While product page design has improved in the past few years, an often neglected area is sales copy.A common mistake is to simply place the manufacturers product descriptions on pages. While this approach is easier, a more personal touch and unique tone of voice can help your product pages stand out and really sell the benefits of products.I’m going to explain why good sales copy is so important, and look at some examples where retailers are getting this spot on…
When many of your competitors are using the same manufacturer’s product descriptions, there is a real opportunity to strand out in search results pages, since your description will be unique.Customised product descriptions also allow you to provide more text and keywords for search engines to index.
OK, if you’re selling photocopier paper, this is tricky to do, but just the sense that a real human being is writing product descriptions can set them apart.
There is no hard and fast rule here and, as you will see from the examples, good sales copy can take many different forms.
Product descriptions should be unique to that website. Customers will appreciate that the page has been written specifically for this product, while there are the SEO benefits mentioned earlier.
If the customer reading the description can get the sense that the copywriter knows the product well and has used it, then this makes the copy more trustworthy.
Of course, retailers want to make sure their target keywords are in product descriptions for the search engines, but if it becomes too obvious to the visitor, it’s a real turn-off.A good copywriter should be able to get the target keywords in without overdoing it.
Product sales copy should be easily readable. Customers don’t need huge swathes of text, as this makes information hard to scan and digest.Use of short paragraphs, bold text, bullet points, images etc can help to make copy more visually appealing.Some product pages have to convey a lot of technical information about products, such as tech specifications for laptops. By putting this information into a table, Comet makes it easier for customers:
Good sales copy needs to be persuasive, and should convey the benefits of products, what it will do for them, how it will improve the customer’s life, and so on.The higher the price, the harder you have to work on the copyIf you’re selling packs of pens or printer paper, then a basic description of the product should suffice, but if you’re selling big-ticket items, then the copywriter will need to work harder.If it’s a luxury item, then the sales copy should reflect that.
