Why Human Touch Matters More Than AI In Product Descriptions

Person holding debit card while browsing ecommerce content with AI or human-written product descriptions

The results are in, and 47% of marketers are leveraging AI to help craft their content, while 58% use it for research purposes. We’ve made our stance on the use of AI and technology in our dedicated ethics policy, so it probably won’t surprise you that we believe a human touch in ecommerce content – as well as all other types of copy – is vital. 

Given the short-form nature of product descriptions, you only have so much space to get across all the important information about a product and convert the audience. So who’s better at striking the balance? In this piece, we explore human v AI product descriptions.

What are the main differences between human-written and AI-generated product descriptions?

There are a lot of distinctions when you look at human v AI product descriptions. We’ve listed the main ones below.

Accuracy

While AI product descriptions can be accurate, this is never a given – especially if the generative AI isn’t regularly updated. For example, when ChatGPT first made headlines in early 2023, it hadn’t actually been learning from information beyond 2021. 

Facts and statistics need to be verified by a human as inaccuracies going live could lead to customers feeling misled or like their expectations have been falsely set, triggering a poor user experience.

Efficiency

Next in our weigh-up of human v AI product descriptions is analysing efficiency. Obviously, AI is much quicker at generating product descriptions, equating to improved efficiency in the content creation process. But given what we’ve just said about accuracy, AI copy always needs to be checked – and it needs someone to input the right prompts in the first place to boost the chances of the content being correct. 

Scalability

On a similar note, AI is arguably better in terms of scalability, which is particularly beneficial if you have thousands of products in your range. Of course, on the flip side of this, your descriptions could lack the focus on unique features or benefits that are required to persuade the reader to make that all-important purchase.

Cost

Some generative AI tools are free to use for small amounts of content and so, naturally, production comes at a much lower cost. Even those that do have some kind of subscription will likely prove less expensive than a human writer. 

That said, you may still need to rely on a human to check the copy – so the price you see on the AI’s site won’t be your final cost. What’s more, setting it up, ensuring you have the right prompts, and checking the work (and in some cases needing to rewrite it entirely) mean that, in the end, the labour involved may come at a much higher cost than expected. 

And if you’re looking at getting a custom model built to reduce this human input further, you’ll have to invest anything between £5,000 to £240,000.

What’s the importance of human touch in ecommerce content?

There are many benefits of human-written product descriptions – specifically a copywriter’s ability to create a more personalised experience that better engages the reader. We detail more of the advantages related to prioritising human input in content creation below.

Emotional connection

A human copywriter can add an emotional appeal to the content that they produce. They have the ability to employ language and storytelling techniques that evoke empathy and a deeper connection. This results in higher engagement, brand loyalty, and consumer trust, which in turn prompts conversion and sales.

Creativity

AI has a habit of being generic. In fact, if you’re using a tool that’s readily available to others, you could end up generating similar product descriptions to your competitors. Your brand may come across as unoriginal as a result, damaging its reputation and potentially causing legal issues. Humans possess natural creativity – they can conjure up ideas or approaches that haven’t yet been thought of.

Personalisation

In the battle of human v AI product descriptions, humans have the edge when it comes to personalisation. They can produce content that’s more tailored to your audience’s specific needs, drawing on their own experience as a human to deepen their understanding of motivations, needs, and sales objections. They take that same approach to your brand, targeting your audience in the correct tone and using the intended personality. 

Quality

Considering that copy produced by a human will focus more on the product’s features, benefits, and specifications as they relate to your target audience’s needs, it will be more informative, relevant, and persuasive. The best writers will do this while prioritising readability – weaving in information naturally to produce a description that’s not only higher quality but also likelier to trigger the consumer to buy.

What are the main pitfalls of using AI to write product descriptions?

We can’t deny that AI has its advantages – but its drawbacks can’t be ignored…

Ethics

Ethics are certainly a huge talking point in AI-generated content. Not only are there questions around inputting private data, there’s also the concern that AI will generate biased copy. Obviously, this can happen with a human writer too – though a good copywriter would always seek to write balanced, ethical content. Another issue related to ethics is that an AI-created product description that contains incorrect information could cause issues with compliance, and even lead to legal action.

Prompts

It takes time to get used to the prompts that will produce optimal results from AI – and even then, they may not generate exactly what you intended. Human writers have the intuition and initiative to understand how to meet the brief’s requirements. They can also ask quick questions if they need any further information.

SEO

While you can use prompts to create SEO content, you could end up damaging your rankings if a search engine deems it too low quality to be helpful. What’s more, if the AI produces similar content to a competitor’s, you could see the SEO penalties associated with duplicate content.

Turn to MYC for quality, engaging content

On the whole, humans are better if you’re looking for quality product descriptions that emotionally connect with the reader, encourage conversion and prompt sales. And all without any ethical issues.

Want the human touch in ecommerce content for better engagement? Or need support with other types of copywriting? The Making You Content team would be happy to help you reach your goals. Get in touch to learn how we can partner together to produce tailored copy that speaks to your audience’s needs.

Words by Miranda

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