Tag Archives: e-commerce copywriting

6 e-commerce copywriting tricks you can master right now

What is e-commerce copywriting?

In the context of the Internet, e-commerce copywriting must be able to describe the benefits of your product and at the same time, improve your search engine rankings.

To be an effective e-commerce copywriter, you must be a strong communicator.

You must be able to persuade people with words.

You should be able to understand the psychology of why people purchase a certain product or subscribe to a certain service.

Copywriting for e-commerce websites can be done for your own online store or you can write product descriptions for an Amazon or Shopify store.

Such copywriting can be done for individual products.

You can do copywriting for an e-commerce website at different locations such as the homepage, the landing page, the about us page or the blog.

E-commerce copywriting means writing content for an online store.

It may include writing headlines, product categories, product descriptions, brochure copy or email campaigns.

E-commerce copywriting may also involve writing sales letters, social media posts, and advertisements.

It is one of the most important tools in your marketing bag.

The copy needs to be able to sell.

It must convert and generate leads and then eventually, sales.

What does e-commerce copywriting achieve for you?

Copywriting for e-commerce gives you the following benefits:

It helps your brand look unique.
It can be a great differentiator.
Good copywriting can improve your conversion rate.
It can highlight the benefits of your products and services so that it becomes easier for your prospective customers and clients to decide in your favor.
It makes the first good impression.
You can keep your customers focused throughout the entire sales funnel.
Well-written e-commerce copy can improve your search engine rankings.
It makes your content shareable.
It hits the right tone with your customers and clients.
It builds your company’s image.
When you tell your brand story, it forms an emotional bond with your readers.
It persuades your visitors to take a constructive action.

E-commerce copywriting tricks you can start implementing right now

These e-commerce copywriting tricks will equip you to write effective copy that entices your audience to take a favorable action

1. Create psychological triggers in e-commerce copywriting

Psychological triggers can be

Greed
Fear of missing out
Desire to belong
Curiosity
Sense of urgency
Instant gratification
Sense of honor
Guilt
Hope
Familiarity
Current fads
Proof of value
Exclusivity
Respect for authority

95% purchasing decisions stem from the subconscious mind.

You are more likely to respond to a piece of copywriting that uses emotional psychology.

An emotional urgency like fear is commonly used by insurance companies and security agencies.

Example of copywriting inciting fear

The above copy scares you even when you have not fallen victim to a home invasion.

Until we are attacked, we cannot relate to someone who has been attacked.

The above ad makes us feel like a victim and hence, scares us out of our wits.

In the same vein, WordPress uses a sense of authority – “world’s most popular website builder”.

Copywriting asserting authority

You certainly want to use the world’s most popular and the most widely used website builder.

In many shopping carts listings, you must have seen “3 items left” – such messages create a sense of scarcity.

2. Create attractive headlines

Headlines are very important in e-commerce copywriting.

A successful headline must satisfy the 4 Us:

Unique
Ultra-specific
Urgent
Useful

The e-commerce product headline must encapsulate the essence of the product, or the item being sold.

Usually when we are talking about headlines it is mostly about headlines for blog posts, articles, or even newsletters.

Headlines are also important for your product listings.

It is the headline that people see the first.

It makes the most important impact.

What should a headline of an e-commerce listing contain?

The name of the item
The most compelling reason to buy it

E-commerce headline displaying convenience

The headline above shows convenience.

No reason to visit the neighborhood mall every month.

Your favorite clothes are delivered to you every month.

An ultra-specific headline

The above headline is quite specific.

The sleepwear is “good in bed” whether you look at it from the point of view of looking good or for comfort.

3. Keep your language simple

E-commerce copywriting is not the right place to show your language prowess.

Use very simple, straightforward language.

Example of simple language used in e-commerce copywriting

In the description above, just observe how simply all the highlights are presented.

The Solo Stove Lite is lightweight, cooks for 1-2 people, you can use wood or twigs, it generates little smoke, and it is made of stainless steel.

In the description there is not a single word you don’t understand.

In simple language the writer explains that the stove can be carried on a picnic or a hike without much fuss.

There is no need to carry fuel.

Why is it important to use simple language in e-commerce copywriting?

When people reach the product listing, they are at a very crucial stage.

They are about to buy.

They are about to place an order.

Even a small distraction can send them away.

Hence, it is important to use simple, precise words that convey the true essence of your product.

The main features.

The convenience it provides.

The overwhelming reason to buy it.

Another example of using simple language when copywriting for e-commerce

Above is another example of using simple language to describe great features.

The e-commerce copywriting above draws parallels between “Before Basecamp” and “After Basecamp”.

Although Basecamp is a heavily technology company, you can read in the description that there is no technology jargon.

They have simply explained what problems people may face when they don’t use Basecamp and then what are the advantages once they start using it.

In e-commerce copywriting, it is super important that you avoid wordy sentences, highlight more benefits than features, and use lots of action words such as “Buy Now” or “Download Now”.

4. Tell success stories

Success stories in e-commerce copywriting can be testimonials or positive comments made by customers and clients.

They can also describe someone who has used a product and immensely benefited from it.

Success stories are relatable.

They are not just claims made by the company.

The product or service is used by a real person and then that real person describes his or her experience.

Here is how the flow of an e-commerce success story goes:

The customer or the shopper is your hero.
They were facing an overwhelming problem.
For a fairly long time they were looking for a solution.
The problem had reached its peak and the situation was dire.
Then they came across your product.
They were swayed by the benefits and features.
They purchased it.
Now they are living happily ever after.

5. Use persuasive words when copywriting for e-commerce

Persuasive words can supercharge your e-commerce copywriting but for them to be effective, you need to know for whom you’re writing.

Examples of using persuasive words:

Easy to install.
Exclusive offer just for you.
Free for a limited period.
Get it right now.
Outstanding results guaranteed.
You are going to love it.
Best software in its category.
500,000 people trust us with their money
The offer expires in three days.
A bargain that will be foolish to miss.
A powerful way to optimize your website.
Win exciting prizes.
Deadline fast approaching.
The offer ends soon.
Verified investment opportunities.

6. Optimize e-commerce copywriting for SEO

I have always believed that search engine optimization is about using the right language and presenting the information in its correct form.

When optimizing your e-commerce copywriting for SEO make sure that the main headline or the title of the product listing contains the right keyword.

Will people be searching by the name of your product or the benefit that it delivers?

Suppose you’re selling an SEO analytics tool.

The name of your SEO analytics tool is Zolo.

You can write a headline like

Zolo – the only SEO analytics tool you will ever need

Zolo – the complete SEO analytics tool

or even better

SEO analytics tool – improve your search visibility in 2 weeks

Although the name is missing, you can use the name in the description.

These are easy e-commerce copywriting tricks that you can start implementing even in your ongoing project.

How do you drive traffic to your e-commerce store with targeted content writing?

What are the main sources of targeted traffic to your e-commerce website?

Sources of inbound traffic to your e-commerce website

The main sources of targeted traffic to your e-commerce store are

Search engines
Internet advertising
PPC marketing on search engines and social media websites
In-app advertising
Direct traffic from incoming links
Email marketing

I provide content writing services for search engine optimization, for accumulating incoming links from other websites and social media and social networking websites, and of course, for email marketing.

How does quality content writing help you get targeted traffic to your e-commerce store?

There are multiple ways content writing can help you. Here are a few things that can be done.

Write highly unique titles and descriptions for your products

There must be something unique in your products that you can highlight. Something that may be very few people are searching for, but they are searching for it.

For example, many running shoes are Velcro shoes, without laces. Hence, if you have “running shoes” or, “jogging shoes” in your catalogue, maybe you can also highlight the Velcro feature and use in the title “jogging shoes with Velcro” or “running shoes with Velcro”.

The basic idea is to stand out and write something that is not being used by other e-commerce store managers.

Similarly, in the description, mention attributes that are important, attributes for which people search, but that are not being covered by other sellers.

This will immediately improve your targeted traffic.

Write and publish engaging content to build long-term traffic

Content writing for e-commerce stores doesn’t just mean writing titles and descriptions for your products.

You can write blog posts and articles talking about various aspects of the products that you are selling.

An e-commerce website selling gadgets can publish gadget reviews and can even invite customers to leave reviews.

Remember that these reviews are different from the usual reviews that appear under every category.

I’m talking about full-fledged blog posts and articles.

An e-commerce website selling garments and accessories can publish advice on how to select the right garment for the right occasion.

Many people are looking for such information.

Recently I wrote a blog post on top 10 evening wear disasters to avoid, for an apparels website.

You may wonder if big stores like Amazon aren’t publishing such blog posts and articles, why should you?

Well, they are very big websites with a very strong brand presence.

They are the preferred choice of all search engines.

These e-commerce stores have already spent years and invested millions in building their brands.

Since your brand is not well known, you have to compensate this lack of brand presence with high-quality content.

This Forbes blog post says that 90% of today’s data has been created since 2016.

This post was written in 2018 but you can easily guess how much information is being published on the Internet and how important it is to get noticed amidst this deluge of information.

Get traffic from social media through engaging content

All sort of information is constantly being shared on social media and social networking websites.

This information doesn’t always have to be informative.

But it must provide some value to those who are sharing it (look, I’m sharing this) and to those with whom the information is being shared.

You will have to decide which type of information your target customers and clients like to share on their social media timelines and then write and publish content accordingly.

But make sure that you don’t just simply create noise.

Creating noise doesn’t help your e-commerce business.

Your content must be meaningful, and people should be able to relate to it.

It should definitely represent the voice of your brand.

Doesn’t matter if it is funny.

Doesn’t matter if it is highly useful (some tips on the Covid-19 outbreak).

It doesn’t matter if it is full of tips and tricks (better ways of working from home).

Make it share worthy.

The importance of content writing for email marketing

Then comes email marketing.

This Nielson study says that 66% of online buyers buy their products from the brands they are familiar with.

Nothing nurtures familiarity better than email marketing.

You may also like to read Importance of email marketing for content marketing success

Email marketing is one of the strongest Internet marketing tools but just like any strong tool, it takes effort to build it.

It is of no use if you haven’t invested time in building your own mailing list.

Only high-quality content writing and publishing helps you build a quality mailing list – a healthy subscriber base that responds to your messages.

Remember that people subscribe to your mailing list when they expect something good out of it.

When they find glimpses of quality in your content, upon visiting your website or blog, they don’t want to miss your content and hence, they subscribe to your mailing list.

The good thing about running an e-commerce website is people already expect to hear updates about your products.

But they simply don’t want to buy.

Something must be there for them to attract them.

They want to get better bargains.

They want to receive discounts.

They want to be notified of lucrative offers.

They are also looking for information they can use for making better buying decisions.

I suggest maintaining a balance of 60-40: if you’re an e-commerce store, make 60% of your email campaigns helpful (useful information) and 40% about different product offers people would like to miss.

The main benefits of writing and publishing quality content for your e-commerce website

Before you talk about benefits, here is an interesting quote by Bruce Springsteen, used to clarify a point in a McKinsey article on the importance of consistently publishing high-quality content:

Sustaining an audience is hard,” Bruce Springsteen once said. “It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.

Writing and publishing content focuses on generating and maintaining an audience that pays attention to you.

Hence, I constantly say on my blog that don’t create noise, develop a voice.

If your audience cannot distinguish you from other websites and blogs, it’s no use publishing content.

Even if they want to do business with you, since they cannot distinguish you from the others, it becomes difficult for them to buy from you.

If you go and publishing the same sort of stuff being published on other websites, your content won’t deliver and then you will think content writing and content marketing are useless.

The problem is with the approach, not with this type of marketing.

With this out of the way, here are the main benefits of writing and publishing quality content for your e-commerce website to generate targeted traffic:

1. You build audience retention

Why is audience retention important?

You want people to remember you, right?

With most people wanting to buy from brands they are familiar with, it is very important that people can immediately recall in what business you are when they come across your name.

2. More social media sharing

People share your content if they find it useful.

When they share it, you get traffic from social media and social networking websites.

3. Quality content writing builds trust

Trust is very important on the Internet.

Although e-commerce has gone mainstream, a lot depends on how much people trust your website when they decide to buy.

When you regularly publish quality content that people like, they begin to trust you and your judgement and consequently, your business proposition.

4. You improve your search engine rankings

The SEO mechanism works in a very convoluted manner.

To make Google crawl your website regularly, you need to offer something worth crawling regularly.

If your content writing and publishing frequency is very low, Google learns that you are not a frequent publisher and hence, stops visiting your website or blog regularly.

It leaves everything on randomness.

On the other hand, if there is a pattern and you publish content with greater frequency, it begins to crawl and index your website regularly.

Once I experienced that one of my technology blogs was indexed within seconds when I published new content.

Back then, I was publishing six updates every day.

Even the way you readers react to your content has a direct impact on your SEO.

Hence, it is very important you write and publish engaging content that solves real problems for your readers so that Google can pick positive indicators and further improve your rankings.

You may like to read 5 content writing tips to improve SEO

In conclusion, if you want to experience the power of high-quality content, just look at an average newspaper or magazine.

Even if you don’t trust journalism nowadays, try to remember those days when you trusted the newspaper that you got in the morning.

Whether it was New York Times or Washington Post or the Times of India, you trusted the editors and columnists and based your political and ideological opinions based on their opinions.

These publications had built their platforms, their presence, among our lives.

In the same manner, good quality content writing and publishing, helps us build our own platform, no matter how small it is (even if you have an audience of two people).

It makes people trust you and then buy from your e-commerce store.