Product Descriptions May Cost You 20% in eCommerce Sales! Here Are Five Simple Fixes

Written by  AJ Leale, Sr. Director eCommerce 
An eCommerce study done by the NN Group found that 20% of purchase failures are potentially a result of missing or confusing product information. 
People tend to gravitate toward specific words when shopping online, so it’s a good idea to start using them. 
Bad product descriptions can turn customers away from a sale, but it’s never too late to change this and increase the sales of your online store. Here are five simple fixes that can help you achieve that. 

The Difference Between a Good and Bad Product Description

Bare-minimum product descriptions are one of the most common mistakes that eCommerce websites make. That leaves customers confused and without sufficient information to complete a purchase. 
However, a good product description doesn’t have to go into too many details either. It needs to have three important elements: 

• It clearly explains what the product does or what is its intended use. 
• It showcases added value or benefits. 
• It has all relevant information such as the image, size, availability, etc. 

How To Write Better Product Descriptions 

1. Define Buyer Personas Long Before Writing Product Descriptions 

If a business has no idea who their buyer persona is, they won’t know what to include in their product description either. 
Besides a great headline, product descriptions should also have additional information broken up into sections. High-quality photos of the product(s) are also a must. 
Pay attention to your target customers — their demographics, age, gender, interests, education level, income level, etc., because the way you communicate with them will depend on these crucial factors. 
When defining a buyer persona, brands need to have clear answers to these questions: 

• Who is our end-user? 
• What is our user demographic? 
• What type of information will the buyer need to complete the purchase? 

To craft a more compelling product description, brands could also use the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How method. The specific questions would be: 

• Who is this product for? 
• What are the basic details of the product?
• Where would someone use this product? 
• Why is this product useful or better than its competitor’s? 
• How does the product work? 

2. Use Both Features and Benefits 

When creating the buyer personas, you will want to start with their concerns and buying motivations, as they are going to dictate which features and benefits you should outline in your product descriptions. 
Features are important but benefits have more persuasive power on the end-user. And that’s exactly one area where many brands make mistakes — they focus only on listing the features instead of matching them with benefits. 
When writing great product descriptions, keep in mind the following: 

• Focus on two to three most important features. Outlining every single one is not necessary in most cases. 
• Describe the advantages of the product’s features. 
• Explain how a product will solve the need or a problem. 

3. Use Bullet Points

Most people skim text while browsing online, so bullet points can improve the scannability of your website’s pages. Since the attention span is shorter than ever, people want the most important features listed first. 
Bullet points help provide a clear and concise way to present information online. 
Amazon is perhaps the most notable brand that utilizes bullet points to break up large chunks of text. 
Some brands love to use checkmarks instead of bullet points, but this is a matter of personal preference. 
Note that bullet points aren’t the only way to tell a product’s story and convince shoppers to buy. Make sure to have a paragraph or two included on the page. That’s where great storytelling comes in especially handy, as it can lead to increased engagement. It’s a perfect opportunity to establish a voice for a brand. 

4. Optimize Your Product Descriptions for SEO 

The importance of SEO for product descriptions should not be overlooked. 
Placing keywords in product descriptions — titles and bullet points — can increase search engine rankings. 
For example, Shopify recommends adding your targeted keyword in four crucial places — page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, and body content.

5. Use More Images 

Mastering the art of great product descriptions is necessary, but you still need to pay attention to some other important factors such as having high-quality photos. 
Nearly 63 percent of customers think that product images are more important than the description itself. 
In some instances and for certain products, images can give more information. Having at least two to three of them is the norm for most eCommerce stores. 
Brands should also experiment with video, with the description outlined in simple bullet points. 
That’s why A/B testing is especially important and should be done continuously. 

Conclusion 

Product descriptions have an important role in sales. Contact us and let our team of experts help you implement the right tactics that will boost the conversion rates of your online store.