Creative Product Descriptions

Creative Product Descriptions - Lightbulb guy

Are you still using stale, uninspired product descriptions that are copied directly from your supplier?

If so, you are KILLING your chances of converting visitors into sales.

Sure, with enough volume; enough traffic; you’ll get some conversions. But let’s not kid ourselves. You’d be getting far more if you put some time into crafting creative product descriptions that actually compel your visitors to click the buy button.

It’s time to up your game and write great product descriptions!

How do you write a creative product description?

You just need a simple framework. This helps you systemize the creative and tactical process of creating great product descriptions every time.

Like this:

  1. Know who you’re selling to: Your product is not for everyone. Don’t be general. Be specific. Imagine a specific ideal person who would benefit from your product. And write the product description for them. You need to understand who they are specifically so that you can speak directly to them. Let’s say you sell a massage device. And, your ideal customer is a middle aged woman who works out. You can make some decent assumptions about her, like:

    • Her health is important to her – in your product description you might include details about the health benefits of massage and the safe materials the device is made of.
    • Her appearance is important to her – you may want to include some details in the description that evoke emotion about how she’ll look and feel after using the device.
    • She probably gets sore muscles – that can be incorporated into your description as benefits of massage for muscle recovery.

  2. Understand why your customers buy: Once you understand what’s driving a customer to make a purchase, you can focus your product description around that desired outcome. Your customer wants to know what’s in it for them. For example: Let’s say the main reason our customers will buy our massage device is to sooth tight muscles after a workout. There are lots of features of our device, including things like variable speeds and pressures, ergonomics, etc… but what customers REALLY want to know is “how will this benefit me?” So, the main focus of the product description should be on the pain point of tight and sore muscles (e.g achy feeling and having to wait until their muscles are healed to workout again; walking around stiff and tight), and the pleasure and relief that using our device will give them.

  3. Writing your product description – THE FRAMEWORK A great product description is made of these 4 parts

    • The title: Stay away from features. Included emotions or benefits instead. Some examples: Describe a negative outcome they want to avoid – “Don’t let your muscles get tight and sore” Evoke the pleasure they want to gain – “A massage device that keeps you feeling great” Describe who the product is perfect for – “The perfect massager for an active woman” Paint a picture to evoke a specific feeling – “A massager that takes you from wincing to wonderful” Note how your product is different – “At last! A massage device that prevents muscle soreness and injury.”

    • The introduction: evoke the specific pain and/or pleasure your product solves.

      It can be really challenging/frustrating/difficult/etc. when ________________ (current product options available or pain). This is why we created/curated/offer ________________ (name of product) that has ________________ (features) for _______________ (benefits and/or pleasure).

      It can be so frustrating when you finish a great workout that has you feeling fit and productive, only to have your muscles start hurting the next day. This is why we offer the pinpoint muscle massager with dual action hands to keep your body limber, healthy and free from pain.

      or…

      For those times when ___________________ (pain), this ________________ (product name) will ________________ (pleasure). It has __________________ (features) to ____________________ (benefits).

      For those post workout mornings when things are starting to tighten up, our pinpoint muscle massager will keep your aches away. It has variable speeds and pressures to give you just the right touch and keep you feeling great.

    • The detailed description: Go all-in and provide all of the details so the customer knows exactly what she’ll be getting and exactly what benefits she’ll get from it. While evoking emotion and demonstrating benefits is the MOST important part of product descriptions, it’s still important to describe all of the nitty gritty details and features of a product. Things like dimensions, materials, colors and options. They just come second.

    • Address doubts or objections: Sometimes all a potential buyer needs to push them over the edge and make a purchase is a little nudge. Fortunately, we have several ways to nudge potential customers on a product page.

      Things like:

      Social proof and/or reviews: If customers are sharing photos of themselves using your products, or if they’re posting reviews or testimonials on your site, you should make those stand out on the product page. Loox is a great app for this if you’re on Shopify.

      Credibility: If there is something unique about you and/or your company’s background, history, experience/education, etc… be sure to share that where applicable.

      Scarcity: I don’t condone fake scarcity. Usually it obvious and lame. But if you can inject actual scarcity into your product page, it can be a great nudge. Things like product quantities, limited time discounts, etc.

      Instructions / manuals: If a product is especially complex, technical, or uniquely unfamiliar, a potential customer may appreciate being able to view instructions or manuals prior to purchase. Call To Action: On a product page, this is generally the Add To Cart button. And it is likely the same on all product pages. But care should go into the placement, size and color of this button.

That’s about it! A simple framework you can use for all of your product page descriptions. Us the examples above as product description templates to make it easy on yourself.

Be sure to keep things simple, use lots of whitespace and small paragraphs, and be true and authentic to who you are (your brand voice).

Are you ready to go update your product descriptions now?

Or, do you not think it’s all that important?

I suggest you test your assumptions and update a few of your popular product pages with creative product descriptions as I’ve outlined here in this post. Let’s see how they perform for you!

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