Tips for writing a great listing

Alongside great photography, the written content of your listing has a significant influence on customers thinking about purchasing your item.

Your listing needs to accurately portray the value of your item, and show it as desirable and worthy of purchase. Many descriptions undersell the item – we are often too humble for our own good. Others may be too vague, leaving out information that the customer needs to make a decision, while at the other end of the scale, descriptions that are excessively verbose (too wordy) may drown out key details with unnecessary words.

Here are some helpful tips to think about when writing the content of your listing.

Title

Less is more when it comes to a listing title. For your title, consider what 3-8 words will most accurately capture what your item is.

Consider this watercolour painting by Vicky Curtin at mycoveart.felt.co.nz. Some title ideas might be:

– Original watercolour painting
– Goldfish watercolour painting
– Original watercolour painting of a goldfish
– Watercolour on paper: Goldfish (original)

Each of these options could work, but it’s worth thinking about which words are most important and draw attention to your key selling points. Keep it succinct and on point – every word should be there for a reason. 

Description

The words in your description, title, and keywords (read more about keywords here) are used on Felt for the search function, so be sure to use words that will help your prospective customers find your item. Imagine you are buying the product without ever seeing it before – what would you want to know? Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

It’s important to remember that prospective buyers probably aren’t experts in your craft, so using overly technical terms can be unhelpful. Assume that your customer only knows a little bit about what you do and give them some detail about your techniques, creative process, and inspiration.

Part of the value of an item is in its story, so make sure you’re telling that. Everybody likes to be able to talk knowledgeably about something they’ve bought – you are giving your customer that backstory.

Some things you might include:

1. what the item is, and be specific! e.g. rather than “green scarf” say “lime green lacy crocheted scarf”
2. where or how it can be used e.g. “wall hanging”, or “outdoor table”, or “perfect for the lounge”…
3. what it is made of e.g. “wood” or “cedar”, or “linen cloth”, or “recycled parchment”…
4. why it is uniquely valuable e.g. “my own design”, or “one-off” or “limited run”…
5. how it was made, processes and techniques, e.g. “hand-woven”, or “designed and built in our home workshop”, or “laser-cut”…
6. dimensions and any size options
7. colours and any options

Consider the different things that buyers could be looking for, and how they would find this item. While buyers are often focused on photos (read more about taking great photos here), they may be searching for a particular subject (boat, giraffe, green), a type of thing (painting, tea towel, necklace), a particular material (wood, concrete, linen), or a particular craft (ceramics, hand-carved, customised). Make it easy to be found for all of the reasons that your item would be a good choice for a customer.

Above all, be honest.

Please note that it is against Felt’s terms to display external contact details on your shop pages (such as external website URLs, email addresses or telephone numbers) or set up a shop/listing to conduct a transaction that bypasses Felt’s checkout.

If you have any more questions about writing your listing please contact us.