Let’s say you manage an online storefront and you want to make more sales. You have decent traffic or you’re increasing your traffic with marketing campaigns, but you want your conversion rate to be higher on your product pages.
It’s long been established that trust is one of the biggest factors in sales. If potential customers have questions about your product or service that they can’t find answers to, they’re going to become skeptical of your business and look for a website that offers more information.
When a visitor is eyeballing your product page, you want them to feel like they have everything they need to make a confident and comfortable purchase.
You do this with product description.
A proper product description is going to do two things:
- Inform
- Entice
Your reader needs to know if the product is what he or she needs, so it’s crucial to provide enough information that he or she can say, “Yes, this is the one I want.”
Simultaneously, you want to paint a picture that allows the potential customers to envision themselves with the product, imagining how much better life will be once they have it.
They’ll look and feel amazing in those clothes. They’ll be safer and more fearless with this gear. Traveling will be more convenient with this bag. This lawn care service will make them the envy of the neighborhood. You get the idea.
Let’s say you’re selling a lady’s handcrafted ring. The customer needs to know the size, the color, the material, the weight, and any physical features, whether apparent in images and video or not (not all of your visitors can see your images and videos, but they can probably hear a screen reader).
Now your customer knows the ring won’t turn her finger green. It’s the right size, not too heavy and the filigree sounds charming. Your conversion rate is okay, but we want better than “okay,” don’t we?
So, you deliver those simple details in a skimmable blurb -written at an 8th-grade reading level- that leaves Ms. Buyer dreaming of the dinner party she will soon be attending, at which this stunning accessory will accentuate the blue of her eyes and sparkle softly in the intimate lighting.
Your reader is now picturing herself wearing the ring and instead of talking her into the purchase, it’s a matter of whether or not she will talk herself out of it. If the price is right, your chances are looking good.
Now you’ve made the sale, you’ve got a boost in SEO from your new original content, and your conversion rate is looking pretty damn good, which means your sales, revenue, and profits are up and Christmas is a little merrier this year.
With a little practice and study of consumer psychology, you can save yourself some pocket change and write your own product descriptions. But if you’re not a writer or you’re busy managing your business, a copywriter like me is always happy to oblige.
There are so many of us nowadays, rates are more affordable than ever, and you can generally be confident in the quality you’ll receive just by looking around the copywriter’s website and reading a bit of their writing, publications, and reviews.