How to write product descriptions for handmade products

Most product descriptions for handmade goods are either a list of measurements or a paragraph of adjectives. Neither helps someone decide. A customer looking at your product cannot touch it, smell it or see how it was made. The description has to do that job for them, and quietly answer one question: is this worth it, and is it right for me?

Here is a simple way to write one that does, without sounding like a catalogue.

Start with what it is like to own, not what it is made of

"Genuine vegetable-tanned leather, 10 x 8 cm, six card slots" is information. It matters, but it is not the first thing a person needs. Open with the moment the product fits into someone's life: what it does, where it sits, how it feels after a year.

Keep the specs. Just move them below the story, where the person who already wants the product goes to check them.

A structure that works for almost any product

1. One opening sentence. What it is and what makes it different, in plain words.
2. How it is made. The one or two steps that took time or skill. Hand-stitched, cured for six weeks, glazed twice.
3. How it looks, feels or smells. Concrete and sensory. Not "beautiful", but "a deep brown that darkens where your thumb rests".
4. Who it is for. A gift, an everyday use, a particular kind of person or skin type. It helps the right buyer say "this one is mine".
5. The practical details. Size, weight, materials, care, shipping, in a short list.
6. A reason to act now, if there is a real one. Made to order, a small batch, last pieces. Only if it is true.

Be specific, because specific is believable

"High quality" and "handmade with love" appear on thousands of shops and tell the reader nothing. A number, a place or a name does more than any adjective. How many hours one piece takes. The tannery the leather comes from. How the edge is finished and why.

Both versions are invented to show the difference. The second one is longer, but you can picture it, and that is what makes it sell.

Write for one person, not for everyone

A description that tries to suit every buyer ends up suiting nobody. Imagine one customer, maybe someone who already bought from you, and write to them. Use "you" and short sentences. Read the text out loud. If it sounds like a brochure, rewrite it the way you would explain the product at a market stall.

Answer the questions people would otherwise email you

Every unanswered question is a reason to leave the page. Look at the messages you get most often and put the answers in the description: how big is it really, does the colour match the photo, how do I care for it, how long until it ships, can I return it. This also reduces the number of messages you have to answer.

What to leave out

• Empty superlatives: "the best", "amazing", "unique", "perfect".
• Apologies and hedging, such as "slight variations may occur", with no explanation. Say instead that every piece is a little different and why that is a good thing.
• The same paragraph copied onto every product. Repeated text also hurts you in search results.
• Everything you could say. Pick the three details a buyer would care about most.

A quick checklist before you publish

• Does the first sentence say what it is and why it is different?
• Is there at least one detail only you could write?
• Could any adjective be replaced with a number, a material or a place?
• Does it say who it is for?
• Are size, material, care and shipping easy to find?
• Does it sound like you when you read it aloud?