10 Ways to Make Your Product Listings More Successful (Part 1)

How you present your product matters. In fact, product listings give you the perfect opportunity to quickly engage customers and persuade them to buy from you. Here are 10 great ways you can maximize their effectiveness.

1) Write an Informative Description

In order to effectively market and sell your product, your description must answer the WIIFM (“what’s in it for me?”) question.

You do this by addressing the buyer’s emotionally-related questions. For instance, can your product make their lives better? Or does it take care of a particular problem?

At its core, good product copy is the result of mixing features (facts) with benefits (emotions).

2) Think Like a Human, Not an Algorithm

A product name is often the first thing a customer sees. And it has the power to pre-sell your product, or, conversely, send your once potential customer running for the hills.

That’s why you should always be clear, concise, and descriptive in your product names. But, at the same time, be truthful and only use pertinent keywords that your customer would actually use when searching for your product.

3) Ensure Pricing is Clear and Visible

Pretend you’re shopping in a very busy clothing store and you finally find that perfect sweater. It’s the right size and color and exactly what you’ve been searching for.

But there’s no price tag and no available salesperson anywhere. However, you’re in a hurry and can’t wait around.

What do you do?

Pricing needs to be clear and visible in your product listings—which gives customers more reason to stay in your store long enough to make their desired purchase.

4) Consider Offering Free Shipping

There are two types of free shipping:

Conditional free shipping, by definition, has conditions which you set. These could include minimum orders, select items only, or free economy delivery. You could also use it as a promotional event.
Unconditional free shipping is free shipping across the board. While this will certainly set you apart from the crowd, it does have its risks. And so you’ll need to consider your profit margins, shipping costs, and competition.

Whether you offer free shipping or not, always clearly communicate your shipping policy in your listings.

5) Accept Returns from Customers

Most buyers will never return an item. Nevertheless, you should still include a clearly-stated and buyer-friendly return policy in your product listings.

This not only creates trust in your brand, but also leads to increased sales and loyal customers.

Here is Part 2 of this article.