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What to Include in your Etsy Description?

| Sarah

Etsy description

We are going to take this idea from the perspective of you, as the buyer.  For example purposes, you wiz off to Etsy (or any other online selling market) in search of…let’s say a purse.  You have in your head the idea of what size and shape you want, and of course it has to be cute and match with that darlin’ outfit you got the other day!  So, you type in the search engine – purse.  And you’ll come up with over 350,000 results.  Alright, so let’s type in a price range of…$0-20 (Personally, I wouldn’t ever spend more than 15 on a purse of any size, but let’s see where this gets us first).  We’ve narrowed it down to 160,000 results.  Maybe you narrow it down even more by adding descriptives like “Medium purse” (7,000) or “long strap purse”(260), or whatever.  Without even looking at the pictures, can you find the product that you are looking for?

I guess it would depend on the seller and the item you are searching for, but in my experience, sellers rely too heavily on their pictures to sell their products (don’t get me wrong, the photographs are SUPER DUPER important, but so are the words that you put with the photos).  Or maybe they just don’t know what to include in their descriptions in the first place.  Well, I’m here to take all the guess-work out of it.  The important thing to keep in mind is “describe”.

What to Include in your Etsy Description?

  • Information on productsSizes.  Dimensions.  Lengths.  Measurements.  If your product is for an infant, what is the approximate size?  And because every brand runs sizes differently, what are the specific measurements?
  • Texture.  Is it soft, like leather, or hard and plastic?  What does it FEEL like?
  • Options.  Can the buyer choose ANYTHING about your product — colors, sizes, personalization?  How about add-ons?  Can that purse come with a matching wallet?
  • Basic information about the product that cannot be seen in the pictures.  Is the listing for a pattern or the finished product?
  • Examples of/for usage.  How are some ways that the buyer might be able to use your product?  For our example about the purse, what are some items that might fit inside, or different occasions that it can be carried to?
  • Colors.  Computer screens can sometimes depict pretty funny colors.  Or, what about the color-blind person out there?  If she wants a purple bag, but the man buying for her sees blue…well…it might not go so well for him 😛

There have been times when I’m looking for something in particular, and I go down to read the description and there isn’t a single word about the actual product.  I don’t want to have to message a seller to get basic information about the product.  That’s what the description is for.  So, along with what TO include in your description, there is also a list of what needs to be left out.

What NOT to include in your Etsy Description?

  • Etsy descriptionShipping information.  There’s a place to put that, your item description is not the place.
  • Personal tidbits that the buyer can’t relate to.  You may be as short and stout and as cool and neat as the next person, but I don’t know you, I don’t relate to that information.
  • Testimonials about your product.  Again, there’s a place to put that.
  • Competitive’s information.  Yeah, you might have a better deal, but it’s just not professional to put that information in your description.

The buyer doesn’t want to go down and read an essay about your policies.  They want to know about the product itself.  The photographs can only take your product so far.  I encourage you to utilize the space that has been given to you.  There are also a few more pieces of information that you *might* want to include.  These are not necessary, and can only enhance your product and the marketing aspect.

Optional tidbits that you may or may not want to include in your Etsy description

  • Family BugsDescriptive words.  Go ahead and use “cute” or “perfect”.  These descriptions also serve as a commercial for your product.  Go ahead and “sell it, girl!”
  • Focus on an upcoming holiday.  Christmas is a big one, but did you also know that every month (except for August) has a big national holiday?  Use those to your advantage!
  • Ongoing sales in your shop.  It’s a creative form of advertisement.
  • Your facebook page, similar etsy listings, or your business’ website.  It is ok to take people off this site to facebook.  The idea being, if you can get their “like” they will come back and you have a potential return customer.

Not sure if you’ve heard of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but that’s how the search engines (like google, yahoo, bing) find your website (etsy listing) when someone searches for something.  These search engines do not hone in on photographs, they read the words.  Your description is a great place to work on your SEO (after all, where else will you add in the words to bring in the searches?).  So, if your product is beach-glass jewelry, make sure that you type in those words in a few places “beach glass jewelry”.  And maybe add in some variations so that the search engines can pick up your listing.

Etsy description

So, go, right now, check out your descriptions.  Try to look at it from a “stranger’s” perspective.  Would you know what you are selling?  And come back and let us know how you’ve changed your words and how it’s helped your business!

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