Write each product page for someone buying it for another person: who it suits, exactly what arrives, sizes they can picture, whether it can be wrapped and sent, and what happens if it turns out to be the wrong choice.

Buying something you will not use

For most of the year, the person reading a product page will use the product. In December, many will not. They are buying for a brother, a host or a colleague, and they know far less than the description assumes.

Descriptions written for enthusiasts leave them guessing. A list of specifications and trade terms answers questions they did not have and skips the ones they do.

So they hesitate, email to ask, or buy something safer elsewhere.

The answer is not more words. It is different words, aimed at the person paying rather than the person unwrapping.

What a gift buyer needs to know

The last is the one product pages most often leave out, and it is the fear that stops a gift purchase. A buyer who knows an exchange is easy will take a chance on something they cannot judge.

Start with who it suits

Put one or two lines at the top describing the person, not the product: for someone who bakes every weekend, for a host who has everything, for a teenager learning to cook.

Add what a buyer cannot check without asking: whether it needs any skill or equipment, and whether anything about it limits who can enjoy it.

The specifications still belong on the page. They simply come after the sentence that tells a gift buyer they are in the right place.

What arrives in the box

List everything that comes in it, with quantities or weights, and say what is not included. A gift that needs batteries, a charger or a refill nobody bought spoils the morning.

Photograph the contents as the recipient will see them: the box closed, then open, with everything laid out. A single photograph of a sealed tin tells a buyer almost nothing.

If the gift packaging differs from the everyday version, show the gift version.

Sizes people can picture

Dimensions and weights are necessary but hard to imagine. Add a comparison: about the size of a shoebox, fits in a coat pocket, enough for two mugs of tea.

One photograph with something familiar beside it, such as a hand or a coffee cup, does the same job without words.

For clothing, say how the item fits compared with ordinary sizes and what to choose when unsure. Most gift buyers are guessing, and a clear suggestion saves an exchange.

Wrapping, messages and the packing slip

Say whether gift wrapping is offered, what it looks like and what it costs, with a photograph. Explain how to add a message and whether it is handwritten or printed.

Many buyers send gifts straight to the recipient. Say whether you ship to a different address, and whether the packing slip shows prices, since a gift should not arrive with its cost on top.

If it is the wrong choice

State the exchange and return rules on the product page itself, not only on a policy page nobody opens. A sentence is enough: unopened items can be exchanged until a date in January, with a gift receipt.

For things that cannot come back, such as food or personalised items, say so plainly and say what you will do instead: replace anything that arrives damaged, or suggest a gift certificate for buyers who are unsure.

A clear rule is a reason to buy. A vague one is a reason to keep shopping.

A worked example

A nut and dried fruit store in a public market sells roasted nuts, dried fruit and trail mixes by weight, and ships gift tins and boxes across Canada from a small online shop.

Its descriptions had been written as if for the counter, where customers can look, ask and taste. A typical one read Holiday Deluxe Tin, 1.2 kilograms, beside a photograph of the closed lid.

Every December the emails were the same. What exactly is in it? Are there peanuts? How long does it keep? Can it go straight to my mother in another province, without the price?

Some buyers mentioned an allergy in the order notes, after paying, when the tin was already packed.

This year each gift page lists every nut and fruit with its weight, says whether the tin contains peanuts and that everything is packed where peanuts and tree nuts are handled, and gives how long the contents keep unopened.

The photograph shows the open tin beside a coffee mug. Each page says whom it suits, offers a printed message card, confirms the packing slip shows no prices and explains what happens if a tin arrives damaged.

Write for someone outside the trade

Every trade has words its regular customers learn and gift buyers never will. Medjool, Marcona, merino, full-grain: each needs a few plain words beside it, or no place in the description at all.

The quickest source of good wording is the counter. Ask staff what gift buyers ask in person, and answer those questions on the page in the order they come up.

The counter-case

Some products are rarely bought as gifts, and some shops sell mostly to professionals who want specifications first. For them, a single gift line added to the best sellers is enough.

A shop with hundreds of products need not rewrite every page this month either. The items most often bought as gifts deserve the work first.

For those, describe the person it suits, what arrives, how big it is, and what happens if it is the wrong choice.

Before December's orders

  1. List your most-gifted products from last December.
  2. Add who each one suits at the top.
  3. List everything in the box, with weights.
  4. Add a size comparison and a photograph.
  5. Explain wrapping, messages and the packing slip.
  6. Put the exchange rule on each page.
  7. Ask staff what gift buyers ask in person.

Step six is the one that turns hesitation into an order. Someone buying for another person is mostly afraid of choosing wrong, and a plain exchange rule answers that fear on the page where they are deciding.

Having those pages built before the rush is covered in Christmas stock arriving before the product pages.

Frequently asked questions

Why write product descriptions for gift buyers?

In December many shoppers buy for someone else and know little about the product. Descriptions written for enthusiasts leave them guessing, so they hesitate or shop elsewhere.

What should come first on a product page?

One or two lines on who it suits, such as someone who bakes or a host who has everything, placed before the specifications.

How do I describe what is in the box?

List every item with quantities or weights, say what is not included, and photograph the contents laid out as the recipient will see them.

How should sizes be described?

Give dimensions and weights, then a comparison people can picture, and a photograph beside something familiar such as a hand or a coffee cup.

What about wrapping and shipping to someone else?

Say whether wrapping is offered and what it costs, how messages are added, whether you ship to another address and whether the packing slip shows prices.

Where should the exchange rule appear?

On each product page, in a sentence. A buyer who knows an exchange is easy will take a chance on something they cannot judge for themselves.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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