How to write product descriptions that sell (template included)

Most product descriptions look like this:

Beautiful handmade soy wax candle. 200g. Various scents.

That's not a description, that's a label. It answers none of the questions in someone's head while they decide whether to hand over €15.

Here's the formula that works, and a template you can copy.

The five-part formula

1. The hook sentence (who and why)

The first sentence has one job: the reader recognises themselves in it.

• Weak: "Handmade soy candle."
• Strong: "For the evenings when you want the flat to smell like something, not just be clean."

Don't describe the product. Describe the moment it's used in.

2. The benefits (why you care)

Three or four lines, each translating a feature into an outcome:

• Soy wax → burns up to 45 hours and leaves no black marks on the ceiling
• Cotton wick → no crackling, no chemical smell
• Hand-poured → each one is slightly different, and that's not a defect

The translation formula is stupidly simple: write the feature, then add "which means that…" and finish the sentence.

3. The specs (what it actually is)

A short, scannable list. This is where people check rather than read:

• Weight: 200 g
• Burn time: up to 45 hours
• Size: 8 x 9 cm
• Contents: 100% soy wax, cotton wick
• Scent: cedar and vanilla

Anything measurable goes here. If it's missing, the reader invents it — usually to your disadvantage.

4. The objections (what stops them)

This is the part almost everyone skips, and the one that lifts conversion most.

People have two or three specific doubts. If you don't answer them, they leave the site to check — and don't come back.

• "Is the scent strong?" → "Noticeable in a room up to 20 m², without being overpowering."
• "Is it giftable?" → "Comes in a gift-ready box, with no price inside."
• "What if I don't like it?" → "14 days to return, no explanation needed."

How to find them: they're the questions you already get in DMs. Write them down once and reuse them everywhere.

5. The micro-nudge

One closing sentence that guides the action and removes hesitation:

I make 30 a month. When they're gone, the next batch is three weeks out.

Don't shout "BUY NOW". Just tell the truth about stock, timing or delivery.

The template

Copy this and fill it in:

[The moment the product is used in — one sentence.]

Why people like it:
- [feature] → which means [outcome]
- [feature] → which means [outcome]
- [feature] → which means [outcome]

The specs:
- [attribute]: [value]
- [attribute]: [value]
- [attribute]: [value]

People often ask:
- [question]? [short answer]
- [question]? [short answer]

[One line about stock, timing or delivery.]

Five minutes per product. Across ten products that's one afternoon — and it will make you more money than a redesign.

Rules that save time

• Write in second person. Shops that address "our esteemed customers" sound like a 2004 circular.
• Delete adjectives with no content. "Unique", "high-quality", "innovative" mean nothing. If a word could sit in any other product's description, it's filler.
• Never copy the supplier's text. If others sell the same item, identical text makes you invisible in Google. Rewrite it in your own words — one of the cheapest SEO wins there is.
• Write for a phone. Two-line paragraphs. Nobody reads a wall of text on mobile.

How to check whether it's good

Read the description aloud to someone who doesn't know the product, then ask: "would you buy it, and why?"

If they can't answer — part 1 or part 4 is missing.

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Descriptions are the only part of a shop that works for sales, for search engines and for returns at the same time. A good one cuts DM questions, lifts conversion and catches searches you never thought of. Five minutes per product.