Writing product descriptions that actually convert
The anatomy of a listing that sells: what to say first, what to cut, and how AI can draft without flattening your voice.
Most product descriptions fail in the first sentence. Not because the sentence is bad, but because it says the same thing every other listing says: "High quality", "perfect gift", "made with love". Buyers skim past all of it. The listings that convert do something different: they answer the buyer's real questions in the order the buyer asks them.
The buyer's four questions
- Is this for me? (fit, style, use case)
- What exactly am I getting? (size, materials, contents)
- Can I trust this seller? (proof, specifics, policies)
- What happens after I buy? (delivery, returns, download)
Structure your description in that order and you remove friction sentence by sentence. Skip straight to features before establishing fit, and you lose the skim-readers, which is almost everyone.
The first line is the listing
On most marketplaces only the first 150–160 characters show before the "read more" cut. That line has to carry the single most compelling fact about the product. Not the brand story, not a greeting. "Keeps a 15-inch laptop, a notebook and a packed lunch in a bag that fits under every airline seat" tells a commuter everything they need in one breath.
Specifics outsell adjectives
"Beautiful soft fabric" is a claim. "Brushed 320gsm organic cotton, pre-washed so it won't shrink" is evidence. Every adjective you delete and replace with a number, a material, a dimension or a test makes the listing more believable.
Weak: "Stunning handmade candle, perfect for cosy nights." Strong: "Burns for 45 hours, scented with cedar and smoked amber, hand-poured in small batches in Coventry."
Using AI without sounding like AI
The fastest workflow we've found: dump your raw facts, dimensions, materials, story, who it's for, into Wordflow AI with a prompt like "Write a 150-word description for a buyer who cares about durability, questions in the order: fit, contents, trust, delivery. No clichés." Then do the human pass: read it aloud, cut one sentence that could appear on anyone's listing, and add one detail only you know.
The five-minute checklist
- First line carries the strongest fact, inside 150 characters
- Every adjective is backed by a number or a material
- Delivery, returns and download details are stated, not implied
- One human detail that a competitor can't copy
- Read aloud once: if a sentence makes you cringe, it goes
Descriptions aren't literature. They're answers, delivered in the order buyers ask. Get the order right and the writing mostly takes care of itself.