Common Ecommerce Copywriting Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

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6 Common Copywriting Mistakes in eCommerce
acowebs.com/common-ecommerce-copywriting-mistakes/
May 7, 2021
Common Ecommerce Copywriting Mistakes And How To
Avoid Them
Communication is so crucial to running an
eCommerce business that fails to interact
effectively with your customer base can cost you
not only leads but also sales and
profitability. You could be drafting all manner
of pieces describing your brand offering and
product descriptions, but if your sales copy is
not persuasive enough, you will still lose your
web visitors and potential customers to the
competition. Writing effective landing pages is
not always an easy task, but you can still become
a pro if only you know the mistakes to avoid.
There are common mistakes businesses make when
developing their sales copies, leading to slow
sales and even failure of their eCommerce
marketing campaigns. How can you escape the
deadly trap of creating ineffective content and
copies that end up killing your conversions? In
this article, you will learn what copywriting is,
why it is important, 6 common eCommerce
copywriting mistakes, and how to avoid
them. What is copywriting?
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Copywriting entails putting down compelling and
persuasive marketing and promotional materials.
These pieces motivate people to take action,
which can be in the form of purchasing your
products or services, clicking on your links,
booking an appointment, or even signing up for a
newsletter. Copywritten materials come in many
forms, including promotions published on your
eCommerce site, spoken scripts for commercials,
or video marketing pieces. The emails you send
to the target customer after signing up for your
products, landing pages, product pages, and the
free reports customers register for all contain
elements of copywriting. For instance, M
oosejaw, an outdoor apparel brand, uses
compelling sales copies across the homepage and
product pages to convince the potential buyer why
they should buy the companys products or
participate in other marketing causes. The
homepage features a 10 reward to the favorite
customer to persuade them to take part in the
companys survey the survey contains engaging
questions that enable shoppers to learn the
factors they should consider when buying Moosejaw
products. This practice helps in moving
customers up the sales funnel as they become
curious about the products on sale.
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Moosejaw homepage copywriting practices Image
Credit M oosejaw.com Moosejaws product pages
also feature compelling sales copies. For
instance, if you are into outdoor activities
like hiking and camping, you might be interested
in securing quality ice, food, and beverage
coolers, such as those sold by YETI. Aside from
the standard product features and specifications,
you will also find copywriting infused in the
product pages, containing the solutions offered
by the product and the call- to-action button
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Moosejaws product page sales copy Image
Credit M oosejaw.com Your sales copy should
communicate to customers easily without taking up
too much space talking about the product
features. But why should you invest in effective
copywriting practices? Why copywriting is
important A good sales copy is effective enough
to differentiate your product or service offering
from the competition. It is also a great way of
anticipating customer objections and questions
(such as through surveys), as well as appealing
to their interests by featuring product benefits
and solutions. Effective copywriting also helps
boost the conversion rates by up to 2 or 4 times
the standard levels. Well-written sales copies
evoke shoppers emotions, driving action. For
instance, I nvesp increased conversion rates by
more than 90 by revolutionizing their copy and
value proposition across all eCommerce favorite
customer touchpoints. Now that you understand
why you should invest in quality copywriting,
its time to learn the things to avoid to keep
your sales copies fresh, engaging, and
compelling. 6 Common Ecommerce Copywriting
Mistakes And How To Avoid Them 1. Excessive
focus on product features As a salesperson or
marketer, you want the unique features and
specifications of your product or service to
stand out. That given, you may be tempted to list
down the key elements that differentiate your
offering from the competition.
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However, customers are not interested in product
features and specs as much as they do in the
solutions offered. Users want to know what is in
it for them, and how your products and services
meet their needs or solve their problems. When
writing down a sales copy showcasing your
eCommerce product specifications, always
accompany it with the benefits the user or the
potential buyer is expected to get from buying
and using the item. Unlike product features
which show the characteristic features of a
product, benefits outline what the shopper will
gain from paying for the product. For example,
you can indicate how the product improves the
users health, financial wellbeing, etc. If you
offer travel or tour services, for instance, let
your copywriting show the services you are
offering, but most importantly, what value
customers are going to gain from paying for the
trips. I ntrepids premium package, for
instance, features trip specs like the 15-day
tour to Turkey and a journey to Morocco. At the
same time, the sales copy outlines multiple
benefits the favorite customer will get from
booking a premium trip, such as exceptional
accommodation, unique experiences, and unmatched
knowledge acquisition.
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Intrepids premium tour package sales copy
Image Credit I ntrepid.com Your product
features will not compel customers to make a buy
decision unless shoppers understand the benefits
attached to those features. 2. Not being
specific Avoid using generalized product
descriptions because such statements lack
credibility. When you use generalized sales
talk, you imply that you have no evidence or
content to support the claims made in your sales
copy. Examples of overly-used general terms when
describing products and services include simply
the best, world-class, innovative, and
market-leading. While the product specs and
benefits should not be overdone, failure to
specify exactly what you are selling will bore
site visitors, leading to lost sales. You should
analyze your sales copy to determine if the
content is relevant. If you cannot tell the
meaning of your words and sentences, you should
consider removing or editing them.
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Additionally, you can replace some terms with
figures or numbers written in digit form, as
this practice helps improve credibility, making
your sales copy believable. Where applicable, S
how numbers, not numerals when doing eCommerce
copywriting. For instance, you should use 10
instead of ten to catch your customers eyes
whenever they browse the web for products and
services. ModCloths homepage copywriting is
quite specific and compelling at the same time.
It contains product features (flora fauna
fashion in diverse size range XXS-4X), and
benefits like unique style and a one-stop shop
where shoppers can find all the product
sizes. Instead of writing the product sizes or
measurements in word form, (such as size ten, and
small, large, and extra-large), ModCloth uses
numbers, which makes the copy stand out.
ModCloths homepage copywriting Image Credit m
odcloth.com Save the product specs for the Read
More sections of your homepage or product pages.
Instead, dwell on the most specific aspects of
the product and relate them to the benefits. 3.
Too dense and poorly structured
descriptions Ensure to break up your product
descriptions and benefits to make them scannable
by the reader. Avoid using large blocks of text
in your eCommerce sales copies as they are hard
to read and understand. Instead, use bullet
points, shorter paragraphs, and subheadings to
drive your point across. For instance, Apples
product page makes it easy for shoppers to locate
compelling information and benefits. iPad minis
product page is split into 2 the first section
shows the general overview of the products
features and benefits, while the second section
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shows more detailed specs like design,
performance, display, and their accompanying
benefits. None of these descriptions are too
detailed they are split into short paragraphs,
and shoppers who want to get more information can
always click on the learn more links. Youll
also notice that the call-to-action buttons, such
as the buy button, remain visible as you scroll
down the product page.
Apple iPad minis product page copywriting
Image credit A pple.com Here is another example
of well-structured copywriting by Gillette
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Gillettes product-page copywriting Image
Credit G illette.com When you use short-form
paragraphs in product descriptions and accompany
them with product feature images and simple but
specific descriptions, you improve the visibility
of the most important aspects, driving the
shoppers purchasing decision. Keep in mind that
marketing is not all about what you sell, but how
you sell it. 4. Failure to support product
claims vs. over-use of factual information Should
you or should you not use facts in your product
descriptions? The answer to this question is
two-way. On the one hand, backing up information
about the features and benefits of your product
will help improve credibility. On the other,
over- reliance on facts will kill the
effectiveness of your sales copy. When a
customer reads through the sales copy, they
become convinced that your product will truly
meet their needs or solve their problem. Fords
homepage illustrates how to avoid eCommerce
copywriting mistakes as the companys marketing
claims on the website homepage are supported with
facts
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Fords homepage copywriting Image Credit F
ord.com However, you will notice that in the
case of Ford motor company, the data displayed on
the sales copy is quite minimal. Indeed, one
mistake eCommerce marketers make is focusing on
too many facts and forgetting to keep visitors
engaged with stories behold the data. Facts give
your stories substance, but stories accord them
meaning. Instead of writing generic eCommerce
sales copies, consider spicing them up and making
them more engaging by telling a short, simple
story. The goal is to help customers visualize
the benefits of your product or service, and how
it will solve their problem.
10/14
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Refrain from talking about the obvious by telling
engaging and entertaining stories, which will
compel potential customers to buy your product.
Facts do not stand on their own accompany them
with visual or written stories to give them a
soul and personality to make your content
persuasive. 5. Failure to recognize mathematical
literacy
Lets say you are marketing two deals one
offering 20 off the regular price and another,
20 extra free. Which one will compel most
customers to act? Note that the two offers do
not mean the same thing. The extra free concept
implies that your offer is better and cheaper,
and many customers will be inclined to buy the
item because they will see the deal as referring
to a 20 discount on an already improved or
enhanced product. The ideal customer feels that
they are getting something extra for less, which
is better than getting the same item for
less. There are many ways of applying the
concept. For instance, if you are selling a car,
skip the discount talk, and talk about the extra
miles instead. According to research by T he
Atlantic, this tactic works because consumers
dont know the cost of the products youre
selling. Additionally, while customers consider
how much they are spending in dollar terms,
their decisions are still based on impressions
and clues. Consumers are terrified of extremes
they dont like feeling cheap, but at the same
time, they dont like the feeling that they are
being duped. Still, you can play around with the
concept of mathematical literacy to make more
sales honestly.
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For example, if you placed two identical items
together, one a model costing 500 and the
other, the product on sale, costing 300, many
customers will buy the 300 product. This
strategy makes the accompanying product appear
cheaper than the model, yet the two are
identical. Let your eCommerce copywriting pieces
do the sales for you. Instead of telling
customers what they will save, let them see what
they stand to get for free. 6. Lack of persuasion
How well does your eCommerce copywriting compel
potential customers to take action? It all
depends on how you communicate. According to a
1970 experiment conducted by Ellen Langer,
Benzion Chanowitz, and Arthur Blank, people
respond better to persuasive language. The
researchers asked the study participants (people
using copying machines) if they (the researchers)
could be allowed to cut in line to use the Xerox
machine. However, no reason was given for this
request. In the second instance, the researchers
asked to cut in line because they were in a rush.
In the third scenario, the researchers asked if
they could cut in line because they had to make
some copies. Results from scenario one, whereby
the researchers did not provide a reason for
being allowed to cut in line, showed that 60 of
the participants said yes. The explanation
provided in scenario two caused the conversion
rate to rise to 94. Even a simple and obvious
explanation as shown in scenario three raised the
conversion rate to 93.
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Results of the 1970 experiment on how people
respond to language Image Credit N
eilpatel.com The results show the difference
your language in eCommerce copywriting can make
in persuading customers to take action. Always
let your customers know why you are offering them
discounts or why they should even buy from
you. At the same time, if you are doing
something your customers would not like, tell
them the reason for taking such an action. For
instance, if an order cannot be canceled, you can
explain to customers that preparations for order
processing start immediately. This practice is a
persuasive way of showing customers that your
brand cares about them and that the action taken
is in their best interest. Kate Spade simplifies
the concept of persuasion in their eCommerce
copywriting, by, for instance, indicating why
they are offering discounts. The below sales copy
is compelling because it speaks to customers
shopping during mothers day, giving such
shoppers a good reason to enjoy the 30 discount.
Kate Spades persuasive eCommerce copywriting
Image Credit K atespade.com
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Make your sales copies stand out by using
persuasive language that tells customers why you
are taking a certain action or why you need them
to do something. Conclusion ECommerce
copywriting mistakes are commonplace. It is
difficult to write a sales copy that
communicates effectively to the diverse needs of
everyone that visits your homepage or the
product page. However, investing in mastering
the art of creating compelling and
action-oriented sales copies is not negotiable.
Effective communication is so crucial to running
an eCommerce business that failed to interact
persuasively and convincingly with your target
customer can cost you not only leads but also
sales and profitability. That said, there are
common copywriting mistakes you must avoid,
including an excessive focus on product
features, lack of specificity, too dense and
poorly structured descriptions, failure to
support product claims, and the over-use of
factual information. You can avoid these
mistakes by highlighting product benefits, using
more specific product descriptions, making the
descriptions scannable, and balancing the use of
facts with a simple story. Additionally,
customers dont understand how much a product
should cost because several factors go into
pricing hence, failure to use the concept of
mathematical literacy in eCommerce copywriting
can cost you quick and easy sales.