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Product Description

Product Description

Product Description: Brief Summary

A product description is a piece of content, which explains to the reader what the purpose, features, characteristics and price of a product are. Commonly seen on online retail sites, product descriptions help to inform potential buyers about the qualities or advantages of an item, with the intention of encouraging them to make a purchase. Product descriptions are often written by a copywriter and most product descriptions on a site will follow the same format.

By their nature, product descriptions are descriptive and informative, but their real intention is to sell. As a result, they will often feature enticing language or language that is aimed at the type of audience the e-commerce business is attempting to appeal to. Moreover, a product description can form part of a broader online content strategy and can contribute towards things like search engine optimisation (SEO) and search marketing efforts.

Product Description: Detailed Summary

Online retail or e-commerce stores have become extremely popular since the 1990s, with websites set up to sell almost any product imaginable. However, the popularity of online retail means that each individual retailer has a whole host of competitors, and this competition can occur on a global basis. It is, therefore, important that retailers encourage buyers to purchase from them, rather than a competitor, and product descriptions can help.

A well-written product description will inform the reader about the qualities, features and characteristics of the product itself, and help them to better understand it. However, it will also actively sell the product. This use of sales language may be either overt or more covert, but should leave the reader feeling as though purchasing the product will be beneficial and purchasing it from that specific retailer would be the best available option for them.

In most cases, product descriptions follow a fairly similar format, where they will outline the product and its uses, explain its defining features, provide information about the materials used, and provide the price of the product. Ideally, all product descriptions on a single website should have the same template and follow the same basic pattern in terms of tone, language, what they describe and how they describe it.

Aside from informing readers of a product’s features and encouraging readers to make a purchase, one of the objectives behind writing a product description is to enhance overall website visibility, as well as individual product visibility, with the product description forming part of an online content strategy.

Although generic product descriptions are often written by manufacturers and offered up to retailers for use, this is not best practice in terms of visibility, because it means multiple websites have the exact same content on their site. For this reason, it is recommended that retailers create unique, well-written product descriptions of their own. The task of writing product descriptions will often be a job for copywriters who have experience in writing them.

In addition, a product description can be used across different platforms. For example, a product description, or a section of a product description, may be published on the main website, posted alongside links on Facebook and Twitter, used on an online retail app like Shopify, and even sent out to potential buyers through email marketing.

Moreover, when crafted carefully, a product description can form part of a search engine optimisation strategy, improving the visibility of a website and its products within search engine results pages on sites like Google and Bing. To ensure this is the case, a product description should make intelligent use of keywords, without resorting to keyword stuffing, and each product description page should function as a suitable landing page for the retailer.

Tips For Writing Effective Product Descriptions

Writing effective product descriptions can be more difficult than it first seems because a truly great product description does not simply describe a product. Instead, it informs, it sells, it advertises and it encourages. Below is a list of five tips that can help a writer, content creator or website owner to create compelling, engaging product descriptions, which achieve all of these objectives.

1. Do Not Just Describe – Sell

Again, it is crucial to emphasise that the real purpose behind a product description is not just to describe, it is to sell. For this reason, the writer should not merely focus on describing the product, but also describing the price or deal, and explaining why it is a good purchase to make.

2. Consider the Target Audience

When writing a product description, it is important to think about who is reading it and, equally, who is likely to buy the product. To create a compelling description, you need to consider who the audience is, what the audience is actually looking for, what aspects of the product will most impress them and how you can appeal to them.

3. Think About SEO

A good product description page will be unique, make intelligent use of keywords in the main copy and titles, and will serve not only as a description for the product in question but as a suitable landing page for the online retail or e-commerce site in general. These aspects all have a role to play in improving search engine results placement.

4. Explain the Product’s Uses

When describing the product itself, in many cases, a detailed physical description is not the most important thing the reader needs. Generally speaking, potential buyers are more interested in the product’s uses or applications, or in the specific reasons why they should buy it, so it is best to approach it in this way.

5. Avoid Negative Words

Finally, there are some words and phrases that are better avoided when writing product descriptions. For instance, unlike with reviews, where readers expect honesty, with a product description you should stay away from describing negatives or drawbacks. Moreover, it is best to stay away from words like ‘expensive’, even if it is true.

Conclusion

A product description is a piece of content, often written by a copywriter, which outlines the various features and characteristics of a product. Product descriptions are most commonly seen on online retail and e-commerce sites and, in addition to providing a physical description, also serve to help the retailer to sell the product. Furthermore, product descriptions have a key role to play in an SEO strategy, by enhancing overall website visibility.


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