredients, or the specific materials used to make your products.

There are facts your consumer will react to, so be sure to mention key features such as your jewelry is hypoallergenic, or that your handmade soaps are made with plant based materials, or your cookies are gluten free and your water bottles are made from recycled glass.

Let's look at the features & potential benefits for each of these:

FEATURE: Hypoallergenic Jewelry.

BENEFIT: Your Skin will be free of irritation when wearing our sporty earrings both day and night. Your ears will thank us!

FEATURE: Handmade, Plant Based Soaps.

BENEFIT: Vegan Approved! Not a single animal was harmed. Each bar of soap will fill your room with a beautiful natural scent from the highest quality essential oils.

FEATURE: Gluten Free Cookies.

BENEFIT: A sweet Treat your tummy will smile about! We took out the gluten and replaced it with the most delicious & nutritious ingredients.

FEATURE: Recycled Glass Water Drinking Bottles.

BENEFIT: You are making a positive change in the environment by choosing glass vs plastic. It’s important to find ways to recycle materials in order to avoid filling landfills that are damaging our earth. Plus every drop of water that enters your body from our glass bottles will be free of toxins that are commonly absorbed by water that sits in plastic bottles left in the sun.

Writing about benefits involves a lot of adjectives, and it speaks about the customer peak interests, lifestyle choices, allergies, health and so much more.

Play-up every one of your selling points, stressing those that are a perfect fit for what your ideal customer wants and values. Then, add a few more reasons for them to buy your products. Create that emotional buying experience by writing product descriptions that taps into their feelings.

The results of using emotionally-charged descriptions, versus none at all, will have a dramatic improvement on your sales.

REFRESHER: A product FEATURE is a factual statement about the product that provides technical information. A product BENEFIT tells how the product can improve the consumers life.

Let’s take a closer look at the product description of the unique beard oil product from above.

Here’s a suggestion to improve the Best of Nature’s Urban Lumberjack Beard Oil product description.

We will focus on the product benefits as the primary description to capture the consumers emotional need, a question they need answered, then follow it with bullet points of the product features and how they offer the most important benefit to the beadsmen.

Rather than beginning the product description with the essential oil scent profiles (which is a product feature, not benefit), I would focus on why your customer needs this item at the very beginning of the product description. So, the ingredients are not the main driver of the sale, but instead the benefits the ingredients offer your ideal customer.

Sometimes as the developers of products we focus solely on the ingredient or material features versus the benefits the consumers gains when making the purchase and using your product.

All points are valid and important, but the order in which we place the information is key to tapping into the language of your customer.

Knowing your products benefits is a reflection of knowing what problem you set out to solve for your consumer when you created the product. The Urban Lumberjack wants a healthy, cared for, manicured beard, that’s also free of odors on the go, but he’s also concerned about blemishes, razor burn, and ingrown hairs.

Starting your product description by answer your consumers concern allows you to appeal to his buyer persona the most and it’s clear what the benefits are to be gained by making the product purchase.

Here’s a Quick Tip:

Before you begin writing your product descriptions, make an outline of the features and benefits of your product. Think about how your product either answers your customers’ needs or reduces a pain point/problem they have or concern.

Translating features into benefits like this will help you write more persuasive product descriptions with ease.

3. Write In A Natural Conversation Tone

If you read your description aloud, does it sound like a real conversation that you would have with a friend?

Or does it sound like a computer-generated string of words that doesn’t engage your customer?

Bringing a natural & casual tone to your product description writing – so that it becomes a conversation versus a list of facts – will help your customer connect with your brand and products.

BLUE Q is an extremely lighthearted example of this, using the customers voice as the lead in product description, with sarcasm front and center and a fun sense of humor. That’s their customer persona and they are fully speaking their language and tone on their products, descriptions and throughout the entire site.

Here's another example from Blue Q:

Rather than selling just a Hot Mitt, they are selling sassy humor that one woman might recommend to another. They carry this sass right over to the packaging as well so the end consumer benefits from the humor they enjoy.

Your product description needs to use the natural language of your consumer, not YOUR natural language with a friend, but THEIR natural way of speaking or a tone that appeals to them. There are no empty adjectives or outrageous claims. It’s just a fun descriptive tie in that highlights the product.

Your products tone must sound natural and be in line with the general tone of your brand, as well as the consumers you are targeting.

4. Evoke an Emotion vs Pushing For a Sale

It has been said that people love to buy. There’s something very satisfying in the process, but people hate to be sold.

A good product description should outline all relevant features, convince the buyer of its benefits, and pack an emotional punch to establish a connection. It goes without saying that great quality, impactful product photography will only make your sales stronger.

So please skip the sales talk in your product descriptions, and instead make a connection by using the power of storytelling, humor, capturing an emotion, a memory or an experience your customers will relate to.

Remember, people make purchases from an emotional perspective so use compelling words in your product descriptions. Paint a picture of how she will feel when wearing your handmade hat, or the comfort he will feel when sitting in that chair. Begin your storytelling by describing where they might be, set a tone, evoke an emotional connection, a feeling that resonates with your ideal customer.

As a designer & creative entrepreneur myself, I can’t write this blog post without mentioning The J. Peterman Clothing Company. It has long been a favorite of the creative community for their incredible illustrations of every product, and how their emotional storytelling product descriptions paint a beautiful picture of how you would feel if you were to buy their products.

Go through their site and read their product descriptions. They will inspire you to start thinking of your products in a new way by reading their over-the-top copywriting. It’s a work of art in itself! It’s easy to see why they have been successfully selling clothing and accessories for decades.

You can try this storytelling strategy out on your products. Start by writing paragraphs that transcend the descriptive and take the shopper to an imaginary world. Be sure to fill in gaps that consumer wants to know and lead them to decide that they simply must have your product.

If storytelling is right for you product type, try answering questions like these:

• Is there a history behind the product that’s straight out of the past that peaks interest?

• How would the consumer benefit from using your product in their day to day life?

• Was there a struggle when developing the product concept? Share your journey.
  

By telling a mini-story about your product, you are much more likely to connect with your customers on an emotional level rather than a transactional one that feels “salesy”. This is key to convert your browsers into a buyers.

5. Use Power Words To Connect & Keywords To Sell

Language plays a strong role in conjuring up emotional response in humans.

Language is a fundamental element in emotion that is constitutive of both emotion experiences and perceptions. This is great news for product based business owners when writing their product descriptions in a way to increase sales.

By carefully considering the words you use to convey your products and your brand, you can easily gain your ideal customers loyalty, grow your customer base and increase overall purchases.

You can undoubtedly make your product descriptions more exciting by making a list of power words that connect your consumers to your products. Choose words that bring up an emotion, the type of emotion you know your ideal customer wants to feel.

As you write your product descriptions, look for any descriptive words or adjectives that could use a little life breathed into them.

For example: I suggest you avoid words like “good or nice”, instead replace them with your list of power words like “spectacular” or “delightful”. Using strong descriptive words helps to connect your customer with your product and make the purchase.

Let’s talk about Keywords for optimization. It is vital to include keywords in your product titles to show up in searches online.

Your product titles needs to include keywords because this is the easiest way to attract new customers to your website through organic searches on Google.

Keywords, put simply, are the search terms customers use on google to find the product they are looking for. With a little bit of keyword research, you can quickly find which keywords are best for your product titles.

For example: "Natural Beard Oil" would be a good title search for Best of Natures Urban Lumberjack product. Unless a customer is familiar with the brand “Urban Lumberjack” those are not words they will enter into Google. "Natural Beard Conditioner" and "Beard Growth Formula" also ranks well to add to the product title and description.

If you are new to SEO and eager to learn about keywords, check out a variety of SEO Resources Tools that I suggest to my product based business owners. To start with the best SEO practices, I recommend putting some time into searching keywords for these areas on your physical product based website:

• Page Titles

• Meta Descriptions

• Image Tags (called ALT tags)

• Product Titles & Descriptions
  

It’s important to take the time to research the words you use, it makes a big impact on the success of your products and your overall website.

Scroll through the Q&A section to see questions answered about products. Wonder why those are there? Because they work. They inform the customer, increase buying confidence, and sell more product. So, consider adding a Q&A section to your product pages to do the same.

My Conclusion

These 5 rules are based on research of consumer behavior and have been proven to be effective in increasing physical product online sales.

The most important takeaway is that your product descriptions and titles shouldn’t push your product for a sale so much as take them on a customer journey discovering the main points about why your product will improve your customer’s life.

You can find a unique path with the right words to get noticed & trusted. Once you convince your customers of that, your sales will increase.

I hope you found this helpful. Please LEAVE A COMMENT so we all grow.

It's time to show your products to the world and I know I can Help!

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