How to Optimize Your Automotive Product Descriptions

How to Optimize Your Product Descriptions to Attract More Customers and Sell More Products

Optimizing the product descriptions on your automotive e-commerce site can make a HUGE difference in attracting customers and making more sales.

Most marketers make the mistake of pulling in description copy straight from the manufacturer.

Don’t Do That!!

This hurts much more than it helps. The content isn’t unique, which doesn’t win any points on Google. It also doesn’t win any points with customers. The copy is bland and boring and doesn’t get anyone excited about your product.

This type of boring copy is how potential customers find themselves with three Internet tabs open with the same product pulled up at three different shops. The copy is either the same in every window or there’s no copy. They will compare the prices, shipping and who can get it to them quicker.

Now if you had great descriptions, that scenario would be different. Your potential customer would feel like you really “got” them, knew their needs and they’d feel like you’d totally take care of them.

They’d order from you.  

Do you have boring descriptions or even worse, none at all?

Don’t worry.

I’ve got you covered.

6 Ways to Write the Best Product Descriptions

1. Know Your Target Market

And by target market I mean that one guy (or girl) who wants your stuff. Do you sell exhaust systems? The product description for your exhaust should be written directly to that guy as if you’re both sitting in his driveway talking about it.

Forget about all the others who may come across your site looking for an exhaust. If you write directly to that one guy who is thinking about upgrading his exhaust, you’ll end up speaking to a lot more people than you think.

2. Talk to Them – Not at Them

Talk to your customers as if you’re sitting face to face, hanging out and chatting about your cars.

Be a friend. Don’t be afraid to be funny. Use humor and be REAL. People appreciate the truth, especially when you can use the truth to reach them and solve a problem.

Be helpful. Talk about how this part is going to make their life better. Don’t list off all the specs and how the stainless steel was sourced from a new planet. Tell them how this awesome new steel is going to make their exhaust sound so deep and throaty that their ride will be the envy of the block.

Remember: benefits, not features.

No one really cares how many awards your company has won or how great you are, they care how you’re going to help them get the best parts for the best prices.

Solve their problems.

Gain their trust by having solutions to their problems in the form of your products. Show them this by being a trusted source of accurate, honest, friendly communication.

3. Find Your Voice

A company needs a voice for it to become more than a company. A business. A faceless entity.

Find the voice for your business and use it across all your copy. Are you the friendly, knowledgeable neighbor who knows everything about cars? Are you the fun buddy that likes shop talk, swears a little, but is always honest and up for a good time?

And then make sure you use that tone everywhere.

People are more open to trusting when the pages are full of more than corporate drivel speaking at them to Buy this! or Buy that!

4. Optimize for Readers

There are two ways you should go about optimizing your descriptions (and your other site copy): for readers and for search engines.

For the humans, know their limitations. People have the attention span of a Beta fish these days. Your copy needs to be spaced, bolded, bulleted and highlighted in all the right places so it’s easy to be skimmed.

People glance at copy these days. They want to quickly skim down the page to make sure you hit the high notes of what they’re looking for. If you do, then they’ll slow down and read your descriptions. You must capture them in those few seconds and pull them in.

5. Optimize for Searching

For the search engines, know your SEO. SEO isn’t as important as getting genuinely good, unique copy, but it’s important. If your descriptions are written the right way, you won’t have to put major focus on SEO tactics because they’ll already be there.

The best SEO for search engines (and readers) is organic and flows with the copy. If you’re writing about chrome rims, just talk about chrome rims in your copy. Don’t create a formula and insist that phrase MUST be in every paragraph exactly 2.4 times.

That doesn’t work anymore with the newer Google algorisms; it just looks like keyword stuffing so Google will shut you out to page 5, which is no man’s land.

With that being said, the right keyword phrases can help customers find your products and your website much easier and more successfully than any bland manufacturer data sheet. So, to get it right, just stick with having a conversation with your buddy in the driveway. Works every time.

Bring It All Together and Light Up the Tires

Creating awesome product descriptions that include everything and the shop sink might seem hard.

It doesn’t have to be.

Just leave out the dry corporate tone, the salesy pitches and the keyword stuffing and you’re well on your way to great descriptions and site copy.

Want to leave it to a pro? Hire a copywriter who specializes in writing automotive eCommerce copy and make your life easier (and more profitable) right here.