One might not think that something as trivial as a description of a product could mean the difference between someone buying or not. Yet it is a good way of pushing someone who may not have been thinking about acquiring a certain product to consider it and then even take the step towards a purchase.
There is a fine line to walk between being overly descriptive and being too vague. Take the following sentence (taking from a website for a hotel in New York), for example, “Techno-glam energy surges through the one-bedroom Fantastic Suite in a bolt of cool electric blue, sparkling with Times Square energy in your own urban sanctuary atop the dazzling Broadway lights.” A description like this might make one sceptical more than interested. Can something really be so fantastical? On the other hand, a product that has too little information might make you wonder if there might be something wrong with the product and that’s why so little is said about it.
Type of Product Description
To know what type of product descriptions to use in your electronic product catalogue, you need to know to what type of customer you are appealing to. By now you should have studied the type of businesses you will be marketing to. Your descriptions’ tone, style and language should match the product as well as the audience that will use the product. Maintain consistency across all product descriptions – not being formal and serious in one and then being playful in the next. This consistency also counts for the length and detail in the description.
Product Description Suitability
Descriptions should not only suit your audience but also the overall brand identity you have been developing. Ensure that the type of language and tone you use on your website, brochures and advertising match your product descriptions. Know the limitations of the copy you are writing. Take into consideration the word count, the additional copy fields that are above the fold and forced information (headlines that are automatically inserted into your copy).
Effectively Communicate Benefits
Remember that communicating benefits is more important than features. Even though mentioning the features are important, especially when it comes to complicated products such as electrical goods, without the benefits attached to the product it might not seem like something they can’t get anywhere else. The benefits of a product make it unique.
Spell out the facts in bullet points (these are great for people who are simply skimming the copy) but use the description to persuade the customer to make the purchase. Describe how the product will make the customer’s life more enjoyable or more efficient. Use the features to your advantage by making correlate to the benefits. For example, if the product is an ice cream, you may say that one of the features is the fact that it doesn’t expire as fast as other ice creams which will in turn save you money by not throwing food away so frequently.
When writing the product description, try to make it interesting for the reader. Mix up the styles within a description by adding in both bullet points as well as paragraphs, and then alternating. If at all possible try to include a product review from a satisfied client. It has been proven time and again that including a review makes it more likely for a customer to buy a product.
Keywords for Product Descriptions
Get some keywords in your product descriptions. This is a good thing both for Google and as an internal search tool. Take care to place the keyword in the headline, text body as well as the image caption. You can stick to only one keyword (to avoid keyword stuffing) and then use this keyword as much as possible. The keyword can simply be a description of what the thing is you are selling.
Cross-selling and Upselling
If at all possible try to do some cross-selling and upselling in the product description. This is the act of recommending one product while trying to sell another. Basically, “if you like this, you will probably like this as well”. Don’t spam clients with this as it might seem pushy. Just insert it here and there to make clients think that you know what they like or make them see what other great products you have that they need.
Product Images
As has been said in a previous article on electronic product catalogue images, good quality product images are key to any catalogue. Without a product image, a good description will not be helpful at all. If you are to make any claims that seem extraordinary or too good to be true in your description, make sure that you are able to back them up with facts.
Be Descriptive
Stir up your client’s imagination. Especially when it is a mobile or online catalogue, as is the case for Onsight users, you need to make them understand what it would feel like to own this product and what it would do for them in a real life situation. One of the ways one can do this is to include as much sensory words as possible. Make them feel the product, see the product in their mind’s eye and experience it as if they have it in their hands right now. However, avoid language that is too flowery or over exaggerated because this inspires distrust in customers and do not tell the customer anything real or tangible about the product.
In future, take some time to write great product descriptions for your electronic product catalogue. If you really have faith in your product and want it to succeed, writing about the benefits and features of it will never be difficult. It is worth taking the time if it might change someone’s mind about buying a product.
