What should a product description include? 10 essential elements

A well-written business plan must include a product or service description. This section should show your product and its various aspects in a comprehensive way. What should a product description include? Read our article and find out!

What should a product description include? – table of contents:

1. What is a business description?
2. Product features and benefits
3. Products or services – key questions
4. What should a product description include?
5. How to prepare a product description in your business plan?
6. Summary

What is a business description?

A business plan consists of several parts that should create an integral part presenting your business venture. After writing an executive summary and business description, it’s time to write a product or service description.

Here you should describe a product or service as attractively as possible. Don’t concentrate on technical details. Such a section should not be too long, full of trendy industry jargon. Use simple and clear words instead. Focus on the product or service and bringing it to the market.

You can also mention various patents, copyrights, trademarks that are associated with the product. This is the place where you should explain how your product stands out in the market and what problem it solves.

Product features and benefits

What should a product description include? Of course, key information about them. However, what does this mean? Certainly, the starting point is a description of the product or service that will be offered by your startup. Describe what your product is, how it works, and how much it is supposed to cost. You should also compare the alternatives offered by your competitors in a few words.

It will also be useful to include information about the advertising and marketing materials that will play a role in the sales strategy, as well as information about the use of the Internet and social media for this purpose. It will also be useful to inform how orders from customers will be processed.

And don’t forget to describe the tools and solutions that will enable you to launch the product or service. It is also worth mentioning legal issues, how to secure copyrights, etc. Finally, you can mention the products or services you plan to implement in the future.

Products or services – key questions

You should prepare well to write a product or service description. It should include logical information addressing the most important issues related to your product. However, in order to write such a piece of business plan, you need to answer some key questions beforehand:

• At what stage of development is the product or service?
• What will be the timeline for bringing the product or service to the market?
• What is the competitive advantage of your product or service?
• Are there any difficulties to overcome in bringing the product to market?
• What will be the production costs?
• How will the product or service be prepared? Will it be handled by an external entity or not?

What should a product description include?

Before preparing a product or service description, it is best to write a short plan of what will be placed in this section. Such a text should include the following elements:

• features of the product/service – describe what the product/service is, how it works, what benefits it brings to users, what problem it solves,
• comparison of the product/service with the competition – compare it with similar solutions that are already on the market and determine why your product/service is better,
• price list – decide on the price of the product/service and compare it with the prices of products already on the market,
• intellectual property – make a list of the certificates, copyrights, and patents that you own,
• product life cycle – describe the process your product goes through from when it is first introduced into the market until it declines or is removed,
• distribution and sales – write where the product/service will be offered,
• product/service implementation – present the plan for delivering the product/service to customers, deadlines, and methods,
• production requirements – specify technologies, materials and equipment needed to produce the product/service,
• expansion opportunities – set out the plan to develop and introduce more products/services,
• product photos – add them if they exist.

How to prepare a product description in your business plan?

A business plan requires an effective product or service description. First of all, the product description must engage the reader, and it can’t leave them indifferent. Here you need to emphasize the most important information about the product. You need to make sure that the prepared description is clear and understandable.

You need to show the demand for the product, that is, make the reader aware of why the consumer will reach for it. Don’t forget to highlight the unique features and advantages of the product.

A well-prepared product or service description in a business plan is crucial. It must intrigue, interest the reader and show the uniqueness of the product. If it does its job, the chances of getting financing and developing your startup will increase.

We’ve just answered the question: What should a product description include? Other resources: How to promote a startup?

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