How to Get and Display Product Descriptions in WooCommerce 

WooCommerce stores product descriptions in two fields: the full product description and the short description. You can add or retrieve both through the WordPress admin, with PHP using $product->get_description(), or by customizing your store layout with a page builder like SeedProd.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to get and display product descriptions in WooCommerce, including how to:

• Write and add WooCommerce product descriptions the right way
• Use the WooCommerce short description on your shop page
• Customize product pages with SeedProd, no code needed

Why Are WooCommerce Product Descriptions Important?

Shoppers visit your online store for several reasons:

1. Researching what you have to offer
2. Looking for a specific product
3. Comparing you to alternatives
4. Window shopping

If visitors find it hard to get the information they need, they’ll leave your site before purchasing. Yet, if you offer shoppers unique and detailed product descriptions, they can quickly find what they’re looking for.

WooCommerce product descriptions also entice potential customers to click and learn more about your products.

For example, if users see a short product description on your shop page, they may click to read the full description. From there, they can:

• Learn the price
• View product images
• Explore product specifications
• Read reviews and ratings

That information may persuade users to buy the product there and then.

Your next question is likely, “how do you add product descriptions in WooCommerce?”. Keep reading to find out.

How to Get WooCommerce Product Descriptions with PHP

WooCommerce provides two PHP methods for retrieving product descriptions programmatically: get_description() for the full description and get_short_description() for the short description. You’ll use these in custom templates, child theme functions, or hooks.

Here’s the complete code to retrieve both descriptions for any product:

// Get the WooCommerce product object
$product = wc_get_product( $product_id );

// Get the full product description
$description = $product->get_description();

// Get the short product description
$short_description = $product->get_short_description();

Both methods return HTML strings.

For example: <p>Your description text.</p>.

WooCommerce stores descriptions through the WordPress editor. Output them with echo $description directly in templates. Don’t use esc_html() here, which would print the HTML tags literally instead of rendering them.

If you’re working inside a loop or hook where you already have the $product global, you can call these methods directly without wc_get_product(). The pattern above is for retrieving descriptions outside the loop by product ID.

Next, scroll down and enter your product details in the Product data section, including:

• Product type
• Regular and sale price
• Inventory
• Shipping
• Linked products
• Attributes
• Advanced

Under that section is the Product short description. That is a shorter version of your full product description you can display to entice users to click.

Don’t forget to add the product category and upload images for your products. You can then click Update or Publish to make your changes live.

How to Get and Display Product Descriptions in WooCommerce with SeedProd

Adding custom product descriptions to WooCommerce is super easy with SeedProd.

SeedProd is the best website builder and landing page plugin for WordPress. It lets you create custom WordPress themes, WooCommerce sites, and flexible website layouts without code.

It’s easy to get started with 180+ landing page templates and 25+ premade WordPress themes. You can customize each design in SeedProd’s drag-and-drop visual page builder.

Customizing your online store takes no time with SeedProd’s customizable blocks and sections. You can display WooCommerce products easily with WooCommerce template tags and customize them by pointing and clicking. 

You can even use SeedProd to create entire eCommerce sites with unique product pages, shopping carts, checkout, archives, and shop pages. The plugin is lightning-fast and bloat-free, ensuring your site runs quickly for website visitors.

Follow the steps below to get product descriptions in WooCommerce and display them with SeedProd.

Step 1. Install SeedProd Website Builder

First, download the SeedProd plugin file to your computer.

Note: There is a free version of SeedProd, but we’ll use the SeedProd Elite plan for the WooCommerce features.

Next, install and activate SeedProd on your WordPress website. You can follow this guide on installing a WordPress plugin if you need help.

After installing SeedProd, go to SeedProd » Settings and enter your license key.

You can find your license key by logging into your SeedProd account and clicking the Downloads tab.

Now, enter your key into the text field and click the Verify Key button.

Step 2. Create a Custom WooCommerce Theme

To use SeedProd’s WooCommerce features, you’ll need to create a new WordPress theme with SeedProd. This will replace your existing theme with a custom design, and it’s easy to do, even for beginners.

To do that, go to SeedProd » Theme Builder and click the Themes button.

Next, you’ll see SeedProd’s library of pre-made website templates. When you find a template you like, hover over it and click the checkmark icon.

After importing your theme, SeedProd will make all the parts from the theme demo.

Note: We refer to individual parts of a theme as “templates.” 

Clicking each template will open it in SeedProd’s drag-and-drop editor, where you can customize the content and design.

The first template we’ll edit in this tutorial is the Product Page. When visitors click on a product in your shop, they’ll see the product page with the details for that item.

Step 3. Edit the Product Page Template

To customize your product page, hover your mouse over the Product Page template and click the Edit Design link.

The template will open in SeedProd’s visual drag-and-drop editor, where you can point and click to change the design and layout.

First, let’s look at how to add a short product description to your page.

On the left side of your screen, find the WooCommerce Template Tags section and drag the Short Description block onto your design.

The WooCommerce output for this block defaults to the short description tag, but you can customize it to suit your store’s needs. You can also customize how the description looks in the block settings.

For instance, you can change the description alignment, font size and insert dynamic text.

In the Advanced tab, you can customize the block styles, including the colors, fonts, spacing, etc.

You can follow similar steps to add long descriptions to product pages. Simply drag the Product Content block from the left panel and drop it into place.

As before, you can customize the content, style, and colors with a few clicks.

Note: You won’t see a preview of the Product Content block in the live editor.

Step 4. Customize the Rest of Your WooCommerce Site

After adding product descriptions to your page, you can continue customizing the rest of your store. Just click the Edit Design link on any template to change the content it displays and how it looks.

For example, you can:

• Customize product category pages
• Display featured products
• Add a custom WordPress sidebar

You’ll have a completely custom WooCommerce store, ready to convert shoppers into customers when you’re finished.

Step 5. Publish Your WooCommerce Website

When you’re happy with your new design, it’s time to make it live.

To do that, head to the SeedProd » Theme Builder page, and in the top-right corner, click the Enable SeedProd Theme toggle until it’s in the “on” position.

You can now preview any product on your site and see the short and long descriptions in action.

Here is how your short description will look:

And here is how the long description will look depending on your layout:

How to Display Product Descriptions on the WooCommerce Shop Page

WooCommerce doesn’t show short or full descriptions on the shop page, category pages, or archive pages by default. To display descriptions on those pages, you have three options.

Option 1: SeedProd (no-code)

SeedProd’s product archive templates let you customize your shop and category pages in the visual editor.

Add the Short Description block to your shop page template and it will display under each product in the grid, no code required.

This is the same approach covered in the SeedProd section above, applied to archive page templates instead of single product pages.

Option 2: WooCommerce Product Description on Shop Page plugin

The WooCommerce Product Description on Shop Page plugin is a free WordPress plugin that adds description display options to your shop page settings. Install it, activate it, and configure which description type appears in the product grid.

Option 3: PHP hook (developer approach)
If you prefer a code-based solution, the following snippet adds the short description below each product title on the shop page. Familiarize yourself with how to add code snippets to WordPress before using this approach, or use a code snippets plugin to add it safely.

/**
 * SeedProd - Add short description to products listing on shop page (only)
 */
add_action( 'woocommerce_after_shop_loop_item_title', 'sp_wc_add_short_description' );
function sp_wc_add_short_description() {
    if( is_shop() ){
        global $product;
        ?>
        <div class="woocommerce-loop-product-description">
            <?php echo apply_filters( 'woocommerce_short_description', $product->get_short_description() ) ?>
        </div>
        <?php        
    }
}

When you preview your WooCommerce shop page, you’ll see product descriptions above the add-to-cart button.

Troubleshooting: Product Description Not Showing in WooCommerce

If your product description isn’t showing where you expect it, the most common causes are:

• Using the wrong description type (full description vs. short description are displayed in different locations)
• A theme that overrides WooCommerce’s default template files,
• WooCommerce’s default behavior (short descriptions only appear on single product pages, not on shop or category pages out of the box).

Check which description you’ve populated in the product editor and compare it to where you’re expecting to see it.

If you’re using a custom theme, check whether it includes the woocommerce_short_description action hook or the .woocommerce-product-details__short-description container in the single product template.

More Ways to Customize WooCommerce

There are many other ways to customize how WooCommerce displays your products. For more WooCommerce customizations, please see the following guides:

• How to Customize the WooCommerce Additional Information Tab
• How to Add View Cart Button in WooCommerce
• How to Change Shop Page Title in WooCommerce
• How to Create a Stunning Product Image Gallery in WooCommerce 
• How to Add Star Rating to WooCommerce Product Pages
• How to Display Related Products in WooCommerce
• How to Display Product Categories and Tags in WooCommerce 
• How to Fix WooCommerce View Cart Not Working
• How to Hide Out of Stock Products in WooCommerce

WooCommerce Product Description FAQs

What is the difference between a WooCommerce product description and a short description?

WooCommerce has two description fields. The full product description appears in the main editor tab below the product title and displays in a dedicated tab or section on the single product page. The short description is a brief summary entered in the Product short description field. It appears below the product title and above the Add to Cart button by default. Neither shows on the shop or category pages unless you add them with a plugin, code, or a page builder like SeedProd.

How do I display the product description on the WooCommerce shop page?

WooCommerce doesn’t display descriptions on the shop page by default. You have three options: use SeedProd’s product archive templates to add a Short Description block to your shop page layout without code, install the WooCommerce Product Description on Shop Page plugin, or add a PHP hook using the woocommerce_after_shop_loop_item_title action with $product->get_short_description().

Why is my WooCommerce product description not showing?

The most common reasons are: you’ve filled in the wrong description field (full vs. short descriptions appear in different places), your theme overrides WooCommerce’s default templates, or you’re expecting a description to appear on a page where WooCommerce doesn’t show it by default. Check which field you’ve filled in, confirm where that field is supposed to display, and verify your theme isn’t suppressing the output.

There you have it!

We hope this article helped you learn how to get product descriptions in WooCommerce and display them for your customers. 

SeedProd includes everything you need to customize any part of your WordPress website and WooCommerce store. You can even use SeedProd to launch client websites like Mustard Seed did in this case study.

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