The first rule of writing effective copy is about understanding your audience and your industry. Since I’ve been writing a lot about how to write copy for your online course emails and sales pages, I thought why not tweak things a little bit and show you how the copywriting process applies to e-com.

When you are writing for an e-commerce website, you need to capture the attention of potential customers while also conveying the benefits of the product and working towards those all-important conversions. Very similar to what you’d be doing for a course sales page, right?

So what does it really take to ensure that you write compelling copy for any e-commerce website or product pages?

Understand the Target Audience

Ensuring that your target audience and their preferences, needs, and pain points are in place is critical not just for writing effective copy but also for the day-to-day dealings of the website. For example, an e-commerce site that specializes in CBD would be able to build a better working relationship with a customer by being able to accept CBD payments. When you understand your audience and the things that are lacking in their lives, you can then tailor your copy to address those specific concerns and desires, but this can then go completely across the entire website and encompass the overall brand.

Keyword Optimization

Knowing the right keywords is critical to improving search engine optimization. This will ensure that your potential customers find your products. Conducting keyword research is an essential part of writing any form of content these days. But it’s critical to remember that the keywords need to be in the product description but they should not be subject to keyword stuffing. SEO changes so much and this is why if you are looking to create effective copy, keyword research is a vital starting point but you need to learn how to make this work with your natural abilities to tell a story.

Transparency

Product transparency is critical. We have to put ourselves in the shoes of our customers. When you are laying out the content, you need to organize the product descriptions with subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs. Additionally, you should clearly state the prices or promotions and any shipping costs. Persuasive language is critical to justifying the product’s value at this point. When you start to highlight the key features and benefits, that’s not just using words but also images, you can then make the entire package far more visually appealing.

Don’t Forget the Formatting

Ensuring that the design and layout are user-friendly is critical. Additionally, you need to use colors and fonts that align with the brand identity. This may be something that you don’t do directly but is actually the responsibility of the website owner. But it’s always a good idea to make life easier for your client.

The Compelling Calls to Action

While many online stores are using calls to action as a natural part of the content, you’ve got to mix it up. A call to action can be a tough thing to get right, but one of the best approaches to do it is to create a sense of urgency. You could use terms like “last chance” or “this is a limited time offer.” When you use these in combination with those call to actions like “buy now,” “learn more,” or “add to cart,” you’ve got a winning selection of tools to stimulate that sale.