Descriptions that get found, and get bought.

This is the single most expensive habit in online retail. When a store imports supplier copy, the identical text appears on every other store selling that item, and search engines have no reason to prefer yours.

• Duplicate text gives no reason to choose you. If your page says exactly what a hundred others say, the largest and most authoritative store usually wins by default.
• Supplier copy sells the product, not the purchase from you. It never mentions your shipping, returns, guarantee or service, which are often the real reasons someone buys from an independent store.
• It reads like a spec sheet. Feature lists ignore the questions that actually decide a purchase, such as fit, comparison and what is in the box.
• Marketplaces make it worse. If you also sell on a marketplace using the same text, your store competes against a far stronger domain publishing identical copy.
• Original copy compounds. Every rewritten product page adds unique indexable content, and across a catalogue that becomes real long-tail search coverage.

A weak description lists attributes. A strong one removes the reasons a buyer hesitates. The structure matters as much as the words.

• Lead with the benefit, then support it with the feature. A buyer cares what a feature does for them before they care that it exists.
• Answer the obvious questions. Size, fit, material, compatibility and what is included. Unanswered questions cause carts to be abandoned.
• Be specific, not decorative. Premium quality says nothing. The exact material, dimension or capability sells.
• Write for a scanner. Most shoppers skim, so a short lead paragraph plus scannable detail beats a dense block of prose.
• Match the effort to the product. A flagship product justifies a full custom description. A minor variant needs consistency more than length.

Rewriting an entire catalogue at once is rarely affordable or necessary. Sequencing by commercial value gets most of the benefit for a fraction of the cost.

• Start with your best sellers. A small share of products usually drives most sales, and those pages justify full custom copy immediately.
• Then high traffic that converts poorly. Pages already getting visits that fail to sell are the fastest wins, because the traffic problem is already solved.
• Then high margin. A product earning more per sale justifies more investment per description than a thin-margin item.
• Use a consistent framework for the long tail. Lower-priority products can share a structured approach with unique detail, rather than fully bespoke writing.
• Batch related products together. Writing a category in one pass is more efficient and keeps the range coherent.

The same product needs genuinely different treatment depending on where it is listed, because each platform rewards different things.

• Marketplaces are search engines with strict formats. Character limits, title conventions and bullet structures govern what you can write, and shoppers scan rather than read.
• Your own store allows real persuasion. No competitor listing sits beside yours and there are no format limits, so storytelling and detail can do more work.
• Etsy rewards a distinct voice. Handmade and creative marketplaces favour personality and story, where a corporate tone falls flat.
• Never reuse text across channels. Identical copy on a marketplace and your own site means competing against a stronger domain with the same words.
• Structured data helps on your own store. Product markup for price, availability and reviews can improve how listings appear in search.

Marketplace requirements change regularly, so current platform guidelines should be checked before publishing.

Product copy carries substantiation requirements that are easy to breach through enthusiasm rather than intent. As a store grows more visible, the risk grows with it.

• Performance claims need evidence. Statements about what a product does or achieves have to be supportable.
• Health, environmental and origin claims are scrutinised. These categories carry specific requirements, and origin claims in particular are closely policed.
• Comparisons must be fair. Claiming superiority over a named or implied competitor invites a challenge unless it can be substantiated.
• Manufactured urgency is a problem. Stock warnings and countdowns that do not reflect reality are deceptive practice, not a conversion tactic.
• Accuracy protects returns as well as compliance. A description that oversells leads to returns and poor reviews, which cost more than the extra sale was worth.

General information rather than legal advice. Your counsel should review claims where it matters.

A growing share of shoppers ask an assistant to recommend or compare products before visiting any store. Those systems read a description differently from a browsing human.

• Specifics get you recommended. Materials, dimensions, compatibility, care and what is included are what an assistant matches against a request. Vague copy gives it nothing.
• Structured data helps machines parse you. Clean product markup makes a listing easier to read and reuse.
• Answer the practical questions on the page. Sizing, fit, returns and compatibility are common queries, and content that resolves them can be surfaced directly.
• Duplicate copy is invisible here too. If your text matches every other retailer, there is no reason for an assistant to name you rather than a larger competitor.
• Comparison-friendly detail wins. Descriptions that make an honest comparison easy are exactly what these systems draw on.