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Every time a consumer visits your ecommerce website, you have an opportunity to forge a genuine connection. People will inevitably draw conclusions about the impression they get from your online store: the imagery, colors, layout, product lineup and more. But how you actually speak to potential buyers boils down to the copy filling your website.
First of all, copy is an integral tool in your overall branding. Factors like tone, word choice and style contribute to the associations consumers make with your brand. For example, a company aiming to sell cosmetics to young adults will sound much different than an upscale furniture company speaking primarily to long-time homeowners. Brand personalities range from fun and casual to elegant and formal. Whichever brand personality your ecommerce company aims to establish, it’s important to ensure your copy pairs well with the products you sell.
But copy does more than convey your personality; it actually affects conversion rates. Here are three ways in which ecommerce copy can directly affect your revenue stream, playing an impactful role on your bottom line.
Appealing to Your Target Audience
Even in an increasingly online world, people crave the feeling they’re in the right place at the right time. It’s a powerful experience to read copy that could have been written “just for you.” It’s exciting to discover a brand with values that align closely with yours. Finding a company capable of helping you become your aspirational self is often a cause for celebration?and a great reason to whip out your credit or debit card to make a purchase.
As one Forbes contributor and marketing CEO writes, “Copy on your e-commerce site should sound as though the customer is sitting next to you and you are conversing one-on-one.” This means you must understand various buyer personas seeking your products and what they want to know about them. Properly engaging your customer base with helpful, targeted on-site content helps convince shoppers to convert.
Inspiring Action in Website Visitors
Copy can inspire literal action in website visitors, provided it incorporates strong verbs in all the right places. Click here. Learn more. Add to cart. Sign up. Redeem offer. Confirm purchase. These calls to action aim to get consumers to engage in desirable actions, also known as soft and hard conversions. And the top enterprise ecommerce platforms provide a speedy, reliable and intuitive experience for customers so they can follow through on various calls to action without confusion or frustration.
Long story short: Persuade customers overtly to make meaningful interactions with your site by using copy to guide them. When in doubt, stick to strong verbs and concise phrases.
Providing Social Proof with Copy
Online shoppers also seek out user-generated copy as a means of providing social proof. According to Pew Research Center, 82 percent of U.S. adults in one survey “at least sometimes read online customer ratings or reviews before purchasing items for the first time.” The same survey found 40 percent “always or almost always” do.
This just goes to show while brand copy is compelling, it lacks the authenticity of user-generated content. People tend to trust other people because they perceive them as unbiased. Thus, it?s important to solicit honest reviews from buyers so potential buyers can seek them out when they?re making purchasing decisions. Failure to publish ratings and reviews?even negative ones?can put a dent in conversion rates because some shoppers will look upon this omission with suspicion.
Ecommerce copy affects conversion rates, so put plenty of thought into brand copy, calls to action and user-generated copy on your website.
