The Value of Proper Product Descriptions
Are your product descriptions on point? If they aren’t, you may not be seeing the sales you projected, plus higher cart abandonment and return rates. The simple truth is that in the world of ecommerce, product copy counts – a lot. While you want what you craft to be concise, it has to be descriptive enough to tell potential buyers exactly what to expect when their package arrives.
What are some consequences to poor product descriptions?
- Lower sales numbers. If the description doesn’t match the physical product, your return rate is liable to rise; one source cites poor product content as responsible for 40 percent of online returns. Even prior to point of sale, bad descriptions can lead to a greater incidence abandoned shopping carts.
- Decreased brand trust customer confidence. Every purchase creates an impression to buyers, and a bad experience can have disastrous consequences for your shop. Poor product content has been shown to deter 87 percent of buyers from making a repeat purchase, according to ShotFarm. Worse yet, frustration over obtaining information from a site has been shown to cause 94 percent of shoppers to abandon a site altogether!
Now that you understand how poor descriptions can impact your ecommerce sales, how can you be sure craft product descriptions that work for customers?
- Keep informed on consumer vocabulary. Don’t write your product descriptions from the viewpoint of a merchant – tap into how shoppers speak and think. For example, this may mean placing more emphasis on how a product feels to the touch versus how it’s manufactured.
- But stay away from being too cute or clever. You need to strike that balance between grabbing attention and delivering information. Don’t waste space or risk shoppers’ attention with long lead-ins or fluffy words that won’t help with search engine optimization.
- Combine descriptions with specs. Use the product copy to describe its attributes and benefits, then follow up with a short bulleted list with information about material, size and other data-driven information.