Length
More and more people are turning to online product descriptions to research
products, 61% according to a 2012 poll by global research company Ipsos
and this has been increasing every year since.
So, what is the ideal word count for your product description? It’s important
to get it right.
There are no hard and fast rules and no matter what the ideal length is, you
may be restricted or governed by the media where the product description
will be published. You may also have to follow instructions from a client.
However, if your copy is too short you won’t have enough words to do your
product justice and adequately describe the features and benefits that are
targeted towards your chosen audience. Product descriptions that don’t
contain enough details fail to provide the customer with enough information
to make an informed buying decision, making them likely to look elsewhere.
You will also miss out on search engine traffic as you won’t have enough
room to include key words and phrases.
On the other hand, if your product description is too long, you risk
overloading the customer with information. No one wants to wade through a
ton of copy to find the facts that they want. When deciding on the length
your copy should be, choose only the key features and benefits that are
targeted towards your particular customer group. Different types of customer
may require more or less information.
Many marketing professionals suggest a word count of between 250 – 400
words as being ideal if you have the space, but there are many product
descriptions far shorter than that which do the job very well. Another option
is to use a short description but to provide a button to click to read more
where you can include longer, more detailed copy. People buying higher
priced items tend to want to read more about them.