The real cost of ignoring product descriptions
The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. Nobody bills you for neglecting product descriptions. The cost shows up somewhere else.
Content is the part of a project most likely to be underestimated and most likely to delay a launch. The practical test is whether someone new to the project could tell, in a minute, that it had been handled.
Where the cost lands
- Time spent on work that should not have been necessary
- Enquiries that quietly never arrive
- Lead with the benefit, support with the specification
- Rework, once the problem is finally visible
Manufacturer copy is duplicate content. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.
A reasonable first step
Answer the question that stops the purchase. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions. The practical test is whether someone new to the project could tell, in a minute, that it had been handled.
How to tell if yours is fine
Writing for the web is largely an editing job: the first draft is always longer than it needs to be. Three things worth confirming about product descriptions before you move on:
- Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
- Manufacturer copy is duplicate content — and you know whether that is true here
- There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped
Pick the one that would hurt most if it failed, and start there.