I’m designing an ecommerce site for a plumbing supplies company. I’m having a lot of trouble getting them to give me complete product info. I’m asking for name, brand, description, images, weight, width, height, depth.
A lot of the products have no dimensions and the descriptions are just the product name repeated. I think it looks very unprofessional and would deter customers from the site.
Are dimensions and detailed descriptions absolutely necessary? Or should I go ahead and make the site live without this information?
In b2b it may be more acceptable to have a short product descrpition as people know their products but even then it’s still important in closing the sale. Sites without details come off as sketcty, risky and just not the source you want to buy from in a market with options.
No, you must provide description for each and very single products. No one could buy your products without seeing the product info. If you put the name and description as the same, then users will simply leave the place. One another method you do is, just search the product name in Google which does not have a description. Then you will came across different sites containing that product. You can take some description from there by just modifying it.
Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah I thought the same thing, it’s b2b alright, but people still need to know exactly what they’re buying. I just come across as short and arrogant when I’m explaining this though. The client keeps coming from different directions, “what if we do this” etc. I just keep saying, “no, it won’t work. Just get a weighing scales and a camera…and do the work”. I’m not getting anywhere though and I really don’t want to launch a site that I know will fail.
It definitely depends on your audience but in general, more information is better. If you know your audience, try to put your self in their shoes and think about what information you need to know to make a buying decision. My sense is that, yes, your site would be much better off with name, brand, description, images, weight, width, height & depth.
There is some education to do with your client. You need to explain why his/her online store will benefit from having accurate and detailed information.
You can approach this from many angles as IT IS very important:
SEO: Content will help rank higher (do not paste manufacturer provided descriptions but work it a little)
Credibility: Visitors are more inclined to place an order from an online store that knows it’s products.
Traffic: People link and go to stores that provide more information, EVEN when they don’t read it.
Good luck with this, I know it is a hard thing to do.
In my view dimensions and detailed descriptions are necessary as it provides complete information regarding the product. Always take care that your description should not be too much lengthy. Writing point-wise description is also good as it is easy to understand.
Please let me know whether my advice is helpful for you.
Another consideration is shipping - if you’re trying to integrate with FedEx and/or UPS or one of the other carriers which allow you to calculate shipping costs, size and weight of the products are critical to getting accurate shipping cost calculations.
For a B2C site, when shopping online for myself, the detail I can find out about the product before I buy it is a key reason as to why I end up buying a product from one site rather than another.
Things like plumbing supplies, I’ll try my hand to some plumbing with a bit of a DIY, but more often than not I don’t know much about the topic and am researching it at the same time. I know I have a part that is broken or needs replacing and I’ve measured it so am looking for the confidence to buy online, and I gain this confidence by seeing that the part I am buying seems to have all the measurements that match the part I am trying to replace.
Ultimately, the site is for your client, so all you can do is advise them and if they don’t provide it to you, you know you tried your best for them but should move on and finish the job so you can move on to the next project.
it is not necessary,but it is better if you can provide full product description. for buyers,it give them chance to know clearly about products before they decide to buy