Product descriptions that pre-empt the return before it happens

5 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

A description written purely to sell maximises orders and produces returns. A description written to inform produces slightly fewer orders and considerably fewer returns, better reviews and customers who buy again. Since a return costs the shipping both ways, the handling, the restocking and frequently the customer, the second is usually the better commercial outcome.

Most returns trace to a mismatch between what the buyer expected and what arrived, and most of those expectations were formed by the description and the photographs. That makes returns a copywriting problem far more often than a product problem, and it is one you can address directly.

1. Product descriptions that pre-empt the return start with why things come back

The research.

Read the reasons on your last fifty returns. The list is short, repetitive, and it tells you exactly which sentences are missing from which descriptions. Most businesses have never looked at this list in aggregate, only case by case.

2. State the dimensions and the weight

The most common single cause.

Buyers misjudge size constantly from photographs. Actual measurements, and a comparison to something familiar, prevent the most frequent and most avoidable return. A photograph including a hand or a common object does the same job visually.

3. Describe the material honestly

The second.

What it is actually made of, how it feels, how it behaves. Flattering language about a material produces an expectation the item cannot meet in the hand. Describing texture and weight in plain words prevents a disappointment that no photograph can.

4. Say what it does not do

The counter-intuitive inclusion.

Not suitable for outdoor use, not compatible with older models, not waterproof. Buyers respect this and it removes the returns from people who would have discovered it themselves. It also reduces the negative reviews that those discoveries produce.

5. Be accurate about colour

The perennial problem.

Screens vary and photographs mislead. A written description of the shade, and a note that screens differ, manages an expectation that images cannot control. Comparing the colour to something familiar helps more than any adjective.

6. Cover what is included

The practical detail.

Parts, accessories, fixings, batteries, instructions. A buyer who has to make a second purchase to use the first is disappointed, and the disappointment attaches to you. State what is not included as explicitly as what is.

7. Answer the questions you get asked

The source of the missing content.

Every pre-sale question is a gap in the description. Adding the answer benefits every future buyer and reduces both the questions and the returns. Keep a running list rather than answering each one and forgetting it.

8. Use customer photographs where you can

The reality check.

Images from buyers show the item in ordinary conditions rather than studio lighting, which is a more accurate expectation and more convincing evidence at the same time.

9. Measure returns by reason, by product

The feedback loop.

Categorised return reasons per line identify which descriptions to rewrite. Without the categorisation you have a return rate and no idea what to do about it.

Be careful about the balance. A description so hedged that it undersells the item loses orders you should have had, and the objective is accuracy rather than caution. Consumer return rights also exist independently of your description, and they differ by jurisdiction.

Conclusion

Write to set an accurate expectation, because most returns are a mismatch you created.

Read the reasons on your last fifty returns and treat them as a content brief, state dimensions and weight with a familiar comparison, describe materials honestly, say plainly what the item does not do, manage colour expectations in writing, list exactly what is included, add the answer to every pre-sale question you receive, use customer photographs for realism, and track return reasons by product so you know which descriptions to fix.