Milk and cookies. Tom and Jerry. Rock and roll.
Some things are simply not as good without the other – and that includes eCommerce sales and great copywriting.
Copywriting and advertising have gone side-by-side for generations, and that hasn’t changed as consumers shop more online. The words on your website engage customers and attract them to hit that “buy” button. Without solid copy, generating sales will be challenging (if not impossible).
Don’t believe us? Let’s take a look at the essential role of eCommerce copywriting in turning visitors into customers.
Keyword Integration
You want to bring people to your eCommerce site organically, not just through paid ads and email marketing. To do so, you need to rank well with the top search engines – and that starts with conducting keyword research.
How to find the right keywords for eCommerce copywriting:
- Look at the short and long-tail keywords your competitors are using
- Use an SEO toolto generate the keyword “universe” for your website
- Pick some hyper-niche (low competition) keywords to focus on
Copywriting for eCommerce then carefully incorporates keywords in places that make sense. It’s not about stuffing keywords into a website as many times as possible – it’s about strategically and naturally including the right phrases. There always needs to be a balance between the customer’s experience and your SEO work.
According to Hubspot’s 2022 State of Marketing Report, roughly a quarter (23.6%) of all eCommerce orders are directly linked to organic traffic. In other words, if you’re not focusing on great copywriting that’s keyword optimized, you’re likely losing online sales every day.
Brand Differentiation
Another purpose of copywriting for eCommerce is to establish uniqueness. You don’t just want your website to look different from those of your competitors – you want it to sound different.
Copywriting is a severely undervalued tool when it comes to establishing a one-of-a-kind, memorable brand. Unless you are the ONLY company in the world selling your products or services, you need to tell website visitors why you’re different.
Even if you don’t have many competitors now, you will eventually – so how are you setting up your brand to be easily recognizable?
Of course, website development and design do play a role in brand identity and differentiation. However, these elements should work in tandem with copywriting that is crisp, compelling, and truly representative of your distinct brand.
Calls to Action
Many people mistakenly view copywriting as the creation of product descriptions or simple text on a webpage – but it’s far more than that. Ultimately, valuable sales copywriting has two purposes:
- To increase brand awareness
- To persuade a person or group to take a particular action
You might offer world-class products or services, but if there’s no push for customers to act, your eCommerce sales won’t ever climb as they should.
However, writing a stellar call to action (CTA) requires skill and experience. These “pushes” cannot be overly intrusive, annoying, or sales-focused without the risk of driving shoppers away.
Many brands make the mistake of slapping a “BUY NOW” button all over their eCommerce product page. A stronger copywriting move is to implement CTAs carefully and tactfully. Additionally, most top-tier eCommerce copywriters keep CTAs under eight words – which means every word holds immense value.
Focus on creating calls to action that create a sense of urgency, but that also prioritize the customer’s needs over the desire to keep sales churning.
Connect with Shoppers
Copywriting for eCommerce doesn’t just help sell your products – it helps humanize the brand behind them. A talented eCommerce copywriter or copywriting agency knows how to bring every bit of website text to life. Customers shouldn’t just be informed by your website – they should connect with it.
For years, everyone in the content marketing industry was talking about personalization. Although personalization is still important to many consumers, there’s big a seismic shift toward brand humanization: the act of characterizing brands as personable and genuine in the eyes of their audience.
Strong website copywriting is customer-centric, but it also tells readers what they need to know. It establishes relationships with shoppers through empathetic storytelling, clear descriptions, and unique approaches to problems.
Without strategic copywriting, your eCommerce site will miss out on these crucial connections with shoppers. As a result, your target audience will likely wind up on the site of a competitor – and that’s the last thing you want.
Answer Questions
The last role of eCommerce copywriting is to respond to the questions consumers have – before they even ask. If your team is constantly receiving inquiries from confused or unconvinced customers, chances are your website’s copy isn’t doing its job adequately.
Whether it’s your team’s “about” page or a product description, copywriting should address the unspoken concerns in the room. Talented eCommerce copywriters put themselves in the shoes of potential visitors, then use careful language to convince shoppers and answer their questions.
Remember: the role of copywriting isn’t only to highlight features of a product, but also to explain how a product/service solves a problem. Weak text or photos can only do so much to explain the true benefits of what you’re selling – you need robust copy that shines a bright light on the value of your offerings.
Create eCommerce Copywriting That Actually Sells
This year, it’s estimated that retail eCommerce sales will grow by 8.9%, continuing a trend of explosive growth that no brand can ignore. Whether your brand is wholly eCommerce focused or only partially, now is the time to focus on creating a website that generates reliable conversions.
Start with hard-hitting website copy. When you master the copywriting game, you establish a strong brand identity, increase your organic traffic, and connect with your customers in a whole new way.
If you’re ready to outsource copywriting for eCommerce and generate copy that actually sells, look no further. Reach out today and let us know exactly what you need.
