If you run an online shop with a few hundred products, writing descriptions is a chore. With a few thousand, it turns into a real problem. Pages go live with the manufacturer's text, half the range has two lines of copy, and the new season's stock is already waiting.
We write product descriptions for shops of all sizes, often in batches of several hundred at a time. This is how we approach big catalogues, and what we'd tell any shop owner planning one.
Why the supplier text isn't good enough
Most shops start with whatever the supplier sends. It's quick, and it's usually accurate. The trouble is that every other retailer selling the same item has the exact same text. Google has no reason to show your page over theirs, and a shopper comparing three tabs sees the same paragraph three times.
Supplier copy is also written for buyers in the trade, not for the person at home deciding between two kettles. It lists specs. It rarely says why any of them matter.
You don't need to throw it away. It's a good source of facts. You just shouldn't publish it as it is.
Decide what a good description looks like before anyone writes one
The biggest mistake with a large catalogue is starting to write straight away. Ten writers, or even one writer over three months, will drift. Product 40 won't sound like product 400.
So the first thing we do is agree on a short style guide with the client. It doesn't need to be long. One or two pages usually covers it:
- Tone. Is the shop friendly and chatty, or calm and premium? Two or three existing descriptions you like help more than any adjectives.
- Length. A rough word range per product type. A phone case doesn't need what a sofa needs.
- Structure. For example: an opening line, a short paragraph, then a bullet list of key details.
- Spelling and units. UK or US English, cm or inches, how sizes are written.
- Words to avoid. Claims you can't make (health claims are a common one), competitor names, and any words the brand simply doesn't like.
Then we write a small test batch, maybe ten or twenty products across different categories, and fix the guide based on what the client says. It's much cheaper to change direction after twenty products than after two thousand.
Group the catalogue before you write it
A big catalogue is rarely two thousand completely different things. It's usually a few dozen product types, each with lots of variations. A shop selling bathroom fittings might have 300 taps that differ by finish, size, and fitting type.
We sort products into groups and write a pattern for each one: which details matter most for that type, what questions buyers ask, what the opening usually focuses on. A tap description should lead with finish and fitting. A towel description should lead with feel and weight.
A pattern is not a template where only the product name changes. That's exactly what makes a shop read like it was filled in by a machine. Each description still gets written on its own. The pattern just makes sure the writer knows where to look and what to say first.
Write for the person, then check for search
A good product description answers the questions a shopper would ask a sales assistant. What is it made of? Will it fit? How do I clean it? What's it like to use? If the copy answers those, people buy more and return less.
Search matters too, but it comes second. We look at what people actually type for each product group and make sure the main phrase appears naturally, usually in the opening and once more further down. Stuffing the same phrase into every sentence doesn't help rankings any more, and it reads badly.
A few habits that work well:
- Turn features into benefits. "Double walled" means little on its own. "Keeps tea hot for an hour and the outside stays cool" means something.
- Be specific. "High quality cotton" says nothing. "400 thread count Egyptian cotton" says plenty.
- Keep the important details in a list, so people who skim can find them fast.
- Leave out filler words like "amazing", "perfect", and "must have". Everyone uses them, so nobody believes them.
Keep the facts right
At volume, the risk isn't usually bad writing. It's wrong facts. A dimension copied from the wrong row, a "dishwasher safe" that isn't, a colour name that doesn't match the photo. Each one can lead to a return or a bad review.
The fix is boring but it works. Writers work from one clean product sheet, usually a spreadsheet the client exports from their shop system, with one row per product. If a detail isn't in the sheet, the writer doesn't guess. They flag it and ask. Then an editor checks each description against the sheet before it goes back to the client.
Make the files easy to upload
Two thousand great descriptions in a Word document still means someone has to paste them in one by one. We usually deliver in the same spreadsheet the client sent, with a new column for the description, so it can go straight back into Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento or whatever the shop runs on. If the platform uses HTML for bullet lists, we format it that way.
It sounds like a small detail, but it often saves the client more time than the writing itself.
Start with the products that earn the most
You don't have to rewrite everything at once. Most shops get the bulk of their sales from a small part of the range. Start there: bestsellers, products with lots of traffic but few sales, and anything you're about to promote. Then work through the rest in batches, a few hundred a month, at a pace your team can upload and check.
That way you see results early, and you can tell whether the new copy is working before you commit to the whole catalogue.
A quick checklist
- Write a one or two page style guide.
- Test it on a small batch and adjust.
- Group products by type and agree what each group should lead with.
- Work from one clean product sheet, and never guess at facts.
- Have an editor check every description.
- Deliver in a format that uploads easily.
- Start with your best sellers and work outwards.
Done this way, a big catalogue stops being something you keep putting off. It becomes a steady job that gets done a batch at a time.