Product descriptions: the questions we get asked most
This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. The questions about product descriptions that come up most often on our calls.
Content is the part of a project most likely to be underestimated and most likely to delay a launch. The failure mode is not doing it wrong, it is doing it once and assuming it stays done.
Do we need to care about this?
Lead with the benefit, support with the specification. It is worth being explicit about, because assumptions differ quietly. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.
Can it wait until after launch?
Occasionally. More often the post-launch version costs several times the pre-launch one. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions.
How do we know it is working?
Answer the question that stops the purchase. In practice this is a scheduling problem more than a technical one. Most teams find the first pass takes an afternoon and the maintenance takes minutes a month.
What this looks like day to day
Pages that answer a real question outlive pages written to fill a slot in a sitemap. Three things worth confirming about product descriptions before you move on:
- Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
- Answer the question that stops the purchase — and you know whether that is true here
- There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped
Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.