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Have you ever had a buyer return your product because it wasn’t what they wanted, even though the photos and descriptions clearly showed that it wouldn’t meet their needs?

This happens surprisingly often, and it might lead you to believe that buyers simply don’t read product descriptions. 

While we have to conclude that some people shop impulsively, statistics show us that product content really does matter.

According to Salesify’s 2017 report, 87% of consumers find product content “extremely or very important when deciding to buy.”

What’s more, 98% of consumers have “been dissuaded by incomplete or incorrect content.”

Help Lazy Readers Pay Attention

Of course, a small percentage of shoppers really don’t read descriptions, either some of the time, or every time they shop. 

For those people, we need to make your product descriptions as easy to read as possible. 

Large blocks of text with a tiny font can make anyone’s eyes hurt, especially if your audience is older adults.

Separate your text into skimmable blocks, just like this block post. 

Make sure to use bullet points and strategic bolding to call out important details. 

The most important specs include:

• Product dimensions: include both metric and imperial measurements for your product’s weight, height, width and depth. If you’re selling clothing and don’t include measurements, expect fewer sales.
• Compatibility: especially for tech, make it crystal clear which accompanying products it would work with.
• Materials: Photos may not make it clear if your product is made of polyester or silk, metal or coated plastic. 
• Policies: Do you take returns? Make it extremely easy for buyers to find this information, even if it gets repetitive. If you’re selling on your own e-commerce site, you may want to include this information in your footer so it shows up on every product page.

Robots Read Product Descriptions, Too

Your first priority should be creating product content for people. 

Your second, for robots.

Search engines will need to be able to crawl your description for keywords – not just the name of the item, but also its features. 

Also, keep in mind LSI keywords.

LSI = latent semantic indexing. 

Sounds complicated, but it’s really not. LSI keywords are just related phrases that are naturally used in content surrounding a certain topic.

For example, let’s saying you’re selling a black jacket. 

“Black jacket” could describe a men’s sport coat, or a casual bomber jacket. Without too much intention and calculation, a product description written with consumers in mind will include keyword phrases like “ribbed cuffs” or “single breasted,” which will help search engine crawlers decide if your product is what the searcher is seeking.

With a bit of keyword research, we can seek out those LSI keywords, and find ways to naturally weave them into the copy.

Not only does this help present your product in search engine results, it helps the buyer by describing the product in their own words – making your product descriptions sound natural, as though we were talking to the buyer about the product over the phone. 

The Finishing Touches

A unique product description that includes a main keyword and LSI keywords can help your products’ search engine rankings.

Now that we’ve got eyeballs on your product, it’s time to close the sale.

Add a bit of personality, and you’ll create notoriety for your brand.

Help your customer visualize the product in their hands. Tell them how the fabric will feel between their fingers. Tell them how impressed their gift recipient will be.

Even if you’re dropshipping or otherwise selling the exact same product as other sellers, you’ll be the one to make the sale when you take the time to upgrade your product descriptions.

Because yes, people really do read them!