What is a product description?

A product description is the marketing copy used to describe a product’s value proposition to potential customers. A product description explains what a product is and why it’s worth purchasing. The purpose of a product description is to supply customers with important information about the product’s features and benefits to make a purchase decision and be compelled to buy. A quality and compelling product description provide customers with details and crucial information around features, problems it solves, and other benefits to generate sales and drive customers to buy. Great product descriptions need to augment your product pages by selling your products to real people.

What does a great product description entail?

A great product page layout combines conversational paragraph-long descriptions and quick bullet points on need-to-know specs to convey the most important information concisely. Writing a prose paragraph, two to three sentences engages the shopper’s emotions or imagination about the product. The scene is set and helps the shopper realize why up to this point, their life has been incomplete without the product.

Some bullet points with short phrases, like features, and specs, like dimensions, help cover the most important product particulars. The bulletins are quick and easy to read, especially for shoppers who only scan texts on websites. In addition to that, being a little creative is key to establish a personality and tone for the brand. This voice permeates every aspect of online marketing: social media, SEO, paid touch.

Product Description Writing

Writing product descriptions starts with research. It’s important to focus on benefits rather than features. When describing your products and services, remember to focus on your ideal buyer, emphasize benefits instead of features, avoid filler copy, and cut through rational barriers with mini-stories.

Nine simple ways to write persuasive product descriptions for an online store.

Focus on your ideal buyer

Great product descriptions address the target audience directly and personally by asking and answering questions like in a conversation. A product description writer chooses and uses the words the ideal buyers use. For example, ‘you.’

In product description writing, imagining the ideal buyer is the first step. That is, the kind of humor they appreciate, the words they use or hate, or the kind of questions they ask about the products you should answer.

Therefore, a product description writer should consider how they would speak to an ideal buyer when selling a product face-to-face in-store and incorporate that language to an ecommerce site to have a similar conversation online that resonates more deeply.

Entice with benefits

Potential buyers are mostly not interested in mundane features and specifications but focus more on how they will address their pain points. A product description writer should not just sell the product but also the experience by highlighting the benefits of each feature of the product and how they will make the customer feel, and the problems the product will solve.

Avoid yeah, yeah phrases.

A yeah, yeah phrase is a bland statement like ‘excellent product quality’ added in a product description copy when the writer is stuck for words. The main purpose of a product description is to be impactful and persuasive enough to compel a customer to make a purchasing decision. A great product description writer should be as specific as possible to avoid a reaction whereby a potential buyer reads a product description and starts saying yeah to themselves.

Justify using superlatives.

1. Superlatives sound insincere unless clear proof is given to justify why the product is the best, the easiest, or the most advanced. Therefore, a product description writer should tone down a product copy or quote a customer saying the product is the best they have ever used.

Appeal to your readers’ imagination

Scientific research proves that if people hold a product in their hands, their desire to own it increases. As much as large, crystal clear pictures and videos help, a product description writer should use the copywriting skill to increase desire by appealing to the reader’s imagination by letting them imagine what it would be like to own such a product as they don’t have a chance to hold the products online.

Cut through rational barriers with mini-stories.

Including mini-stories in product descriptions lowers rational barriers against persuasion techniques. When it comes to telling a story about a product, a product description writer should consider the following questions:

• Who is making the product?
• What inspired creating the product?
• What obstacles did you need to overcome to develop the product?
• How was the product tested?

Seduce with sensory words

Sensory words help increase sales because they engage more brain processing power. Adjectives usually don’t add meaning to sentences; however, sensory adjectives are powerful words because they make a reader experience a product copy while reading.

Therefore, as a product description writer, dazzle your readers with vivid product descriptions. Think about words like velvety, smooth, crisp, and bright.

Tempt with social proof

Most buyers and web visitors are attracted to buying something popular, and mostly when they are unsure of what to buy, they look for suggestions and get swayed to buy products with the highest number of reviews. When it comes to an ecommerce website, a product description writer should normalize highlighting the products that are customer favorites.

Including an image of a person is another way of sneaking social proof into a product description. It adds credibility to a quote and makes an online company more personal and approachable, encouraging customers to call to get answers to their queries.

Make your description scannable.

A product description writer should package product descriptions with a clear, scannable design that makes them easier to read and more appealing to potential customers and web visitors.

Areas to focus on when designing a description:

• Enticing web visitors with headlines;
• Using easy-to-scan bullet points;
• Including plenty of white space;
• Increasing font size to promote readability;

Example of the product description.

• Below are product description writing examples.

A product description example from Innocent Drinks that Packages their product descriptions with a clear, scannable design that is easier to read and more appealing to potential customers.

Online.com

Online furniture seller online.com includes an image of a person in quotes to increase its credibility.

Green and Black

Chocolate maker Green and Black uses sensory adjectives to appeal to sound and touch other than just taste by using adjectives like ‘crunchy and smooth.’

Zappos

Zappos doesn’t describe the quality of a pair of shoes as excellent. Instead, they describe each technical detail plus its benefit. Zippos also uses bullet points to mention the quality of the product directly, and each point gives an impression of quality. Each point also follows an easy pattern of highlighting a feature plus a benefit:

Product service description examples

A product is a tangible item that is put on the market for acquisition, attention, or consumption. Products are simply objects that are manufactured, stored, transported, advertised, and then sold. While products can either be tangible or intangible, services are intangible. The differences between products and services are based on different factors, including tangibility, perishability, variability, and heterogeneity. Service is an intangible item, which arises from the output of one or more individuals.

Guiding Tips when Writing Product and Service descriptions

• Indicate why your product or service is needed. When venturing into a new concept, invention, or place where there is no current market, it’s important to explain the need for the product or service.
• Highlight the features of your product or service. Include features, such as price point or level of service offered that are unique.
• Focus on benefits. Unique features are important, and it is vital to explain how those features provide value to consumers. Therefore, translate features (i.e., faster or cheaper) into benefits (i.e., get it now or save money). The goal is to highlight how the product or service will fix a problem or improve a client or customer’s life.
• Be clear and concise. Use bullets or numbered lists to quickly and easily highlight important information in your description.
• Show off expertise, experience, and accolades. It’s important to include anything in education or experience that makes you an expert in the business. This is because the sole purpose shouldn’t be describing products and services and sharing reasons why you are the best person to provide them. Share testimonials, awards, or endorsements and if you’ve applied for a patent, copyright, or trademark, include it as well.
• Be the expert, but talk in layman’s terms. Assume the reader doesn’t know as much as you do when you explain what you’re offering. Avoid acronyms and jargon when outlining your products and services.
• Indicate anything extra special about what or how you’ll provide your products or services. This could be a special guarantee or refund policy or a unique way of delivering products and services you are offering.
• Write as if you’re talking to your customer. While you don’t want to write an advertorial, be customer-oriented when writing your products and services section.

Sample product description.

Description example.

Description example.

How to write a Product description for soap

The Method Home is a great product description example to look at. The product description focuses on the benefits, rather than the features, of the hand soap: “Sometimes the scent of seasonal hand wash is all we need to rouse our holiday spirits. Available in an array of festive fragrances, our naturally derived gel hand wash will leave your hands soft, clean, and ready to be tucked into a pair of fair isle mittens. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.”

Method Home suggests that their soap’s benefit is that your hands become soft and clean and how the soap actually rouses your holiday spirit, making the holidays more festive and, therefore, more enjoyable.

An Item description highlights the features and specifications of the product. Below is an item description example.

What is a description?

Definition of a description is a statement that gives details about someone or something. A description is what an author uses to depict a character, setting, or scene in a way that creates an image in the reader’s mind. It’s the way that authors bring characters to life and create imaginative settings. Well-crafted descriptive writing draws readers into the story and provides essential details to propel the action forward.

How to write a description

Here are a few tips to hone your writing skills and get the descriptive language just right:

Cut out obvious descriptions.

The most common trap new writers fall into is using predictable words in descriptions. Bog down common adjectives and descriptive words that are unnecessary in your writing. Cut those descriptive words out of the sentence and instead use shorter and more focused phrases.

Use surprising words.

Brainstorm common adjectives and other describing words and use them in unique ways to keep your writing fresh and interesting. Freeing sentences off any obvious descriptive details gives space to pepper in more interesting words that push your descriptions in new and surprising directions that will be memorable for readers.

Remember sensory details.

Sensory information is a common adage for good descriptive writing, and showing instead of telling is a great way to make that happen. Sprinkle in specific details that appeal to readers’ five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell) to help bring your scenes to life and make them feel richer and more interesting.

Make use of figurative language.

Figurative language is one of the most powerful literary devices that writers have at their disposal, which goes beyond literal definitions to describe things more interestingly. Comparisons like similes (using “like” or “as”) or metaphors (saying one thing is something else), or onomatopoeia and hyperbole, which is a form of exaggeration, help paint instant pictures of characters or settings.

Think about who is doing the description.

Although it is not obvious at first, the point of view is a descriptive element that helps to build a believable world for your story. Thinking about your character’s perspective as you describe to make the description feel true to the way they speak is a proper way of using point of view.

Be wary of over-description.

To create effective descriptive writing, limit yourself to one or two interesting details the first time you introduce a character or setting. Readers will fill in the rest as it helps the readers remember each character or setting better than if you had an entire descriptive paragraph.

Read good examples of descriptive writing.

If you feel stuck when writing a vivid description, look up from favorite books or short stories to see how other writers do it and Pay attention to what they do that you like, and try to replicate their tactics in a simple writing activity to see where it takes you.

An example of a description is a story about the places visited on a family trip.

Epic examples on how to write product descriptions to learn from and use as inspiration

Turn features into benefits.

If you want a superweapon to ignite your customer’s interest in a product, take your product’s unique features and turn them into benefits. Weber is a product page that communicates both features and benefits effectively.

Via WEBER

Here’s the product description:

Open your door to the world of grilling with the sleek Spirit II E-210 gas grill. This two-burner grill is built to fit small spaces, and packed with features such as the powerful GS4 grilling system, iGrill capability, and convenient side tables for placing serving trays. Welcome to the Weber family.

Anticipate your buyer’s pain points.

A great example is people in kong who know how to address the buyer’s pain points by giving a feature and benefit to help solve them.

via PetSmart

Here’s the product description:

Please allow us to choose one for you. We cannot guarantee a specific color. The KONG Puppy toy is customized for a growing puppy’s baby teeth, the unique, natural rubber formula is the most gentle within the KONG rubber toy line. Designed to meet the needs of a puppy’s 28-baby teeth, it helps teach appropriate chewing behavior while offering enrichment and satisfying a younger pup’s instinctual needs. Meanwhile, the erratic bounces make it ideal for those pups that just want to play. A stuffed Puppy KONG occupies busy little ones while allowing pet parents the freedom to attend to their unique needs. Want to make crate training easier or extend play time? Be sure to stuff with puppy kibble and a dash of peanut butter. Add to the fun by including KONG Puppy Snacks and top with KONG Puppy Easy Treat.

Features:

• Teaches appropriate chewing behavior while offering mental enrichment
• Soft Puppy KONG rubber formula is customized for puppy teeth and gums
• Unpredictable bounce for games of fetch
• Great for stuffing with KONG Puppy Easy Treat, Snacks or Ziggies

This does a wonderful job of addressing the problems, needs, and worries of new pet parents. Below is a great example from the copy.

PAIN POINT:

“My teething puppy is chewing everything!! I’m afraid she’ll eat the whole house and hurt herself in the process.”

Feature: “Unique, natural rubber formula.”

Benefit: “Teaches appropriate chewing behavior.”

Make your buyer smarter.

Write detailed, informative copy that helps your customer make a smart purchase decision as the main purpose of the product page is to educate customers.

How much information they’ll need depends on the company and the product. For a respected brand, customers mostly repeat buyers, and the price point is very low, hence, less information. But a small, lesser-known brand in a high-competition industry needs to provide a ton of information to make customers feel confident in their purchase.

Here’s an example.

Via Khalikhutta on Etsy.

The description:

Beautifully handmade laptop case/sleeve made in the Nepal Himalaya. It can be slipped inside your backpack or carried alone with space for all your work bits and pieces!

Designed and measured to fit 12″ to 14″ laptops and with a convenient front pocket for your charger cable and notebook. We can also make you a custom-sized and colored sleeve to fit your laptop/MacBook or tablet. Get in touch for details.

Hemp grows wild throughout Nepal and has long been used to create fabrics used in clothe making etc. You can now own a piece of this ancient tradition in the form of a functional, stylish laptop case.

Design Details:

The main pocket (where your laptop goes) as well as the top flap, are made with wild hemp, harvested, spun, and handwoven here in Nepal.

The inside has Tibetain sheeps’ wool for effective, natural, and sustainable padding (instead of chemical-based neoprene used in most cases).

The smaller, front pocket uses recycled wild hemp cloth – from bags used by farmers from rural Nepal. This is slightly thinner than the other wild hemp fabric in this item and because of its past use is beautifully soft. This front pocket can accommodate your laptop charger as well as a notebook/pens etc. making it super convenient.

No Chemicals or Chemical Dyes

We use only natural plant/mineral-based dyes.

We use no bleach or other chemical treatments or dyes in our production process.

The fibers are hand-harvested, washed in pure Himalayan water, and hand-spun weaved, and stitched.

SUPPORTING RURAL LIVELIHOODS IN NEPAL

We work with a small group of Nepali handcrafters and local communities harvesting wild fibers to bring you these yoga accessories. We support rural livelihoods and cottage industries in Nepal by providing a wider market for their products to help continue traditional skills and indigenous knowledge. By buying this item you are helping to support rural farmers in Nepal.

We do not mass-produce any of our range but operate a batch process system. This means that all our items are made with that bit more care and love – and you can see that in the finished item!

Tell a story

Telling stories, both to ourselves and others, is part of what makes us human, as everyone loves stories. It’s also a powerful marketing tool, especially for your product descriptions.

This description below does so much more than introduce a backpack and explain how many items it can hold. It tells a story.

Via ThinkGeek.

The description:

ENDOR COMMANDO

Officially licensed Star Wars merchandise

Sometimes blending in is the best plan

Big enough for your Ewok BFF

Pack it up! We’re deploying to Endor in the morning, and you need to find a bag big enough for the essentials with extra space for a small teddy-bear like lifeform. Hypothetically. We’re not telling you to take an Ewok back with you, but… if you find your Ewok BFF, you’ll have the option.

This Star Wars Rebel Alliance Special Forces Rucksack is big enough to fit everything you need for your day, and then some (including an Ewok). The camo accents will make it harder for the Stormtroopers to spot you on Endor which is a huge plus, especially considering their rucksacks are (you guessed it) white. Sometimes standing out is the worst thing you can do.

Product Specifications

Star Wars Rebel Alliance Special Forces Rucksack

Officially-licensed Star Wars merchandise

Includes roll-top, 2 front zipper pockets, and 2 zippered side pockets Endor Commando Alliance Special Forces patch is prominently featured on the front

Features faux Aurebesh on the side pocket (it would say “Restore the Republic”, but each letter is backwards) – you don’t want EVERYONE to know your true mission, do you?

Also shows the Rebel Alliance symbol

If you put an Ewok in the bag, don’t roll the top down too tight

Adjustable shoulder straps

Materials: Polyester, faux leather (vegan), and silicone strap closure

Dimensions: 18″ tall x 12″ wide x 5″ deep

Care Instructions: Wipe clean with a damp cloth

Weight: 2 lb.

WARNING – ENTANGLEMENT HAZARD. Keep away from very young children. Do not place around neck.

Surprise and delight your potential customers

If you’re writing your product descriptions for your customers, give them all the necessary information about the product to make an informed decision. Also, keep your customers engaged and write an on-brand product description that leaves a warm, fuzzy, and lasting impression.

Surprising and delighting your potential customers with a cute and creative product description will help you achieve that. Below is a cute product description that does exactly that.

Via lovestruck

The description:

Smells like unicorns farting pleasantly in your face.

|Notes of lemons, limes, cherries, grapefruits, berries and vanilla|

*No two Unicorn Farts are the same. Each one is unique.

**No unicorns were harmed in the making of this candle. All unicorns are fed an organic diet of sugar and love.

That’s how good product descriptions should be written.