In 2013, Australians spent $37.1 billion via ecommerce and 53 per cent of people regularly buy from Australia. In 2018, international shoppers were expected to spend $16 billion (AUD) annually with our local online retailers.
Ecommerce is a big, huge game. But if you want to make those real sales, instead of dribs and drabs, product description copywriting needs to be at its absolute best. If you’re new to sales copywriting, read on for some really practical tips to improve your product descriptions.
How important (out of ten) is it to write a decent product description? Go on, have a guess! The answer is zero. Because you do not want to settle for decent, you want to aim for mind blowing and earth shaking. Good copywriting a product description will be ultimately what sells your product, it’ll be that final nail in the coffin that will either confirm to your users that they are a click away from living happily ever after or it will put them off and they’ll run from the room and forget about what they were doing and never come back to purchase your product. My point: make it outstanding.
‘Just over six in ten [adults] made purchases online in the past year, spending on average almost $4,400 for the year,’ Sense eBusiness Report, July 2015.
Great copywriting tips for online product descriptions
- Keep it brief. Avoid waffle.
- Your product will be accompanied by an image (right? RIGHT?) but write the description as if the person cannot see the image. This is particularly important as Google and people value accessibility more and more.
- Convey the most important features straight up, preferably in order of importance. Is it organic? Handmade? Are there only three in the world?
- Next, communicate the benefits of using the product. For example, it will make you taller in two days and you will grow wings in your sleep. (If anyone actually sells this product, get in touch).
- If there is anything negative about the product in the description, you’re doing it wrong.
- Tell me, directly, like you’re talking to me face to face, what this product will do for me in as few words as possible.
- Include specifics like measurements, weight, main ingredients etc in bullet points.
- If you’ve done a little research on your product or have been selling it for a while, describe in one sentence what most buyers do with it or use it for. For example, these vials of blood make a great, quirky gift. Double points if you link it back to one of your own products.
- Don’t forget to include or match your product descriptions with positive customer reviews.
Tip: nearly 63 per cent of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews.
According to the website Visual.ly ‘…a good product review can hike up a product’s sales by nine per cent, whilst a bad one can drag down someone’s intention to buy by eleven per cent.’ Although these are American statistics Australia often emulates these spending patterns and behaviours.
If it’s time you improve your website and update your product descriptions, why not have a read of my expert website copywriting book, Potent?