List Of 15 Product Attribute Examples & Types

Using product attributes can help get your brand noticed in a crowded ecommerce marketplace.

Companies need to offer potential buyers what they want in a format that makes it easy for the average person to find. With the flexibility offered by headless ecommerce systems, it’s growing more important to understand and take advantage of the opportunities within strategic product attribution.

It is all about using product attributes to both show up in search engines and speak to shoppers’ extremely specific needs and wants. When we match our classification of products on the product details page according to consumer behavior and habits, we’re in business.

Consumers are looking for and buying goods and services that have very specific product attributes. Marketers need to home in on their target market and build a product description that captures a particular consumer desire. Using product attributes in marketing is critical in attaining brand success. Each and every product attribute must be a positive selling point.

What Are Product Attributes?

Product attributes refer to the characteristics that define a service or product. They are a product feature that influences customer buying decisions.

SKUs are what a company uses to identify products, but consumers look for products in very different ways. They use natural language such as “large family tent” or “affordable jacket”.

Attributes are defined as tangible (physical) or intangible (non-physical).

• Tangibles are characteristics such as size, color, smell, product design, weight, etc.
• Intangible refers to things like price, quality, and aesthetics.

It is these various product attributes that a buyer uses to make a purchase decision — to narrow down the choices to product types that they are looking for. They desire a product that meets their needs and wants. Needs are must-haves in a product and wants are things that are desired but not critical. Buyers select a product that matches these needs and wants best.

Types of Product Attributes

When consumers are looking for a certain product, they want to attain information about it easily and find the right thing among a large number of choices. It is important to list the product attributes that matter most to the buyer. Product attributes must be accurate and informative. Listen to customer feedback, take advantage of reading reviews, and understand how your product is meeting, or not meeting, customer expectations.

Here are some aspects of products that different attribute categories can describe:

1. Quality

This should be the primary product attribute a brand focuses on when pushing for market placement. People are going to be drawn to a product if they know and trust it will work. Giving this particular attribute value allows consumers to understand that in purchasing it, their money will be well spent. Generating positive reviews and solid manufacturing data can help promote a product’s quality.

Companies that ensure their chain of product development, production, quality assurance, and control, as well as customer service, are all consistent with producing a high-end product, which means that reviews will be stellar and can validate its quality. Quality is an attribute type that should not only be highlighted but one that is needed if the product is to be discovered by consumers and trigger sales.

Examples of quality-related attributes include:

• Consumer choice
• Top-rated
• Long-lasting
• Made with ______
• Real _____
• Original _____

2. Marketing Claims

This is a factor that consumers place a high value on when it comes to deciding what product to purchase and will trigger that buy. Examples of marketing claim attributes include things like:

• Cuts grease
• Increases volume
• Popular
• Bestseller

Making claims about attributes has to be real, though. False claims or statements modified to twist attributes can cause marketing problems. Dishonest or weak claims can reduce brand loyalty and statement believability. It may capture a consumer’s interest once, but if the attribute claim is false and the product does not live up to it, then loyalty and repeat business is lost, and poor reviews will hinder the market growth.

Using a laboratory or other ways to verify and support marketing claims will help avoid the problem of misidentifying product attributes and strengths. Consumers will find your products through solid marketing claims and become return customers when those claims are personally verified.

3. Innovative Attributes

There are some products and services in the marketplace that have been around for generations. Items like laundry or cleaning products are perfect examples. However, if your company wants to stay ahead of the regular market brands, then coming up with innovative changes can help reinvigorate sales. Innovative attributes can recapture the customer’s attention and generate new brand loyalty. Assessing your product on a regular basis and using digital analytics can help marketers assess and analyze what customers like, want, and need on a fundamental level.

Keeping products fresh whether they are well established or new to the market means using the metadata of a product category to analyze, assess, and rework products. It also allows companies to create next-generation products built on the strong foundation of already tried and true products that have a base of loyal customers. Focusing on attributes such as increased reliability, new look, extended shelf life, and other needed improvements can increase brand loyalty and help new customers find your products through these innovative attributes.

4. Verification

While a tangible color attribute or size attribute can be important in triggering a customer purchase, a more important attribute will be found in a product’s proven safety track record. This is not a variant that should be ignored as consumers place a high value on products that are trustworthy and safe to use.

Examples of verification-related attributes are:

• Organic
• All-natural
• GMO-free
• Fire-retardant
• ______ certified
• ______ approved

All these attributes are critical to making the consumer feel safe and that the product can be trusted.

Proper testing and labeling of attributes that keep consumers safe will help consumers find your product in the sea of similar ones. Verifications studies can be done at specialized labs to make sure all safety needs are met. This works in any area of product and service support.

Catching product and service issues before a product hits the market means fewer problematic reviews and reduces the chance of product recalls. Safety attributes will help consumers find your products and feel good about buying them.

List of Product Attributes

The list of product attributes that are both tangible and intangible are endless. This is also sometimes referred to as making sure your product has differentiation.

• Color
• Size
• Design
• Weight
• Content
• Smell
• Taste
• Feel
• Quantity
• Material makeup or ingredients
• Price
• Reliability
• Safety
• Packaging
• Marketing claims

There are even more beyond this comprehensive list of product attributes. The point of this list is to make sure you are highlighting the right attributes, so your products have the largest advantage. It is making sure attributes are helping consumers not only find the product but is triggering them to buy as well. Attributes need to be helping you build solid long term sales numbers and solidify brand loyalty.

Using this list can help marketers highlight a custom product’s attribute selection and make sure customers are seeing these positives in their online product searches. Making sure products are easy to discover under an attributes tab or through the main page hit should help in triggering quick sales.

Originally published at https://theecommmanager.com on July 10, 2020.