What Are The Rules For Writing An Irresistible Product Description

I get questions about rules all the time. People naturally assume there is a set of rules, like the Ten Commandments, that govern the writing of online content. This is understandable considering there are books and Websites on copywriting that spell out “rules” such as, “product descriptions must be brief or they won’t get read” “use short bulleted phrases,” “use lots of action words,” etc.
Actually the rules of product description writing are easy, simple and straightforward. In fact, there are only two (2) absolute rules in writing online content. That’s right, only two!
The first absolute rule is by far the most important to consistently and absolutely obey:
Rule #1: Do not lie on your ecommerce website!
— I repeat, do not lie. And take no advice from anyone who condones it. Here are ten undeniable truths about telling lies on your ecommerce website:
1. Everyone does not lie on their website. The cynicism surrounding this is considerable. I get customers who assume lying is normal and assume they should lie on their website because you need to in order to get ahead.
2. Lies can be business busters and cause considerable embarrassment. Most customers consider lying intolerable.
3. Websites lie most about features and benefits. Ironically, this is the easiest for a customer to check out.
4. Exaggerations and fudging are lies. Do not jack up suggested retail to make it look like you saved your customer 50%. Customers will consider that a lie.
5. Any ecommerce business built on falsehoods is fragile. You will live in fear of exposure and, in most cases, exposure leads to lost sales.
6. The weakness or problem you felt you had to lie about must be solved in other ways.
7. Customers will forgive dings, nicks and weaknesses in your products and services before they will buy from a liar.
8. Telling lies can come back to haunt you years later. Customers do not forget easily if they feel they were deceived.
9. Many customers are incredibly sophisticated, and even take pride, in ferreting out exaggeration, lies and deceptions.
10. Don’t tempt fate with little white lies. Do you think that customers will overlook little white lies? They will not. That just insults the customers all the more, who probably will never buy from you again. What seems like a little white lie can turn into a business buster.
This brings us to the second absolute rule.
Rule #2: You can break all the rules except for rule number one
In copywriting, I do follow some firm guidelines. I also make strong recommendations as to how to write product descriptions, but they are just that, guidelines and recommendations — not absolute rules. Some people ask if that means any rule they ever heard can be broken?” As long as you are not telling any lies and have a compelling reason for breaking convention, YES!