How to write Convincing E-Commerce Product Descriptions

If you want to run a successful online shop you must convince your visitors. In other words, the process of conversion rate optimization aims to turn prospects into customers and so do you. You might take technical measures such as optimizing page load times, ensure mobile-friendly use, and work on a customer-friendly checkout. It might sound too simple but item descriptions (also known product descriptions) are an important aspect of a high conversion rate. Studies show optimized item descriptions having a significant advantage: around 85% of respondents stated that product descriptions have the greatest influence on return rates in e-commerce.

What is an item description?

An article description is comparable to the shop window in stationary trade. The mostly short texts describe the most important features and characteristics of a product for the visitor. The aim is to inform the potential buyer so well about the article that he or she is encouraged in his or her sales intention and subsequently buys with conviction. For this to succeed, article descriptions must adapt to the target group and be designed in a correspondingly user-friendly way. Only in this way can the texts reach customers and convince them of the product. Surveys prove this function of article descriptions: 32% of 14- to 30-year-olds state that the article description is important for the actual purchase decision.

What do online retailers achieve with product texts?

With optimised product texts, online retailers primarily pursue two central goals: to inform and convince the visitor about the product and to make the product findable in the search engine.

Convincing the visitor

The main goal of product descriptions is to inform the potential customer comprehensively about the features, functions and added value of the product with short and concise texts and to convince him or her of the product. In the best case, the user should have no more questions about the article after reading the product text. At the same time, it is important to engage the reader emotionally.

Search engine optimisation

In addition to the goal of convincing the customer with an optimised article description, search engine optimisation (SEO) is also the focus of professional texts. These make a significant contribution to ensuring that the online shop ranks at the top of the Google search results in order to generate sufficient traffic. This involves balancing reader-friendliness and optimisation for sensibly strategic keywords, as well as optimising headlines, the title, the meta description, the URL and the inclusion of images and alt texts.

How is a good product description structured?

A product text must take into account many different points. A distinction is made between the design and the content aspects of the description.

The design of item descriptions

A classic article description consists of about 200 to 300 words. For improved reader-friendliness, subheadings should be inserted. Following the body text, bullet points are suitable to summarise the most important features and characteristics of the product for the reader and provide an overview.

The most important elements of the list overview include, for example, the size of the product, the exact dimensions, the weight, all technical details, the scope of delivery, additional information and references to possible accessories. Images offer an optimal solution to also present the visual features to the customer. These should be used to support the product texts.

The structure of the article description should always be kept in the same style according to the website layout. Basically, the following structure is recommended:

• Title
• Teaser
• Detailed product text with the most relevant content
• Bullet points with features and characteristics
• Pictures or videos as visual support
• PDFs in the form of data sheets, certificates, etc.
• Cross-links to other, similar or complementary products
• Reviews
• Call-to-action
• Social media links or link to the manufacturer (optional)

The content structure of article descriptions

First of all, it is important to know how to reach your target group with the right tone. The basis here is the exact target group analysis. Questions could be:

• Who are the buyers of my product?
• What information is important for them?
• For which problem does my product offer a solution?
• How do I reach my customers on an emotional level?
• What are the advantages and USP of my product?
• What other added values can I create for my target group?

Text style and customer approach

Products aimed at a specialist audience can be peppered with technical terms in terms of content, while general article descriptions should be clear, understandable and have only a few technical terms. Furthermore, it is important to ensure a consistent style. Here, one can move on the factual level or the emotional level. The address should also be chosen between you and you according to the target group and should be maintained throughout.

Added value and USPs

The customer must be able to draw a benefit from the article description and recognise the added value. To this end, the USPs, i.e. the unique selling propositions, should come to the fore. Instead of using a lot of paraphrases, it makes sense to communicate the benefits clearly in the relevant tone of voice.

Short keywords

The search engine optimisation of the article description also belongs to the content aspects. Since Google’s Panda Update in 2011, high-quality and unique content has played a major role in the ranking factors. In addition, there was the Penguin update in 2012, which now prevents over-optimised websites from achieving good rankings with an unnatural keyword density, among other things. Therefore, special care must be taken in SEO to ensure that appropriate keywords are used in an ideal ratio and that the text remains reader-friendly.

Long-tail keywords

In addition to short keywords, you can work very well with long-tail keywords in product texts. These link the product with the brand or model name, for example. Long-tail keywords increase the likelihood of achieving good positions for less hotly contested keywords and of picking up users who are already pursuing an existing purchase interest with a specific search query. Those who want to place Google Ads can also expect lower prices for long-tail keywords.

How to sell successfully with product descriptions

Product descriptions are an important part of the customer journey and should therefore never be neglected. With a few sensible measures, shop operators can increase their conversion rate and thus increase sales.

1. Arouse Emotions

Products or services sell much better on an emotional level than on a rational level. A study found that 95% of our actions are unconscious and emotional. The aim of an article description should therefore be to pick up the customer with the content where they are at the moment and to put the solution in the foreground instead of the product.

2. Avoid duplicate Content

Every product text must be unique. This takes more effort in the short term, but pays off in the long run. Google punishes duplicate content with ranking losses. Shop operators are therefore not recommended to copy manufacturer texts for their own product descriptions, but to use them at most as a basis. With these, the potential customer also receives little added value and the individual address of the target group is missing, which in turn has a negative effect on the conversion rate and sales.

3. Include ratings in the Product Pages

Positive ratings or reviews highlight the benefits of the product, which are highlighted in the item description. These back up the claims and build trust with the reader. This helps to strengthen the customer’s intention to buy. However, whether an online shop allows reviews is a bigger strategic question, as negative reviews will certainly occur at some point. As long as positive reviews predominate, however, negative reviews are not necessarily disadvantageous, as they underpin the authenticity of previous customer opinions.

4. Preventing abandoned Purchases

Shop operators who provide high-quality product descriptions have already taken a first important step towards increasing the conversion rate. If customers place the item in the shopping cart based on the product text, the first hurdle has been taken, but numerous other factors play a decisive role that influence the conversion rate, as our blogpost about Conversion Killer shows.

No matter how good the product description, the product image and the price are: there will always be visitors who leave the shopping cart for a variety of reasons. With personalised exit intent pop-ups, shop operators use the opportunity to reduce shopping cart abandonment by up to 30%. The intelligent tool recognises the reasons for the specific purchase abandonment and supports undecided visitors with situational content in their decision – including mobile shopping cart abandoners.

5. Don’t forget the Call-to-Action

If the user is convinced by the product text, but subsequently does not know what to do, this prevents the purchase from being concluded and thus the conversion rate from increasing. Therefore, it is important to implement a concluding call-to-action in every article description. Buttons such as “Add to shopping cart” or “Order now” are suitable for this.

Examples of successful product descriptions

To help you as an online retailer convince your visitors, we have prepared two examples that show you how to proceed for good product descriptions:

Example 1: Physical product – fully automatic coffee machine

Headline (H1): the full product name

Fully automatic coffee machine from XY

Content: Putting added value for the customer in the foreground

Fully automatic espresso machine with which you can conjure up freshly brewed coffee with the finest roast aromas and an incomparable crema in no time at all.

Unique selling propositions: Show USP

The smart control panel allows you to adjust the grind, drink size and temperature of the fully automatic coffee maker to suit your individual taste. For your personal coffee break.

Advantages in the form of overview lists: the most important features at a glance

• THERMOSYSTEM: Innovative thermo system for powerful results and individual temperature adjustment.
• HIGH-QUALITY GRINDER: Exclusive and high-quality grinder made of robust metal with three grinding settings for even and precise processing of coffee beans.
• ENJOYING COFFEE SPECIALITIES: Includes an easy-to-clean milk frothing nozzle for cappuccino, latte macciato and other coffee creations.

How it works and user tips: Information on how the product works and is used

SIMPLE OPERATION WITH SMART TOUCHSCREEN

With just one touch of a button, you select the size or type of speciality coffee and determine the grind and temperature via the elegant touchscreen.

Cross-selling: Links to other or helpful products

• Premium cleaner for fully automatic coffee machines
• Finest coffee beans from Ethiopia
• Thermal mug for coffee enjoyment on the way to work

Call-to-action: implement a call to action

Start a good day every morning now

Experience the incomparable coffee pleasure yourself with the fully automatic coffee machine from XY and order it at the best price.

Surprise friends and family with exquisite coffee specialities just like a visit to a café. Provide moments of happiness in just one cup. Order now!

Example 2: Software product

Headline (H1): the full product name

EXIT-INTENT POPUPS to win back abandoned carts

Content: Putting added value for the customer in the foreground

With situationally appropriate and personalised exit intent popups, online shops reduce shopping cart abandonment by up to 30%.

Unique selling propositions: Show USP

The exit intent software from uptain recognises the reasons for cart abandonment and supports undecided visitors shortly before abandonment – also on mobile devices. Increase the conversion rate and sales without the annoyance factor.

Advantages in the form of overview lists: the most important features at a glance

• INCREASE CONVERSION BY 70%: Increase your conversion rate without much effort by automatically winning back an average of 30% of your purchase abandoners.
• SATISFIED CUSTOMERS: Achieve particularly high response rates and long-term customer loyalty through our individually tailored service-oriented customer communication.
• 10% MORE SALES: With the help of our solutions, you can sustainably increase your sales by up to 10%.

How it works and user tips: Information on how the product works and is used

uptain uses real-time data processing to react quickly and effectively to shopping cart abandonment with exit intent popups.

• The visitor arrives at your website and browses for a while.
• At the same time, the uptain® ALGORITHM processes numerous data to identify possible problems.
• Shortly before the visitor leaves the website, an individually tailored Exit-Intent Popup appears, which responds to the visitor’s reason for abandonment and supports him in the further shopping process.

Cross-selling: Links to other or helpful products

• E-Book: Human vs. Machine
  Case Study: 11Freunde
  E-Book: Reasons for abandonment – complex but predictable
  E-Book: Abandoners in the Online Shop

Call-to-action: implement a call to action

GET STARTED NOW

“Fair pricing: You decide which pricing model suits you – success-based or monthly flat fee.

Fast integration: Even people without programming skills can integrate quickly and easily in just 30 minutes.

Experience success live: With our individual live dashboard, you have a transparent overview of your customer recovery at all times (e.g. number, turnover, countries, language, etc.).”

REQUEST INFORMATION

If you want to increase your conversion rate, you should focus on high-quality and unique product texts. This not only increases the chance of a sale, but also ensures more traffic with good positioning. It is important to pay attention to the structured structure as well as to design content that is suitable for the target group and SEO. With a few tips and additional tools, visitors can be quickly converted into customers in this way.

Frequently asked questions

How is a good product description structured?

A good product text follows a consistent structure that repeats across every product page: title, teaser, the detailed product text with the most relevant content, bullet points with features and characteristics, images or videos as visual support, PDFs such as data sheets or certificates, cross-links to similar or complementary products, reviews, and a closing call-to-action. Social media links or a link to the manufacturer are optional.

What do online retailers achieve with product texts?

Optimised product texts pursue two central goals. First, they inform visitors comprehensively about the features, functions and added value of a product with short, concise text and convince them emotionally, so that no questions remain open. Second, they make the product findable: search engine optimisation of headlines, title, meta description, URL, images and alt texts helps the shop rank well and generate traffic.

What is a product description?

A product description is the online equivalent of a shop window in stationary retail. These mostly short texts set out the most important features and characteristics of an article so that potential buyers feel informed enough to buy with conviction. They only work when they are written for the target group: 32 percent of 14- to 30-year-olds say the product description matters for their actual purchase decision.

What does a successful product description look like in practice?

In practice it works through a fixed sequence of blocks. The H1 carries the full product name, followed by a short text that puts the customer’s added value in the foreground, then the unique selling propositions. A bullet list summarises the key features, a short section explains how the product works and is used, cross-links point to complementary products, and a clear call-to-action closes.

How do product descriptions increase the conversion rate?

Five measures make the difference. Arouse emotions and put the solution in the foreground rather than the product, since roughly 95 percent of our actions are unconscious and emotional. Write every text uniquely, because Google punishes duplicate content with ranking losses. Include ratings to back up your claims. Catch remaining abandoners with personalised Exit-Intent Popups. And close with a call-to-action such as “Add to shopping cart”.

Which keywords belong in a product description?

Use a balanced mix of short keywords and long-tail keywords. Since Google’s Panda update in 2011 unique, high-quality content has counted as a ranking factor, and the Penguin update in 2012 stopped over-optimised pages with unnatural keyword density from ranking, so the text must stay reader-friendly. Long-tail terms combine the product with a brand or model name, face less competition and reach users with concrete purchase intent.

How long should a product description be?

A classic product description runs to about 200 to 300 words. Insert subheadings to keep it readable, and follow the body text with bullet points that summarise the key facts: product size, exact dimensions, weight, technical details, scope of delivery, additional information and references to possible accessories. Images should support the text so visual features are visible too, in a layout kept consistent across the shop.