How much thought have you put into product descriptions for the auto parts you sell online?
Whether it’s on eBay or your own auto parts website, the product description matters. It’s the first thing a potential customer will read when they’re still debating their purchase, and by clearing up any confusion right away, you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.
When you put together a high-quality part description, you’ll see more than one benefit. It improves your selling ability all around, from how easily customers find you to how willing they are to buy. Here are only a few of the improvements you’ll see:
More revenue.
Better descriptions draw in more customers and help you sell more auto parts. Not everyone is a car part expert, so a lot of shoppers need to see some extra details before they follow through with their purchase. Online shoppers will be more confident in purchasing the part if there is detailed information and they know it will fit their car.
Better SEO.
There are plenty of auto parts stores online that your customer can buy from, so how can you help them find YOU? You can always invest in marketing, but the cost-free way to boost your visibility is by making your site more search-engine friendly.
It’s called SEO. Unique and original content on your site improves your SEO, thus improving how well you rank on a search engine result page. This means your product will show up in more searches!
Fewer returns.
When your product description has accurate and easy-to-understand information, buyers will be less likely to order the wrong part on accident. The more details you include about a part, the easier it will be for a customer to confirm that it’s the part they need. A great description will improve customer confidence and reduce the chance of messing up.
Fewer phone calls.
As much as you want to show off your great customer service, you also don’t want to get bogged down with calls. Readily available information (such as FAQs, company information, and product descriptions) will reduce the amount of questions customers have about your products. Something as simple as a shipping or return policy can give customers the info they need and save you both the time of a phone call.
Nice, right? Now that you’re interested, the question is how do you write an effective product description? According to the experts at Shoplo, the best descriptions are split into two parts: a paragraph of explanation followed by a list of product spec.
[Section of normal written language] + [Bullet Points of Specs or Features] = [Engaging and Converting Product Description]
With that formula for success in mind, let’s get started on breaking down the pieces…
Paragraph of Prose
The paragraph section is normally around three or more sentences. In it, give a brief written description of what the product is and where it will be used. The paragraph section is supposed to entice a potential customer to buy the product—often, it tells the part’s “story.”
The product description can be especially effective for car part upgrades. Some customers purchase upgrades to give their car personality, and by knowing your audience, you can tailor the description to them. You can write descriptions that include stats on performance or the material of the part.
Here are some other things you can talk about in this paragraph:
- A touch of history about the vehicle model.
- Why a customer should buy OE parts.
- How often the part should be replaced.
- When a customer can tell their part needs to be replaced.
Bulleted List of Specs and Features
Some readers will only skim product descriptions, so they’ll jump straight to the bullet points. This is where you have simple facts and specifications about your part, in a clear and to the point way.
The bulleted list should include:
- Part number
- Part dimensions, if relevant
- Shipping information
- Warranty information
- Which vehicles the part fits (This will automatically be generated by the parts catalog from your eCommerce provider.)
Vehicle fitment is critical information that helps ease consumer fears over buying the wrong part. Choose a parts catalog and online store provider that will let your customers put in their VIN number and show verification on the product page that the part is guaranteed to fit their car.
It’s better to have too much information than not enough. Provide any basic facts about the product that you think a customer would like to know. Pay attention to the questions your customers ask most frequently and include that information, too.
Of course, with a inventory of thousands, you don’t have to do this for every single part. Focus on the most popular ones or hire a marketing agency to write the descriptions for you.
Final Thoughts
Don’t forget that you need this description to be professional. This means checking for spelling and grammar mistakes. Check and double check that all your spec lists are accurate. Avoid using excessive all caps when writing, since it looks like shouting. Editing may seem like a small step, but it’s an important one!
You might be thinking that writing all these product descriptions will take a while, and you’re right. It is unrealistic that you will have a unique and full description for EVERY single part you sell. Look at your reports and see which parts sell the most often and make a plan to write descriptions for those categories of parts. (Here’s a hint: brake pads are really popular)
At first it might be a bit tricky to get started. But if you’re determined and make a habit of writing just a few descriptions a day, you’ll get the hang of it and quickly find yourself ahead of the competition.
