Free Download: Shopify Product Description Template

Writing Shopify Product Descriptions That Sell

Product descriptions are one of the most important pieces when it comes to selling your product online.

If you are someone that has just started their Shopify business, and you don’t know how to write a good description for your products, you’re in the right place.

Download our free Shopify product description template to get started and read on as we go over some tips on how to write a great product description that grabs the attention of potential customers and gets them interested in purchasing from you. 

What to Avoid When Writing Product Descriptions

If you’ve landed on this page, it’s likely because you want to write brand new product descriptions – or you want to improve the ones that are currently living on your Shopify store. Either way, understanding what not to do when writing product descriptions is a great place to start. Whenever you sit to draft your copy, avoid the following:

• Ambiguous wording when describing product features
• Making the description too long and wordy
• Typos and errors (seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many minor typos slip through the cracks)
• Not optimizing your copy for search engines
• Using language that doesn’t align with your target market
• Bad CTA positioning

Now, it’s understandable how much passion you have for your product, but it’s important to avoid going on a rant about it. Especially when all you want is for the visitor to press the buy button. First impressions are crucial here. Remember, they’re on your website because they already like a product. Make it known that you’re the most trustworthy Shopify store to buy from. 

What Makes a Good Product Description

For one, a good product description says exactly what the product is and what makes it valuable. Here’s a few pro tips to keep in mind:

• Start by introducing the item with a short description and include any details that help you stand out from other sellers. 
• Tell shoppers what sets your products apart, like if it’s new or has been used before. If it’s refurbished, tell them about any restoration work done and why they might want this particular product over others on the market.
• Give some background information about yourself or your company so customers can get to know you better and trust you more easily. This could mean providing social proof (like how many customers you’ve sold to), or testimonials/reviews from reputable sources.

To give you a better idea of what this looks like in action, let’s go through some high-quality product descriptions to prove the concepts we’ve so far discussed.

Good Product Description Examples

Let’s start with a well-crafted product description from Dewalt.

 Let’s focus on just three of its attributes that make it an excellent description. 

1. Image quality. After seeing this image of the hammer, you need little in the way of words to convince you that it’s among the best you can buy online. You’ll want to include several angles of the hammer to spark that itch to hold it in real life. 
2. A fitting title. More important than its model is what it actually is. The model, yes, matters too but only for technical reasons. In this case, your visitors will most likely have searched for “3lb hammer for fiberglass drilling.” Not “DWHT56142.” In fact, you may not even get the technical name of the product correct—which can deter your customers from finding the right product.
3. The descriptive text. Here, the name of the hammer leads the way. Next you’ll catch on to how it’s built. A lot of the surfaces and textures associated with the product are thrown into the mix. Wouldn’t you want a good handle with the hammer? Well, that too is described. They cap everything else with a durability promise (consistent with the brand) and immediately asks you to buy.

This strategy isn’t specific to certain niches, either. It works on a wide range of products. Here’s a look at an automotive website. 

 Although a vehicle costs much more than a hammer does, you can see this product description has a similar format to the one we just reviewed. It includes:

1. A clear and high quality image of the product
2. A friendly product title
3. Descriptive text that focuses on the product and what perks and benefits you will experience if you choose to purchase it

The best product descriptions are those that make the buyer feel as if they know exactly what they’re getting. Keep in mind who your target market is, and try to incorporate their thoughts on usability into your writing so you can create a sense of trust around the value of your product. If all this sounds daunting, don’t worry. Our free Shopify Product Description Template will show you exactly how to create well-written copy that drives conversions. 

Need a Good Product Description? Start Here.

Starting with a product description template is a proven way to write copy that converts. To download our free template, all you need to do is:

• Sign into Back in Stock. You can try it free if you don’t already have an account. 
• Select ‘Free Resources’ in the footer.
• Click ‘Download’ on any resource (In addition to the product description template, we also have a blog post template, business plan template, a Shopify SEO checklist, and more).

Shopify Product Description FAQ

How do you write Clothing product descriptions?

Clothes fall into a category that requires a little more detail than, say a hammer. You should include the feeling induced by the product’s texture. You’ll find it easy to use superlatives when describing clothes. However, stay within reason when proposing that your fabrics are the most breathable fashion items for summer. 

Stick to what makes your product stand out among your competitors. Is it handmade, or are there fewer than 100 units in the world? These facts make it more attractive than the supposed quality variable that buyers can only enjoy after purchase. 

Pro tip: Check what your previous buyers have written in their reviews of your product. Online customers are usually brutally honest, so you can get some great feedback from a real consumer that way. Even when dropshipping, your source should have reviews that help you accurately express how buying and owning the product feels.

How often should I change my product descriptions?

There’s no correct response to this question. However, it’s always good practice to test out new content strategies to fine tune your Shopify store. You could wait for a month or two to measure how well a description is working before switching up and testing a new description for just as long. 

After a few tests, it should become clear which description turns more visitors into customers. At which point the answer to the original question becomes zero.

How do you add a video to a product description?

Videos are an awesome way to give buyers a feel of the product before making a purchase. However, Shopify will not allow you to upload a video directly to your product description. For this, you need to first upload the video on your favorite media sharing site, like YouTube.

When the video is live on your chosen platform, opt to share it by embedding an iframe to the destination. 

Once the share video dialog box appears, you’ll want to click the “Embed” option as shown below.

Copying the youtu.be link shown at this stage will not yield the results we need. The code we need looks like this:

It’s the code starting at <iframe … all the way to …</iframe> that you want to copy and paste into Shopify. Once there, initiate the video embedding step by pressing the video icon in the description text editor.

The resulting text area takes the iframe and renders the video into your product description. 

A product description is one of the most important parts of your store. It’s what a customer will read first, and it can make or break their decision to buy from you. That’s why we created this free Shopify product description template. You just need to fill in the blanks with your own content – text, images, links – then publish! With these tips on writing an effective product description that sells more products online, you’ll be ready to take advantage of all this information immediately and start driving sales like never before.