Writing product descriptions people read

Most small-brand product descriptions fall into one of two traps: they are either a single flat line - "beautiful handmade earrings" - that says almost nothing, or they are stuffed with borrowed marketing language - "elevate your look with this stunning statement piece" - that sounds like it was written for no one in particular. Neither actually helps a customer decide whether to buy, because neither answers the specific questions running through a real customer's mind.

Start with the questions a customer actually has

Before writing a word, it helps to think about what a customer standing in front of this exact product would want to know. For clothing, that is usually fabric, fit, care instructions, and how true to size it runs. For jewellery, it is material, finish, whether it tarnishes, and how it is meant to be worn. For skincare, it is ingredients, skin type suitability, and how to use it. For food, it is shelf life, ingredients, and how it should be stored. A description built around these real questions will always read more usefully than one built around adjectives.

Specificity beats adjectives

"Soft, breathable cotton that gets better with every wash" tells a customer something real and specific. "Premium quality fabric" tells them nothing, because every brand claims this regardless of whether it is true. The specific version also happens to be more persuasive, because it sounds like it comes from someone who actually knows the product, rather than a template applied to every item in a catalogue.

Write in your own voice, not a borrowed one

Many small founders, trying to sound professional, adopt a generic corporate tone that does not match how they actually talk to customers over DM or WhatsApp. This is a missed opportunity, because part of what makes a small brand appealing is the sense of a real person behind it - a point covered in building trust without a budget. A description that sounds like you, warm and direct, usually earns more trust than one that sounds like it was copied from a bigger brand's website.

Be honest about limitations

If a piece is handmade and may have small natural variations, say so plainly rather than hiding it - this sets expectations honestly and actually reduces returns, since a customer who knows to expect slight variation is not disappointed by it later, a connection explored in returns and RTO: what nobody tells you. Similarly, if a product runs slightly large or small compared to standard sizing, saying so directly prevents a return that a vague description would have caused.

Structure that makes descriptions easy to scan

A short opening line capturing what makes the piece specific, followed by a few concrete details in a clear list, tends to work better than a long paragraph a customer has to read in full to find the one detail they actually needed. Most customers scan before they read closely, and a description built to be scanned respects that behaviour rather than fighting it.

What to leave out

Avoid vague superlatives that could apply to any product - "the perfect addition to your wardrobe," "a must-have piece" - since these add length without adding information. Every sentence in a description should tell the customer something they did not already know from the photo alone; if it does not, it is worth cutting.

Why this matters more on your own store than elsewhere

A marketplace listing is often constrained by a rigid template that leaves little room for a founder's actual voice or specific detail. Your own store gives full control over how a product is described, which is exactly the space where the honesty and specificity covered here can do real work in building trust and reducing returns, rather than being squeezed into a generic form field.

A practical exercise

Pick your best-selling product and rewrite its description by first listing every question a first-time customer might silently have about it, then answering each one directly in plain language. Compare it to your current description - the difference is usually immediately obvious, both to you and to anyone who reads it. A store built with proper space for descriptions like this is worth setting up through early access.