Ecommerce Copywriting for Sales Success

Ecommerce Copywriting for Sales Success

If you operate an ecommerce business of any kind, good copy is essential. Quality content attracts visitors, boosts sales, and keeps search engines happy. Writing content for online stores is challenging as trends shift, algorithms change, and human preferences differ from search engines. For these and other reasons , you need to be smart about what you do.

Ecommerce copywriting is key , yet  good content always cuts through:

• According to a survey by Ahrefs, 76% of marketers say  content marketing generates leads, 63% note its role in nurturing customers , and 50% say  it helps build loyalty with clients .
• In a survey published by SEMrush, 55% of respondents say  they create more content to boost rankings, and 53% highlight  improving content quality.

In this article, we’ll address all aspects of ecommerce copywriting. Good copy is essential for every step of the customer journey, from making a good first impression to increasing sales and building relationships. If you want to create engaging content for your target audience  and keep the search engines happy, these tips will lead the way.

What is ecommerce copywriting?

Ecommerce copywriting involves creating written content for online stores. This includes various text types like blog posts, landing pages, product descriptions, and online ads. Ecommerce copywriters also create promotional materials,  product manuals, specifications, and technical material. All text  on retail and B2B websites, along with third-party ads and industry content, falls under Ecommerce copywriting.

Writing content for the ecommerce sector can be challenging. Copywriters should engage customers while focusing on Google rankings. Finding the right balance is key, and it’s often harder than it seems. Copywriters need to balance the following types of content:

• Promotional copy promotes products and brands by addressing customers’ pain points.
• Non-promotional copy delivers valuable information and advice to educate and engage readers.

Benefits of great copywriting for ecommerce

Effective ecommerce copywriting offers many advantages. These include making good first impressions, strengthening branding, boosting sales, and fostering relationships:

Good first impressions

In the ecommerce sector, first impressions are everything. If you want to engage readers and turn them into customers, your copy needs to make an impact. Content can be used to inform readers and drive sales. For example, product descriptions educate readers prior to purchase, while promotional content addresses pain points and delivers solutions. Whatever products or services you sell, words always make an impression.

Brand differentiation

Quality ecommerce copywriting also aids with branding. Good copy builds your online presence through website articles, blog posts, social media updates, and product sheets. If you want your ecommerce business to stand out, copywriting is very important. With the right content, you can build an authentic brand image that sets you up for success.

Increased sales and conversions

Every business wants to boost their bottom line. Ecommerce copywriting directly affects sales by engaging people’s attention and addressing concerns. Quality copywriting fulfills many functions. It can be used to show products, engage attention, capture leads, or boost transactions.

Stronger customer relationships

Isolated sales only take you so far — you also need to build strong long-term relationships. Once again, quality content has an important role to play in this arena. Good ecommerce writing helps to establish customer bonds, building trust and brand loyalty. Through various channels like blog posts, social media, and email campaigns, ecommerce copywriting fosters connections.

Tips for successful ecommerce copywriting

Not all content is the same, each copy must  add value and resonate with the market. Factors like voice, reviews, data, storytelling, and product keywords are important to consider. The following tips are central to all ecommerce copywriting efforts:

To stay ahead of the market, focus on your customers. Voice of the customer (VoC) programs capture their feedback about your products, services, or brand. These programs use a closed-loop process, with feedback often delivered via the following channels:

• Reviews
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Social media

When creating new copy, use terminology employed by your customers. Trending terms and slang words maximize  effect, along with regional and age-specific variations. There are many examples of this strategy. But basically, it’s about listening to your customers. When you tune in to the market, you can engage their attention and drive them to take action.

Before you can resonate with your market, you need to adopt a VoC program based on active listening. Analyze reviews to see what people like, browse industry-related social media, and capture specific marketing data via incentivized surveys. By listening to customers, you can understand their needs and meet their expectations. The strategy increases sales and improves customer loyalty for immediate and sustainable gains.

Use unbiased reviews and social proof

A large part of ecommerce copywriting is about building confidence with the market. Competition is tough online, and consumer trust is worth its weight in gold. If you want your readers to spend their hard-earned money, they need to believe in what you do. You can build online trust through reviews,  testimonials, recommendations, and partnerships.

92% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase. And, more reviews result in higher conversion rates. Along with reviews, there are many ways to showcase social proof:

• Online reviews
• Customer testimonials
• Recommendations
• Social media groups
• YouTube comments
• Commercial partnerships

Social proof is everything online. But first, you need to recognize and overcome bias. In addition to promotional copy, focus on creating  valuable content that benefits your readers. This way, they’re more likely to trust you and buy your products. Online reviews and social media are also important, as the content is unbiased and produced by a third party.

Along with social proof, specific trust signals can boost confidence in the market. Ecommerce copywriting often highlights security seals, free returns, and displaying a physical location on your contact page. Even small things can make a difference, and pictures are worth a thousand words. When you include photos of your team, pictures of your premises, or images of past clients, you’re building trust with the market.

Highlight statistics and facts

Ecommerce copywriting relies on hard data. When you’re producing copy for your business, numbers and facts can be used to your advantage. Industry statistics are often used in this context to highlight market trends. Examples include using sales figures to normalize certain products, and the inclusion of data from rivals to showcase a competitive advantage.

Industry statistics are not the only relevant figures, internal data is also effective. For example, you can write about your inventory numbers to showcase the size and scope of your operation. You can also write about your fast shipping times, low rate of product returns, and research and development timelines. Whatever products you sell, facts and statistics are an essential part of delivering information.

According to WordPress, 70% of marketers said content marketing helps to educate their audience.

When using data, it’s important to stay on topic and avoid clichés. Consumers are very sensitive when it comes to statistics, and lazy writing can do more harm than good. Every statistic must be meaningful, and all data should come from a reputable source. You should only use relevant data, current data, and data that’s easy to digest. When used effectively, statistics and facts engage and convince readers through logical reasoning.

Tell Stories and create meaning in ecommerce copywriting

Along with using hard data to bring your point home, it’s equally important to tell stories. Stories have always played a central role in human culture. And they’re a fantastic way to make an impression. As humans seek meaning, storytelling techniques  stimulate the brain and induce an emotional response. No one makes purchasing decisions based on logic alone, so you need to get creative.

For example, telling stories about the research and development phase of your products helps your audience to feel connected. You can tell people how your products came about and what makes them different from the competition. You can also tell stories about your business, letting people know who you are and what you stand for.

There are lots of ways to give your business a presence, especially if you came from humble or unique beginnings. Emotive content can take many forms:

• About us pages
• Company history
• Vision and values
• Corporate culture
• Capability statements
• Team introductions

If you want to get personal, introducing your team can be a great storytelling technique. From the owner and CEO to the admin and cleaning staff, putting a face to your business aids with familiarity. Whatever you do, professional ecommerce copywriters can transform any information into a rich and engaging narrative.

Successful companies use storytelling to create a recognizable brand narrative, a strategy that upcoming businesses can also use. Whatever you want to say, authenticity and consistency are key. The power of storytelling is undeniable, and it presents an opportunity for any business.

Research and integrate keywords

When you’re creating copy for your business, keywords are crucial. When people are searching for information or products online, they use specific search queries. When you adopt these terms in your content, you can appeal directly to this market segment. You can find out what people are searching for, using commercial tools like SEMrush and free ones like Google’s Keyword Planner.

Using keywords effectively is a big part of search engine optimization (SEO). This powerful marketing technique is about ranking organically in the search engines. Ecommerce copywriting depends on keywords to improve visibility and reach highly targeted markets. Using relevant keywords throughout your copy, boosts your website’s rankings and traffic.

According to HubSpot, optimizing your on-page content around target keywords is the most effective strategy for ranking highly in SERPs.

Keywords for organic SEO

There are lots of keywords associated with your business and industry, so you need to be smart about what you target. You can use various SEO tools, such as Ahrefs or Semrush, to find the best keywords for your business. It’s important to consider the following parameters when selecting queries for promotion:

• Search Volume: Indicates how many people use a specific keyword.
• Keyword Difficulty: Helps determine how challenging it will be to rank for a particular query in search results.
• Cost Per Click (CPC): Shows the financial expenses for using a specific keyword in an advertising campaign.

For example, while some keywords generate lots of traffic, ranking highly for them on Google is very difficult.

These high-value terms and phrases have a high keyword difficulty score. In most situations, it’s best to avoid them. Instead, it’s more effective to target industry-specific keywords, local keywords, and long-tail keyword combinations. When doing SEO, finding the right keywords is a big part of the battle.

For example, let’s consider the phrase “dog food.” This query has high difficulty, and competing in search networks for it will be challenging.

Nevertheless, we can explore less popular queries, such as “farmina dog food.” Such a key phrase can be used for a pet food store if they carry products from that particular pet food manufacturer. Here, the volume is lower, but the query’s complexity is acceptable.

There are lots of ways to find great keywords. SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz track search queries over time, and allow you to filter results by location. Google Analytics is another great resource, providing insight into customers’ queries for free. When you know which keywords to target, you can create quality content that delivers value to readers and gets positive attention from the search engines.

Keywords for Google Ads

If you want to find keywords for Google Ads and other commercial campaigns, there are different considerations. Instead of avoiding terms with a high difficulty score, you need to embrace these terms on a selective basis. For example, many of the best keywords combine a high difficulty score with a high search volume and low cost per click (CPC). The SEO tools mentioned above can be used to find relevant keywords, and Google’s Quality Score filter can also be a big help. Whether you’re doing organic SEO or a commercial marketing campaign, keywords are paramount.

Highlight product and business benefits in ecommerce copywriting

When you’re crafting content for your website, storefront, or social media pages, you need to think about impact. While using the right keywords is essential, the copy itself is just as important. In most situations, you need to focus on the benefits of the product you’re promoting. Remember, people need a reason to choose your products over the competition. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling — this is the art of ecommerce copywriting.

In most cases, it’s important to address pain points and present solutions to the reader in a closed loop. You can mention specific problems they’re likely to have, and tell them how your product or service is capable of solving these issues. While each product is unique, this basic format is consistent in most marketing campaigns. Ecommerce copywriting is about highlighting benefits, showing your product in the best light, and telling people how it delivers value.

While it’s important to describe products’ features, you also need to create a narrative and induce an emotional response. There are many ways to do this — giving examples, listing benefits, and highlighting unique features. When you focus on benefits, you will engage the attention of your customers and inspire them to take action. Whatever you do, your product needs to stand out from the competition.

If your copy can be used to address product benefits and business advantages. Writing about individual products is not enough. You also need to highlight the advantages of your business. Whether it’s a strong industry reputation, fast shipping times, or friendly customer service, there are lots of ways to differentiate your business. You can boost your sales with catchy headlines, impactful bullet point lists, and persuasive calls to action (CTAs).

Final thoughts

When you operate an ecommerce business, quality copy is essential. It helps to attract visitors, keep search engines happy, and drive sales. Good copy plays a role throughout the customer journey, from making a good impression to differentiating your brand and building relationships. Creating good content is not easy, however. Everything you produce needs to add value to readers while also appealing to search engines.

There are lots of great copywriting tips suitable for ecommerce businesses. Voice replication techniques help you to address customers on their own terms. Reviews and other forms of social proof help to build authority and trust. Using facts and statistics can also be useful, especially when they’re combined with emotive storytelling to build real connections. When writing copy, it’s also important to highlight the benefits of your products to engage readers and drive market action.

All of these strategies are effective when building ecommerce content. If you really want to thrive, however, learning how to integrate keywords with copy is perhaps the most important skill of them all. When you produce valuable copy with relevant and well-chosen keywords, you can attract people who are already invested in what you do. Whatever type of products or services you sell, professional ecommerce copywriters know how to use these tips effectively.

If you want to adopt smart copywriting strategies to boost your ecommerce business, please contact our team to learn more.

Mar 13, 2024