Would you like the product descriptions for your growing ecommerce business to be engaging, interesting and entertaining? If so then this article is just what the doctor ordered!  

As product business owners we all know that a heavy content strategy and compelling product descriptions are vital if we are to succeed in a crowded market and make our brand stand out.

In today's environment, producing great content to showcase your product has to be an essential part of the marketing strategy for your product business. 

Why great copy is essential to building your product-based business

Imagine a product page full of long dull text, with lots of jargon and unnecessarily long words. Do you think this will hold the attention of your customer? No.

Your product sales copy must be compelling, persuasive and entertaining in order to keep the attention of potential customers who may not have noticed you through other means like search or social media.

We simply do not have the time to read complicated text and jargon or to consume a large amount of text when we are in shopping mode.

• Great product copy helps you grab your customers attention and get your message out there in a clear and concise way.
• Great product copy entertains your audience and informs them, without overwhelming them.
• The aim with your content is to consistently bring your audience back for more and, in the process lead and nurture them to checkout.

So how do you write compelling product descriptions and content that your audience adores? Here's my 7 practical top tips for product business owners:

1. Ditch the jargon

You need to dumb the text down - look, you are not a professor (well, you might be) but as brand owners we need to talk like regular people, to regular people (!)... so that the everyday Joe can read and digest your content.

Not everyone is as knowledgeable about your products as you, neither are they a sophisticated reader. Any complicated terms that you come across, translate them so that they can be read and understood by the masses. This ensures that the content is accessible to everyone, not just the smart chicks.

2. Make sure that it’s entertaining and informative

In order to engage your audience, you need to ensure that they are entertained. Make the product description interesting, perhaps even surprising or written in an engaging tone that reflects your brand personality.

Product descriptions with sentences the same length are dull. Switch it up. Make your copy exclusive; send your audience to checkout or away on their journey having learnt something. Leave them wanting more and itching to click your Add to Cart button.

Use your product descriptions as a chance to make your customer fall a little bit in love with your brand and have a giggle. 

Here’s an example of LoveStruckCo's short but sweet product descriptions for luxury candles:

"Cabin fever candle - Smells like a campfire, toasted marshmallows and running away."

" Salty dog candle - Smells like the fresh ocean, bright grapefruit and a fluffy puppy. 20% of all proceeds goes to Dallas Pets Alive!

3. Don’t ramble on

Unless you are producing copy that requires more text, for example, a deeply technical product specification document that must cover all areas - you should make sure the word limit on each product description is kept as concise, seo friendly and simple as possible. 

A compelling product description need not be long at all. Just enough words to paint a picture, get the keywords in and provide the core facts.  This is a perfect arena for split testing with your specific audience.  Do they like long descriptions or convert better with short?  Do the test and find out!  

A blog post talking about the benefits of your product can go further and a blog post length is best between 500-800 words. Any less and you won’t have enough quality content, but anymore and you may start to lose your audience.

4. Have a clear and concise message

Don’t go off on tangents; keep your product descriptions clearly about the product you are selling on that specific page.  It's very easy when selling a product range with complimentary products, to go off on a tangent and start talking about all the other products available. Don't - it will confuse the customer on whether these are included when they add to cart.

Keep it simple and remember great product copy will inspire a call to action, which in most cases will be "add to cart".  Ask yourself what specifically do you want your audience to do next? Get in touch to discuss the product in more detail first before purchasing? Or perhaps just checkout.  Use your copy to move them towards that call to action. 

5. What would your English teacher say?

I remember being taught at school about having a beginning, middle and end. It seems simple, yet this is effective. The same truly works for product descriptions and product sales copy generally across your website.

If you are writing long sales pages about your products, don’t get too lost in your writing that you forget to conclude your message with your call to action.

Another tip I was taught back in the day by my favourite English teacher was to ensure that every argument had evidence to back it up, so if you say your product will benefit them, explain HOW it will benefit them - what will be the outcomes?, what will they get as a result? or how will it make them feel?

6. Use The Hemingway Editor App

Ditch any unnecessary content that often leads to the message getting lost. This brilliant website - Hemingway Editor, will help you to cut down on the clutter in your product descriptions and website copy.  Time to order your words in a clear and concise way.

7. Include emotional triggers and power words

Everyone loves reading a product descriptions that pulls on the emotions, whether it evokes sadness, happiness or a sense of guilty pleasure. Get your audience in touch with their emotions as they browse your product pages and leave a lasting impression on them with your choice of words.  For example:

• Delicious
• Blissful
• Daring
• Unforgettable
• Quick / Easy
• Beautiful
• Pioneering

Also create urgency on your product sales pages wherever you can. This gets your audience excited and moves them to the buy now button faster. 

Even if your customers aren't ready to buy today, the more emotional triggers you use, the greater chance you have of your products and brand being remembered when your audience is ready to purchase.

Secret Bonus Tip For The Real World: Outsource To A Copywriter

Let's call it what it is - writing product descriptions and long form product sales pages can be very time consuming to create - especially content that ticks all of the boxes above.

When it comes to running your product-based business, you have so much to do that I would honestly recommend you outsource any product description and long form product sales copy tasks that you can. 

Make It Happen In Your Business

Writing product descriptions and product sales pages that wow, does take time and needs to invoke emotion.  If in doubt, you can turn to a professional copywriter to ensure that the product descriptions on your website are engaging. The investment into creating compelling copy that your audience adores will be well worth it. 

Next Steps

• Take a step back and review your current product descriptions and product sales pages.  Do you bring your products alive?  Do you create a sense of the emotion and inspire a feeling that purchasing your product will bring?
• Perform a split test on your product copy for some of your worst sellers - do your customers prefer long or short descriptions? Can you improve the add to basket rate with better copy?  Define and perform the test and find out. 
• If in doubt, power up your business growth by hiring a professional copy writer to help you get started with fun and engaging product descriptions for your brand.