High Performing Product Descriptions for Amazon.com

Amazon.com is an excellent sales platform for many ecommerce business owners.

It’s reliable, provides easy and relatively anonymous communication with customers, and incorporates well with numerous sales systems.

More than a few retailer success stories got their business start on this mega-retail platform.

Would you like to be one of them? Thought so.

Maximizing your sales potential on Amazon requires a few things:

• Exceptional customer service
• Great reviews
• Great product images
• Exposure (news, blogs, and ads)
• Choosing the right sales categories
• …and last, but not least, killer product descriptions.

We’ll tackle product descriptions in this article. They can be a challenge for even the most experienced ecommerce business owners, but with a few tips, you can be writing product descriptions like a pro in no time.

Choose (and Use) the Right Keywords

You wouldn’t look for shoes in the underwear section of a department store, would you? Selling your products on Amazon requires driving the right traffic to your sales page. After all, if someone is looking for hair gel and you offer them anti-aging cream, you might get a sale, but you’re more likely to be ignored.

As I mentioned in the bullet list above, category placement is important if you want to make any sales – drill down to the most specific category headings you can. If possible, place your product in category headings that include the top keywords for your product, too. It makes it more likely that you’ll achieve top selling or best-rated status, which keeps you high in search results.

The keywords you use in the product description, title, and bullet points and crucial, too. Make sure to select your keywords based on the search terms that your dream clients are using. Don’t think from the sales side – do active keyword research and use the most popular terms that are directly related and applicable to your product in the description. Amazon will find your product more readily, and potential customers will be more easily persuaded that your product is the correct choice. After all, you’re using their words.

Avoid Being the “Best”

If you want return customers, don’t be “the best.”

You read that right. Stating that you’re the “best” isn’t a good idea. The product you offer is high-quality. Great! It may even BE the best. But don’t state that directly – let your customers decide that status for themselves.

Why? Because overselling is deadly to any business.

Get a customer fired up over your product before they’ve tried it, and they may set their expectations so high that the only potential result is disappointment. Return customers aren’t made by unmet expectations. One star reviews are.

Discuss the benefits of your product honestly, and let it sell itself. The long term rewards are much higher than a one-off sale – you might even earn a customer for life.

Don’t Undersell

The only thing as dangerous as overselling is underselling. You need to balance carefully between the two. A product that is undersold won’t sell. Your competitors are out there writing product descriptions that captivate – you need to do the same.

One key part of any Amazon product description is the call to action. It should be honest, compelling, and well-targeted. Invite your customers to buy your product based on how well it can meet their needs or offer a benefit they desire. Include a strong call to action or expect them to read about your product and forget it.

Length Matters

If you want to see good sales, check out your demographic’s interest in reading. I could tell you that short bullet points and long product descriptions sell the best, and as generalization that might be true. It may not apply to your demographic, however.

Look at the length of materials your dream customer reads. Do they want all the facts up front? Longer bullet points may work in your favor. Do they like things short and informative? Use your words sparingly, but make sure they pack a punch.

As a general rule, keep your bullet points relatively short – no longer than two sentences. Your product description should be formatted with bullet points, bold text, and other eye-catching features. Expect that some customers will read the bullet points, while others read the description itself – don’t be afraid of repetition.

Keep the product description a reasonably short length – no one wants a novel. 300-500 words is more than enough to cover your product’s best features and benefits, and to encourage your customer to make a purchase.

Mechanics Make a Difference

Once upon a time, the myth was invented that grammar and spelling don’t matter for sales.

It’s a myth. Get over it.

Potential customers view poor grammar and spelling badly – they decrease consumer confidence in the value of your product. Use proper grammar and spelling always. If you have trouble with writing, hire a professional to help you out.

Just to clarify, you don’t have to follow every grammar rule ever written. You do, however, need to be careful about when and how you break or bend grammar rules. A 2013 survey of British consumers showed that 59% avoid buying from sites with poor grammar. Another 74% pay close attention to typos and grammatical errors, while 58% are annoyed by the presence of typos and errors.

Don’t risk being a statistic – keep your product descriptions conversational, free of typos and spelling errors, and well-written.

If you know you aren’t the strongest writer, hire someone to help you out. Your sales depend on it.

Let’s Review…

You want to make money on Amazon. You can…but only if you apply the recommendations listed above. Reach the right audience by targeting your category listings and using the same keywords as your clients and customers. Don’t oversell or undersell, or your product’s ratings and sales will drop. Make sure your product description is well-written and of a modest length.

Tagged Amazon, content marketing, conversion, copywriting, marketing copy, product descriptions