9 Simple Ways to Boost Sales With Seductive Product Descriptions

It’s an easy mistake.

Even professional copywriters make it sometimes: Writing product descriptions that just describe products.

Why is it wrong? Because product descriptions need to SELL your product.

Let’s have a look at 9 simple ways to seduce your web visitors with product descriptions that sell.

1. Focus on Your Ideal Buyer

When you write a product description with a huge crowd of buyers in mind, your descriptions become wishy-washy; and you end up addressing no one at all.

The best product descriptions address your ideal buyer directly, personally. You ask and answer questions as if you’re having a conversation with your ideal buyer. You choose the words your ideal buyer uses. You use the word you.

This is how Think Geek starts the product description of an LED Flashlight:

You know what's sucky about regular flashlights? They only come in two colors: white or that yellowish-white that reminds us of the teeth of an avid coffee drinker. What fun is that kind of flashlight? We'll answer that: NO FUN AT ALL. You know what is fun? Using the Multi-Color LED Flashlight to cast a sickly green glow over your face while telling a zombie story around a campfire. No campfire? Make a fake one with the orange light!)

How to write your product descriptions

Start with imagining your ideal buyer. What kind of humor does he or she appreciate? What words does he use? What words does he hate? Is he okay with words like sucky and crappy? What questions does he ask that you should answer in your product description?

Consider how you would talk to your ideal buyer if you’d be selling your product in store, face-to-face. Try having a similar conversation online.

2. Entice with Benefits

When we sell our own products, we get excited about features and specifications. We live and breathe our company, our website, and our products.

The problem is that our potential buyers are not so much interested in features and specs, they want to know what’s in it for them. That’s why you need to highlight the benefits of each feature.

This is how Method Home describes one of their hand wash gels:

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 the benefit of soap is not just that your hands become soft and clean, the soap even rouses your holiday spirit.

How to write your product descriptions

Consider the benefit of each of your features. How do you make your customers feel happier, healthier, or more productive? Which problems, glitches, and hassle do you help to avoid?

Don’t sell just a product, sell an experience.

3. Avoid Yeah, Yeah Phrases

When we’re stuck for words, and don’t know what else to add to our product description, we often add something bland like excellent product quality.

That’s a yeah, yeah phrase, because as soon as a potential buyer reads excellent product quality he thinks, yeah, yeah, of course; that’s what everyone says. Ever heard someone describe their product quality as average, not-so-good, or even bad?

You’re losing your credibility when a potential buyer thinks yeah, yeah. To avoid this reaction be as specific as you can be. Zappos, for instance, doesn’t describe the quality of a pair of shoes as excellent. Instead they describe each technical detail plus its benefit:

[image: 1. zappos]

None of the bullet points above refers to the quality of the product directly, but each point gives you an impression of quality. Each bullet point also follows an easy pattern highlighting a feature plus a benefit:

genuine hand-sewn construction (feature) >> durable comfort (benefit)

How to write your product descriptions

Product details add credibility. Product details sell your product. You can never include too many technical details in your product descriptions. Be specific.

4. Justify Using Superlatives

Superlatives sound insincere unless you clearly prove why your product is the best, the easiest, or the most advanced.

Amazon explains why the Paperwhite is the world’s most advanced e-reader:

[image 2. Kindle Paperwhite]

The word patented gives the reader the impression that this is something special. Amazon goes on to quote several percentages to show why the Paperwhite has better contrast and brilliant resolution; and it provides a killer benefit: Even in bright sunlight, Paperwhite delivers clear, crisp text and images with no glare.

How to write your product descriptions

If your product is really the best, provide specific proof why this is the case. Otherwise, tone your copy down or quote a customer who says your product is the most wonderful they’ve ever used.

5. Appeal to Your Readers’ Imagination

Scientific research has proven that if people hold a product in their hands, their desire to own it increases.

You’re selling online, so your web visitors can’t just hold your products. Large, crystal clear pictures or videos can help, but there’s also a copywriting trick to increase desire: let your reader imagine what it would be like to own your product.

Here’s how Think Geek stirs your imagination with an description of the grilling multi tool:

There is a person who is the hero of every BBQ or family cookout and that is the Grill Master. We always looked up to our Mom or Dad as they tended the grill and looked forward to the day when we could be in charge of charring the meatstuff and searing delicious slices of fresh pineapple. Now that we're adults, it's finally our turn and technology has smiled upon us, giving us a tool that is destined to impress.

How to write your product descriptions

To practice this copywriting technique start a sentence with the word imagine, and finish your sentence (or paragraph) by explaining how your reader will feel when owning and using your product.

6. Cut Through Rational Barriers With Mini-Stories

Including mini-stories in your product descriptions lowers rational barriers against persuasion techniques. We forget we’re being sold to.

Wine sellers like UK-based Laithwaites often include short stories about wine makers:

The Dauré family own one of the Roussillon's top properties, the Château de Jau. Around the dinner table one Christmas they agreed it was time to spread their wings and look to new wine horizons. The womenfolk (Las Niñas) fancied Chile and won out in the end, achieving their dream when they established an estate in the Apalta Valley of Colchagua. The terroir is excellent and close neighbours of the Chilean star Montes winery.

How to write your product descriptions

A few ideas for including mini-stories in your product descriptions:

• 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?

7. Seduce with Sensory Words

Restaurants have known it for a long time: sensory words increase sales, because they engage more brain processing power. Here’s an example of chocolate maker Green and Black:

[image: 3. green and black]

Green and Black’s sensory adjectives don’t just refer to taste, but also to sound and touch: crunchy and smooth.

How to write your product descriptions

Adjectives are tricky words. Often they don’t add meaning to your sentences, and you’re better off deleting them. However, sensory adjectives are power words because they make your reader experience your copy while reading.

Dazzle your readers with vivid product descriptions. Think about words like velvety, smooth, crisp, and bright.

8. Tempt with Social Proof

When your web visitors are unsure about which product to purchase, they look for suggestions what to buy. They’re often swayed to buy a product with the highest number of positive reviews. But there are other ways to sneak social proof into your product descriptions.

Online furniture seller Made.com hints at the popularity of a product:

[images 4 & 5: made.com]

Including an image of a person adds credibility to a quote; it also makes an online company more personal and approachable – encouraging customers to call to get answer to their queries. The above quote is extra impactful because it describes the product as popular. The popularity claim is further supported with a cutting from the press and the phrase press favorite.

How to write your product descriptions

Most buyers are attracted to buying something that's popular. Hightlight the products that are customer favorites.

9. Make Your Description Scannable

Is your web design encouraging web visitors to read your product descriptions?

Here’s a great example of product description from Innocent Drinks:

[image: 6. innocent]

How to write your product descriptions Write seductive product descriptions and encourage web visitors to read them:

• Entice your web visitor with headlines;
• Use easy-to-scan bullet points;
• Include plenty of white space;
• Increase your font size to promote readability.

How to Write Seductive Product Descriptions

Share your knowledge about your product.

Tell stories and explain even the tiniest details.

Come on. Stop being boring. Delight your web visitors with seductive descriptions. Write with enthusiasm. Because your passion for your products is contagious.

And that's how you sell more products.

This is a guest post by Henneke Duistermaat. She is a marketer and copywriter on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring companies charming. Sign up for free copywriting and content marketing tips at Enchanting Marketing.