Ecommerce – Tips for Writing Product Descriptions

Many e-commerce sites have product pages containing very little information about the product being offered. At times, product descriptions only include a photo of the product, as well as the colors and sizes available. Such information is usually not sufficient to convince a customer to make a purchase. Here are some tips which will help you create compelling product descriptions for your site.

1. Write it yourself

Proper product descriptions need to be detailed, compelling, and unique. Avoid the temptation of copying and pasting content from the manufacturer’s site. Instead, take time to create original, keyword-rich descriptions for your product pages. Take time to study the product and find out what information would interest customers most. For instance, you could explain clearly how a product works and what specific benefits it can offer to consumers.

2. Include product reviews and keywords

You need to ensure that your product description includes information which is beneficial to shoppers, as well as search engine friendly. Inserting relevant keywords in your content will help enhance the ranking of your site. The best places to add keywords are in the meta tags and the product description. You can also add them in the ALT tag, as well as in the page title.

You could also consider posting reviews from customers on your product pages. Such positive reviews can be beneficial in complementing your product descriptions and are likely to convince prospects to make a purchasing decision.

3. Add a call to action, as well as relevant links

A call to action is a statement which is aimed at compelling a prospective customer to take a particular action. Besides including such announcements on the homepage of your online store, it would also be advisable to add them on all your product pages. ‘Buy now and get a 15 percent discount’ or ‘Sign up now! Only limited spaces remaining in our exclusive mailing list’ are some examples of call to action statements.

Make sure your product descriptions include links to other related product pages. For instance, if you are selling laptops, you could add a link to other product pages offering laptop accessories. When customers know where they can find related items, they are likely to make more purchases.

4. Check the spelling and grammar

Proper spelling and grammar are very vital for any e-commerce site. Many customers would be reluctant to surrender their details to an individual who cannot differentiate ‘there’ and ‘their.’ Therefore, you need to ensure that your site’s content leaves customers with a good impression of your business. If your pages are well written and are free from grammatical and punctuation mistakes, customers will take your business more seriously. Remember to keep your language consistent in all your product pages. For instance, don’t say ‘web site’ on some pages and ‘website’ on others. Such mistakes can make a shopper lose confidence in your business.

Go through your content several times to ensure that it’s perfect. It would also be advisable to allow a friend to look through your copy and point out mistakes. Alternatively, you could hire the services of a professional writer to create good content for your e-commerce site.