Creating Desire: Write Product Descriptions that Sell For You

Step One: Research

Do you keep tabs on your competitor’s product pages? When was the last time you talked to your customers? Do you organize your research in a meaningful way? This is what our first section will show you how to do.

For demonstration purposes, we’re going to create a fictional product: a one-size-fits-most gel insole called the ZyberSole. Let’s say that this is a kiwi-designed product, with more features and benefits than the gel insoles you’d buy in the corner grocery store. The price reflects that this is a premium product.

How do you compare to your competitors?

If our customer has made the decision to buy gel insoles online in New Zealand, they might start by making a search query; e.g. “gel insoles nz”. This is what that search would bring you (as of writing this article):

Let’s take a look at the product pages that these results link to. We’ll click the Google Shopping results (at the top) the Google Ads placement, and the two organic results.

We like to organize our research onto a board, but just opening up the product pages in separate browser tabs is fine.

Our competitor’s product pages provide comprehensive features-and-benefits information: e.g. “spreads forefoot pressure out to ease the pain,” “your feet will feel comfortable all day.” There’s also information about how to use the product, which is helpful. But our competitor product pages are not without weakness. For some, it looks like the retailer has just copied the product information from AliExpress. There’s not a lot of information about why we should make the purchase. We don’t see how any of these insoles will change our lives.

Now we know how the bar is set. If our product page looks better than these pages, we can start to position ourselves as a top-of-the-market product.

Buyer Persona

Buyer Personas are fictitious yet realistic descriptions of a typical target user of the product. Here is an in-depth article about them from the Neilsen Norman Group, a User Experience research firm.

Designing a Buyer Persona must start with research. Talk to your customers, whether in-store or just by calling them off your orders page. Here are four quick questions you can ask them to help you build your Buyer Persona:

1. What made you realize you needed a product like this?
2. How did you find out about us?*
3. What made you choose our product over others?
4. Any other feedback?

*If your store is set up correctly, you should have a good idea of your traffic sources.

How many people should you call? You don’t need academic rigor- calling your last five customers should result in some apparent trends. If anyone wants to have a longer conversation, take the opportunity to listen. If you have a large social media presence, consider asking these questions in a social media post- create a survey, using an online survey creator such as SurveyMonkey.

After you’ve done some research, it’s time to create the Buyer Persona. They can be in-depth, multi-page documents, but for our quick purposes, a Buyer Persona could look like this:

Note what reasons customers have for seeking your product, how they came to your store or website, and what made them choose your product over others.

Once you have this, print it out and keep it somewhere conspicuous on your desk- you want to be able to refer to this document, which represents the research you did, to keep customer needs at the forefront of your mind when updating your product page, or anything else on your site.

Step Two: Product Presentation

Studies have proven that webpages have about 50 milliseconds to make an impression on the user.

Only images can communicate your message at that speed. You need images that capture attention and show your products looking their best.

Here are some great examples of product image photography from our client Ruby Rose, The images show the product in its entirety, and the photographer clearly put in effort to make the objects look perfect. On the right, they’ve made a composite product photo, that demonstrates the available variations of the Petite Posy bouquet. They are all set on a light pink background, which is this brand’s main colour.

The great photography extends to other areas of the site as well. Notice how their layout allows for the images to be displayed as large as possible. Every photo on this site implies a premium shopping experience.

Three steps for an effective product image photoshoot.

What about this product do you want to communicate?

Images can communicate features and benefits. The only thing Ruby Rose Flowers needed to communicate was the ornamental appearance of the bouquet. Let’s say for our ZyberSoles, one of the selling points is its flexibility. So let’s endeavour to make a product photo that demonstrates this.

Look for inspiration

Photography is art, and great artists steal- but don’t steal images themselves; replicate the appearance of product photos you like, using your own product. Consider using a mood board software such as PureRef to organize reference photos of your favourite product images. Let’s use this as an example that communicates flexibility:

There are other cues in this image that you can choose to emulate. It’s brightly coloured and the entire product is in sharp focus. During your research, you might encounter more stylish photos with lens flares or depth-of-field effects, particularly if you’re selling a lifestyle product. There’s no one way shoot product photography, but since insoles are fairly quotidian, the aesthetic suits flat, clear, plain presentation.

Be mindful of your background

A popular way of presenting your product is called “clearcutting” – putting your product against a white or transparent background, perhaps casting a small shadow, as seen in the image on the previous page. The benefit of this is that the image can blend in with the website background. You can achieve clearcutting automatically using tools such as PhotoScissors.

Another option is to show your products against a background. This is great if your product is a lifestyle product, as it gives more cues about the environments and attitudes your target market might associate with. This is done very well by one our clients, EnvyWear:

The background is urban, yet minimalist- just like the shirt itself. More cues are given thanks to the model- he wears a no-nonsense expression, and also has accessories on his wrists that hint at other aspects of his life. Every detail in the photo becomes a signal to the visitor that says “this product is the crown jewel of a streetwear wardrobe”. Control what your images tell your customers.

Note that this photo also takes up 60% of the page width. Because product images are so important, you want to make sure your product images are displayed as large as possible on both desktop and mobile. Consider including a zoom feature so users can get up close to the details. This means your product images must be high-resolution, and consequently have bigger file sizes. Ensure they are compressed using a tool such as Optimizilla.

If you have a video demonstration, consider including this in your product page. Highly-polished videos are nice if you have the budget, but a simple demonstration can still help communicate the benefits of a product, particularly if it’s a product that performs an action, such as a kitchen appliance. Video reveals product intricacies and allows you to tell a visual story. Read this article for more information.

Shopify now lets you embed a 3D model of your product, which allows users to rotate your product within their browser. Customers can use their phones to project the model onto a flat surface. You might want to consider using this new feature if customers would be helped by seeing your product in their house, for example if you were selling furniture.

This can also help increase perceived ownership– wherein a sense of touch helps users make a buying decision.

Step Three: Demonstrate Value

What is the main reason someone needs to buy your product?

Now that you have the customer’s attention, you need to keep it, by demonstrating that you are having a conversation relevant to their needs. This means organizing the product info in order of what is most important to the customer. What do we mean by that? First, let’s take stock of the features and benefits of the ZyberSole:

• New Zealand made, from biodegradable materials.
• Provides superior arch support- outstanding comfort for long periods of standing.
• More padding than competing insoles- you will feel more comfortable in your shoes than ever before, and have more energy to spend time with loved ones.
• Odor-neutralizing and machine-washable- never be embarrassed by smelly feet again!
• Recommended by an independent clinical trial to reduce sore feet.

Initially, the customer isn’t going to care that the sole is made from biodegradable materials. They still need to know why they’re here in the first place, so let’s lead with the benefits that would be most universally relevant. Show how the product will enhance the user’s life.

According to Brian Tracy’s seminal book, “The Psychology of Selling” (here is a good summary if you haven’t read it already) people tend to exchange their money for what they believe will enhance their lives.

With this in mind, we need to address the human needs that motivate your customers to buy. Human needs for the ZyberSole could be:

• Health – allows you to keep your body free of pain and/or in shape.
• Fulfillment – when your feet aren’t aching, you’ll have more energy during your downtime to pursue recreation.

So now we have the idea of leading with health benefits, and also how that can lead to more energy for recreation. Let’s also take this one step further and create a Unique Value Proposition.

A value proposition is a short statement that explains how your product solves the customer’s problems, delivers specific benefits, and tells the customer why they should buy from you and not the competitor. You should write this with your Buyer Persona in mind.

The Unique Value Proposition (UVP), the most comprehensive, top-level incarnation of a value proposition, is usually seen on the homepage, but the principle works for any situation where you need to demonstrate the features and benefits of an offer. Take a look at Evernote’s UVP:

It clearly communicates what this app does, the benefit that it gives, and what you should do if you’re interested in giving it a whirl. Here is a format you can use to have that same energy on your product page.

Eye-catching Headline

2-3 sentences about what you offer, for whom, and why it is useful.

• Bullet points
• Further expounding
• The features and benefits

So if you’re targeting Sarah Strepp, your proposition might look like this:

You can improve the impact of these features and benefits by using icons or other graphics. These can also communicate the benefits offered by your store:

Read this article from ConversionXL to learn even more about Unique Value Propositions. They are the web’s leading educators on Conversion Rate Optimization, and recommend running a split test on your UVP.