Copywriting is an essential element to achieving your ecommerce goals. It is a form of marketing that focuses on using the right copy to get your audience to take action.
For an ecommerce business, that means the right words to sell. And as more online stores and brands pop up, ecommerce copywriting is a crucial skill that writers should master.
In this guide, you will learn about the goal behind ecommerce copywriting and the best copywriting practices you need when writing for any online store.
What is Ecommerce Copywriting?
Ecommerce copywriting means crafting copy for online stores.
It refers to writing any promotional content or text for the ecommerce store, including but not limited to the headline, product descriptions, landing pages, and social media posts.
The goal behind ecommerce writing is to attract, engage and nurture potential leads to convert them into a sale and, more importantly, loyal customers.
Ecommerce involves more than just selling online. For any online stores, writers should also make your copy effective to:
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Improve online visibility and reach target audiences by ranking high on Google search engines for organic traffic.
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Trigger users to take action, whether it is to subscribe to the newsletter, sign up, or purchase your product.
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Create memorable branding to cultivate repeatable and consistent customers.
6 Best Practices to Master Ecommerce Copywriting
Writing copy for an ecommerce store requires a mix of art and science. You need to practice analytical empathy to access the mind of your audience.
Here are six ecommerce copywriting tips that can help you hone your writing skills to build a successful online store.
1. Speak to your Target Audience’s Pain Points
The foundation of all great ecommerce copy starts with knowing your target audiences and their problem.
After all, it is crucial to position your brand as a solution to that problem and successfully sell your product or service.
If you are just starting, it helps to have a deep understanding of what you are selling and identify target audiences beyond their gender and age.
Conduct competitive research to understand the market. Survey potential buyers and get them to talk about their problems in detail.
This exercise is essential to understanding your target audience’s pain point. By slipping into their shoes, you will write copy where they feel understood and thus grow interested in your product or services.
Always stay updated with how your product or service appeals to existing and potential clients. Read past testimonials to see what problems they have solved.
2. Use Sensory Words to Trigger Emotion
While consumers like to think that they are making logical decisions when it comes to buying, the truth is most, if not all, purchases are based on emotion.
So what does this mean for ecommerce copywriting? By evoking particular emotions with your marketing copy, you can have the ability to influence audiences’ behaviour.
As the saying goes, people don’t remember what you say, but they will never forget how you make them feel.
You can achieve this by using sensory words and phrases that evoke emotions like “become the ____ you’ve always wanted to be.”
Here is an example from Pixpa, a website builder that helps creatives showcase their personal resume website:
Notice that the copywriter uses descriptive words like “stunning”, which appeals to the sight, and the phrase “without touching a line of code” to the sense of touch.
These words also give more to the vivid imagination that can help paint a picture when your target audiences read them.
As a guide, look for words that inspire confidence, curiosity, and fear, as these are the most effective emotions to get your consumers to act.
3. Unique Voice for Brand Differentiation
The tone of voice plays a significant role in the brand identity of your ecommerce website.
A unique tone of voice can make your brand stand out and build an emotional connection with your audience.
It also helps with the consistency in your messaging and communication style that will go on to build trust with your potential buyers.
Creating a tone of voice is not about what you say but how you say it.
Define the creative narrative framework of your brand. Identify the attitude and energy that your target audience will vibe with.
Go into the details and establish syntax rules to be implemented in all your copywriting, whether on your website or social media.
4. Know How to Use Urgency for Sales
Creating a sense of urgency is a proven way to drive conversions and sales, but you should not overuse the same formula.
There are many ways to trigger the fear of missing out, apart from a timer counting down. One tip is to use words that create scarcity, like showing that only an item is left in stock.
You can also keep the pressure on through competition by showing viewers how many others are looking at the item, just like Booking.com.
Nail it in the coffin when you further drive your potential leads by showcasing star ratings and customer reviews underneath so that they can buy with trust.
5. Add Keywords for SEO
Understanding SEO strategies and keyword research is another important best practice for ecommerce copywriting.
You are selling products online, so it is only natural to know how to improve the website and product’s online visibility to reach people searching for it.
The key to optimising your ecommerce copy is to conduct proper keyword research and analyse current page rankings for opportunities.
There is a lot to learn about SEO for ecommerce, but the underlying principle is to analyse keywords to answer their search intent. Write for your audience but remember that people online have short attention spans.
Keep your copy short and sweet with direct answers to their queries and direct them to the right product for their needs.
6. A/B Testing and Data-Driven Copywriting
When it comes to knowing what writing strategies are effective in getting them to take action, your audience is your best guru.
Use ecommerce analytic tools to track important metrics like organic traffic, average time on page, and exit rate to understand your audience’s behaviour.
You can also perform regular A/B testing on landing pages to determine which content or words are more successful with your website visitors.
Test variations or elements on your page, like CTAs, headings, and product descriptions, to see how they affect buyers’ behaviour.
Key Takeaway
Ecommerce copywriting is not the easiest, and you will need constant trial and error to perfect your on-page copy to sell.
By understanding the goals of ecommerce copywriting and keeping these six best practices in mind, you will be able to create better copies and generate more revenue for the online store.
