How to Write Product Descriptions That Sell Online

To write product descriptions that sell, answer the buyer's questions before they open a chat: who is this for, what does it do, what are the exact size and material, and how will it reach me. Lead with one benefit sentence, follow with short bullet specs, and close with delivery and exchange terms. That structure cuts repeat questions and, in a cash-on-delivery market like Egypt, cuts refused deliveries too.

TL;DR: Benefit line + 4–7 spec bullets (size, material, variants, use, care) + one line on delivery and exchanges. Write in your customer's language, never paste the supplier's text, and never claim anything the product doesn't actually do. Put the most important facts in the first 160 characters.

This guide is part of our series on how to start an online store in Egypt. The full page layout (photos, price block, trust signals) lives in the product page conversion guide; here we focus only on the words.

What a product description actually has to do

A product description replaces the moment in a shop when the customer picks the item up and asks the seller a question. Online, nobody can touch the fabric or check the zip. The text does that job.

In Egypt the stakes are higher than in card-first markets. Most orders are cash on delivery, so a customer who misunderstood the product can simply refuse it at the door, and you pay shipping both ways. A clear description is therefore not just "good copywriting". It is part of your unit economics, alongside the confirmation call covered in our COD confirmation playbook.

A useful test: if your WhatsApp inbox keeps getting the same three questions about a product, the description is missing three lines.

How to write product descriptions: a 7-step method

1. Name the buyer. A university student, a mother buying school gear, an office worker hunting for a gift. Each reads differently.
2. Mine your inbox. Scroll your Instagram and WhatsApp chats and list the five questions people ask most about this item. Those are your bullets.
3. Write one benefit sentence. What problem does it solve or what does it add to the buyer's day? Keep it concrete and honest.
4. List the specs as bullets. Dimensions in centimetres, material, available colours, weight if it matters, and what's in the box.
5. Explain use and care. Especially for clothing, skincare and kitchenware.
6. Close with delivery and exchanges. One short line, linked to your policy page if you have one.
7. Read it aloud. Any sentence you wouldn't say to a customer standing in front of you gets cut.

Front-load the first 160 characters

Google's own product description specification for Merchant Center allows up to 5,000 characters but advises putting the most important details in the first 160–500, because shoppers have to click to see the rest. The same is true on a phone screen in your own store: the first two lines get read, the rest gets skimmed.

Weak versus strong: what changes

Element	Weak	Strong
Opening line	"Premium quality, amazing design"	"A slim leather wallet that holds six cards and folded cash without a bulge in your trouser pocket"
Material	"High-quality leather"	"Full-grain cowhide, hand-stitched edges"
Size	Missing	"11 × 9 cm closed, 1 cm thick"
Variants	"Many colours"	"Tan, dark brown, black"
Care	Missing	"Wipe with a dry cloth; avoid soaking"
Delivery	Missing	"Ships in 2–4 days; exchanges per store policy"

The examples are illustrative. The principle is what matters: every "amazing" gets replaced by a fact the buyer can check when the parcel arrives.

Three product description templates

Treat these as scaffolding. Fill them with your product's real data; don't publish them as-is.

Template 1: handmade and accessories

[Product] made from [material], built for [use: daily carry, gifting, travel].

• Material: [e.g. full-grain leather]
• Size: [cm]
• Colours: [only those in stock]
• Made by: [workshop or "handmade in Cairo" if true]
• Care: [instructions]
• Note: handmade pieces vary slightly in grain and shade

That last line protects you from "it doesn't look exactly like the photo" returns on handmade goods.

Template 2: home fragrance and candles

[Product] with a [scent family] scent for [room or moment].

• Size and weight: [grams]
• Burn time: [hours, as stated by the maker]
• Ingredients: [as listed on the label]
• Safety: [copy the label's warnings word for word]

Never invent burn times or "all-natural" claims. Quote the label or leave it out.

Template 3: kids' shoes

[Product] for [age range], with [closure type] so kids can put them on alone.

• Sizes: [EU sizes] with insole length in cm for each
• Upper and sole: [materials]
• Fit note: [runs small/true to size, based on your own returns]
• Care: [instructions]

Insole length in centimetres is the single most useful line in kids' footwear. Parents measure the foot at home and order with confidence.

Descriptions and search: staying on Google's good side

Google's SEO Starter Guide keeps coming back to one idea: write helpful, original content for people. For product pages that means:

• Don't reuse the supplier's text. It's on dozens of other stores, so nothing makes your page the better result.
• Don't stuff keywords. Put the product name naturally in the title and the opening line, then write normally.
• Avoid near-identical pages. One product with colour and size options beats ten pages that differ by one word.

Merchant Center's rules also forbid price, sale price, sale dates, links and capitals-for-emphasis inside the description. Keep promotions in banners and ads; keep the description about the product. More on search visibility in our SEO guide for Egyptian stores.

Arabic, English or both?

Many Egyptian stores sell to a mixed audience. A practical rule: write the description in the language your customers use in your DMs. If they message in Arabic, the store should read in Arabic first. If you add English, write it separately rather than running Arabic copy through a translator, because literal translation produces stiff phrasing and wrong sizes ("free size" means nothing to a buyer measuring at home).

Keep numbers consistent across both languages. A mismatch between "XL" in one version and "L" in the other is a refused delivery waiting to happen.

Using AI without publishing fiction

AI writing tools are useful for a first draft when you have a hundred SKUs. Three rules keep them safe:

1. Feed it facts. Paste in material, dimensions and label text. Without them, the tool fills gaps with plausible inventions.
2. Check every claim against the product. "Waterproof", "organic" and "dermatologist tested" are claims a customer can hold you to.
3. Rewrite for your buyer's voice. Drafts tend to sound like a brochure. Your best customers sound like your DMs.

Pair the copy with honest photos; our guide to product photography with a phone covers colour accuracy, which matters as much as the words.

How Baseet helps you organise product descriptions

On Baseet, each product page carries its photos, description, prices and sizes, on templates built for Arabic and right-to-left layouts. If your catalogue is large, you can import products from Excel in one go, so a sensible workflow is to draft descriptions in a spreadsheet (one column for the benefit line, one for specs, one for care), review them, then upload the whole sheet. You can start free, without a credit card.

FAQ

How long should a product description be?

There is no fixed length. A simple item needs a benefit line and four bullets; an expensive or technical one needs more detail. Whatever the length, the key facts belong in the first two lines.

Should I copy the manufacturer's description?

No. That text appears on many stores and wasn't written for your customer. Take the technical facts from it and write the rest yourself.

Can I put the price or a discount in the description?

Keep them out. The price already has its own place on the page, discounts change often, and Google Merchant Center does not allow price, sale price or sale dates in the description field.

Is it fine to use AI to write product descriptions?

Yes, as a first draft, if you give it real product data and check every claim before publishing. A wrong claim written quickly costs more than the half hour of review.

How do I write descriptions for hundreds of products?

Build one template per category, fill it in a spreadsheet, and start with your 20 best sellers, since improvements there show up in sales fastest. Then work through the rest category by category.

Written by Sara Mahmoud, E-commerce Strategist at Baseet. Last updated 14 October 2026.

Write your first ten descriptions this week and put them in a store built for Egypt: start your Baseet store for free.