Written content is one of the primary forms of media used in ecommerce businesses. When visiting an online store, customers are welcomed by page headlines, landing pages, product descriptions, and the like. These elements engage website visitors and encourage them to stay longer in online stores.
Copywriting is the art of creating engaging and persuasive written content. Online businesses use copywriting techniques in their headlines, landing pages, product descriptions, and so on to persuade customers and increase online sales.
But what exactly makes copywriting effective? To give you a better idea, here is a brief introduction to the purpose of copywriting and some helpful tips on improving your website’s copy.
What Is Copywriting, And Why Is It Important?
Before we jump into the hows of writing exceptional sales copy for ecommerce businesses, let’s first look at the importance of copywriting.
Copy refers to any type of written content or text an online business uses to engage with its target audience. It is designed to encourage and convince customers to take action – whether to visit an ecommerce website, check out a new product, or purchase digital products, goods, or services.
Copywriting also involves other text elements in your ecommerce website. This includes page headlines, product descriptions, calls to action, landing pages, and the like. There are also different types of ecommerce copy depending on its purpose, medium, style, and tone. Some of the most common types of copywriting include:
- Website copywriting
- Content marketing and SEO copywriting
- Direct mail copywriting
- Brochure copywriting
- Copywriting for social media
- Copywriting for marketing
Generally, ecommerce copywriting aims to explain, educate, and persuade customers to interact further and engage with your business. It can also help boost an ecommerce website’s search engine ranking. Considering this, copywriting plays an essential role in an online store’s sales and marketing campaigns.
Effective and persuasive copywriting can also:
- Boost brand awareness
- Increase online sales and revenue
- Target specific audiences
- Meet customer’s needs and desired
- Improve brand reputation
Tips In Writing Effective Copy For Ecommerce
Source: Pexels
Know your audience
One of the first steps in writing amazing content is identifying your target audience. Doing this will allow you to understand their needs, problems, and pain points and thus incorporate them into your copy. Persuasive copywriting should resonate with your target market and make them see how important and relevant your brand is to their circumstances.
Knowing your audience will also help you write in a style and tone they will digest, understand, and remember. Avoid valuable words that are too formal or professional. Instead, find ways to keep your copy fun, persuasive, casual, and conversational.
Use the Explain Like I’m 5 Method
One thing that writers need to understand is that copywriting is not academic writing. You are not writing a research paper or presenting a report to experts. Instead, you are trying to connect with the general public.
Considering this, you don’t need to sound exceptionally smart when creating headlines, product descriptions, blogs, and the like.
The Explain Like I’m 5 (ELI5) is a method commonly used in copywriting. It encourages writers to keep their writing simple and easy to understand, even for a five-year-old.
There are a variety of online writing tools like Hemingway and Grammarly that help rank content readability. It uses your choice of words and the length of your sentences to see if your writing is easy or difficult to understand. These tools can also help you make the necessary adjustments to improve your writing.
The Flesch reading ease score (FRES) is also a standard test to measure readability. Ideally, writers should aim for a reading ease score of 80 to 100, suitable for a middle grader. The standard score is around 61 to 70, but anything lower would be harder for the general audience to read and understand.
Write short and concise content
In addition to writing simple sentences, another helpful tip in creating copy is to go for shorter and more concise text. Avoid compound and complex sentences as much as possible. Instead of commas, opt for more periods instead.
Longer sentences take longer to read. And the more words a customer has to go through, the harder it becomes to comprehend. Take away fluffy and flowery sentences when writing long-form content such as blogs and product descriptions. While you still have to educate and explain, find ways to keep it short and precise.
If possible, keep certain types of copy under 300 words. Product descriptions, landing pages, about pages, and the like should be short and sweet. A recent study shows that conversion rates drop as texts become longer and longer. Try to use fewer words while still maintaining the heart of your message.
Stay away from jargon
One of the things people need to correct when explaining is using too much jargon. While experts tend to write specifics, that is not the best practice when writing effective and persuasive copy.
Considering this, avoid using technical terms. Instead, simplify your writing by using descriptive words. Explain how things work, and don’t assume that people already know what you are talking about. Doing this will make your copy more digestible and cater to audiences of varying levels of understanding.
Make your copy easily scannable
Some people don’t have the patience and the attention span to run through a lengthy copy to find what they are looking for. Considering this, it is the copywriter’s responsibility to create easily scannable texts.
Engage audiences with an eye-catching headline and introduction paragraph. However, format the rest of your content to be easily scannable. Use short and compact paragraphs with bold, italics, and underlining to highlight important information. Doing this will prevent your audience from losing interest and finding value in what you offer.
Highlight use, not features
When launching a new product, some brands make the mistake of focusing too much on the item’s latest and newest features. They would say that their product now has the latest technologies without explaining how it works and how it affects user experience. While it’s possible for enthusiasts to understand this new science and tech, you can’t say the same for the general public.
Considering this, one copywriting tip is to emphasize the difference in user experience in comparison to previous models or the competition. Instead of saying that the camera can capture high-resolution images and videos, take it further by using real-life situations.
Say something along the lines of “taking vivid and crisp action videos,” or use taglines like “capture every moment.”
Copywriting should make your products sell by highlighting how relevant it is to people’s pain points. If you’re just listing technical terms and specs, some people will find it difficult to see how much difference these features make.
Build excitement and anticipation
Using copy for advertising and marketing is supposed to entice your customers. Effective copywriting should resonate with your target audience and push them to take action. Take advantage of people’s natural tendencies by adding a sense of excitement, anticipation, and urgency to your writing.
Recent research even showed that copies linked to sentiments and emotions receive higher conversion rates. Therefore, use words that give off a sense of joy, buzz, and utmost importance when writing copy for product descriptions, announcements, and such.
Bottomline
Copywriting can be a powerful ecommerce marketing tool. But only if you know how to take advantage of engaging and persuasive writing properly. Online businesses can use these simple copywriting tips and tricks to interact and communicate with their target audience effectively.
Effective copywriting can entice customers and push them to take specific action – whether it’s to subscribe to your email newsletter, look into your new products, or complete a purchase immediately.
Want to know more about effective ecommerce marketing strategies? Sidekicks is an on-demand virtual company, and we’re eager to help visionaries and entrepreneurs like you. Get a free ebook and learn more about how we can help you by signing up for our newsletter. We also offer a free 30-minute consultation if you prefer something more personal.
