[Rodney]

I know you think your designs are beautiful enough to stand on their own.

I know you think that writing text to go with your t-shirt designs is hard.

I know some of you may feel spammy writing descriptions that are intended to help sales, but please do it. Pretty please

Here's a good article I found that helps to illustrate the importance of words when trying to sell an item. Enjoy!

I Wish I could Write Well Enough To Get You to Read This Article | CraftyCoach

Here's a quote:

Words are at the heart of sales, even with that beautiful car right in front of you, you'd never buy a car without asking a lot of questions right? So when someone comes a web page in which you are selling something and you have a picture and little else...

 

[EnMartian]

I second this plea with all my heart! I'd make a small addendum though. If you don't feel comfortable writing, find someone else who can do it for you. It's not just having copy on your site, it's having good copy that sells.

Also, regardless of who writes your text, proofread it over and over again. Typos and mistakes aren't cute and genuine, they're sloppy. If you're unsure of grammar or spelling find someone who is sure and have them proofread it.

 

[joeshaul]

While I am not a huge t-shirt purchaser myself, I have visited a few different sites. The "one word description" usually leaves me scratching my head. If you ask an artist about a piece of art they've created, there's usually a whole story of how it came to be that follows (and yes, there is a high probability the story may not make much sense). The point is you can see the passion they have both in the creation of their work, as well as their promotion of their work.

 

[Rodney]

While I am not a huge t-shirt purchaser myself, I have visited a few different sites. The "one word description" usually leaves me scratching my head. If you ask an artist about a piece of art they've created, there's usually a whole story of how it came to be that follows (and yes, there is a high probability the story may not make much sense). The point is you can see the passion they have both in the creation of their work, as well as their promotion of their work.

I agree, there's usually a good story behind some of those creative t-shirt designs out there, but for some reason that compelling story is left off the website.

 

[gorilladuck]

What do you all think about keeping the descriptions on the product pages relatively short and simple, but then doing features for each shirt on a blog section of the site where you elaborate on the inspiration, etc? I haven't come across too many product descriptions that are more than a sentence or two, and rarely to they get into it in a way that is similar to a painter's description of a painting. There just doesn't seem to be that much space on most product pages for detailed stories about the design. It also seems like you would need to give equal weight to the garment itself (what fabric, softness, etc) as you would to the design.

 

[anonimol]

When I write somethink then I always have to excuse myself:"I hope your brain is not hurting from my English" hehe

 

[EnMartian]

What do you all think about keeping the descriptions on the product pages relatively short and simple, but then doing features for each shirt on a blog section of the site where you elaborate on the inspiration, etc? I haven't come across too many product descriptions that are more than a sentence or two, and rarely to they get into it in a way that is similar to a painter's description of a painting. There just doesn't seem to be that much space on most product pages for detailed stories about the design. It also seems like you would need to give equal weight to the garment itself (what fabric, softness, etc) as you would to the design.

I think that's a great idea. Just make sure there's a link back to the product page in the blog post. That way if someone gets inspired by the post and wants to place an order, they can do it quickly and easily.

 

[Rodney]

What do you all think about keeping the descriptions on the product pages relatively short and simple, but then doing features for each shirt on a blog section of the site where you elaborate on the inspiration, etc?

The only problem I see with that is that you're making the customer go somewhere else (leave that precious "add to cart" page) to get the information they need. Gives them another chance to go off and do something else.

It also assumes that people will follow a certain navigation path. For example, if the customer doesn't read the blog, they may miss out on the great product description.

I don't think the product description needs to be a book by any means. I think a creative description can be kept to a short paragraph or 2 that keeps it engaging and informs the customer.

I guess you could put a "read more here" type link, but I would want to make sure that you make it super duper easy for the customer to get back to that specific "add to cart" page after they read more at the blog. So it's an easy to navigate loop.

Or you could do it all fancy like and hide the "super long directors cut" version with some css/html/divs that show up on the same page only if a person clicks a "read more" link. An example of this would be like you see here: T-Shirt Forums - Free 16x20 Heat Press Giveaway

If you click the link:

It opens more text right on the same page so the visitor doesn't have to leave the page:

When I write somethink then I always have to excuse myself:"I hope your brain is not hurting from my English" hehe

I get what you're saying, but that also brings up another good point about writing copy for your products in an online store: Avoid the negative

It's something that is practiced in sales as well as hostage negotiation (at least that's what I saw in that one Kevin Spacey/Samuel L Jackson) movie. Avoid negative language like "sorry", "can't", "cheap", "iron-on", "sucks", "no", etc. Even when you're trying to set yourself apart from other products. You don't want to have negative thoughts associated with your product/brand when you can control it. Here's a quickie article about it: Nix Negative Words in Sales Conversations | EyesOnSales

 

[Girlzndollz]

Wow, I'll have to go in and read those articles, that is cool as I always remind people to describe things in a positive way, rather than a negative. If you want to say how your shirt fits better than the others, then I remind folks to just state the positive aspects of that... not our shirts are not tight and scratchy. As much as people read the site, most do not retail details, and tight and scratchy stick in the mind, maybe because of the emotional response to the words. If you want to say your shirts are comfortable and soft, than say *that* "comfy and soft" ... always positive, always engaging, but not too much. Because that is another casualty of web sales that I see. Too much verbage. I don't know a whole lot about SEO, but understand some of that is related to SEO, but too much is too hard on the shopper.

Too much verbage leads to *skimming* by me, and I know that's bad, but I just don't have to the to read *everything* about a company or tee shirt design. I want to read enough, but not too much. I have other things to do as well, and usually a website is *one* on a list of a few I am visiting that night. So getting the priorities out there, but in a managable amount of time, is the best scenario to me. I kind of like to be able to read *thru* a site in about 5 to 10 minutes. No more. Maybe this is where a blog attached to the web store can be handy. Will that help with SEO as well?

Going shopping at Disneyshopping.com almost drives me crazy because I know I have to set aside a good half hour to 45 minutes (sometimes alot more time) to peruse the usual categories, but then again, that is Disney. I am staying. A tee shirt site, I need to navagate much faster.

That is just one more opinion on it.

As far as typos, agreed, typos can be the kiss of death to the sale. If one misspells on the website, one may misspell on a shirt. I always subconsciously wonder about that when I see a spelling error on a site... even more so on a screenprinter's site.

PS: Great thread topic, Rodney.

 

[anonimol]

Thanks,good article-I will keep that in mind. So far I didn't use negatives instinctively.Like last time i wanted use phrase:"Absolutely new idea for kids' shirts" but I didn't because it sounds like "absolutely no..." ..no buying?
About my other sentence::"I hope your brain is not hurting from my English" -I don't really use it..or maybe once but sometimes my gramma sucks .Fortunately I know one English teacher and she corrects me if I'm not sure.