How To Write Buyer Persona Product Descriptions for eCommerce Product Pages

by Michael Ewing

Date

June 6, 2013 at 7:42 AM

describe the imageBuyer Persona Product Descriptions

Buyer persona product detail pages communicate the most important primary benefits of a product in a way that is most appealing to the majority of store customers.  The user centric approach also helps brand the information of a company while reinforcing a persona attractive to an ideal consumer.

Buyer persona product descriptions can deliver positive results because the ad copy is written in such a way that is appealing to the target demographic. The effort required of user-centric product descriptions requires that we understand how certain descriptors, contexts and inclusions of details affect the target user, and that we then put our discoveries into action. Ad copy for a clothing retailer with a target demographic of ages 15-35 with extensive outdoor knowledge should be much different than a clothing retailer with a target demographic of women ages 25-45 whom aspire to be like the ladies in reality television. As Dr. Timo Saari and Dr. Marko Turpeinen, authors of “Towards Psychological Customization of Information for Individuals and Social Groups” suggest, individual differences in processing information implicates dramatic variances in type and/or intensity of psychological effects, such as positive emotion, persuasion, and depth of learning.

Researching, Developing and Writing Buyer Persona Product Descriptions

The first step in creating user centric product descriptions is understanding the needs, preferences and most common questions your customers have. Needs and preferences are developed by studying commonalities like demographics, lifestyle, emotional behavior, technological comprehension, education level. Common questions and concerns are developed by studying customer feedback. Both sets of information will be used to model customer personas, a fictional person used to describe the characteristics of your customers.

Gaining information on the commonalities of your customers can be done in a number of ways. One way is to scan the messages that are sent through feedback forms or sent directly to customer support through email. Look for language patterns or common jargon used to help get a better sense of the customer. Another is to inquire with representatives whom have direct communication with customers. Support representatives can offer a wealth of information on customer personas. A third way is to send short questionnaires to customers after a purchase. A questionnaire should ask questions that will help gain insight into the customer, like why they choose to purchase from your site and the types of information that helped them make a purchase. Questionnaires are more likely to be submitted if there is some incentive involved for doing so. Including a X% Off Next Purchase when completing this survey is a common incentive that not only helps to obtain more information on target customers, but will also encourage a repeat purchase.

Take the information learned in research and craft personas by listing the needs, preferences and common questions. You might give your persona's names like "Environmental Eddie" or "Technical Tim". Environmental Eddie could be a persona that is mainly concerned with how the products are made and is influenced by language that speaks to environmental sustainability. Technical Tim could be a persona that is primarily concerned with the specifications of a product and is influenced with videos and high quality photos of products. A thorough list of the characteristics, concerns and appeals of your persona's will help craft persona's that will be very beneficial to improving product copy.

Product copy should start by listing the primary benefits of a product using language and jargon that appeals to that of the target persona. Product copy for "Technical Tim" may list a primary benefit reinforced with technical specifications. Something like "You will never have to worry about storage again - this locker is 36" wide, 24" deep and 72" tall" is a good bullet point technical description for a seller of lockers. The description states the primary benefit using technical specifications and appeals to the user by refereeing a personal pronoun, "you". Referencing personal pronouns is an effective way of getting customers to see themselves in the text and more adequately understand how the product helps them solve their particular need. In the case of "Technical Tim", his need was worrying about storage. The product copy told him that he would no longer have this need and explained why the technical specifications. Essentially creating an effective use of user centric product description.

Takeaway:

Investing time into the discovery of user persona's and establishing product detail copy that is tailored to commonalities will help garner a more immediate positive emotional appeal by site visitors. This positive impression made by the user centric product detail copy will lead to an increase in conversions and brand affinity. Making your customers like you that much more. 

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