How To Write A High-Converting Product Description That Sells Candles
Excellent product description design ensures all your work leads to a sale.
At least, that’s the idea. Whether you sell on Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, or anywhere else, you need solid sales copy. Every business needs a product description designed to convert eyeballs into paying customers without unnecessary pressure or unruly tactics.
Most candle makers don’t really understand what makes good copy and end up putting some form of the same boring text in their store. Why? Well, candles aren’t solving any sort of traditional problem. They exist for pleasure, which makes a “buy this to ail your issue” argument hard to create.
This guide to writing a better product description is for anyone selling candles that wants to learn how to “close the deal” and make the sale. These principles apply to anyone selling digitally or where customer’s read text before buying.
Let’s dive in!
Selflessly Focus On Your Customer
Marie Forleo calls this “spotlighting”.
The number one mistake candle makers make in their product description is talking about the features of their candle instead of the customer’s experience.
If your language focuses on your brand and candle or melt features, you’re missing the point. No one buys candles just for the sake of it. Well, maybe candle makers, but that’s an exception.
Everyone wants to purchase something to solve their needs. What are their needs? It depends on how you’re positioning your work in the marketplace. You may be:
- Boosting a social status
- Delivering a unique or nostalgic aromatic experience
- Fighting bad odors (it’s true… some are meant for this)
But you’re not solving a candle shortage crisis. Everyone who buys candles has a deeper intention, and the spotlight method is meant for hyper focusing your words on the customer.
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The answers to these two questions:
- What external problem are you solving with the candle or melt?
- Why does the customer need to solve the external problem?
An external problem addresses how someone:
- Achieves their dreams
- Justifies their failures
- Allay their fears
- Confirms their suspicions
- Throws rocks at their enemies
(credit to Blair Warren for that, but it’s true).
Candles are usually in the the “dreams” category, so what is your ideal customer dreaming, and why? Maybe you’re selling a premium quality at an affordable price, in which case you’re positioning yourself as “wallet-friendly without sacrificing scent strength or burn time” (not very catchy).
Point is, you need to write your product description from the perspective of your visitor. An example:
We’re crafting your next aromatic addiction that costs less than dinner but lasts much longer.
Or if you’re providing comedic cultural relief, you might try something more sarcastic:
Bringing you smells from the great outdoors until you’re allowed to leave the house again #quarantine.
They aren’t the greatest examples, but they should demonstrate how your language needs to focus on customer’s perspective and intention. Compare that to:
Long lasting candle with booming scents that last over 40 hours.
It’s just so… cold and removed from how people are really shopping.
Remove Any Risk With Buying Your Candle
Have you ever procrastinated buying anything?
The last thing you want your product description to do is convince the customer they’re taking a risk. In fact, you probably want to do the opposite.
Professional writers call this tactic risk removal because you need to show them that taking the leap and buying your product isn’t as scary. Even if they want to buy it, they may not pull the trigger for any variety of reasons.
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Proof they are making the right choice by purchasing your candle.
How? Three main strategies (of a possible million, of course):
Show what this product did for other people.
Reviews or customer photos is considered social proof and works very well. Some brands hardly every toot their own horn, immediately showcasing customer reviews on a sales page instead.
Obviously, you need to learn how to gather this once you build some momentum, meaning this strategy may sit on the back burner for a hot second while you make your first few sales.
Make an offer they can't ignore.
People that truly want your product may see the price tag and think twice, sometimes leaving for good. Our attention spans are short, so your build-up to the price needs to show one single item.
Value.
This varies for everyone, but the customer needs to believe they are getting more value out of your candle than what it’s worth. This isn’t always through lower prices.
You can also compare the price to something else in their life to show how it’s relatively better to pay for this anyways. In the example above, candles are compared to the cost of dinner. Depending on your brand or flavor, you can “anchor” the price to something else that’s relevant to the story you tell.
However you demonstrate value, don’t lose sight of selflessly selling the product from your customer’s perspective – what problems are you solving for them?
Overhaul your store policies.
It’s scary, but maybe you need more guarantees for the customer.
A lot of shops won’t accept returns, which makes sense, but that puts a lot of pressure on the buyer. If you’re brave, accept returns and offer a 100% money back guarantee.
This policy helps so much with selling candles online because new customer’s have no idea what your candle smells like… and that’s usually an important part of the buying process.
Building a guarantee like this into your product description also shows confidence in your product while making the customer feel better about the “risk” they’re taking by purchasing from you.
Write For Skimmers
In 2020, attention spans are low and “reading” speed is high.
The result is aggressive skimming. Your product description should be optimized for people to skim, though this is merely an opinion.
Etsy SEO doesn’t rely on product descriptions, so you can put whatever you want in it. However, giving the gist of your work in a digestible format for the visitor helps lower bounce rates, no matter what eCommerce solution you use.
Writing for skimmers comes down to a few main ideas:
- Don’t allow any paragraphs to exceed 3 or 4 lines
- Use bullet points where you can
- Front-load every sentence with the main ideas
- Don’t worry about typical grammar as long as you’re getting the point across
Walk Them To Water and Show Them Drinking
Do you like to paint?
Product descriptions written with the end in mind work wonders. Sometimes it’s not enough to explain their problem or even remove all risk. Visitor’s occasionally need reassurance they’re making a decision that correctly addresses the goal they have in mind.
If they collect nice candles, or need to remove odors from a garage or laundry area, they might just be worried your candle won’t solve that problem.
So… you need to paint a future where their problem is solved!
This area of the product description usually exists near the end, but can live at the top too. Depending on how cheesy and/or skimmable your content is, showing them exactly what kind of world they’ll live in if they buy your product might operate as a punchline or climax for the story you’re telling.
Conclusion
Everything you do in sales is storytelling. Sometimes that story leaves people bored and uninterested. Other times they may not relate.
But occasionally, you’ll strike gold with someone. That person was meant to be your customer, and will take part in building your brand along with you.
Get to know these people! They’re your tribe and your lifeblood in this business. If you’ve successfully identified a group of people’s problems and can deliver on a promise to address it, you’ll find satisfaction in your art like not much else can provide.
Candle Industry Update – May 2021
How Much Can You Make Selling Candles?
