How to optimise your eCommerce copywriting for more sales
If you’re concerned that your eCommerce site isn’t converting to as many sales as you’d like, there are several things you can do to change this.
One of the biggest and often most underrated ways to boost sales on your eCommerce website is through effective, optimised copywriting. In today’s digital world content is king and once you know how to master this, even making the smallest changes can have a noticeable impact on conversion rates on your site.
But before you panic, you don’t have to be Shakespeare to write compelling copy for your eCommerce site. Irish Parcels have provided their top tips to help you improve your eCommerce copywriting and boost your sales in no time. Sound good? Then lets get started!
Understand who it is you’re writing for
In order to create copy that is going to engage your audience and drive sales, you first need to have a good understanding of who your target audience are and who you are writing for. This will help you to tailor the content to better meet their needs or rouse their interests. The best way to do this is to create audience or customer personas. These are detail avatars or characters that you create that represent your target audience.
Once you have a deeper understanding of who it is you’re writing for, you need to keep this at the forefront of your mind each time you’re creating copy for your eCommerce site or marketing strategy. When creating content, always ask yourself:
- What are they interested in?
- Why are they here?
- How can you help them to solve a problem?
- What makes your products or services right for them?
These aren’t the only questions but you get the picture! By bearing these in mind at all times, you’ll be able to create copy that adds real value to its readers and ultimately leads to higher conversion rates.
Invest in search engine optimisation (SEO)
SEO and copywriting should go hand in hand if you want to make your eCommerce website more visible and drive more sales. If you haven’t already begun investing in your SEO efforts, now is the time to start. There are a number of free and paid-for tools out there that you can use to help you determine the best keywords for you. Alternatively, you could hire an SEO service provider to do this for you.
Armed with your keywords and a better understanding of what search engines like Google are looking for in copywriting, you’ll be able to optimise all content for maximum visibility. It’s also a good idea to find out some of the key queries or questions your customer base are already searching for, then create useful content that offers them advice and provides answers to their questions.
Just be careful to avoid stuffing your content with keywords to boost visibility. User experience is still more important and your content always needs to read well and make sense.
Tell a story
Your copywriting needs to tell a narrative that’s going to hook your audience, even in the case of short, simplistic text such as your product descriptions. Once you learn the art of storytelling, you’ll be able to create beautiful copy that adds to the customer experience. Creating a story is important because it takes customers on a journey and appeals to them on an emotional level. It’s also useful for building rapport and brand loyalty.
One of the simplest ways to tell a story through your content is by first having an ‘about us’ page and secondly by highlighting the problem that your demographic is facing, before explaining how your goods or services can help them with this. If you always imagine that you’re trying to tell a story through your eCommerce copywriting you’ll find it easier to create compelling content that engages your audience and leads to higher conversion rates.
Create killer headings
Did you know, an average of 8 out of 10 people will read the headline or title of a piece of copy, yet only 2 out of those 10 will continue to read the rest. This shows just how important catchy headlines are if you want to grab the readers attention and encourage them to keep reading.
No matter whether it’s a blog post, social media image or webpage on your eCommerce site, you should always take your time to carefully craft your headings. These need to be simple, relevant and eye-catching. If they don’t immediately explain what’s to follow, it’s unlikely the reader will continue.
Make your copy scannable
On a similar note, you also need to make sure that your content is scannable, as today’s consumers are busy people and they’re often bombarded with content on the internet. For this reason, many will scan through copy quickly to determine if it’s useful or relevant to them. There are several ways you can optimise your content and make it scannable.
First, break it down into smaller sections. Large chunks of text can be very off-putting. You should also use headings and sub-headings to break the text up and bullet points where relevant. If you’re using quotes or statistics, sometimes putting these in bold or italics can help them to stand out. Just be sure that you’re drawing the eye to the most important details and that any key information is as near the top of the page as possible.
It also pays to pepper Calls to Action (CTAs) throughout. This way, when a consumer is scanning through your text they can quickly complete their journey or be taken to the next relevant page.
Use sensory words and persuasive language
Last but not least, being very targeted with your language can do wonders for boosting sales. Sensory words can help customers to build a better understanding of your goods or services, even if they’ve never bought anything from you before. For example, smooth, strong, soft, crisp etc. are all words that can bring about a sensory reaction.
Similarly, you should use persuasive language throughout. You can up the urgency or create a sense of exclusivity by using phrases like ‘limited edition’ or ‘selling fast’. No one wants to miss out, especially on a good deal, so using language in this way can encourage consumers to make a purchase.
