Listen to the article
All areas of a product’s description have the power to turn a viewer into a shopper. This includes, but is not limited to, product photos, videos, product descriptions, size and dimensions, reviews and color.
“In this new world that we live in, your product content on the product detail page is just unbelievably important, not just for Google, but for everybody else that is going to be crawling your [product description pages], and especially for the consumer, because they are making their purchase decision right there,” Purva Gupta, CEO and co-founder of personalized e-commerce service Lily AI, said in an interview. “Now it’s important before they make their purchase decision that they need to see all the information in a digestible manner, very clear, consumer friendly, not merchant speak.”
In the e-commerce era of shopping, retailers clearly placing accurate product details for shoppers is essential to ensuring consumer confidence before purchasing an item online. Most (80%) of shoppers report giving up on an online search after not finding what they’re looking for, according to a Lily AI report based on a survey of 2,081 U.S. consumers.
Hurdles in the search stage of the shopping journey can negatively impact the customer experience, leading to fewer purchases or purchases made without confidence.
Two-thirds of consumers believe retailers use confusing product language and descriptions, making it challenging for shoppers to find exactly what they want, according to Lily AI. To combat this, over half (54%) of customers report using descriptive words to convey a style and narrow down their search.
Some customers are willing to work harder and with multiple searches to find their dream product.
Visuals, of course, and descriptive content are highly important to shoppers. About three-quarters of shoppers rely on product images, while 60% look at reviews, Lily AI found. Just over half of shoppers say they value short product descriptions while almost one-third of shoppers will watch product videos.
What good product content requires
Generative AI and other AI tools are taking on a larger role in product search. A survey of retail leaders last year found that a majority already personalize search results based on customer preferences. Amazon and Google are among those adding AI-powered search features to their customer journey.
Lily AI found that two-thirds of consumers prefer shopping online versus in-store. When purchasing online, 40% have used AI-powered search engines, while 61% of those respondents used ChatGPT.
Meeting customer expectations for product content requires AI and human creativity, said Srujan Akula, CEO and co-founder of The Modern Data Company. Leading retailers treat product content as an asset they continuously refine based on how people search, according to Akula.
For maximum visibility, Akula said retailers should prioritize natural language content and optimize their descriptions for long-tail and semantic queries, all while keeping product information fresh.
“It all starts with a strong data foundation: clean attributes, structured formats, and crawlable and searchable content,” Akula said via email. “Generative AI favors clear, structured and conversational content — retailers that regularly publish FAQs, comparison guides, and reviews are far more likely to surface in AI-generated results.
Akula said retailers can prevent falling behind shopper expectations by turning customer concerns found in reviews, returns and search data into clear, searchable content like product explainers.
“The faster a shopper gets confident answers, the sooner they buy,” Akula said.