- Kendra Lisum
How the Smallest Piece of Content Can Make the Biggest Difference
What Marvel's Ant-Man can teach us about product descriptions.
The Marvel movie Ant-Man features, you guessed it: a man whose super power is to shrink to the size of an ant. But with that minuscule size, he also gains the power of an ant, and anyone who has ever watched an ant carry off a crumb of food triple its size knows that they possess an insane amount of power in those tiny bodies.
Product descriptions are like ants: they're everywhere, they're tiny, but they're very, very powerful...
...and they're often overlooked.
Companies have a mere 10-20 seconds to keep people engaged on their page - often less time than that. When your product descriptions are bland and boring, what motivation do people have to stick around? Unless your price point is significantly better than your competition, people will bounce.
Engaging product descriptions give visitors a reason to stick around...and to buy.
The very best product descriptions paint a picture for your customers. They help them imagine what their lives would be like with this product. Customers are wined and dined and romanced into picturing what their lives would be like if they purchased the product.
In short, you're selling the experience of this item.
My favorite shirt in the whole world is an old raggedy long sleeve shirt with a faded design. If I wanted to sell it, here's how I might write the type of product description that is all too common on the web:
100% cotton olive green, faded logo long-sleeved shirt with a tempered hem
Compare that to the Ant-Man version:
A long-sleeve shirt inspired by those endless summers at the beach. The soft cotton will dance across your sun-dried skin without overheating, while its faded design is inspired by favorite t-shirts everywhere.
Which would you buy?
But what about Features?
Features are definitely an important part of product descriptions. No one is going to buy a t-shirt without knowing if it's made from cotton or leather or wool. But those can easily be added as bullet points underneath your descriptive paragraph.
A long-sleeve shirt inspired by those endless summers at the beach. The soft cotton will dance across your sun-dried skin without overheating, while its faded design is inspired by favorite t-shirts everywhere.
100% cotton
Available in three colors
Tapered hem
UV-A and UV-B protection
A descriptive product description does more than just sell, however. It's also an opportunity to reinforce your brand. A brand voice that's sun-kissed, fun, and flirty is going to appeal to a very different type of person than a brand voice that's stuffy, professional, and pallid.
Are you neglecting your product descriptions? How about your competitors? Are they?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, maybe it's time to rethink your strategy for these tiny but powerful marketing ants?
To recap, a good product description can:
keep people on your page longer
get them to buy
further your branding
make you stand out from the competition
Need help with your product descriptions? Contact me today!