How to Improve eCommerce Product Descriptions

A product description has one job: remove the reason someone is hesitating.

Stop using the manufacturer's copy

If you sell a product other retailers also sell, and you all paste the same supplier description, you have a page identical to dozens of others.

On your own store, that is a duplicate content problem — search engines have no reason to pick yours. On a marketplace, it means nothing distinguishes your listing from the one above it.

Writing your own takes twenty minutes per product and is often the single biggest differentiator available on a commoditised item.

Structure

1. What it is, in one line. Assume they arrived from a search and need confirming they are in the right place.

2. Who it suits. "Good for X, not suitable for Y." Naming what it is *not* for prevents returns and builds credibility.

3. The questions they actually have. This is the substance.

4. Specifications, in a table. Dimensions, weight, materials, compatibility, what is in the box. Tables are scannable; paragraphs of specs are not.

5. What happens next. Dispatch time, postage, returns.

Finding the right questions

You already have this data:

• Customer messages. Every pre-purchase question is a gap in the description. If three people asked whether it fits a particular model, the description is missing that.
• Returns. Every return for "not as expected" is a description failure.
• Reviews, yours and competitors'. Reviews say what people actually cared about.

That list is worth more than any copywriting framework.

What to cut

• Superlatives. "Premium quality", "the best". Every listing says it, so it carries no information.
• Filler openings. "In today's fast-paced world…"
• Repeating the title three times for keywords. It does not work and it reads badly.
• Huge template banners. Postage policy, feedback requests and shop branding pushing the actual content below the fold — particularly costly on mobile, where most buyers are.

Formatting for phones

Most shoppers are on a phone. So:

• Short paragraphs
• Bullet points for features
• Tables for specifications
• The important detail first
• No tiny text, no wide fixed tables

Where it matters most

Used or variable items. Condition detail is the whole purchase decision.

Technical products. Compatibility is what they are checking.

Anything where size matters. Clothing and furniture returns are overwhelmingly a sizing-information failure.

Commoditised products. When everyone sells the same thing at a similar price, the description is the differentiator.

Better descriptions reduce returns as well as raising conversion, and returns are the cost that quietly removes the margin — see eBay product research.