Good copywriting is
your best salesperson.
Bad copywriting is
customer repellent.
In the game to win customers,
product descriptions
are your last chance to
win a customer's heart
and hard earned money.
If your writing practice
involves copying and pasting
product features from the
manufacturer's website,
well, you might want to take
out a pen and paper cause
we have some work to do.
I'm Tyler Fife.
I've headed the content
department for a community
of 16 million people,
driven hundreds of thousands
of dollars in revenue
and written hundreds
of product descriptions
for countless brands.
Here's something I've learned.
The best product descriptions
make people envision the
pleasure of their life
with the product in it.
And the pain or void
they'll be left with,
if they don't buy it.
In today's video, I'm
going to show you how to
write product descriptions
that actually sell.
Tip number one, write
to your ideal customer.
Try to please everyone.
And you'll end up
pleasing no one.
Writing product copy to
some huge undefined audience
will have your copy feeling
vague and impersonal.
Let me put it to you this way.
When diffused broadly light
loses its power, but when
magnified to a pinpoint,
it becomes a laser and
can cut through steel.
The best product descriptions
read as if they're speaking
directly to one person.
When it comes to
writing your own product
descriptions, start by
imagining the ideal buyer.
What do they value?
What are their aspirations and
what are their pain points?
This is the one time where
talking to yourself, probably
isn't a cause for concern.
Have a conversation with
this imaginary customer
and unearth, their
desires and motivations.
If you've done your
homework by researching
and interviewing your
target market, this
will be a lot easier.
So don't skip that step.
How does your customer
speak and what would prevent
them from buying today?
Consult these topics directly
when writing your copy to
lower buyer resistance.
Tip number two, entice
customers with benefits.
Here's something you
should never forget.
Customers aren't really
buying products, they're
buying results, or at
least a perceived result.
Customers always want
to know what's in
the product for them.
Write product descriptions
from the perspective of
the buyer, not from the
perspective of the seller.
Understand their
desires and problems.
How does your product make
the customer feel happier,
healthier, or more productive?
What problems, glitches,
or potential hassles does
your product help solve?
People can be coaxed,
but never driven, so
coax them with benefits.
But make sure you're
specific when discussing
these benefits or they
may come off inauthentic.
Don't make blanket statements,
but rather tie benefits to
specific product attributes.
A product description that
does an amazing example
of this is this product
description by Nike.
You see how they use their
headlines to show a specific
product benefits such as
extreme responsiveness
or lockdown support.
It really gives you the
feeling that by simply wearing
these shoes, your game would
be drastically elevated.
Don't just sell a product,
sell an experience.
Tip number three.
Avoid cliches.
Sorry to take you back to
English class, but when
you're stuck for words and
you don't know what else
to add, often we end up
resorting to something super
bland, that we've heard
a million times before.
And as a result, it's lost
almost all its meaning or
weight in a customer's eyes.
These cliche phrases are
some of the worst offenders.
High quality.
Best in class.
Cutting edge.
Revolutionary.
Huge savings and unique.
At best, these
phrases sound lazy.
At worst, they
sound desperate.
Every entrepreneur is
going to say that their
product is the best.
And if you roll your
eyes every time you read
it, I don't blame you.
You become less persuasive
when a potential buyer reads
your product description
and starts saying to
themselves, yeah, yeah.
So something that I really
often hear when people are
writing product descriptions,
is that the particular
product they're writing
about might not have a
lot to be said about it.
So to prove that sentiment
wrong, we're going to
pick a relatively simple
product and write a
product description for it.
In this case, it's
going to be a jump rope.
Now, we need a snappy title.
So we're going to call this
the Ninja jump rope because
it gives the idea that
this will improve agility.
So here's how we're
going to start.
The Ninja jump rope is
the perfect jump rope for
athletes searching for a more
fluid jumping experience.
So when we get here, we're
going to want to make
sure we show a specific
product benefit in an H2.
You'll make sure you want
to use an H2, because
the H1 is going to be
reserved for the actual
title of the product page.
So in the H2, we're
going to write Burn
1000 calories per hour.
Anywhere, anytime you can
see how this is a pretty
powerful value proposition,
because we can assume
that by someone wanting to
use a jump rope, they're
wanting to burn calories.
And they probably also like
the flexibility that a jump
rope provides in terms of
not being chained to a gym.
Empower yourself to engage
in high intensity cardio
workouts, anywhere with
this lightweight jumprope.
Now we're going to want
to highlight another
product attribute.
In this case, we're going to
go for the buttery smoothness
that everyone wants.
Ultimate smoothness for
heightened performance.
Take your agility to the
next level, this lightweight
aluminum ball bearing
system, propels the rope
to slice through the air
with fluid precision.
You can see how we made
it pretty visceral.
People are going to begin
to imagine themselves
using this rope and maybe
doing some cool tricks.
So they're you haven't we
took a relatively simple
product that might not have
that many features, but
we really highlighted the
benefits and that allowed
us to paint a picture in
the mind of a prospective
buyer, which in essence,
manufacturer's desire.
Tip number four,
write like a human.
Speak to your customers
eye to eye, like you would
if they were standing
right in front of you.
Speak, simply.
Speak like a real person.
Don't dress it up too much.
It feels inauthentic and it
makes people feel suspicious.
When it comes to
superlatives, use them wisely.
Superlatives sound insincere,
unless you can clearly
prove why your product
is the best, the easiest,
or the most advanced.
Saying that your rain
jacket is more waterproof
than another rain jacket,
well, that leaves
room for doubt.
But saying that your
performance shell rain
jacket is 67% more waterproof
than nylon rain jackets,
that makes people visualize
scientific comparisons.
Simply put you need to back
up why your product is the
best with actual facts.
Take a look at this product
description by Vega Sport.
It clearly States here.
It was voted.
Number one, sport nutrition
product of the year 2020
by over 40,000 customers.
It's sincere and it's
definitely backed up by facts.
If your product is really
the best, always provide
specific proof as to
why this is the case.
Alternatively, have a customer
say it for you and use a
testimonial quote saying why
your product is the best.
Otherwise tone your
product copy down a little.
Tip number five, try
appealing to your
customer's imagination.
Think of how many times you've
held something in a store and
imagined your life with it.
And maybe you've even had
that feeling that it was
already yours, because you
knew you were going to buy it.
When selling online, we want
to do that but with copy.
When a person imagines that
something already belongs
to them, they will go to
great efforts to make it so.
We want to let our readers
imagine what it would be
like to own our product.
So goes the number one rule
of writing: Show, don't tell.
There's solid scientific
evidence to suggest that
perceived ownership a
customer feels over product is
increased when they touch it.
And even when they
imagine touching it, this
scented candle product
description does an amazing
job of doing just that.
Check it out.
Inspired by the vibrant June's
all day cafe and wine bar in
Austin, Texas, this candle
recalls memories of late
nights spent at cafes in Le
Marais district of Paris and
eclectic evenings in Austin's
famous South Congress Avenue.
It's the embodiment of
ease and sophistication.
Wow.
Notice how the description
paints a picture of
what it would be like to
smell this candle and the
elegance that it would
probably bring to your home.
To practice this copywriting
technique, start a sentence
with the word imagine and
finish the sentence or
paragraph by explaining how
your reader will feel when
owning and using this product.
Then rephrase the sentence,
take out the word imagine,
so that the reader begins
in the middle of the action.
Tip number six, cut
through rational barriers
with mini stories.
Including many stories in
your product descriptions
lowers rational barriers
against persuasion techniques.
In other words we forget
we're being sold to.
For thousands of years,
stories have been used to
tattoo important information
in a person's memory.
Just how effective are they?
Research shows that
stories are 20 times more
memorable than facts.
Ask yourself.
What story can you tell
about the work that went
into creating your product?
What obstacles did
you need to overcome?
What inspired creating the
product in the first place
and was the product tested,
using any crazy methodology?
Chances are you have a story
for any one of these points?
Key thing to consider
though, is keeping the
stories focused and short.
No one likes a random
story and no one
likes a rambling one.
Number seven is seduce
readers with sensory words.
Sensory words have
proven to increase sales
because they engage more
brain processing power.
Just look at any ad for
restaurant or food brand ever.
Their copy is dripping
with words that evoke
the five senses.
Sound, sight, smell,
touch, and taste.
Sensory words really
help your message slip
past the iron gates of
customers' logic centers.
Just check out this
product description for
this chocolate cheesecake.
It's the definition
of indulgent.
A tender and chewy cookie
crumble base, a creamy
chocolate cheesecake center,
a rich and mouth melting
chocolate ganache on top.
Every bite is a mouth
melting experience.
Okay so my mouth is watering.
This product description
is designed to trigger your
senses and manufacture a
serious chocolate craving.
And it definitely did.
When writing product
descriptions make them vivid.
Tip number eight,
use social proof.
As multiple social experiments
have shown, conformity
is an incredibly powerful
driver of human behavior.
Sociologist Solomon Ash
actually proved this, when
he put a bunch of people
in a room, showed them all
the graph of four lines and
asked, which was longest.
B was clearly longest, but
when actors who were in on
the experiment started saying
C was, a significant amount
of subjects were influenced
to change their mind and
conform with the strangers.
That same psychological
principle that draws
us to what's popular is
equally present in the
world of e-commerce.
Other customers are some
of your best salespeople.
We often look to others
for advice on products
we don't know about.
So leverage that by including
social proof elements,
such as ratings and reviews
from actual customers.
Here's another tip.
Including an image of a
person can add credibility
to a testimonial.
It also makes an online
company more approachable and
makes customer relationships
feel a lot more intimate.
Tip number nine.
Make your description
scannable.
People online have a
tendency not to read things,
but rather scan things.
By now our social media
scrolling habits are firmly
baked into who we are.
So package your descriptions
with a clear scannable design
to make them more appealing
to potential customers.
For example, just take
a look at this product
description by the B Clean
Juicery from Village Juicery.
Immediately I know what
fruits and vegetables are in
it, the vitamins it contains
and that it's popular, all
in a very quick glance.
If you want to try this for
your product descriptions,
here are some immediate
areas to focus on.
Entice your web
visitors with headlines.
Rather than using basic
headlines like "Benefits",
you sub-headers, that
are more descript
and highlight specific
benefits, just like Nike
did when their headline read
"Extreme Responsiveness".
Use easy to scan bullet
points, because they give the
reader a feeling of making
progress and make reading copy
feel a lot more approachable.
They're also great for SEO.
Use plenty of white space
and increase your font size
to promote readability.
Make it easy on the eyes.
Tip number 10, Split Test It.
The biggest mistake
entrepreneurs make is
assuming they know what
customers want instead
of finding out for sure.
Writing marketing copy
is especially subjective.
Even the smartest people
in the room often end
up being dead wrong.
Your goal is running tests
to break your assumptions,
find out what works, cut the
losses and keep the winners.
As copywriter dan Kennedy
puts it, customers vote
with their wallets.
Apps like Optimizely,
make running split
tests especially easy.
Write different versions
of product descriptions
that seek to test different
variables, such as a headline.
Be sure only to test
one variable at once.
So you can accurately
measure the result
against your hypothesis.
So there you have it.
10 tips for writing better
product descriptions.
And if you apply these
diligently, you'll see
increased sales over time.
Always remember the
product descriptions
are your last chance to
delight your customer.
So take the time
to make them great.
And don't forget to
subscribe to our channel,
because we're going to
be doing some deep dives
on how to put your online
business into hyperdrive.
