As an ex-journalist, I know the power of language and how it can be used properly to both inform and influence people. This has helped me immensely when writing website copy for numerous brands at Shopify Builder. One of the biggest challenges for store owners can be ecommerce product descriptions. This task can be a tedious and frustrating one. If you are unfamiliar with writing copy then a store owner can lack inspiration when faced with an empty box. How do you capture an audience and explain the excellence of your product from the get-go? Especially when you consider that product descriptions are a critical part of your brand's online presence. They set the tone of your brand, are crucial for SEO purposes and also promote higher conversion rates. There is no real set way to write ecommerce product descriptions. However there are a few tips and tricks to make it an easier and more successful process:
Ecommerce Product Descriptions : What tone should be used? Before writing anything, you should concentrate on your brand and audience. If you are a new brand it may be best to sit down and think about the people you really want to appeal to. An existing business should examine what tone of language has been adopted in the past. The tone of the product descriptions should match your company branding. Setting out guidelines for all the content on site will ensure there's a unified voice behind your company, one that your customers will come to recognise.
For example, Couleur Nature use a great tone of voice in their collection descriptions and have a great engagement rate with their audience. Check out their french tablecloths collection collection for an example.
Two very different businesses should evoke different tones. For instance a hipster style fashion brand is able to get away with slang to make themselves relatable. However for a jewellery retailer such as Emmi Jewellery, language that evokes luxury and style is more fitting.
Ecommerce Product Descriptions: Minimize any customer questions By writing informative product descriptions, you can save masses of time and money on customer service duties. Make sure to think about what your customer needs to know about the product. Many conversions are halted because the customer feels they are not informed enough. You must remember that online shopping can be challenging for a customer because they cannot physically view or hold the product.
Not only should you be listing the physical attributes of the product, but also advising how the product will be useful to them too. How will owning it add to their quality of life?
Ecommerce Product Descriptions: Make every description unique If you have branded products, it might feel simpler to copy and paste descriptions from their website. STOP! By duplicating content from another website, you can seriously hurt your SEO efforts. Google penalizes websites that contain copied descriptions. It can also make your website feel less personal if the user is "shopping around" the web. A unique description might be what convinces them to buy from you.
Ecommerce Product Descriptions: SEO gold As aforementioned, having unique product descriptions can be vital when considering your website's SEO. In the descriptions you should be thinking about what keywords you want to target and how to naturally fit them in the text. Not only does this make Google happy, it will also make the user feel they have landed on the right page. There is nothing more frustrating than landing on a webpage you think is irrelevant to your search. It will more than likely increase your bounce rate and affect your rankings too.
Ecommerce Product Descriptions: How long should they be? The length of product descriptions is very variable. However I would advise at least 100 words of content for good SEO purposes. Websites thin on content can be penalized. It is usually measured by content vs number of webpages. Therefore if you have many products it is important that you add content to every page. If you want more than say 200 words, then I would recommend having a catchy, short description next to the product and a longer drop down past the fold. This means that a user just viewing the product is not overwhelmed by information. However if they are one step away from buying, the information they need is there.
Ecommerce ProductDescriptions: Give the products a story Even the most dull of products can be brought to life with a little creative licence. A clever copywriter will combine product details, usability and also a vision of wanting to own it. It is easier for me to give you an example. Say I was writing the product descriptions for a high heel shop. I could easily write: _"These glamorous high heels are both stylish and comfortable too."YAWN. The customer has probably read that on every website they have been shopping on. However do you think this sounds better? "These glamorous 6 inch high heels will be envy of all your friends on the dance floor. Their stylish good looks are only matched by their comfort. There will be no need to walk home barefoot as these will keep your feet in tip top form all night long."_You are painting a picture for the customer of when they will use the product and why these particular high heels are better than any others (without really saying it!)
Ecommerce Product Descriptions: Make sure you have reviews enabled Get the hard work done for you! Enabling reviews on your store will allow previous buyers to write their very own description of the product. Sometimes a reviewer will express an experience that is exactly what another shopper is looking for and this is very converting. Nothing is more comforting then ordering something online that has ticked all the boxes for another person. Even if you get a few 3 star, "average" reviews, leave them up. These tend to give a little credibility rather than a page of 5 star reviews. On Shopify we recommend either the Shopify reviews app, or the Yotpo app. Both give fantastic user experiences. With Yotpo, you can publish the reviews directly onto your social media with absolutely no fuss. Our blog is packed full of eCommerce tips and tricks for all store owners. Why not do your homework and check out some more articles from the Shopify experts at Shopify Builder.