How to Write Product Listings That Sell on Design Yangu (Pilot Designer Guide)
Your design is ready. Now make your listing work hard. Here's exactly how to write product titles, descriptions, and tags that get your merch discovered and bought by Kenyan buyers.
You uploaded your design. The product is live. Now what? A lot of designers assume 'upload and wait' is the strategy. It's not. The difference between a product that sits with zero views and one that gets 50 saves and 10 orders is almost entirely in how the listing is written. This guide is for Design Yangu's pilot designers — and anyone selling on the platform who wants their products to actually move.
Every product on Design Yangu has four elements that drive discovery and conversion: product title (how buyers and Google find you), product description (how you convince them to buy), tags (what Kenyan buyers are actually searching), and mockup photos (what makes them stop scrolling). Get all four right and your product does the selling for you, 24/7.
Product titles need to do two things: match what buyers type into the search bar, and tell them exactly what they're looking at. Bad titles: 'Cool design tee,' 'My graphic shirt,' 'Afrobeats Vibes.' Good titles: 'Nairobi Is Home — Unisex T-Shirt | Black,' 'Gengetone Fan Custom Tee | Navy Blue Kenya Edition,' 'Kenyan Heritage Ankara Print T-Shirt | Adult Unisex.' Use the formula: [What the design is/says] — [Product type] | [Key variant info]. Always include Kenya, Nairobi, or a Kenyan reference where natural — local buyers respond to this. Keep under 70 characters. No ALL CAPS.
Product descriptions have three parts. Hook (1-2 sentences): describe the feeling, not the product — 'For the Nairobi creative who wears their city with pride' beats 'This is a t-shirt with a Nairobi design.' Product details in bullet points: material, size range, fit, print method, colours. Occasion/use case (1-2 sentences): plant the usage image — 'Perfect for your next Blankets & Wine or a Sunday road trip to Naivasha.' End with one line reinforcing M-Pesa payment and Kenya delivery.
Tags help Kenyan buyers find your product. High-performing tags: location tags (nairobi, kenya, mombasa, 254), style tags (afropop, gengetone, ankara, streetwear kenya), occasion tags (event tee, church choir, graduation, team swag), buyer intent tags (kenyan gift, buy kenyan, local brand kenya). Use 8-12 tags per product, lowercase, comma-separated. Be specific — 'nairobi streetwear' converts better than 'clothes.'
Four common mistakes: writing for yourself not the buyer (describe why they'd wear it, not why you made it), forgetting mobile (short sentences, bullet points, white space), not mentioning M-Pesa/delivery in the description (one line at the end builds trust), and generic mockup photos (lifestyle shots on real people in recognizable Nairobi contexts convert far better than plain product renders). Quick pre-publish checklist: title under 70 chars with Kenya reference, hook describes the buyer, bullet points cover material/sizing/fit/print/colours, occasion line, M-Pesa reminder, 8-12 tags, clear mockup photo. Done? Hit publish. Your first order is closer than you think. Tukimbia pamoja. 🇰🇪