Your words are worth a lot of money, especially if you are selling online on sites like Craigslist, Amazon Marketplace and eBay. Let me give you an example. Lets pretend you are selling new pillows on eBay. You charge $60 per pillow in a buy it now listing. Now, lets say that 50 people view your pillow listing a day and out of those 50 people, one person on average buys a pillow. You apply good description techniques that you learned from reading this article and now you are getting three people out of those 50 to buy a pillow. Do you see the benefit of having an effective and well thought out description for your item? You have significantly increased your sales without having to increase the amount of people that look at your listing! This article will teach you how to write effective marketplace descriptions in order for you to maximize profit.
The most important feature on sites like eBay, Craigstlist, Amazon Marketplace and Facebook Marketplace is your item description. Yes, the purpose of your item description should be to inform the buyer what they are purchasing, but more importantly for you, your description needs to persuade them into buying your $60 pillow. I cannot believe how many terrible listings are out there on these sites. These listings include, weak titles, no description at all, descriptions that say things like "guitar for sale" and nothing else. Blurry pictures, small pictures, no pictures etc. These people are losing a ton of money in sales because they are lazy. A bonus tip for a side hustle is to browse these marketplace sites and look for items that have terrible descriptions and then flip the item with your well written description and make a profit. But what makes a marketplace description well written? I am going to teach you how to write market descriptions like a pro. But first I want to write a short paragraph on photos.
It's really important that you have a lot of clear, well lit photos, that are not blurry, obstructed or low resolution. You know this, I know this and your buyer knows this. If your photos are bad, there is no magical description that will help you, so take good photos. Now that you have good photos for the item you are selling, lets talk about writing the perfect description.
Write down these keywords. Attention, Interest, Desire and Action, AIDA for short. AIDA is an advertising model that is used by billion dollar businesses and websites in order to get the consumer to buy products. AIDA was invented over 120 years ago in 1898 and it is still being used today, making AIDA the most dependable advertising model. But what is AIDA? AIDA is a process that is designed to logically lead a consumer with the end result being a sale. If AIDA has stood the test of time and it is still being used today to make people billions of dollars, why are you not using it in your marketplace listings? Lets go through and teach you the four keywords in AIDA, Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Moreover, we will be building an example listing for our pillow, so you can learn and see AIDA in action.
Attention: Merriam-webster.com defines attention as "the act or state of applying the mind to something." In the AIDA model the goal of "attention" is to produce an introduction that catches the buyers interest and keeps them reading the description further. If you'll arouse their curiosity about what you are selling then you are more likely to make a sale. In the 1st sentence of the description of our pillow, instead of writing "I have a white pillow for sale", we will start with an an attention grabbing a statement. "People underestimate just how much of a difference having the right pillow makes, not only to the quality of their sleep but also to how they feel throughout the day." The purpose of that attention grabber is to point the readers attention into their own sleep quality. Anytime you can point the attention inward you will have more success with sales. When I wrote the aforementioned sentence, it even convinced me to look at new pillows because I have been dealing with neck tightness in the morning. Getting peoples attention early on in your listing is very important these days as a lot of us just skim and browse through listings and we only pay full attention when something arouses our curiosity. For the item that you are selling, it is good practice to start with an attention grabber rather than saying something generic about your item.
Key Takeaway: In your listing you must have an attention grabber within the 1st sentence of your description. For our pillow listing example we will be using, "People underestimate just how much of a difference having the right pillow makes, not only to the quality of their sleep but also to how they feel throughout the day."
Interest: It's one thing to get attention. It's quite another to keep your potential customers' attention. We have started our description with a good attention grabbed and now this is where we will be focusing on retaining interest. The goal of "interest" in AIDA is to transition the potential buyer that is sorta interested in your product, into someone who is fully interested. The best way to do this is by stating an interesting fact, interesting quote, interesting use or an interesting story about the product you are selling. In my opinion, the easiest is finding an interesting quote and weaving it into your listing. Here is an example of a quote that we will be using for our pillow listing. The quote is: "Sleep is the best medicine." The reason why I am using this quote is because it is short, straight to the point and it can be interpreted in multiple positive ways. One example is that a person who reads this quote can associate your pillow as a medicine for their neck pain. Another person can interpret the quote as the pillow is the medicine of the mind because sleep is so important to mental health and stress management.
Nailing the attention and interest section of AIDA will result in a very strong foundation for your listing and will result in a lot more interest in your product.
Key Takeaway: The best way to get interest is to state an interesting fact, quote or story about your product. For our pillow listing, I used a short quote that is straight to the point and relates to the pillow into a positive manner, then I will weave the quote into the listing. The quote I will be using for our listing is "Sleep is the best medicine."
Desire: In the "Desire" portion of AIDA you want to make the buyer really, really, wants your product. The best practice here is to show them how your product will improve your buyers life or how it will improve a task that they are doing. Here are some paraphrased advertisement examples that I have seen online. Bob got a 35% raise at work just by installing this app. Or, Sarah was failing algebra class, but by using our tutor site one hour a week, she finished with an A+. I'm sure you have seen similar advertisements online. The goal with these adverts is to create desire for the product. You desire a 35% pay increase at your job right? You desire your daughter to get an A+ in math right? These are good desire examples but you have to be careful with these and not use them too early in your listing because they may seem like click bait. The best practice is to weave them somewhere in the middle of your listing. For our pillow example we will show the potential buyer how our pillow will improve their life. I have written the following desire statement for our pillow listing example. "A good nights sleep leads to more money, better health and increased happiness."
The desire portion is also a good spot to put some features about your product. For our pillow listing we can add that the pillow is designed to position our customer's head in the center of the pillow for the best possible cervical support.
At the same time, it is odorless, pollution-free, static-free, mildew-free, and non-allergenic.
Key Takeaway: In the "Desire" portion of AIDA, show the potential buyer how your product will improve the buyers life or improve a task that they are doing. This is also a good spot to add some features about your product.
Action: In the action portion of AIDA, you ask the potential buyer to purchase your product. Have you ever been to a shoe store and you had a sales person help you pick out some shoes? Then when you are ready to leave you are asked cash or credit in order to finish the transaction? That sales person is asking you to perform an action in order to complete the sale. Remember to always ask for the sale. There is no point of going through the first three parts of AIDA and then not asking the customer to buy your product.
Online, the action portion of AIDA is typically solved through a feature or button. For example, the majority of online retailers have a shopping cart feature and you add things to it through a button. You may not realize it, but the add to cart button is a form of asking for the sale. The good thing is, the majority of marketplace sites like eBay and Etsy have already done this for you. All you have to do is remind the customer to click the button. On sites like Craigslist where you are selling through an Ad and there is no action button, you have to add an additional step. The action by the potential buyer is contacting you. When I list things on Craigslist, I always give two options for contact along with a date when the item will be pulled from Craigslist. This is mimics a forced choice, like asking cash or credit in the aforementioned shoe store example.
This is also a good spot to sweeten the deal, also known as the cherry on top. Things like free shipping or a 15% discount are designed to be the final motivator in the purchase process.
Key Takeaway: Always ask for the sale.
Finished Pillow Listing:
People underestimate just how much of a difference having the right pillow makes, not only to the quality of their sleep but also to how they feel throughout the day. Grandma always said sleep is the best medicine and a good nights sleep leads to more money, better health and increased happiness. Our pillow is designed to position your head right in the center of the pillow for the best possible cervical support, which reduces neck and back stiffness. At the same time, it is odorless, pollution-free, static-free, mildew-free, and non-allergenic. Click the buy it now button and get the good nights rest you deserve.
There you have it, a fully finished marketplace listing made with the AIDA model. Now take the information you have learned in this article, improve your listings and make more profit!