Anyone can now create their own online store. There's nothing complicated about it. But when it comes to describing goods or services, there is a very interesting trend. Most simply “rip” texts from competitors’ pages, as they say, “for show.” At the same time, few people wonder whether this makes any sense. Today we will look at how to use product descriptions(or services) you can cleverly differentiate yourself from competitors and turn even 500 characters into an effective sales tool. You are ready? Then let's go!

Description of goods in online stores: state of affairs

Today, the vast majority of online stores, no matter those created on unique “engines” or using extensions of popular CMS (Virtuemart for Joomla or WP e-Commerce for WordPress, etc.), have the same structure. There are two key elements in this structure:

1. Brief description of the product (on the main page, in search results, filtering, etc.)
2. Full product description (on the product card page)

You can often find stores where there is no description of the goods at all, as such. There is only a title, an image and a couple of technical characteristics. This is a completely neglected case, we are not even considering it.

Much more often the picture looks like this: the short and full descriptions are the same. At the same time, practice shows that they coincide not only within one store, but throughout the entire niche as a whole.

I am touched by the rationale for this approach of some of my entrepreneur friends: “ The product is the same, you can’t write anything new about it, you can’t invent anything».

Now look what an interesting thing happens:

Let's say there is an entrepreneur Fedya Pupkin, who sells cell phones, and some competing large company Sidorov Inc. Fedya buys 10 units of equipment at a time, and the office buys 1000. It is logical to assume that the office, with such large wholesale purchases, can have a price for goods significantly lower than Fedya’s.

And now the most interesting thing: the description of both the office and Fedya’s is the same. The only difference is the price. Who do you think the vast majority of consumers will order from? The question is rhetorical.

The secret of a selling product description

In order for the description to work for sales, it must be approached primarily from a marketing point of view. Therefore, you need to write about what is important to your target audience. And the target audience is only concerned about their problems, the solution to which can be the product whose description you are writing.

Consumers are not buying a product. They are buying the solution to a problem that this product becomes for them.

Let's say you need to write a product description for a plumbing store. Let's approach the question more specifically: You need a description of the SOLO toilet from KOLO. On the one hand, you can write technical specifications such as color, overall dimensions, etc., but this will be of little help to the consumer.

Now imagine that you have done a little analysis and found out that this toilet is very compact and fits perfectly into the combined sanitary units of Khrushchev-era apartments, leaving a lot of free space. Moreover, you even made a sketch of the bathroom layout and clearly showed a comparison of the SOLO dimensions with the dimensions of other toilets. Do you see? As a result, the consumer gets the opportunity to buy not only a toilet, but also free space for the same money.

The situation is similar with various promotions, discounts and other specials. proposals. By focusing on tangible benefits, you increase the value of the product in the eyes of a potential buyer, and, consequently, the chances of a purchase. This chance increases the call to action even more (for the selling description of the product, all the laws of classic writing are preserved. The only difference is the small volume).

Small nuance:

Try to show in the description not just the benefits of purchasing the product, but the benefits of purchasing the product from you. It’s just that in the end, the consumer (especially the Slavs) still compares prices, and it would be a shame if your text helps a person decide on a model, but this person makes a purchase from a competitor at a lower price. To avoid this situation, make your offer unique.

Product description: the most common mistake

Very often, when you get to a page with a product card, you can see a large “sheet” of text describing the history of the product, its purpose with all the accompanying oohs and ahs, “tailored” for search engines. Another option is a category page with a long list of different models and the same “sheet” at the end.

Of course, optimization for search engines is a good thing, but only when it does not harm the selling properties of the page. Otherwise, the following scenario plays out:

1. The visitor has arrived
2. The visitor winced
3. The visitor has left

The question arises: what’s the point of being a leader in search results if the bounce rate is off the charts?

Returning to our plumbing example, imagine that you need a new bathtub. Why should you read about where it was first invented, how cool it is to lie in on a cold winter day, or how to use it? Think about it, would you be pleased if your eyes were waiting for such text on every page? Unlikely.

That's why when writing a product description, . Will your text be useful to him? Will it solve his problem? If yes, which one?

Many owners of online stores may begin to be indignant, they say, they have thousands of items, it’s not enough to write a description for each or pay a copywriter a lot of money.

Now imagine that each text is capable of bringing in at least one additional sale, which will recoup the money invested in this text. Where there is one sale, there will be two, three, and ten over time. But the main benefit is that the text only needs to be written once, but it generates sales constantly.

Summary

Product descriptions can be a very powerful sales tool if approached from a marketing perspective. But in this case, it is worth remembering that article-type text will not work here, because the “highlight” is not to simply produce a thematic mass of text, but to solve the buyer’s problem and reflect this solution in the text.

Judging by the questions that my customers ask me before making a purchase or after receiving an order, we can come to the conclusion that not everyone reads the product description.

Although, on the other hand, those buyers who find answers to their questions in the description are unlikely to say so. They will simply place an order and go about their business further.

This is probably why we often ask ourselves the question: why would I spend so much effort on writing a description, no one will read it anyway.

I used to think so myself. But let's imagine the following situation.

The buyer is looking for product X. The first thing he will pay attention to is the title photo of the product. Then, out of curiosity, he will open the listing and look at the rest of the photos with additional angles. And then, if the photographs do not fully answer his questions, he will turn to the description.

And here it should be as readable as possible so that the buyer does not leave to look for another product.

What functions does the description perform?

The description tells what exactly the buyer will receive

For example, looking at this product photo, you might think that I am buying ready-made wall embroidery. Did you think so too?

But after reading the description, we understand that we are purchasing a kit for self-embroidery.

The description tells what cannot be conveyed in photography.

For example, you are looking for a decorative candle with the scent of old books (yes, this also happens).

But only in the description can you tell in more or less detail about the notes of which aromas are included in the smell of “Old books”.

The description tells you in what quantity the item will be received.

Sometimes the photographs show not one product, but several at once.

Then in the description you can indicate that the buyer will not receive several bracelets at once, but one of his choice (or a specific one).

The description allows you to protect yourself from an unforeseen situation

For example, a buyer looks at photos of a dress and sees that it has a belt. Perhaps it is this parameter that inclines him to purchase.

But upon opening the package, he discovers that there is no belt included. It turns out that the accessory only complemented the style of the dress and was not included in the price. And the seller forgot to mention this.

That is why the product description should answer the most common buyer questions.

Get file

What not to do

Despite the fact that lately it has become increasingly difficult to find listings with an unsuccessful description, I want to give an example of what not to do:

I hope I have convinced you that the product description is worth paying attention to, especially if you only have a couple of offers there right now.

When writing your description, try to write in short sentences. Especially if you feel that literary texts in English are not your forte yet. In addition, there are many buyers on Etsy whose first language is not English. And it will also be more convenient for them to read more capacious and simple texts.

Also, according to Etsy statistics, more than 50% of traffic comes from mobile devices. And on a small screen it is quite problematic to isolate important points from the text. This is also why it is important to make the description short and memorable.

Description structure

Let's imagine the product description in the form of an inverted pyramid: we will place the most important information at the beginning, and move more general and less important information to the end.

Introductory paragraph

Start your story with an introductory paragraph. Say in words what the buyer sees in the photo. This is important to do in order to saturate the first 160 characters with key phrases. But don’t just copy them, as I sometimes do :)

Describe in a few sentences what a person will get by purchasing this product. This recommendation is also important for Google (it understands “human” language and indexes such pages better).

Color

In a separate paragraph, focus on color. Instead of “red,” indicate its shade as accurately as possible.

I once had a case when a customer wrote in a review “Green is not emerald to my eye,” which literally means “The color green, in my opinion, is not emerald at all.” The photo showed the actual color, the title said "Emerald green", but the description said nothing at all. Try not to repeat my mistakes and describe the color as accurately as possible.

It is also important to point out that the perception of color is individual and depends on the color rendering of the device (monitor, phone, “eye”).

Materials

Be sure to describe in as much detail as possible the materials from which your product was made.

If it is a piece of clothing, such as a nightgown, it will be important for someone to know what percentage of certain fibers are in this fabric. For example, 100% silk.

And if you sell soap, then indicate the content of each of the components included in the composition.

Size

Whatever product you are selling, be sure to include its most accurate dimensions – in centimeters and inches.

In addition, you can verbalize physical landmarks. Not just “Earrings 1.5 inches long,” but “Longest chain size to chin.”

If you can make this product in other sizes, it is worth adding a size chart.

And if a model is showing clothes in one of the photographs, then it makes sense to indicate her parameters (height, chest/waist/hip circumference). This will help buyers compare their parameters with the parameters of the model in the photo to evaluate how the item will look on them.

Aroma

If you sell products that have a scent, try to describe it as accurately as possible. Instead of just saying “The scent of lavender,” add emotion to the sentence: “A fresh lavender scent that will calm and relax you.”

Usage

Be sure to tell us how your product can be used if there is a risk that the buyer may not understand it himself.

Care

How to wash, clean, wash, wipe a purchased product so that it lasts for many years.

Link to rules, reviews, store

Additionally, in the description you can place links to similar products, rules, reviews and to the main page of your store. I wrote more about links.

20 questions that concern buyers

Want to know if your listing answers the most common questions buyers have? Download the file to find out what they care about. And in addition, look at 10 examples of very good product descriptions.

So far, we have made the “Title Page”, “Contents and Summary” and the “About the Company” section. Now we have everything to start the essence of the planning process of any business, i.e. what he will sell is goods and/or services. Next up is the section "".

Product description in the business plan

So far, we have designed the introductory elements to pique the interest of business plan readers for further reading. If in the previous sections you managed to attract the reader's attention, then the next thing he will want to read is a description of the product or service that you are selling.

Every business sells something. And part of the money received from sales needs to be invested back into the business. This is the basic cycle of any business. That “something” can be a product, or a service, or a combination of both. In recent years, a new type of product has been noticed on the market - an electronic (or information) product. And this is also a business.

The purpose of this chapter is to accurately define the characteristics of a product and/or service, and to clearly outline the benefit that the consumer will receive by using these goods and/or services. Therefore, I recommend using this section of the business plan.

Contents of the section “Description of products in the business plan”

Here you should include the following subsections:

• An introductory summary of products and/or services.
• Description of products and/or services.
• (by product and/or service).
• How will you receive products and/or services?
• Future plans.

Introductory summary

Introductory summaries should be written just below the section title. Before you begin filling out the remaining subsections, you briefly indicate what will be discussed next. Consider the introductory section summary as analogous to the summary of the business plan as a whole - it can help you write the remaining subsections, and at the end you can tailor it to the content. In each part of the business plan, try to give a brief overview of what will be covered in the upcoming subsections. This way, you will make navigation easier for both the reader and yourself.

Read also

Description of goods and/or services

This part should contain a list of all the products and/or services that you sell or will sell. The brief description must contain the following elements:

• What is the product and/or service?
• What benefits will the consumer receive?
• What are the main features?
• What type of customers does the offer apply to?
• How will you sell?

For each product and/or service, answers to these questions should not exceed 100 words or 500 characters. This rule does not apply to more specific products and/or services.

The Product Description section of the business plan can be used as a tool to consider consumer needs and the benefits of using the product or service being offered, potentially generating new ideas and a better USP (unique selling proposition).

All this needs to be expressed in a form that is understandable and easy to read, with easy navigation for the reader. Everything said should be specific (preferably in numbers), and talk about what is important for each product.

Competitive comparison

Until now, we have been focused only on our business and our potential clients. Now is the time to include competitors or potential competitors if you are a startup business in your planning process.

Considering that in a separate section we will analyze the market in more detail, here we will briefly list the differences and features that you offer in comparison with the main competitors in the market. Use specific words when talking about quality, prices, sales, location, etc. Keep it short and concise for easy understanding. This process will happen as follows:

• Identification of key competing products and/or services.
• Determine the characteristics of these competing products and/or services.
• Determine the applications and benefits that products and/or services provide.
• Compare the features and benefits of competitive products and/or services in relation to your products and/or services.
• Incorporate additional specific ideas and parameters to widen the comparison gap in your favor.
• A clear clarification of these differences and advantages in this subsection.

Method of obtaining products and/or services

The subsection should include a description of how to obtain the products and/or services that you will offer to the market. If you are a retail business, describe where and who your suppliers are. If you provide a service, then describe how the service could be provided. For example, by hired professionals, using special tools and equipment... If the business is a manufacturing company, this will have to describe the production process and the raw materials required for production.

It's a good idea to consider what impact technological changes (which are permanent) will have on your business. Every product or service has an “expiration date” or so-called. . The technical side can impact all aspects of a business, both positively and negatively. For example, the emergence of Internet service businesses has fundamentally changed the services offered. Or, if you're about to launch a print newspaper, keep in mind that even some legacy print publications have moved entirely online. New marketing tools have appeared and are appearing. A manufacturing enterprise must constantly monitor technological changes and incorporate them into the production process.

If technology is not important to your business (although this is almost impossible today), you can ignore this part of the subsection.

Future products and/or services

You should never stand in one place. Business life is dynamic, requiring you to always be one step ahead. It is advisable to include in this section products and/or services that you will not immediately offer on the market, but plan to launch them in the future. This section simply requires you to consider and answer the following questions:

• What products and/or services may we introduce in the future?
• What are the conditions for their introduction?
• By what time can they be introduced?

This section relates to your long-term strategy and represents a combination of financial needs and range of opportunities.

Remember! What you define here will be the foundation of your business in the future. Again, this is a planning process and doesn't mean you can't come back with new ideas as you write other sections of the business plan. And when you have accepted your own plan, you need to start implementing the plan.

This section will help you once again consider all possible aspects of your business, taking into account your main competitors. Don't neglect this opportunity!

Product descriptions are perhaps the most difficult type of content to write. The description should be easy to understand, informative, short, and motivating to purchase. And also unique. You also need to choose the right content format - a text description of a product is not always able to complete all tasks. In some cases, it is advisable to supplement the description with product images, in others, to replace lengthy text with a short video. How to write effective product descriptions?

The quality of the product description can either awaken a desire to buy unconditionally here and now or lead the client to competitors forever. Especially if the description doesn't provide the information the user needs to make a decision. Providing the basic characteristics of the product is a prerequisite if you want the user to add the product to the cart and pay for the purchase.

Any product is a solution to a specific user problem, a way to improve his life. When a user searches for a product, he subconsciously imagines holding the product in his hand or using it. The stronger and more vivid the user’s ideas/fantasies about owning a product, the higher the desire to buy the product and the higher the likelihood of adding the product to the cart.

Product description structure

The traditional approach to writing descriptions comes down to the following plan:

• Who- target audience - who is the buyer of the product
• What- product segment - budget, middle, premium, elite
• Where- what use the product is intended for - street, house, car
• When- the product is used (seasonal decision or not)
• For what- buy this particular product and not another - competitive advantages of the model
• How- the product is used (not for every type of product).

The next step is to determine the correct format for the product description. Not all users read text descriptions. It is worth considering that most people only skim the pages. Use bulleted lists to attract attention and improve the perception of information.

But the lists look too official and sterile, do not engage the user’s emotions, and do not evoke the desire to immediately add the product to the cart. They simply structure the information.

• bold font, headings - these are the main factors of attracting user attention
• Bulleted lists best structure information
• portioned information with additional icons indicating the type of information will allow the buyer to find the data that is important to him

Text on the CTA button

The CTA buttons of most online stores are not original - “add to cart”, “buy now”, plus or minus options. And in most cases it works. But if you want to get more out of your product page, then run A/B tests with different text on your CTA buttons. Indicate on the button not the action expected from the user, but the result that the user will receive by clicking on the button.

For example, instead of "Download book" test the button with text "101 ways to attract users".

GetGoodRank: this approach requires careful testing. Atypical CTA button text can confuse the user.

Volume of content

Mobile traffic is growing, and Google is giving a ranking advantage to sites optimized for mobile devices. The perception of information when reading from a mobile device worsens, as the load on memory increases. The extra steps required to view all the content on a page are distracting and force the user to remember more.

If your site is frequently visited on a mobile device, make sure the page offers the optimal amount of information accessible from one (maximum two) screens. Important:

• no horizontal scrolling
• important information on the surface

The search engine algorithm is designed in such a way that pages of online stores without product descriptions are practically not indexed. This means that products without descriptions will not appear in search results, and customers will therefore buy them less. Additionally, with the help of clear and useful descriptions, it may be possible to persuade a doubtful client who has not yet decided what exactly he needs and where to buy it to buy. But don’t overestimate the role of product descriptions on a website.

Unfortunately, not all managers know how to write a high-quality product description and what it should be. That is why online stores are often filled with such descriptions that they not only do not sell the product, but also spoil the customer’s impression of the store as a whole.

Why the description does not guarantee success

Description is just one of the blocks of information on the site. In addition, not all clients read them. Much more often attention is paid to the photo of the product, its price, characteristics and customer reviews. If all or one of these elements is missing or poorly presented on the page, users are likely to leave the site without reading the descriptions.

In order for an online store to work effectively, beautiful descriptions alone are not enough. All elements of the product card must be of high quality.

What should the product description be?

Many online store owners do not understand that posting standard descriptions from a manufacturer’s catalog or a competitor’s website sometimes not only does not provide any benefit to the resource, but can also cause harm. Let's figure out how to make a high-quality product description for an online store.

Product Description Length

The optimal amount of text for product descriptions is 400-800 characters.

If the description on your website is smaller, there is a risk that it will not contain any interesting and significant data that could influence the decision to purchase a product. Also, smaller text is less likely to be indexed by search engines.

Large text is often difficult to read and comprehend. Especially considering that many people neglect the quality of its design on the site. A volume of over 800 characters is appropriate only for specific goods, the purchase of which is rarely impulsive - medicines, complex equipment.

Who needs uniqueness

Product descriptions in online stores must be unique.

What minimum acceptable percentage of uniqueness to choose, what program to use to determine its level depends only on you. In order to answer these questions, visit content exchanges and see how your competitors do it. However, do not strive for 100% uniqueness.

If you choose a program based on shingle verification of text uniqueness, for such small volumes of text it is almost impossible to achieve 100% uniqueness without losing logic and meaning. Usually 80-90% uniqueness is enough.

Keywords in description

Keywords must be used in product descriptions. In this case, it is best to include not high-frequency keywords, but medium and low-frequency ones. Thus, the page for a specific product will increase the likelihood of reaching the top of search results for your request.

For example, the page for the Redmond RMG-1203 electric meat grinder will not reach the top of search results for the query “buy an electric meat grinder.” You have a much better chance if you search for “buy Redmond RMG-1203 with inexpensive delivery.”

Helpful information

Ideally, descriptions should not completely duplicate characteristics. They should provide the reader with additional useful information about the product. The more specifics about the product, the better.

You can write everything - from how a mobile phone fits in your hand and whether it is convenient to dial a number with one hand, to what is the best way to wash and dry curtains so that they do not lose their original appearance for as long as possible.

Common mistakes when writing descriptions

Errors when writing descriptions are common not only for beginners in online trading, but also for well-known stores. Let's deal with them and never repeat them again.

Descriptions copied from the Internet

A real scourge for online stores. Thousands of stores stubbornly copy each other’s product descriptions and wonder why their entire websites or individual product pages fall out of search results.

Search engines work in such a way that sites with copied content are rarely indexed. Even if you manage to get indexed, all other things being equal, you will definitely be lower than the original source.

Search engines react poorly to such “pranks” and, just as with copied descriptions, may bypass your site. In addition, by copying descriptions for similar products, you can accidentally deceive the client.

When search engines find two similar products with the same description on a website, they perceive these pages as duplicates and leave only one in the index. A different description will show search engines that the pages are also different.

Abundance of keywords

Descriptions consisting only of keywords are a thing of the past. Search engine algorithms are designed in such a way that if you use key phrases excessively, you will simply fall out of the search results. Yandex and Google robots are getting smarter every day and guard the interests of ordinary users and mark such texts as spam.

Text is too long

All good things, even the best, should still be in moderation. Do not make product descriptions on the site in the form of long text. They are difficult to read, they look ugly, and the same malicious search robots are vigilant to make it convenient and useful for users.

But, if you are selling a completely new product, write an interesting and structured description exactly as much as necessary. After all, who would buy an item about which he knows nothing and it is not at all clear how and why to use it.

Where to get unique descriptions

All of the above is good, but you probably already have a question in your head. Where can you get unique product card descriptions? You can write them yourself or order them from copywriters.

Writing descriptions in-house

It doesn’t matter whether you start writing texts yourself, or entrust it to one of your subordinates. This method has both pros and cons.

• the performer knows the topic, understands what he is writing about, knows the good and bad sides of the product;
• the performer can pick up the described item, twirl it and touch it, and therefore convey this valuable information about actual use to the consumer;

• if the store’s assortment amounts to thousands, or even tens of thousands of products, you will have to hire a separate employee, pay him vacation and sick leave, and organize an additional workplace;
• not everyone can clearly express their thoughts on paper; it will take a long time to choose from among the employees who to entrust this task to, often to the detriment of their main responsibilities;
• When searching for a new employee, you will have to spend time on interviews, selecting applicants and testing their knowledge and skills.

In what cases is it worth writing descriptions yourself:

• a specific product that an incompetent author is unlikely to write about;
• small number of titles;
• there is an employee who is able and willing to do this work.

Ordering descriptions for a copywriter

• the copywriter knows how to write a product description and format it correctly;
• a huge number of copywriters from which you can choose yourself;
• low time and money costs - you can simply post a vacancy on any freelance exchange and choose the candidate you like.

• there is a high probability that the copywriter has never encountered your product and cannot always find interesting and useful information about the product;
• the services of experienced copywriters are quite expensive, and those who are ready to work for a “thank you” often produce low-quality texts as a result;
• You can fall for a scammer and lose time and money.

In what cases to order descriptions from a copywriter:

• if you need to quickly write descriptions for a large number of products that do not require special knowledge (clothing, toys, everyday goods);
• when it is not possible to get one of the existing employees to write or organize a workplace for a new one.

And finally, how to organize the work of writing descriptions:

1. Prepare a list of pages or products that need description.
2. Look at how your competitors are doing, decide on the requirements for the text.
3. Choose a performer - from the store employees or the copywriters who responded.
4. Study portfolios on similar topics or ask to complete a test task.
5. Check the received work through an anti-plagiarism tool; not only the copywriter, but also your employee can try to cheat. At this stage, you can cut out low-quality texts and send them for revision.
6. Add descriptions to product cards on the website.