Have you bought something online recently? Maybe yesterday or even this morning? It’s so common these days. You’re not alone; in the past year, a significant majority of Americans – 80% – shopped online at least every month, and 5% did so daily, according to Big Commerce. Online shopping has become a regular part of life for many, significantly impacting the global economy. Global ecommerce sales have grown tremendously in recent years. Statista states that in 2014, global online sales totaled $1.3 billion USD. By last year, that figure had doubled to $2.8 billion, and by 2021, it’s projected to almost double again, reaching a staggering $4.48 billion, representing a substantial 17.5% of all retail sales globally.

Via Statista The key takeaway? Ecommerce is huge and continuously expanding. This presents challenges for small businesses accustomed to traditional retail, as they navigate the dynamic online marketplace. Success online depends on various factors: brand recognition, the efficacy of online advertising campaigns, shipping options, shopping cart abandonment rates, and more. However, these challenges also bring opportunities. Let’s zero in on one crucial aspect: your product descriptions. In this guide, we’ll explore:

• Why product descriptions are a golden opportunity to connect with potential customers.
• Five examples of incredibly successful product descriptions.
• How to leverage these strategies for your own ecommerce venture. Let’s dive in! Want to attract more visitors to your product pages? Download our complimentary guide to advertising on Google Shopping!

Product descriptions: Putting your customers first

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve likely encountered our customer spotlights. We’re passionate about our customers! Having a background in small business marketing, I deeply appreciate our commitment to empowering and supporting the growth of small businesses. Your business thrives when your customers thrive. As a small retailer, this holds true not only for in-person customer service but also for your ecommerce website’s user experience, checkout process, return policies, and, crucially, your product descriptions. ** Crafting product descriptions that are accurate, informative, and captivating allows copywriters to serve their customers just as effectively as a sales associate greeting someone at a physical store.**

In fact, your product description might be your most potent tool for recreating that in-store experience for online shoppers. It’s your chance to hook potential customers who do their research online before purchasing in person, a practice followed by a staggering 81% of retail buyers. Rest assured, you don’t need to be a literary genius to write effective product descriptions. The key is to prioritize your customer. Unsure how to do that? Here are five stellar product descriptions to learn from and draw inspiration.

Want a surefire way to pique your customer’s interest in a product? Focus on what’s already in front of you: Transform your product’s unique features into tangible benefits. What exactly are features and benefits? Consider what excites you about your product, what sets it apart from the competition. Perhaps it’s superior craftsmanship, ethically sourced components, or a bevy of impressive features. These are your product’s features. Now, shift your perspective to the customer. How do these features enhance their experience? Does the durable construction ensure child safety? Do ethically sourced materials resonate with their values? Do those innovative features inspire envy in others? These are your product’s benefits. When crafting product descriptions, it’s easy to get bogged down in merely listing features. However, simply presenting a list doesn’t effectively communicate how your product will improve the customer’s life. Let’s analyze a product page that masterfully conveys both features and benefits.

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. Full disclosure: I kind of want this. My husband and I are all about summer and burgers. But, we live in a city apartment, so space for a grill is nonexistent. This grill’s product description speaks directly to its target audience (me!) by illustrating how its key features cater to my need for a grill that can fit on a small balcony.

You know what I’d love even more than a BBQ? A puppy! A soft, adorable, floppy-eared little pup. So why don’t I have a puppy? They’re a lot of work! They’re expensive, they bark at everything, they have accidents on the floor, and they chew on anything they can get their paws on. Guess who understands these struggles? The folks at KONG. Take a look.

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 andgums
• Unpredictable bounce for games of fetch
• Great for stuffing with KONG Puppy Easy Treat, Snacks or Ziggies This description excels at addressing the concerns, requirements, and anxieties of new pet owners. Let’s examine three prime examples from the copy. Pain point: My teething puppy chews on everything! I’m terrified they’ll destroy the house and injure themselves.

Your primary objective on the product page is to educate your customer. Craft detailed, informative content that empowers them to make a well-informed purchase decision. The amount of information needed will vary depending on your company and product. Well-established brands with a loyal customer base or those offering very affordable products might not need to provide as much detail. However, smaller, lesser-known brands in highly competitive markets need to provide ample information to build trust and confidence. Most small retailers fall into the latter category, where providing more information is highly beneficial. Here’s an excellent example.

Via KhaliKhutta on Etsy Here’s the product 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 a 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 coloured 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 an 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 note book/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 fibres 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 fibres to bring you these yoga accessories. We support rural livelihoods and cottage industries in Nepal by providing a wider market for their produce 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! A quick search for “laptop case” on Etsy yields over 54,076 results. Handcrafted leather, recycled materials, faux marble, faux wood, cork—if you can imagine it, there’s probably a laptop case made of it. So why would you choose one over another, let alone this particular bestseller? You might choose one because it’s the right size for your laptop and aesthetically pleasing. However, Etsy shoppers often prioritize how an item is made, its origin, and the labor involved. This laptop case’s product description spans 393 words, but it efficiently delivers the key selling points: handmade in Nepal (appealing to emotional needs) and suitable for both backpacks and independent carrying (addressing practical needs). The rest of the description expands on these two points. It truly excels in explaining how the traditional materials are not just visually appealing but also highly functional. Who would have thought Tibetan sheep’s wool would make such great padding for a laptop, or that the hemp’s traditional weave would result in a lightweight and easily portable case? Talk about effectively educating your buyer!

Educating your potential customer

Consider the following factors about your target customer:

• Have they purchased from you before?
• Have they purchased a similar item from a different retailer?
• Did they research the item before landing on your product page? (Analyzing your website traffic sources can provide valuable insights.)
• Do they have any knowledge about the manufacturing process of such a product? If not, would they be interested in learning?

We all appreciate a good story! Bedtime stories, ghost stories, war stories, tales of star-crossed lovers, or even those embarrassing middle school moments we’d rather forget. Storytelling is an intrinsic part of what makes us human. It’s also a powerful marketing technique, especially for your product descriptions. The description below goes beyond merely introducing a backpack and listing its capacity. It weaves a captivating story.

Via ThinkGeek Here’s the product 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. Instead of explicitly stating “this backpack will make you feel like you’re in Star Wars,” the copywriter crafts a narrative that immerses you in the Star Wars universe before you even make the purchase. It mentions that the backpack is spacious enough for an “Ewok BFF,” a detail playfully recalled in the product specifications. Nestled among the technical details, you’ll find a final note about carrying your Ewok companion: “If you put an Ewok in the bag, don’t roll the top down too tight.” What practical information does this Ewok narrative convey about the product? In reality, nothing at all. However, this storytelling approach prioritizes the customer. People generally buy things because they believe those items will enhance their lives. We purchase merchandise because we connect with brands that resonate with our identities. (Yes, we’re going deep here!) A 10-year-old might genuinely want to be Princess Leia and buy this backpack to embody her. A 30-year-old might seek to reconnect with their childhood or embrace a rebellious spirit to navigate the challenges of adulthood. Ultimately, the goal is to feel like a character in the Star Wars universe.

The art of storytelling in product descriptions

Jot down some ideas:

• What kind of story would spark your customer’s imagination? How does your product fit into that narrative?
• What underlying emotional or psychological needs drive customers to seek out this product? What stories can you tell that tap into those needs? How can your product play a role in that story? Once you have some ideas, start drafting!

5. Surprise and delight your customers

When crafting product descriptions, your goal is twofold: provide customers with all the necessary information to make an informed purchase and keep them engaged with on-brand messaging that creates a positive and lasting impression. How can you achieve this? By incorporating elements of surprise and delight through creative and engaging product descriptions. Let’s take a look at our final example.

Via LoveStruckCo Here’s the product 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. (I promise I’m not five years old. #sorrynotsorry) Let’s appreciate this gem of a description. It’s concise, impactful, and provides essential information about the product’s scent profile without being overly descriptive. It doesn’t just list ingredients; it explains why certain features matter to the buyer. Lastly, it leaves you with a positive feeling.

Injecting surprise and delight into your product descriptions

Gather your writing tools, a colleague, and some tasty snacks (non-optional!), and start brainstorming. Keep your target customer in mind as you answer the following questions:

• What expectations do they have for your product? How can you pleasantly surprise them?
• If they don’t have specific expectations, can you create some through the product title and then subvert those expectations in the description?
• What would make them laugh? What kind of humor do they appreciate?
• What shared memories or experiences might resonate with your customer base? (This description from LoveStruckCo provides a great example.) How can you evoke those memories?
• What would inspire your customers to feel happy, excited, or empowered?

If there’s one thing you take away from this article, let it be this: Focus on crafting product descriptions that truly serve your customers. Meet them where they are. Understand their needs. Provide accurate and comprehensive information that empowers them to make informed purchase decisions. Tell captivating stories that illustrate how your products can improve their lives. And don’t be afraid to inject a little humor along the way! If you need further inspiration, consider answering these 10 questions:

1. Who is your target customer for this product?
2. What everyday challenges do they face? How can this product provide a solution?
3. What distinguishes this product from others in the market?
4. What other products might customers consider to address this need? What are they currently using?
5. What brings your customer joy? What makes them anxious, excited, or worried?
6. What values do they hold dear?
7. What information do they need, and how much, to make a confident purchase decision?
8. How can you pleasantly surprise them?
9. How do you want your customers to feel when they experience your product? How can your product description evoke those emotions without explicitly stating them?
10. How can you directly ask your existing customers about their needs and pain points? Have any questions, thoughts, or examples of amazing product descriptions you’ve encountered online? Share them in the comments below!