Do’s and Don’ts for eCommerce Copywriting — #5 Is My Fav
What Is eCommerce Copywriting?
As an online store owner, or a marketer for an e-commerce website, you have to do some writing for the pages of the store; this is eCommerce copywriting.
So, basically, eCommerce copywriting is any text or content written for an online store: product description, offer, menu, tag line, headline, landing page, you name it.
The better your copywriting skills are, the more sales you bring in.
Why Copywriting for Your Online Store?
Well, it’s not actually a question to be asked.
You GOTTA do it!
Well-thought e-commerce copywriting.
- explains the benefits of your products,
- convinces customers why they should pick yours over other sites,
- and helps your online store rank higher on search engines.
💡 Read Also: What is Copywriting? Types and Formulas of Copywriting
Who Is an eCommerce Copywriter?
Anyone with these skills can Copywrite pages of an e-commerce store, be that the owner, the marketing specialist, or anyone who
- is a strong communicator,
- is persuasive with words,
- can promote the voice of the brand,
- and understands the psychology of what makes a customer take the purchase decision.
No matter how much the product costs, who it is for, or how important or lame it is, a good copy will make a sale.
5 eCommerce Copywriting Do’s
Well, how to be a smart e-commerce copywriter?
And is there a guide or something to come up with an e-commerce copy that sells?
Lucky for you, yes there is.
These are some test-and-proven steps for a good eCommerce copywriting that tends to perform best with online shoppers.
1. Do Use Simple, Readable Language
Ask yourself,
- How easy my copywriting language should be? Easy for a middle-school student to read and understand.
- Can I measure the easiness of my language? Yes, you can. 3 words for you: Flesch Readability Score.
- What is Flesch Readability Score? The Flesch score measures the readability score for a given text: how easy this text is to read.
So, the simpler your text is, the better chance you have that people will convert on your online store.
On a Flesch test, pages that score 60+ tend to perform best for e-commerce.
How can I make my text score 60+ on a Flesch test? 🤔
That’s easy. Write in short sentences, use words of fewer syllables, and stay away from difficult words,
💡 For example, a product description like this will not score high on Flesch and won’t do great with online shoppers: “You are absolutely going to love our new, minuscule earbuds, which are approximately the size of a pea and can be utilized almost everywhere you go.”
Instead, go with something simpler like “You’ll totally love our new, pea-size earbuds. Use these small earbuds wherever you go.”
Minding your readability score not only is important for users, but it also affects SEO and ranking.
There are plenty of online tools to measure the readability score of your text. In addition to that, Yoast plugin does the job for you on the backend of your site.
2. Do Insert Emotional Expressions
Studies have proven that using words that stir positive emotions and build anticipation within the reader enhances e-commerce copywriting quality.
The more you use words and expressions that are linked with emotions like joy, happiness, eagerness, trust, etc., the higher possibility you see better conversion rates.
What does this mean? How can this be reflected in my e-commerce copywriting?
Use words in your copy like an announcement, buzz, enjoy, improve, recommend, and the like.
Use promotional strategies like discounts, loyalty programs, and free shipping to boost sales.
Use positive language that appeals to visitors emotions and turns them into excited shoppers ready to buy.
💀 Be aware of stuffing emotional words into your pages. You might want to smartly incorporate these expressions of sentiments into your style of copywriting.
3. Do Keep It Short and Brief
Studies have also revealed that long copies are bad for conversion rates.
Be brief and to the point in your eCommerce copywriting so that store visitors can get the message without getting bored.
Short copies for e-commerce pages are also good for SEO and ranking.
How short are we talking about here? 🤔
Well, it depends.
But let’s say keep it under 300 words for every page to be on the safe side.
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4. Do Use Positive Language
As we agreed earlier, the machine understands the emotions you put into your copy and starts acting depending on that.
A positive attitude is not only important for machines, but for people as well.
Why linger on the problems your audiences are facing without using your product when you can elaborate on the merits of using it?
People respond better to the e-commerce copywriting that leaves a positive impact than that which has a negative one, and so does the conversion rate.
Just look at how well this product description is crafted! 👇
The copywriter did an amazing job drawing a picture for the wearer of the dress of how stunning she would be and the compliments she would hear and the way she’ll walk in the dress and so on.
Who wouldn’t buy this pretty red piece with such a description! This is a very good e-commerce copywriting example for your website.
5. Do Focus on Benefits over Features
We know how tempting it is to wax on about your product’s ins and outs, but the truth is that most shoppers don’t really care about what the product is or does.
What online shoppers are looking for while reading your copy is how what you’re offering can help them bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be.
How can I put this into use? 🤔
Well, for every feature you write, tie a benefit to it. The light of this torch goes 10 miles ahead so that you’re never lost again; the course is divided into 10-minute lessons so that you stay focused and make the most out of every info; and so on and so forth.
Here’s another e-commerce copywriting example from The Five-Minute Journal:
See how the brilliant copywriter focused on the aftereffect of buying the journal and how it will improve the buyer’s life, instead of mentioning, for example, the quality of the paper it is printed on.
That was the do’s for a well-crafted copy for any text you’re writing for an e-commerce store.
What about the mistakes you want to avoid, the don’ts for e-commerce copywriting?
6 eCommerce Copywriting Don’ts
“Get out slimy, unsightly grease stains and foul-smelling, gritty spots with this extra magic cleaning powder.”
How do you like this copy?
Not so much, yes?
What shouldn’t you do to avoid people hating your online store?
1. Don’t Overuse Adjectives
Using adjectives in your copy is needed and, actually, recommended, but just the right number of them.
The overuse of flowery language and adjectives will clutter the sentences and slow down the pace of the readers.
This will eventually lead to the loss of the impact of the words themselves.
My advice to you is to use some powerful and sensory adjectives to paint that clear picture of the benefits of the product in the minds of the shoppers.
2. Don’t Drivel Meaninglessly
Driveling means talking nonsense. In e-commerce copywriting, it means using words, adjectives, and expressions that add nothing to the text and take up space without meaning.
In the past, words like “top-notch” and “world-class” used to leave an impact. Today, with everyone using almost the same words, they’ve lost much of their glow and became useless.
Cut out meaningless words and rephrase your text until it is concrete and meaningful.
For example, instead of writing this 👇
“Innovative office chairs from a world-leading manufacturer.”
Try this 👇
“Office chairs with lumbar support used in over 150,000 offices in Saudi Arabia.”
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3. Don’t Write Like a Robot
Robotic writing is dry and academic, stating only the facts about a given product: nobody likes it.
The human touch you put into your e-commerce writing is what makes it fun to read and convincing to buy.
Add your brand’s personality and flavor to the copy in hand.
How can I do that? 🤔
If your brand was a person, what would they be like? Young or old? Funny or serious? Trendy or conservative?
This personality you draw for your business should reflect your unique brand and your place in the industry.
Ask yourself,
- if my brand was a celebrity, how would he/she talk?
- What phrases would he/she use?
Then try to bring some of their styles into your copywriting.
4. Don’t Haste It
“I can get it over and done in 10 minutes.”
eeeeeeee… Buzz goes off!
E-commerce copywriting isn’t an easy task that you can do on the go.
It needs a strategy, brainstorming, and uninterrupted time to work on every new page of an online store.
And then when you’re done, you’re not.
Use the A/B test to test different headlines and descriptions to see what works better, and always refine your copy as long as you’re open for sales.
5. Don’t Be Inconsistent
Even if you’re working with many different team members along the way, you have to put some kind of brand voice guideline.
Make sure that the language you use all sounds consistent and aligned with your brand personality so that you avoid confusing or upsetting any of your customers.
6. Don’t Ignore Editing
After writing, you need to carefully edit your content for mistakes, slips, punctuation, and inconsistency.
Re-write and polish your text till you answer each of the following questions with a “Yes”:
- have you addressed each and every objection your customer might have to buy your product?
- Have you justified your product’s price by explaining how much value your customer will get?
- Is your content focused on your customer so that it’s engaging enough for them?
- Have you included a benefit for each feature you listed?
- Have you cut unnecessary words and reduced the number of adjectives?
If you replied with a big fat YES to all the above, then you’re good to go.
To Sum Up,
Some are talented with writing, while others just don’t know how to do it.
Lucky for those, this article has got it all for you: the best practices for e-commerce copywriting, plus some of the best e-commerce copywriting examples.
Just stick to the do’s we’ve covered above, and stay away from the don’ts; we guarantee you a copy that sells like hotcakes. 😉
