How to Write Product Descriptions That Convert (Tips + AI Prompts)

Writing product descriptions might seem like a minor task, but they can make or break a sale.

Numbers show that most people like to get a good look at the product description before checking out reviews or pictures.

Honestly, if you’re not putting thought into this crucial piece of copy, you’re leaving money on the table.

In this blog, I have covered 15 best tips for writing product descriptions. I have added examples that can help you turn bland descriptions into high-converting ones and boost your sales. You will also learn to use AI tools to make the most of them.

What are Product Descriptions?

A product description is a copy on your product page used to explain your product’s features and benefits. It successfully answers all the questions your customers might have, including product details and information not otherwise evident through product images and videos.

The length of the product description varies from product to product. The more information you include in your product description copy, the better the chances your customers would purchase the product.

However, this does not necessarily mean that every product description should be lengthy or that all lengthy product descriptions are high quality.

More on this later…

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Why do Product Descriptions Matter?

You know the obvious. Descriptions offer important information, persuade potential customers, and improve customer experience by adding value.

But that is not it.

Over 80% of online shoppers surveyed by eMarketer indicated that product descriptions were a major factor in their purchasing decisions. This shows that as an ecommerce business, your success heavily relies on your product descriptions.

Source: eMarketer

Other than helping your customers’ purchasing decisions, product descriptions also allow you to rank better on the search engines. You can use relevant keywords in the product details which will make it easier for your target audience to find you.

For example, if you seach for “eco friendly water bottles” or further refine your search with long tail keyword attributes like color, size etc, you should see results like this:

What Makes a Good Product Description?

Now that we know product descriptions matter, it is important to learn what makes a good product description.

Understand that writing these descriptions is an art. Just any combination of adjectives describing your items simply does not work – especially when there is so much competition out there.

Contrary to popular belief, a creative product description has nothing to do with length or fancy words, or “unique” rhetorics. The aim is to evoke your audience’s interest and let them know exactly what your product is all about.

A good product description includes the following:

• An explanation of what the product does
• Clear and easy-to-understand language
• Why should the consumer buy it
• What is the product made of
• Relevant keywords
• Authenticity

Just check out this product description example from Dotty Fish:

This description is detailed so it includes all the relevant information and keywords. But also, it is pretty well-structured. You see, sometimes, people might just skip long paragraphs but they will skim through the bullets.

You can see that the description offers important information in bullets and has boldened factors like size and material which are both very important for decision making.

It also includes bonus knowledge on how to clean the shoes. So, it is helping customers visualize what life is like once they have this product.

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How to Write the Best Product Descriptions?

There are plenty of ways you can improve your ecommerce conversion rate. I’ll be highlighting the 15 top tips to write the best product descriptions, hopefully improving your sales numbers.

1. Really Know Your Audience

No, really. Know your audience. Enough people think this is the most obvious aspect or the most “common sense” thing to do but make the mistake of assuming what their audience needs and wants.

Just because you’ve heard about knowing your audience many times and you’ve thought about it, does not mean you know your audience. You need to conduct actual research.

• What are their demographics?
• What are their interests and hobbies?
• What are their pain points and challenges?
• What do they value?

Plus, understand that these questions are not for you to randomly answer. Use survey and analytical tools to reach conclusions. For example, you can use:

• Google Analytics and Hotjar to track user behaviour
• Social media to track audience engagement and queries
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools
• Survey tools like Google Forms, Typeform
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure customer satisfaction

Also, always engage with people offering reviews of your products to gather feedback.

If you don’t keep a laser-targeted audience in focus, then your product description will turn out to be wishy-washy. And in the end, you would be addressing no one at all.

A great product description always talks about the buyer first and then articulates the specifications. It also addresses its target audience directly using the pronoun YOU.

2. Keep It Short

Not many people have the time and attention span to read long paragraphs, which is why it is important to keep everything as concise as possible. People usually read the first few lines and the last few lines.

So, don’t add superfluous, exorbitant, extravagant, inessential, or redundant words. See what I did there? Nobody likes that.

Remember to write in an inverted pyramid by giving important information first.

The key is to “get to the point” as soon as possible without wasting your readers’ time. Look at the following product description example below to get a better idea.

Firebox has one of the best short product descriptions. They sum up everything in just a few sentences.

As you can see in the example above, they perfectly articulate the buyers’ persona (the target audience), the features that the product has, and why the prospect should buy the product.

3. Make Your Copies Scannable

You know what is even better? Copies that give you all the information in one look.

Since many online shoppers scan rather than read, writing product descriptions with this in mind can be a game-changer.

Let’s say you’re selling a sheet mask that is hydrating for the skin. The following would be a scannable copy:

If this were not a scannable copy, this is what it would look like:

I mean, you choose. Which one is more readable?!

Almost every big brand is following this approach, be it for their product description or for putting forth a killer sales pitch. Here’s how Dave Bailey from Inc. describes Uber’s product description:

This is not to say that you have to boil down your product description into two crisp sentences every time. But try to be as simple as possible with it, without confusing your customer.

Clarity, precision, and visual appeal are the essence of writing creative product descriptions.

💡 Note that this approach might not work for all kinds of products. For example, you cannot describe a gaming laptop the same way you describe a sheet mask.

4. Decide on the Right Format

If you are going with a lengthy description, know that structuring your content in a readable manner can do wonders.

Consider the format that best suits your audience and product. Bullet points are great for concise information like specs and features, but they may lack the emotional appeal of a story.

In the example of Dotty Fish above, you saw how the description had both paragraphs and bullets.

Observe this example of the Gourmet Oil Dipping Spice Kit’s detailed product description. So much information has been fit onto one page but it does not seem overwhelming because of the format and structure.

You can break information into chunks i.e. separate sections when there is a lot about the product that needs to be communicated. This makes the details easy to digest. Consider the example below:

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Technical

If you’re selling a technical product, don’t hesitate to get granular in your description. Prove your brand’s expertise by providing detailed information that addresses potential customer inquiries.

If I want to sell Cloudways to you, for example, I won’t just tell you we have the fastest ecommerce hosting. I will explicitly tell you we offer:

• Advanced caching (Varnish, Memcached, Redis)
• 65+ global data centers for low-latency hosting
• Optimized for WooCommerce, Magento, and more
• Powered by NGINX, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP-FPM, for high traffic and server requests

Now, many readers may not get what all of the above is about, BUT my target audience will definitely get it.

Observe this example of the Alienware gaming laptop. You will see that the description is not scannable and there is a lot of information. You will also notice that there is no “Story” behind this product.

Why? Because this style of product description i.e. no-nonsense technical aspects, is relevant for a product like this since their audience needs this very format.

6. Reflect Your Brand’s Tone

A product description is a great space to incorporate your brand’s voice. And it’s not that hard to do.

Just analyze the keywords that you would like to associate with your brand or something that your brand reflects the most. Is your brand focused on teens? Do you think it will be more suited to tongue-in-cheek humor rather than sophisticated verbiage?

Let’s see how other famous brands are doing it. Have a look at this clothing brand description example from Hermes.

The words used in Hermes’ product description are clearly focused on quality, legacy, femininity, and sophistication. That’s why you can see usage of words like “skilled hand”, “unlimited emotion”, and “powerful beauty”.

This is in contrast to all the other descriptions we have studied till now! But it works perfectly for Hermes’ audiences.

They have earned the right to use such words because their products are indeed made with exceptional craftsmanship. This tone is more elusive and articulates the fact that these products are for a different section of people altogether.

7. Add Social Proof

This is perhaps one of the most crucial steps.

When people are thinking about buying something, they often look to others for advice. While you can definitely convince them with great product descriptions, there’s nothing like hearing from someone who’s already tried it.

That’s where customer reviews and testimonials come in. It’s social proof – people are more likely to buy something if they see others doing it and loving it. Think about those comment sections or reviews you see online. At least I always do because they’re super helpful!

One example of a company that takes social proof seriously is Gymshark, a company that sells fitness attire. I was introduced to them through an Instagram fitness influencer. She really promotes the company and I was impressed but I knew influencers can always be paid.

However, Gymshark has made sure potential customers know it’s not just influencers. Every single product on their website is open to be reviewed and all reviews are visible to everyone. I believe nothing builds trust better than that!

If you don’t have many reviews yet, try sponsoring some content about your product in a popular magazine.

8. Use Photo and Videos

If you’re a new store, adding social proof can be a little tough. Another thing to add to your product description to build trust is to use photos and videos.

Frequent Amazon shoppers know how product pages have videos in the review section. These reels demonstrate actual people using the actual product.

The image below shows videos for Schick Hydro Silk Touch-Up Dermaplaning Tool.

Now, I don’t know about you, but this really helps me decide whether I want to buy a product or not. These are real humans who are reviewing the product in real time.

For the product above, for example, I can see what shaving your face with the razor looks like and also what it may feel like, and how it can affect the skin.

9. Optimize For Search Engines

Words are not only a great way to sway your audience, but also important from the SEO point of view. According to salesbacker at Amazon, placing important keywords does wonders for your rankings.

On top of that, adding bullet points along with influencing keywords is even better when it comes to SEO and search engine visbility.

Have a look at this example of product description below that perfectly depicts the power of keywords. Upon searching for “black belts for women,” this is the top search I came across on Google:

When I clicked on the first Amazon option, I got redirected to the product page below:

As you can see, the description is not great. However, they have made appropriate use of perfect semantic keywords and that too in bullet points.

So whether you’re writing product descriptions for bags, belts, or anything else, use relevant keywords to become visible on the first page.

However, this doesn’t mean keywords alone will magically work in your favour. They have an impact on your overall performance.

You must add keywords to the following places to improve the search engine optimization (SEO) for your online store:

• Page titles
• Meta descriptions
• ALT tags
• A page’s body content

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10. Add Facts (Adjectives Are Not Enough)

Adjectives are helpful when you want to inspire customers and help them imagine their lives with your product. However, too many adjectives, or superlative degrees like “best”, “greatest”, “most comfortable”, “most reliable”, can start to sound shady without facts.

So, when using these terms, use them with caution and always pair them up with actual product details that support your statements.

When you add facts, it builds credibility and you can better persuade customers to buy your stuff.

Compare the following sample product descriptions of a chair:

Versus

11. Incorporate Humour in Your Writing

Humor is of paramount importance when writing content, even product descriptions. Funny product descriptions are more memorable than ones that just recount dry details. Here is another one of the many product description examples to follow:

If you’re a vegan, you may not be able to relate but if you love and eat meat, Accoutrements says

“Treat your minor cuts, scrapes, and scratches with the incredible healing power of meat. And if a fancy bandage isn’t enough to dry up your tears, how about a FREE PRIZE! Each comes in a 3-3/4″ tall metal pocket tin and contains a small trinket to help make even the ouchiest owies feel all better in no time.”

12. Set Targets and Track Results

Product descriptions are not just some creative writing project. They are there to boost your sales and so they should be treated like serious business!

Setting and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential for any business that wants to track progress, make data-driven decisions, and achieve its goals. You should do that for your descriptions as well.

Make clear goals. Know what you want to achieve.

The goal could be to get more people to buy from you or fewer people abandoning their carts. Another goal could be to improve search engine rankings and become more visible to potential customers.

When you know what you want out of your writing, you will have clear direction and will write much better.

13. Focus On Benefits, Not Just Features

No matter what tactics you use, your end goal is to get the reader to buy your product. For this, you must write about the benefits that will motivate your prospects to make the final decision. And hopefully, the one that works in your favor.

Check out this footwear product description example of Nike sandals:

For one, they have followed the “Short Words, Short Sentences, Short Paragraphs” pattern quite well. On top of that, they not only describe the specifications of the product but also the benefits that the customers will get if they buy it.

You are not just getting quick-drying synthetic upper. You have quick drying synthetic upper to splash around comfortably.

You are not just getting Hook-and-loop closure. You are getting hook-and-loop closure for a secure fit and easy on and off.

The company could have simply jotted down the features just like so many other product descriptions on the internet. But they wouldn’t have been nearly as effective and motivating to the audience.

Keep the following things in focus:

• You don’t have to point out the benefits of each and every feature. Just pick three top-notch features
• Demonstrate what your product brings to the table
• Point out how your product will help out and solve customers’ pain points. You will do a great job on this if you research your audience as I guided above.

1. 14. Do A/B Testing

A/B testing is when you try two different versions of the same thing.

So let’s say you have two versions of a product description: one is shorter and well-structured and the other is detailed and has relevant keywords, and you want to know which one brings you the desired results.

By randomly showing the two variations to different groups of visitors, you can gather data on which version is more effective at driving conversions, clicks, or anything else.

For example, you’re selling “EcoZen Bamboo Toothbrush”, a product focused on sustainable oral care.

Following could be two versions you can test.

Version A

Version B

EcoZen Bamboo Toothbrush Care about sustainability? Use our bamboo toothbrush to connect and protect Mother Nature. Natural bamboo handle BPA-free bristles Biodegradable packaging Plant-based bristles Eco-friendly alternative to plastic toothbrushes Perfect for all ages.

EcoZen Bamboo Toothbrush Our eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush is crafted from sustainably sourced bamboo, a renewable and biodegradable resource. The bristles are made from plant-based materials, ensuring a safe and healthy brushing experience. Our packaging is designed to be compostable, minimizing environmental impact. The soft, rounded bristles are gentle on gums and enamel, promoting healthy oral care. Choose EcoZen for a sustainable alternative to plastic toothbrushes and contribute to a healthier planet.

15. BONUS: Share Production Practices

This one is not directly related to writing product descriptions but it can really help gain customers’ trust, build your credibility and reach a specific audience.

On your product page, where you offer details, try to provide insights into what your production process is like. If you only use sustainable materials and care about the environment, let people know!

You can also tell customers things like:

• How you ensure fair labor practices
• What your quality assurance process look like
• If you’re supporting local businesses to reduce carbon footprint

This way, you can touch hearts and also come off different from your competitors.

Check this product description of a simple handwash:

They have used words like “plant-based” and “recyclable plastic” and touched you with “formulated with you and your family in mind”. This shows the company’s values while building this product.

Following is another example of a product by the same company:

Here, they have named the cleaning technology which means they are showing you their quality assurance process indirectly.

How to Use AI to Write Product Descriptions (Template + Prompts)

Umm… let’s face it. Even if you read this entire blog, you will be tempted to visit ChatGPT and ask it to get the job done. And while there is nothing wrong with that, you need to engineer your prompts skillfully. Otherwise, you will have a cliche and ordinary description that will not convert.

So, let me help you in advance so you don’t have to get a post-AI-usage headache. Yes, I just invented that term.

Here is what to keep in mind.

1. Choose the right tool

Just any tool does not work. Even though ChatGPT is great, there are many AI tools out there for you too explore. For example there’s Jasper and copy.ai which are designed to write marketing copies.

2. Don’t Be Lazy!

You need to provide details. If your prompt is one sentence long, there is a high chance you’re not getting anything out of AI.

Tell the tool the name of the product, all its important features, the tone you want in the copy, and details about the target audience.

3. Add Human Touch

Once you have a description from the tool, the real job begins. Simplify any complex language, remove filler phrases, and add important keywords.

Bring your audience and your brand’s tone to your mind and personalize the draft accordingly. Know that AI is there to help you structure your ideas but you have to put the creativity and connection in there.

This is what a bad prompt looks like:

“Write a product description for a backpack.”

And following are the results you get from this:

Here is a better version of this prompt:

“Write a product description for a 30-liter waterproof hiking backpack with multiple compartments, adjustable straps, and a built-in hydration reservoir. Mention that it’s designed for outdoor enthusiasts and comes in three colors: black, green, and blue.”

And this is what you get from it:

And this is just a basic AI tool.

Here is an example of what tools like Jasper can do:

Source: Jasper

AI Template for Product Descriptions

Here is a sample prompt.

Product Name:
EcoFlow Stainless Steel Water Bottle

Product Category:
Reusables/Water Bottles

Key Features:

• Feature 1: 500ml capacity, keeps drinks cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 hours.

• Feature 2: Made from eco-friendly, BPA-free stainless steel.

• Feature 3: Leak-proof cap with ergonomic grip for easy carrying.

Target Audience:
Eco-conscious consumers, outdoor adventurers, and fitness enthusiasts.

Use Case/Benefits:
Perfect for staying hydrated at the gym, while hiking, or on the go, with a design that keeps your drink at the perfect temperature all day.

Tone of Voice:
Friendly and casual.

Keywords to Include:
“eco-friendly water bottle,” “stainless steel water bottle,” “reusable water bottle”

🧠 Remember: For a great product description, you will need to personalize your work. AI is just to help you brainstorm and get things started. In the end, your own creativity and understanding of the bran will make all the difference.

Summary

With the above mentioned product description examples, it’s a no-brainer that you have to share apt knowledge about your product with your customers. But while explaining your product’s specifications, your goal is to compel your audience to click on the “Purchase now” button.

There are certain exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, make sure that your product description is concise, up to the point, and interesting at the same time. Try to incorporate relevant keywords in the product description as well as in the title.