The Art of Writing Descriptions that SELL!
Taking good photographs of your items is extremely important and will get your potential buyers attention. HOWEVER, it is through your individual item descriptions that you should aim to convert that ‘potential’ buyer into a sale.
For some of you, writing a description about your work is new to you. That’s ok. Read through our tips and implement what you learn. As you do it more and more it will get easier and faster to write. It’s a good idea to copy and paste each of your descriptions into a word processor document so you can use it for future reference.
Here are our top 3 tips for writing descriptions that sell:
1. Connect with Your Potential Buyer
A good description will allow your potential buyer to feel a greater sense of connection with you and your work. Tell the story… What is your creative process? What inspired you to create this piece? Where was it created? Why was it created? Simply answering these questions will help with establishing a connection with the reader, which will increase your chances of making a sale.
2. Write in a Conversational Style
Conversational style writing means writing the way you talk. This also ties in with our first tip, as it helps your readers to ‘connect’ with what you’re saying. Don’t be afraid to be light hearted or even humorous in your descriptions if it suits you or your work. Of course, this won’t suit every piece you do.
Conversational style writing is all about being natural and genuine at the same time. It’s not an excuse to write sloppy. Make sure your sentences make sense and your words are spelt correctly. Once you’ve finished writing, read it back to yourself aloud, to make sure what you have written is clear, concise and sounds great!
3. Give them the Details
Make sure you give them all the necessary details… and make sure they are ACCURATE! Have you ever bought something and regretted it? Chances are you have, and the reason for your regret is that the thing you bought wasn’t as good as you thought it was going to be. Don’t let that be your customer’s experience! When they receive your wonderful creation, you want them to be so happy and so impressed that they come back to your shop to buy from you again and again!
When listing your item, there is section for you to include dimensions (if appropriate), and materials used. Some of you will be ‘making your items to order’ (usually applies to smaller handmade items). If this is the case, make sure you put this in your description, so they know how long they will need to wait. If you are up front about this, most people won’t mind. They may even like the fact that you are creating something especially for them! On the flip side, if they don’t know you are ‘making to order’, you may have an impatient and unhappy customer on your hands. Which is not good! Our aim is to provide good customer service and have happy customers. Happy customers come back, and bring their friends!
Quick Tip: As I am writing this article we are coming up to Christmas… it always comes up so fast!! You can mention special days like these in your descriptions, such as: ‘This Necklace would make a Perfect Christmas Present!’, ‘FREE Shipping through Christmas!’, ‘Express Delivery… get it before Christmas!’
One more thing: If you insure your items in shipping and/or offer a generous ‘refunds, returns and exchanges’ policy, it is a good idea to mention it at the end of your descriptions. It’s definitely a selling point!
Have fun!
Tags: Connecting With Your Buyer, Conversational Style Writing, Item Descriptions, Sell More, Success On Zibbet, Writing Good Descriptions
Appreciate the suggestions for writing descriptions.
Very good suggestions. I am a writer. But, when it comes to my jewelry,I need some practice.
Thanks for the suggestions! I always avoid listing because I don’t want to have to write the description. But, if I don’t list, it doesn’t sell!
Thank you, but it has always been a struggle for me to find nice interesting descriptions, first of all English is my second language and even in my language I did stink in my essays so what to do, and I wonder if some people are not put off by it?
@BaBaBeads: The only thing that would save you is having really good photographs of your items. That is even more important than your description. However, a combination of the two is a winner!
Great tips!
These are great things to keep in mind!
These are great suggestions, however I wanted to point out something ironic about the article. You mentioned to “Make sure your sentences make sense and your words are spelt correctly.” The problem is that the word spelt refers to a hardy variety of wheat of inferior quality. The correct word would have been spelled.
Whoops! :>) Faye
@Immortal Creations. Yes tis true, but he said, “say like we talk”, and in the south we say, “spelt”. *winky*
Thanks for the suggestions on listing.
@ImmortalCreations: Spelt is a kind of wheat, and also a past tense form of the word spell. There are two forms of the past tense. I hope you haven’t “corrected” too many people on that. You have been wrong every time. :]
And, @BaBaBeads: you might get someone to proofread for you who knows English better than you do…either someone you know nearby, or someone you find through your business connections. Or you could pay someone to do it. I am a linguist and might be able to help you out. I’m pretty busy, but if you have questions I’d be happy to answer.
THANKS FOR THE TIPS
Great Information!!!
Thank you, it helps!
Wonderful sage advise that can be put into action. Thank you
thanks for helping me my mind was blank
Thanks for the info!
Wonderful article - I always find writing descriptions so difficult. This article has helped me a lot - thanks!
Thanks for the tip! this will enable us to do the accurate things and will never lead us into disappointments, thanks again.
Thanks for your suggestions - that is really useful. I am going to think carefully about descriptions for forthcoming listings.
Great advice, very helpful,
many thanks
Maggie
Thank you for the tips. I will bookmark this page
Just read this now and it’s still relevant !
I am very new to Zibbet and just listed first 4 items today - I feel my descriptions are too long, but also feel I need to include it all !
Gets confusing… and I too am a professional writer - but it doesn’t always help when it’s something so personal !
Anyways, thanks from Ireland for the informative article :o)
This is helpful. Great tips.