How to Write Product Descriptions With AI

Okay so I used to spend like 45 minutes on a single product description. I'm not exaggerating. I'd sit there staring at a candle or a tote bag trying to figure out how to make it sound special without sounding like every other Etsy listing in existence. It was exhausting and honestly a little demoralizing.

Then I started using AI for it. And look, I'm not going to pretend it was instant magic, because the first few months I was doing it completely wrong and getting garbage outputs. But once I figured out the actual approach, it genuinely changed how I run my shop.

Here's what I actually do now, and why it works.

The problem with just asking AI to "write a product description"

If you open ChatGPT or Claude and type "write a product description for my handmade soy candle," you're going to get something that sounds like it was written by someone who has never bought a candle in their life. Generic. Fluffy. Full of phrases like "perfect for gifting" and "create a cozy atmosphere." Technically correct. Completely useless.

The issue is that the AI doesn't know anything about your specific product, your specific customer, or why someone would choose yours over the 40,000 other candles on Etsy. You gave it nothing, so it gave you nothing back.

This took me embarrassingly long to figure out. I kept thinking the tool was bad when really I was just prompting it badly. Once I started giving it actual information, everything changed.

What to give AI before you ask it to write anything

I now always start with what I call a "product brief", basically a brain dump of everything relevant before I ask for a single word of copy. This sounds like more work but it's actually way faster overall because the output is usable instead of needing a total rewrite.

Here's what goes in my brief: the exact materials and dimensions, how I make it (if handmade), what problem it solves or what feeling it creates, who buys it (I think about a specific person, not a vague demographic), any specific details that make it different, and the top 2-3 keywords I want to show up for.

So instead of "write a product description for my soy candle," my prompt looks more like: "I make hand-poured soy candles in small batches. This one is 8oz, vanilla and cedarwood scent, cotton wick, comes in a reusable glass jar with a wooden lid. My customer is usually a woman in her 30s buying for herself as a little treat or buying as a gift for a friend. She cares that it's not a big-box store thing, she wants something that feels personal and considered. I want to rank for 'soy candle gift' and 'vanilla cedarwood candle.' Write me a product description that's warm and personal, around 150 words, no corporate language."

That gives the AI enough to actually do something interesting. And most of the time, I get something I can use with just light editing.

The format that actually converts

Here's my honest take on structure: the first sentence needs to do the heavy lifting. People skim. If your opening line is "This beautiful candle is hand-poured with love," they're already scrolling past you. I ask AI to write a first line that either names the specific feeling or experience, or immediately answers "why would I want this."

After that: 2-3 sentences of actual product detail. Real information. Size, materials, how long it burns, what it smells like in a way that's evocative not generic. Then a sentence or two about the experience of receiving or using it. Then practical stuff: dimensions, care instructions, shipping timeframe in my case.

I ask AI to write each section separately and then I paste them together and adjust the flow. It sounds fussy but honestly it takes about 8 minutes once you're used to it.

Where AI is genuinely great for this

Variation. This is where I've saved the most time. Once I have one good description, I ask AI to give me three variations, one more emotional, one more practical/informational, one that leads with the gift angle. Then I test them. Etsy lets you A/B test listings now and I've found real differences between versions.

Also: bullet points. I ask AI to pull out the five most important specs and format them as scannable bullets. Buyers who are close to purchasing want to confirm specific details fast, and having those bullets means they don't have to read the whole thing.

And titles. God, titles. Getting keyword-rich Etsy titles that still sound like a human wrote them is hard. AI is genuinely good at this when you give it your keywords and tell it the character limit.

Where AI still needs your help

It doesn't know what makes your thing special. You do. AI can write beautifully around the details you give it, but it can't invent the fact that you source your beeswax from a local farm, or that you started making these after your mom passed away and wanted to keep her recipes alive, or that you've been perfecting this particular glaze for three years. That stuff is yours. Give it to the AI and it can weave it in. Leave it out and you get a description that could have been written for anyone.

Also, voice. If your brand has a distinct voice, playful, dry, a little witty, you have to teach the AI that. I actually paste in two or three of my best existing descriptions and say "write in this tone" and it does a much better job matching me than if I just describe my tone in the abstract.

My actual workflow right now

I batch this. Once or twice a month I sit down and write descriptions for whatever new products I'm adding. I fill out my product brief template for each item first, takes maybe 5 minutes per product, then I run them through AI one at a time, do a quick edit pass, add the bullets, and I'm done. What used to take me a full day takes maybe two hours for the same number of listings.

I use Claude for this mostly, sometimes ChatGPT. Honestly I find Claude writes in a warmer tone by default which fits my shop better. But I could be wrong, this might just be a me thing. Try both and see what fits your brand.

The real point is that AI is handling the blank-page problem for me. That's the thing that used to eat all my time. Now I show up with information and I leave with something usable. That's the whole deal.