“How do I write my product descriptions? What do I put in them?” is something we hear from our clients on almost every project.
This is where clients get stuck the most – they can tell you the basic facts about their products, their core attributes (like size, weight, scent, flavour, colour etc.), but often don’t know how to turn that into something that sells their product to customers.
Unless they’ve worked with a branding strategist, or a copywriter, to really nail down their brand voice, their customer profiles, and their messaging – most of our clients stall at this early phase until they can get their copy together.
So, how do you write a product description that sells? This blog will explore:
What is a product description for?
What should a product description include?
How to format a product description
Example descriptions
Where you can go wrong and how to fix it
And our notes on using AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini for product descriptions
What is a product description for?
The purpose of a product description is to sell your product - seems obvious when you say that aloud, but we want you to really think about what that means!
A product description is the most direct way to market your product to your customers. It tells them what it is, why they should buy it, its key features, and details that they’d need to know to make an informed purchase.
Product descriptions also help with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and AI Search (Answer Engine Optimisation, AEO). Ensuring that you have a detailed product description that covers the key features, product benefits, target audience/ideal customer, can help your products be found more easily, especially if they incorporate appropriate keywords. Detailed descriptions give Google and AI tools more information, which can help boost your search rankings.
What should a product description include?
A good product description should make a customer want to buy your product. If you sell non-essential goods you have to really explore why a customer would buy your product and how it will improve their life – how it would make them feel to own it.
If it’s a clothing item: how would it change their style, would it make them feel comfortable, elegant, fun, chic? Is it a piece that can form part of a capsule wardrobe, that could be styled to fit a range of outfits?
If you’re selling a home decor item, like a candle – what does the smell remind people of? What feeling or memory or sensory experience would it evoke if someone had it in their living room or their bedroom? Would it be fresh and bright, would it be perfect for winter?
Selling a product that is already on the market? You need to be able to differentiate your product from your competitors. Why should someone buy yours over a potentially cheaper/more expensive version? Does your iteration have new features, does it solve a problem that another version of the product has? Is your version more sustainable or ethically made?
If a client is struggling with their point of difference, we’ll ask “why did you make it?” – they usually have a story, something personal to them. They had used an alternative and didn’t like it, they are really invested in a particular hobby or skill and saw a gap that needed solving, or maybe they loved someone to the point of invention and created a product for someone and realised it could have broader appeal. Everyone has a reason – you need to identify yours.
We also get clients to think about questions like these:
Does it have a really unique use case? Does it help with accessibility?
Is it more sustainable? Is it reusable?
Does it have some other benefit for the customer that a competitor doesn’t have?
Do you have a unique manufacturing process?
Do you offer an extended size range?
If you can answer these questions and explain to your customer the benefits your products have, the more appealing your product will be.
How to format a product description
This part is important, for a few reasons! From a customer experience point of view, it’s important to ensure everything is readable at a glance, particularly on mobile devices. A growing number of customers shop purely on their phones, so it helps to have your product description in a format that can be easily scanned.
We recommend having:
A paragraph that explains the vibe of the product - the how, what, why of it - this should highlight the benefits of the product in your brand voice and tone
A short list of bold headings underneath the blurb - these are the key facts or product attributes and you’ll need a standard set of these for each type of product you sell
If you are selling a candle, those bold headings could be burn time, scent and the weight of the candle. For a clothing item, it could be the sizes, model measurements, the fabric composition and care instructions. For something like food or skincare, it would be things like ingredients, flavour or scent profiles, and benefits.
You should also be sure to include any measurable facts or outcomes for your product (either in the blurb or your short list of headings). If your product has been certified, or lab tested, you should include that information (and any other regulatory compliance information) and explain how those results are relevant to the customer.
This format also benefits you in SEO and AI search tools. LLMs like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, look for clear data points on product pages. Bulleted lists or a short list of bold headings are easy to read and become a summary of your product that AI search can quote back to a user who has asked it to find and compare products.
Product description examples: before and after
These are from our free template. They’re made up, to show the difference between a generic description and one that follows the format.
Example: a soy candle
Before: ‘Our soy candle is a high quality candle made with the finest ingredients. Perfect for any occasion. Buy now!’
After:
Imagine coming home to fresh lime and basil. This hand-poured soy candle fills a small room without being overpowering, so it suits your lounge room or bedroom. We made it because we couldn’t find a candle that smelled like a garden and not a perfume counter.
Scent: Fresh lime and basil
Burn time: About 40 hours
Ingredients: Soy wax, cotton wick, lime and basil fragrance
Size: 220g, in a reusable glass jar 8cm wide
Care instructions: Trim the wick to 5mm before each burn
The ‘before’ version is generic and could describe any candle – it’s vague marketing fluff that doesn’t speak directly about your product’s features or your brand message. The ‘after’ version gives clear facts they can use to make a purchase decision, helps them envision owning it, and is easy to scan.
Example: a linen top
Before: ‘A beautiful linen top. Comfortable and stylish. Perfect for any outfit. Shop now!’
After:
Picture a warm evening, a cold drink and a top that doesn’t cling. This linen top is light and breathable, so you can wear it on its own in summer, or layer it over a tee or under a jacket when the weather turns. We chose a mid-weight linen so it isn’t see-through.
Fabric: 100% linen
Fit: Relaxed fit, with a curved hem that sits just below the hip and buttons at the back
Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL (see the size guide for measurements)
Care instructions: Machine wash cold, line dry, and iron while slightly damp
‘Comfortable and stylish’ from the ‘before’ version doesn’t speak to a particular customer. Why is it comfortable? Stylish for who? Nothing is ‘perfect for any outfit’.
The ‘after’ example here tells you who the customer is, it’s describing an occasion that this top is suitable for, and the way the customer would feel wearing it. The fabric composition is clear so it would appeal to people who are seeking 100% natural fibres.
What goes wrong with product descriptions and how to fix it
Selling products from a third-party supplier? A lot of people will just take their provided copy and not customise to suit their brand. From what we have seen from our clients, the supplier copy isn’t enough. They’ll usually provide you with the key facts or core features, but not the selling points - not the marketing to address your specific customer.
If you only use supplier provided copy, you risk harming your SEO with duplicate copy that Google can find on other sites. Be sure to incorporate their supplied information into a more detailed product description that fits your brand.
Avoid generic phrases like ‘high quality’ or ‘well-made’, these don’t mean anything to a customer unless you can prove it. If you don’t have the proof or details to make these claims, customers will often dismiss them outright. The phrase ‘show not tell’ seems a bit silly to use here when we’re talking about a written product description, but it really comes down to that – show someone it’s high quality with a more detailed and considered description that highlights the benefits of the product.
Another area we’ve seen clients go wrong here is launching with more generic descriptions and saying “Oh, I’ll just put in a short one and come back to it later.” We strongly advise against this. Most clients don’t get back to it later, and those poor product descriptions impact sales and SEO. Organic SEO starts from the moment your site is live and crawlable by Google and AI tools. It’s important to get things right from the start.
Set aside the time to work out the following:
Who your ideal customer is - make a profile of them, how old are they, what do they like, how would your product fit in their life?
Your point of difference - what makes your brand special, why should people buy from you?
What are the key facts/attributes for each of your products - these become your short bold heading lists
From there, you can put your template together from a much more solid foundation.
Can I use AI to write my product descriptions?
Yes, but this comes with a big caveat. AI is only as good as the information that you feed it.
If you are going to use an AI tool like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, make sure you have the key points together that we’ve discussed here. Don’t just give it a product photo and ask for a description. You need to give AI as much information as you can, so it can help you provide accurate and on brand descriptions.
Prefer voice over text? Use a dictation tool like Wispr Flow and just brain dump everything - you can dictate directly into your AI tool of choice, or a doc and upload that. Your AI can then take your wording and refine that, alongside your key features template.
Don’t just let your AI tool tell you what keywords will be best for SEO - use actual data. Have it provide you a list of keywords, based on your product information and notes, and run those through a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Keywords Everywhere. It can then help you choose keywords that are appropriate, and will actually serve you properly for SEO, and incorporate that data into your product descriptions.
Always double-check everything that AI outputs, because it can make mistakes. A real human should review all output before it goes live on your website!
Get the free template
Our free product description template has the format, both examples, a checklist and the AI prompt.
If you’d like a hand with the rest of your store, Ready to Sail is our self-paced store setup kit for Australian businesses. It walks you through your products, shipping, payments and policies, one stage at a time
