Product Descriptions

Why do they have to be so lame?

[moose606]

I want to rewrite some of the product descriptions for my e-commerce site. The descriptions from the mfg are so technical and BORING. Any ideas on spicing them up a bit?

[monkeythumpa]

Look at the descriptions on WOOT.com. They are pretty funny. Most are not even true. But they don't care, they sell out of the one object they put up for sale each day.

To paraphrase from Seth Godin, people want to buy a story. They care a little about the price and some about the ease of use and a bit about durability. But a story is something they can tell their friends and gives a product a value of more than its component parts.

Think the J. Peterman [en.wikipedia.org] catalog . . .

[jonrichd]

Think of who your target audience is, and then think of what they are interested in knowing about your product, and then rewrite your product descriptions around that.

For example, if your target audience is new widget users, you would want to talk about how widgets can be used, the benefits of owning widgets, and --lightly-- why this brand of widget is a better choice than the competition.

OTOH, if your audience is experienced widget users looking to move up from the entry-level model widget then you will need to provide a lot more technical detail, and skip the 'why should I own a widget' overview.

Beware of trying to be all things to all people, or you'll end up looking like everyone else.