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Most people are naturally reluctant to buying a product that they aren’t able to see, hold, try on in-person.

One of the biggest challenges to building a profitable eCommerce business is giving potential customers the confidence to click “Add to Cart” without feeling like they are flying blind.

High-quality product images are a great start, but to really increase conversions, you need to know how to write product descriptions that grab the attention of potential customers.

A good product description gets across the nature of the item, serves as late-stage marketing, and builds confidence in your overall brand in just a few characters. Sound like a tall order?

Don’t worry. With some elbow grease and the right framework, you can be writing product descriptions that convert in no time. Let’s go.

1. Use highly specific language

First thing’s first: cut your copy back to as few words and as short of phrases as possible.

This doesn’t mean that your sentences have to be short and choppy, but the key is to minimize word count while maximizing information.

It’s saying more in less. Powerful, sensory adjectives will tell potential customers significantly more about the product than phrases like “high-quality” and can do so in less space.

Bullet points are great and definitely worth using, but you don’t have to rely on them exclusively.

Try reading some example product descriptions both in-and-outside of your niche. See how long an individual piece can hold your interest. What do you find engaging? What is distracting to you?

Passive voice is one of the fastest ways to lose your reader’s attention, because it adds unnecessary words and slows the reading process. The Hemingway Editor is a great free tool for recognizing weak constructions and increasing readability.

2. Get creative with the ways you talk about your product

Remember, the process of marketing doesn’t end when you get a customer to your product page.

Product descriptions don’t just explain the item- they also sell it. Check out this example from Modcloth. The description utilizes a bouncy, conversational tone and the copy is “tailored” to the specific item.

Writing a killer product description requires a range of methods for presenting an item. Try highlighting both the benefits of the product and negatives avoided.

Mix descriptions of features with descriptions of benefits. What does this look like? A feature describes the nature of the product- “42-inch LCD screen”, for example. A benefit, on the other hand, describes the experience of using the product, i.e. “multiple brightness settings and high-resolution display cuts back on eye strain.”

Read more: The Ecommerce Guide to Writing SEO Friendly Product Descriptions

Keep in mind that descriptions for digital products tend to require a little more work. With the amount of free content available on the internet, you’ll need to convince potential customers that YOUR product is worth paying for.

Check out this example product description for a virtual class from Taking Cara Babies:

Notice that this product description explains ideal outcomes for the customer, builds authority for the creator, AND covers the nuts and bolts (“the features”).

The different segments are spread horizontally so you don’t need to constantly scroll while reading- your eye can take in all of the information with little effort.

3. Tell your customers a story

Done right, storytelling is one of the most powerful selling tools out there. Try brainstorming with these guiding questions:

  • How is the product made? What was the inspiration to do it this way?
  • How have different customers made use of the same item?
  • What is the philosophy behind your business, and how does this tie into the product? i.e. “We believe in locally crafted, ethically-sourced…”
  • What need does the product fill specifically for you, the creator? What gap did you see in the market that led you to sell this particular item?

You don’t need (or want) to fill up too much space with this on an individual listing, but telling potential customers a story is a great way to help them imagine the spaces in their own lives that your product could fill.

Check out the unique, personal flourishes in this description from Jabberwocky Candle Company and the vivid sensory imagery of this one.

Customer reviews are a great way to provide social proof and expand the story being told to include a broader range of voices. Notice that Jabberwocky includes their reviews directly underneath the product description, allowing the “story” of the product to continue and different uses to come out:

4. Format for clarity

Remember: most internet users only read a fraction of the text on a page.

To hold their attention, you will need to focus on easy readability.

Differentiate settings using headings and subheadings, as well as different colored text if applicable/stylish. Leave plenty of blank space.

As in the above example from Taking Cara Babies, consider spreading your text horizontally as well as vertically. Notice how Moosejaw sets their features and product description side-by-side, letting the eye slide easily between the two.

While SEO should not be your #1 concern when writing a product description, headings and subheadings are a great way to move your product up in search engines.

5. Figure out your buyer persona and write for them

This is possibly the most important part of writing product descriptions that convert: speaking clearly and directly to your specific audience.

In a nutshell, buyer personas are imagined groups of consumers that respond to particular forms of messaging.

While you can quantitatively measure shifts in engagement while you try out different brand voices, the process of figuring out exactly what your customers will respond to will involve A/B testing, trial-and-error, and research.

Explore the websites of other companies in your niche and get a sense of how they approach similar situations. Read some famous quotes and see how they get a lot of information across in a small space.

Consider what makes your store unique, and how this segments your customers from consumers in general.

  • Are your products organic?
  • Community focused?
  • Aimed at a specific age range?

Questions like these will help you fine tune your copy for the exact audience you need to reach.

Experiment with writing the same basic description using a range of tones.

Which fits best with the general marketing of your store? Which feels most natural for you to work in? Show your works-in-progress to a handful of people who fall into your target audience and get their reactions.

These are just a few tools to get you started. In the end, it will be practice and gradual refinement that makes your product descriptions powerful and high-converting. Do you have some great examples from your own store? Let us know in the comments!


About the author

Bryce Patterson

Bryce Patterson

Bryce is a writer and content marketer at Selz, and a freelance writer for tech companies including Churn Buster and Evergreen. He gives ecommerce business and non-profits a more human, relatable voice. He has written a novel, worked on a comic book, and played in a handful of bands. Bryce lives in Colorado.


  1. scriptbaron

    Product descriptions are invaluable when generating a presence for brands and businesses online. Google adores good product descriptions, especially ones that are easy to find and understand when crawling a site.

    1. Selz

      Bryce Patterson

      So true- good product descriptions increase your visibility to search engines, making it easier for sites like Google to explore your page for relevance to search queries. Thanks for checking us out and commenting!

  2. David

    Great examples! A lot of my client work is writing product descriptions, and I’m usually given some manufacturer’s descriptions to work from – it’s always a challenge turning bland facts into descriptive, seductive copy, but I love helping shoppers visualize the product so they can see it in their mind’s eye. A great description is the next best thing to going to a brick-and-mortar store and touching and feeling the product before buying!

    1. Selz

      Bryce Patterson

      Hey David, thank you for your kind words! It’s true- product descriptions are so important for giving online customers the peace of mind to click “buy.” Thanks for checking us out and commenting!

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