The Missing Ingredient in Your Product Descriptions–Part 3

How many times have you heard “if you do this ONE thing” it will change blah (fill in the blanks) forever?

Well too many I know, but this shift in thinking could be the most monumental change you can make to get the maximum positive impact for your handmade business.

This “ONE thing” doesn’t only apply to writing your product descriptions but also any copy that is related to your business including social media, emails anything.

So feel free to incorporate this mindset into other things that you do.

Your brand should be your customers BEST FRIEND

Think about your best friend. I am sure you are now feeling warm and fuzzy. If you haven’t had a recent falling out that is.

This person always has your back. They know your likes, dislikes even your darkest secrets.

So your customer’s best friend would obviously be someone they also really like and relate to. Because they just get each other.

Why do they relate?

Because they are into the same stuff and they do the same things.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Don’t you think best friends think similar thoughts, and use the same words and phrases too?

Speak to your customers like you are the best of pals

Now see how easy it is to discover the tone of voice and language for your brand?

Act and think like your customers best friend.

Now that you know what to do you might be unsure of where to start.

If you are unsure about the right “speak” to engage your customers go check out the experts

My advice right now would be to go and find trusted and successful brands that are aligned with yours and look at the words and phrases they use.

Because these brands have probably worked this out for themselves and are talking to their customers like they are best buddies.

Also check out other businesses that your customer might be into.

If they are passionate about the environment investigate relevant websites and the words they use.

By going through this process you will discover the golden, magical words and phrases that will resonate with your customer and then you can incorporate these into your descriptions.

Note I said incorporate not copy. We don’t want to do that.

How do Lush do it?

Take 2 products from 2 very different companies. They are both aimed at the male spectrum of the market.

This first one is from Lush the second – Jo Malone.

I got this description from the LUSH website.

“Lush Refresh Gift – Three for fresh starts

Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub 75g

Bohemian Soap 120g

Dirty Springwash Shower Gel 100g“

Now here is the description

“This handmade gift will help anyone scrub up and kick start their day with products for the body and shower.“

This product costs £20, comes in some nice, bright, but fairly standard paper with a ribbon and contains some pretty basic products that your average dad should appreciate.

A decent gift for dad that didn’t put too much strain on your bank account.

Now let’s look at the words and phrases they use

• Dirty

• Scrub up

• Kick start

• help anyone

• fresh

Do you see a pattern?

Let’s start with the phrase “scrub up”. Scrub up is not about having a sumptuous relaxing bath. It’s about getting clean, fast.

Not in a gentle way either. Let’s face it, you scrub dishes to get them clean and you don’t care if you are rough about it, as long as you don’t smash them in the process.

So these products are for any generic “dirty”, man who needs a boost and to get clean fast in the morning, to get out of the house for a hard days work.

Lush is very clear about who this product is for and what this customer needs.

It’s almost as if the person who wrote this possessed a rubber duck in this man’s bathroom and has been observing his morning routine.

This writer knows this man like someone close to him would. Like a best friend maybe?

Now contrast that with this! -> -> ->

How do Jo Malone do it?

I got this description from the Jo Malone website.

“LIMITED EDITION

Mr Malone Travel Trio

£177.00

A refined selection of scents in travel-friendly sizes.

Cleanse skin with the freshness of Wood Sage & Sea Salt Body & Hand Wash (75ml), followed by zesty Lime Basil & Mandarin Body & Hand Lotion (75ml),

then finish with the aromatic woody scent of Cypress & Grapevine Cologne Intense (100ml).“

First of all it’s priced at *£177*. This product is not budget!

It’s called Mr Malone. This is for a mature man with a slight air of mystery.

These are clearly exclusive products because they are part of a Limited Edition.

These products are special, aloof, a bit posh.

Now for the description. Let’s look at the words

• refined
• selection
• cleanse
• zesty
• aromatic
• intense

Well the word refined speaks for itself. It’s elegant and cultured. Basically high class.

Selection means they were purposefully hand picked. Not thrown together in some budget bundle.

Note that we are gently cleansing with these products and not scrubbing with a brillo pad.

Aromatic, zesty, intense. This is all very posh language and a gift for someone who appreciates luxury.

It’s aimed at those who have the cash to spend on a special gift and want the very lucky man who’s receiving it to know that serious money was spent.

No rough and ready here!

Can you see how each brand uses language that connects with their customers?

This is something you can also do so easily.

Just go to a brand that you feel fits with yours and read their descriptions and take some inspiration if you don’t know where to start.

“When all is said and done in the end,

remember you and your customer are the very best of friends”

Make it a priority to treat your customers well. Of course there will be things that you cannot accommodate but act like your customer’s best friend as much as you can.

Show this in the way that you speak to them and how you serve them. Then watch your relationships with your customers grow.

That way they are more likely to come back, refer you to their friends and buy more of your handmade greatness.

—Bonus Tip–

Now this is not as sexy as becoming besties with your customers but it is still very important.

Formatting is king!

You will need a magnifying glass to read the following.

Reading text that is just jumbled together in one mass is very hard to read. Especially if it is in small type and has no bullet points, paragraphs, no difference in text types, nothing! This is a a guaranteed strategy to use if you do not want your product descriptions to be read by your customers and you are trying very hard not to sell a thing.

Let’s try that again shall we….

Reading text that is just jumbled together in one mass is very hard to read!

Especially if it is written in

1. small type and
2. has no bullet points,
3. or paragraphs,
4. no difference in text types
5. nothing!

This is a guaranteed strategy to use if you do not want your product descriptions to be read by your customers and you are trying very hard not to sell a thing.

So please use bullet points. Give some space in your descriptions. Make some text bold and other text in italics.

Clever formatting makes your product descriptions scannable and the information easy to digest.

Well this is the final instalment of how to write product descriptions that sell.

If you found this series really helpful or even if it didn’t tick all of your boxes, please drop me a line at info@micamoma.com.

We’d love to hear from you.