Writing product descriptions that reduce returns, not just sell

Aug 27
3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Introduction

Product copy is almost always written to maximise the sale. Enthusiastic, aspirational, light on specifics, and measured purely by conversion rate.

That framing quietly creates returns. Every gap between what the customer imagined and what arrived is a return, and the imagination was supplied by your description. A page can convert well and still lose money.

1. Writing product descriptions that reduce returns means being checkable

The test for every sentence is whether the customer can verify it when the parcel opens.

"Generously sized" cannot be checked and will disappoint somebody. A chest measurement in centimetres can be checked and will not. Specific claims are less exciting to write and considerably cheaper to fulfil.

2. Publish the numbers, all of them

Most returns trace back to a dimension the seller did not state.

Length, width, height, weight, capacity, cable length, drop, seat height, internal as well as external dimensions. Customers with a specific space or purpose in mind will either find the number or guess, and their guesses become your return carriage.

3. Describe the material honestly, including how it behaves

Composition alone does not tell the customer what to expect.

How it feels, whether it creases, stretches, softens, sheds or needs ironing, how it washes, and whether the colour will vary. A customer who knows linen creases does not return creased linen; a customer who was told it was effortless does.

4. Anchor scale against something familiar

Numbers are precise and hard to picture.

A comparison to a common object, a photograph including a hand or a mug, or a note that the item is smaller than most people expect. "Smaller than it looks" written plainly prevents more returns than any amount of dimensional data on its own.

5. Say what is not included

A large share of "not as described" returns are actually about contents.

Batteries, fixings, cable, adaptor, the second item shown in the styled photograph, assembly tools. State the contents as a list, and explicitly note the obvious things a customer might assume are in the box.

6. Address the questions people keep asking

Your support inbox is a list of description defects.

Whatever customers ask before ordering is missing from the page, and whatever they complain about afterwards is stated misleadingly. Feeding both back into the copy every month is the most reliable way to improve a listing.

7. Set expectations about variation

Natural and handmade products vary, and customers treat unexpected variation as a fault.

Grain, colour, markings, slight differences in size, minor imperfections. Framing this in advance turns a potential complaint into a characteristic, but only if it is said before the order rather than in reply to it.

8. Be clear about who the product is not for

Counterintuitive, and among the most effective changes available.

Not suitable for outdoor use, not for heavy commercial duty, not compatible with a particular model, not appropriate for beginners. Losing a sale to someone the product would have disappointed is a saving, not a loss.

9. Judge descriptions on contribution after returns, not conversion

This is the measurement change that makes the rest possible.

Track conversion and return rate together per listing, and calculate what the page actually contributes. A rewrite that lowers conversion slightly while halving returns is usually a clear improvement, and a conversion-only metric would report it as a failure and prompt you to reverse it.

Conclusion

Write to set accurate expectations rather than to maximise enthusiasm, because the gap between expectation and delivery is what returns are made of.

Make every claim checkable, publish all the dimensions, describe how the material actually behaves, anchor scale against something familiar, list what is not included, feed pre-purchase questions and complaints back into the copy, warn about natural variation in advance, state plainly who the product is not for, and measure listings on contribution after returns rather than on conversion alone.