Writing good copy is a way of communicating effectively with your customer and building brand loyalty. Watch Brian Krogsgard and Cory Miller discuss best practices as well as share tips to help you write copy that increases conversions.
Download the slides here (pdf).
Machine Transcript: Tips for Writing Copy for Your eCommerce Store
Brian Krogsgard 00:01
Hello, and welcome to another Commerce Journey webinar. My name is Brian Krogsgard. I’m here with my partner Cory Miller. Hey, Cory.
Cory Miller 00:10
Hey, the Tuesday webinar for us.
Brian Krogsgard 00:13
That’s right. We’re excited to be here today talking about copywriting for eCommerce. And there are some things that are specific to writing copy for eCommerce. But the first thing you need before you can start writing copy on your eCommerce store is your eCommerce store itself. And the best partner to do that with is GoDaddy Pro, you can go to Commerce Journey.com slash go slash webinar, and get an amazing deal. You don’t even need Black Friday, Cyber Monday, which we’re finally here, by the way, Cory, we had the big event for all these eCommerce stores. And if they were on GoDaddy Pro than they were prepared to handle everything that Black Friday and Cyber Monday through Adam for $1, you get three months of GoDaddy Pro and all the extensions that they have, which are worth, I think, over $1,000 Yeah, if you were to apply them individually, it’s a fantastic deal Not to mention all the hosting and great support that you get from GoDaddy Pro on a catered platform from WooCommerce. We’re so thankful for them to be our partner, go to commercejourney.com/go-webinar to check that out. Now that you have your site all set up, if you’re already there, you’re ready to start doing some outstanding copywriting because you know what, it’s one thing to put a product for sale, it can be the best product. But Cory, it means nothing if we don’t present it in a way to convince someone else that is the best product and it should be bought, right?
Cory Miller 01:40
Yeah, we still need to have some kind of text, mostly I’m trying to think of a product I’ve bought that doesn’t have some kind of text on it. But copy is absolutely so vital to selling. I mean, that’s what it is. Just trying to give enough information for someone to forget about making, pulling out their credit card and making a transaction online. But it’s often one of the things many of us get tripped up on and struggle with, frankly.
Brian Krogsgard 02:07
Yeah, and, you know, we’ve tried to put this together in some, some some tips and some points that are going to make this simple and straightforward and hopefully give you essentially a checklist and you look at a product page specifically. But there’s other types of copy that and we’ll talk about that. And we want to check these off and say, hey, are we meeting these, and we’re gonna go through them one by one, here’s the preview the the heads up of what we’re going to be talking about. And let’s go ahead and get to number one, which is that it converts visitors into customers. That’s the point here, right? We want to make them happy, we want our copy to be excellent. But more than anything else, but we really want is for them to be converted from a visitor into a buyer. So that is tip number one. And Cory what in your mind really sets us apart in terms of enabling your writing, copy that specific to get them to buy?
Cory Miller 03:15
Yeah, you know, for me, a key component, the copy is the messaging. And think about the great copy you’ve read, either it’s a billboard or whatever and you looked at and you go, that’s saying my name without saying my name, like they’re speaking directly to me, and answering my questions and objections and fears and worries and challenges. And so good copy does just that it speaks to a specific person. And it tells them, and by the way, we work in versions, like perfection is never going to happen. idealism read underneath is never probably going to happen. But we can try to get better and better iterate on these things that we’re talking about today with copy, specifically. But Greg copy says, This is for you. This is why the three awesome reasons or whatever, that you should buy this.
Brian Krogsgard 04:08
And I think this specifically what you’re doing, when you’re doing product specific content, you’re trying to convince someone to buy something, you’re essentially trying to create a degree of envy in them that their life is not as good without this product, that they need this product to be fulfilled in their task and what they’re doing. And therefore you’re trying to establish that throughout the process. And that’s a specific goal that you have in mind because it’s not exactly the same as what you may do with a lot of other things. If you’re writing for say, a Wikipedia entry and you’re writing about Queen Elizabeth, you’re not trying to establish in vi to buy something you’re trying to inform the reader to just have more knowledge or more background while they watch the crown or you know, like something You know you’re trying to is purely a density thing. It’s information, it’s not trying to reach this Christian crescendo for purchasing desire. So it’s important that we consider that when we’re writing copy for this because we don’t just want to leave them hanging, it is a true, the climax is the purchase, right? It’s not quite the same as like a narrative story. We want to get them to the purchase point.
Cory Miller 05:29
Yeah, it’s all those signals that say, this is for me, and even stated in the better, what is or I’m sorry, not the positive, which is how does this make my life better than it was before, you know that transformation from A to B is my life now, B, when purchasing use your product or service, how’s my life going to be better? You know, it feels nebulous. Sometimes it feels warm and fuzzy, because it because it is two parts, you know, big parts, we speak to it, the brain is the rational side and the emotional side. And the more you’re able to get to those, like I was saying earlier, can objections, frustrations and fears and worries, lower those showcase the vision for what it does in the future for them, you know, to lower this pain, and show this game in your copy on a macro level, is what helps people say this is for me, I’m gonna pull out my money. I’m gonna buy that.
Brian Krogsgard 06:29
Yeah, absolutely. And this is a not one of our examples that will link but everyone can imagine this scenario, because it’s maybe like the most blunt force version of it. If you ever, in a TV version, it might be like an infomercial. But in a website version, it’s one of those really long pages where it’s like an info product or something, and it just goes down and down and down and down and down and down and down and down. It’s like driving you through this process of establishing invent establishing this need this other desire that you must have to buy, and it just hits you hits you hits you with those Add To Cart buttons, as you go along those really long pages, they convert really well for the people who follow through. So as you’re kind of clicking in terms of being the right buyer, that’s establishing, like, Todd says in the chat, the persuasion for going through, you know, hitting the buy button, and an infomercial is almost the exact same thing and the TV version of that. So converting and into the customer, one of the things you have to consistently do and this is where I’ll finish with this point, is you have to consistently offer them the opportunity to buy. So don’t forget that you have a call to action throughout this copy each sentence, each paragraph is driving them closer and closer to the purchase decision. So we want to leave that ability for them within view. Alright, so Cory, you brought this one up, added in, it was the perfect add to what we put together in our list. And it’s to write specifically to someone. So we’re talking about developing a persona, can you lead us into this point?
Cory Miller 08:15
You and I had been writers like we look at ourselves as writers long term, you know, we’ve been doing writing for a very, very long time or some sort of communication. And for me, I think back my first blog series that did was specifically to a person in mind, it was people asking me questions, my film at the time, and they happen to be ministers and church pastors. And they kept asking questions, like, I need a logo for this. And I was a communications director for a church, by the way, so and I’d be like, you know what, I’m gonna write with them in mind. But I thought about dance, you know, and I was writing, and I thought about Dr. Divine when I was reading that series, and it helped me because I was, sometimes when I get tripped up, I’d even just fire open the email, new email window, and just start typing. Dr. Divine, you asked me about this, here’s some things that you know, and that first series got off the bat just like that. And so speaking to a specific person, like almost, you’re whispering in their ear, and you’re saying, Hey, this is for you. These things, here’s the reasons why and getting very personal. And having the avatar persona or something of that one person in your mind. We did this for 10 plus years that themes and I could think about those people as a dentist in the UK and it was you know, the freelance writer Joe that I’ve met in New York City it was those type of people that we would you know, either craft products to By the way, but also write for those specific people intimately and personally.
Brian Krogsgard 09:42
Yeah, and almost every retail store like you know, the big box stores and malls, they have a persona to that they speak to the more specific the story, the more specific the persona. The example that I want to show for this one Korea is Saddleback leather, so they have these leather briefcases that some of y’all may have heard of. They have a lot of things that they do really well with their, with their copywriting. But this is recorded, you just highlighted one, a lotus, this is kind of their key product. Yeah, they’ll fight over it when you’re dead. So what are they said? What are they saying right off the bat, they’re saying this is a product that lasts.
Cory Miller 10:19
This is an heirloom
Brian Krogsgard 10:20
it is it’s an heirloom. And they’re also saying when they talk about this is that not only will it last, but they’re kind of saying this is the type of thing that you’re going to be rugged with. Right? Like, because it’s a, it’s just got this, it’s just got this sense of ruggedness throughout what they say. So they do some interesting things in their actual product description. Just as the web developer slash web designer in me is going to say, please make your lines a little shorter than this, if I had one critique of this website, it’s that the line length is way too wide. But aside from that, what they’re doing in this is they are properly storytelling throughout this. So you see the design where they establish this casualness, but also this toughness, and it just makes me picture like, this is the brief case for Indiana Jones or something, you know?
Cory Miller 11:19
Oh, that’s a good description.
Brian Krogsgard 11:21
And then Cory, if you dig further down, they don’t they don’t just do it in the design below all this other stuff, they have this, here’s a story about buying tickets mysteries, like so they have this whole thing. It doesn’t seem relic related at all. But what this all does is it drives back to their persona, we’ll call it the Indiana Jones persona. So it’s kind of like your, there’s some degree of nerd there, right? They need a briefcase. But they’re also like, in the rugged Outback of Arizona or something, you know, that’s what I feel when I read the product descriptions on Saddleback, and it’s what makes me realize that I, like I have a desire for this briefcase. I don’t even know that I love the design, but it’s just something about the way they speak to this persona, the way that they establish the characteristics of the product. While they’re speaking to this persona, I don’t have to be Indiana Jones, I can just be me. But I can relate to the persona that they establish. And I can say, you know what, it is important for me to have a briefcase that lasts 100 years, and you’ve accomplished so many things in that one of them is a price target that is so different. I don’t think of this, like this is the briefcase that I’m going to use for a couple years, I think of this as the briefcase that I’m going to leave to my children. So it instantly brackets me to a much higher price level. And there’s so much that you can accomplish with a persona, but saddlebags one of the ones that really sticks out to me when I think of copywriting that throughout the website is speaking to a persona, they have a target customer in mind.
Cory Miller 12:58
I love this because even I found this I was looking around the site What a great example you showed us there speaking specifically, I don’t know if you saw the law enforcement one. But like number two reason here was a pistol holster. And you know, so they’re thinking through specific scenarios for each person and then giving you this little, like, reason to come bias that that’s awesome to that. So they’ve taken your persona, the persona, and they think thought about roles. Okay, so the buyer, this particular product, is using it in a professional setting. And so you can see right here, they they leave the link all the potential guys guides by profession. This is so good, because, you know, one, there might be some search for this, like, search term,
Brian Krogsgard 13:47
Huge SEO benefits, I’m sure
Cory Miller 13:49
See they’ve corporate gifts for all these people. That’s freaking awesome. But also the messaging I’ll show you this because it just stuck out to me, but like a leather pistol wrap for this particular, you know, so let’s look at it. I mean, they’re saying if you’re, if you’re what they’re doing here is saying, if you’re a federal law enforcement officer or those other avatars, this is exactly for you. Like a disc. So I’m not a federal law enforcement officer. I happen to be related to some, but like, wouldn’t that be cool if I’m sitting there trying to figure out a gift for them? Or they’re looking at this and they’re like, you know, my one brother who is a state, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent, you know, be curious to see like, he has to carry a gun for his work right. So, but this bag worked for him. That’s just pretty cool. And I love this story stuff they’ve weaved in here. That’s just a really good. You’re right. This is an excellent use of personas.
Brian Krogsgard 14:50
Yep, I really enjoyed that one. And there’s another example but I’ll come back to it when we get to relatable. Alright, so the next When is the to establish the product as being informative. I want to give one other side note with Saddleback, if you ever want to think about how can I do video in my eCommerce store, check out some of their videos because it’s not about outstanding production, although their, their production I think has gotten really good over the years. But their videos, they go to enhance that persona, and you can really dig into a persona through video and how you relate and you know, things like their hundred year warranty, they do like breakdowns of their bags and competitions, bags and show like, here’s what makes their straps stink and what makes our straps awesome. You know, things like that.
Cory Miller 15:42
Todd said this earlier, their fonts too small, and I happen to agree with him. Also Todd’s a great copywriter as well.
Brian Krogsgard 15:48
Yeah. There’s several things in these stores. And in our examples where, like I said, the web designer in me screams. But that’s for a different day. This is about copy. Yeah. And they’re, they’re, they’re not the same thing. So I wanted to use the best examples I could find in that regard, I’ll show you another design issue that drives me nuts and a little bit.
Cory Miller 16:09
Like, there’s awesome stuff in here for sure. That like wow, they don’t worry about words like they,
Brian Krogsgard 16:18
They again, they dig into length being a feature. And we’re going to talk about the contrast there. Like the the alternative. But so the next point is for copy to be informative. And this is in the middle persona, and our point that comes out of this, but to be informative means getting it across that whatever they read is going to be helpful. Now that could be short or long, we just saw the long version of that. But Cory actually want to use the veto bars here if you go to one of your product pages, because I think y’all do a really nice job with being informative, because you break this down with the Vida Bars. Now this is Cory and his business partner, and their business where they’re selling these bars that are really key to their speaking to an audience that she’s developed over years. And one of the things that I noticed is you have this ingredients section. So it’s, it’s not necessarily the type of thing that you would always do on a product. But you have an audience of people that are going to be very conscious of what is in this stuff that I’m buying. And y’all have a significant part of your product section. If you scroll down a little bit, that is dedicated to Hey, what is in here, and as you say, we’ve carefully not only do you go very specific, and those are things you would think like, does that really necessary, but it accomplishes something. And these, if you scroll back up, Cory, to right there, where you talk about the why this is like why do I list the fact that there’s sodium, CoQ coil, this a video on it, whatever that is. But you say we’ve carefully selected individual ingredients to provide unique benefits to your hair worryfree care for your tresses free of sulfates, silicones, drying alcohols, parabens or harsh chemicals.
Brian Krogsgard 18:28
What it’s saying here is these are the reasons you don’t buy other products, the information we’re providing you is why you do buy ours. And so you’re giving you’re giving a significant amount of detail, even though it’s not, you know, a long story. But you’re explaining, hey, the other people, the big box stores, the people with all the chemicals and preservatives or whatever they put in their stuff. We don’t do that this is what we do. This is what makes it what it is. This is what makes it natural. And it’s going to give you all the justifications for spending the money to buy these particular products. And I think that’s a really important component when you’re trying to establish that now Cory, Did y’all do? How is that why y’all did this? Give me the backstory?
Cory Miller 19:18
Yeah, you know, one of you’ll see it on the home here. But one of the things that Anna is very, very big on is organic and natural and not putting too harsh chemicals in your hair and things. And so we’re trying to say all of these little values here we actually live them. So she she knows this audience so well, she started in the best place possible, which is just cultivating an audience. And like she knows, you know, some of this we need we have to put on unbelievable ingredients so people can look but she went an extra step which is saying long names are hard to understand, just like you’re trying to butcher them. We butchered them. So we’re trying to tell you what these actually are. But this is definitely on brand like these things free of all this stuff that is not good for you. And that’s very much on message with how she does with social media. So this is reflecting that. And by the way, we’re going through a redesign with the website to make some of this a little bit. This is my…
Brian Krogsgard 20:18
This is v1. But but it was also like a beta test for your first batches of products. And now you’ve verified that this idea is real. And you can spend more time energy money on the website design itself.
Cory Miller 20:35
Can we take a sidebar here? Yeah, please. So like, you know, you want to know how to message your products properly. elicit This is one of the strengths of I haven’t seen something like this, it’s very rare to see how many five stars she’s got on all these. And these are all legit. And I know because they’re people, they’ve spent money with this. But you read these things, and they should totally help identify what the message is for your customers. But like take all my money. That’s an awesome one. That’s a verification Oh, yeah. See how they my hair was dull. How they describe, it was dry, and he and then this bar made it better. So that’s, that’s potential messaging. But all that to say if you look in the comments, and if you got reviews for your products, or even go on Amazon, see how people talk about it. That’s great messaging for you to put in your copy.
Brian Krogsgard 21:27
This is actually a great thing to put in this informative section and how to be informative. You know, Saddleback, they’re informative in a storytelling way, it’s very centralized and controlled. Another way to be informative is to feature your comments because you have confidence in the fact that you have five star ratings with excellent reviews, and all these raving fans that are going to speak on your behalf. That is informative in its own right. When I go to buy products, one of the most important things for me to look at is the comments. Because typically, I’ll find the best features and the things to look out for with any product that I’m buying, right? Because I’m going to say, I’m going to see like, Oh, this is, you know, this is dangerous, like, so many of these had this issue. And I’ll know that up front and make the decision, especially like Amazon, they’ll do the most helpful negative reviews, and the most helpful positive reviews, we have a little more control. When it’s our own website, we don’t have to highlight the negative so much. But we can see like, here’s what people say that they especially love that this product. And that is informative to to that viewer. And it’s really an important component.
Brian Krogsgard 22:35
Now, like I said to be informative is not necessarily to tell a long story, sometimes it can be to get to the point. And this can depend on your category of product, it can depend on the way you portray your brand. It can depend on a variety of things. Now I’m going to show you a product that I just bought, and I’ve bought this product many times over I’m a multiple time customers, the Aeropress. We’ve talked about coffee a ton. With Commerce Journey, I want you to look at what they put in bold because they’re driving your eye quickly to what we’re accomplishing with an Aeropress: It’s delicious coffee anywhere. It’s simple. It’s good to go. And it has it offers superb taste. So they’re telling you, Hey, this is what you’re getting out of this. And they do it in bullet points. I think when I think of content websites, there are Cory highlights this in our other business all the time about, hey, let’s put the big things up top and bullet points because the CEOs reading this, they want to see it that way. Quartz is a business website that does this and then their emails, it’s like bullet points. And you know whether you want to say it’s a stereotype or not, people love bullet points that go straight to them and you put something in bullet points and you put it in bold and you put the big points of what you’re accomplishing. That’s a huge deal there.
Cory Miller 24:04
Yeah, I you talked about these right here and getting to the point. I love it. I think three words. They just capture what I know of the Aeropress delicious coffee anywhere. That is incredible copywriting I added this a little bit. I was like it just said simple hair. So I added it because I was like, because cleanup would be an objection for me. You know, I worry for me, how long does it take to clean up? You know? Well, yeah, it’s simple and easy to clean up. Good to go kind of reinforces the delicious coffee but subterra superb taste like this is aspirational copywriting you’re here for yourself from hotel coffee.
Brian Krogsgard 24:43
And what you’re gathering someone like me and this I am the persona for this, like I took an Aeropress to the hospital when my wife was birthing our children because I was like I am not having that styrofoam like hospital coffee and I took my Aeropress and I begged the nurses for the hottest scolding water they could find so that I could make my coffee because I was up for 48 hours while I was labeled laboring. And I was like, honey, you’ve got these inherent physical traits, and I don’t, I’m just the dad and I need coffee. So they could go the extra mile if they wanted to be on their product pages by telling the stories of like, how people use the Aeropress, where they take them, how do they, yeah, that’s important. But what they accomplish really well is getting the point across quickly. They even have one of the I think it might have been how I learned about the Aeropress. But it was certainly early on.
Brian Krogsgard 25:38
There’s a company called sandwich video that does these great little commercials. And in a one minute video, they show the whole process of doing an arrow press, and it’s what really sold me in terms of wanting an arrow press. And now, however, long later, years later, I’m on I think my fourth Aeropress or fifth Aeropress or something like that. And you get thousands of presses out of these. And they’re extraordinarily cheap. And there’s just so much that they accomplish in a very few amount of words on that product page, because it really does run across for when I’m selling I’m evangelizing for Aeropress to my friends or my family or people to come over, like where the heck is your coffee machine. And I’m like, Well, I just boil water. And then I put it through this thing. And here’s why I love it. And they’re like, You’re crazy. This is complicated. I’m like, but then they watch it. And they’re like, Oh, it’s basically a plunger for coffee. Super fast, super easy, super easy to clean up. And I you know, I can give this spiel. But I essentially learn that spiel through the way they describe it themselves very simple and effective terms.
Cory Miller 26:42
See right there. If I’m Aeropress and I hear you say that I go, Okay, I may not want to put that as my headline for my marketing coffee. But somebody’s trying to understand how it works. It’s kinda like a blender for coffee. But yeah, I’ve kind of surfing around here. And I and I love this like, so I know you as someone that does love coffee. So this is a community of coffee lovers, they’ve got a product you’d love. But they’re trying to say like, here’s, they’re diving in deeper, and really embracing this whole coffee lover. And if you’re particular about coffee, like you are brand, I would say there’s certain specs that they put, you probably wanted to know, like, what kind of grind or you know how much coffee, you know, stuff like that, that I think is fantastic type stuff. But like this, how to use it. That’s great coffee, by the way.
Brian Krogsgard 27:32
It’s simultaneously caveman level simple and delightfully intricate. And they’re actually Aeropress brewing championships, that they do non normal years where people get together, and they have competitions for how to make the best Aeropress. And it’s all the way down to the degree of the water, the coarseness of the grind the type of coffee, the temperature, or the number of seconds that you stir it for and plunge it for and do you do the inverted method. And it’s a cult community that they create through this. But at the core, they established us in a very simple way. And actually, I bought this travel version. Because the previous one, it was portable, but it wasn’t like designed so specifically to go in this tiny little cup. And so they actually their second product, I mean, they have no products is the one product. Now two products.
Brian Krogsgard 28:34
The second product was like layer press. Yeah, it’s like we took everything that was great about this, and we just made it even smaller. I’ll give you an example. I convinced one of my best friends is in the Special Forces and they would camp and you know, hike and do all this stuff all the time. And he used to take a What do they call it a French press or something with him? And I was like, dude, you got to get an Aeropress and I sold him on every scene. He would be like the perfect customer testimonial for something like this as a story. Because it’s like you want amazing coffee when you’re on the go in the army. Special Forces out camping, what’s important to you? And it’s like, well, I got my Aeropress in this pocket of the 60 pound back and he loves it. And what’s amazing about the press what created this whole community is not only all these things about it being simple or easy, or, or whatever, but the the coffee itself is incredible. It’s like one of the best quality coffees you can possibly make. And a lot of these fancy dancy coffee shops. They have like half a dozen arrow presses on the shelf because it’s a preferred brew method. All right, that’s my schpeel.
Cory Miller 29:42
I love it. You’re geeking out man. But as you’re talking I’m like you know a lot about coffee. So when they say remarkably low acidity that speaks to you, I’m sure
Brian Krogsgard 29:50
Oh absolutely this. This all goes into what makes it great and you don’t have to know these things to love and Aeropress but if you love coffee These things are important, low acidity and low bitterness, it takes out that, you know, that aftertaste of like, if you have folders out of a drip.
Cory Miller 30:11
I’ve never done that Brian.
Brian Krogsgard 30:14
The smoothness that you get. So they’re speaking, this is a subtle point that you bring across about being informative. They are to the point on that product page, right? They tell you, that’s the number one thing you accomplish. But then if as you dig in, as you explore, and certain buyers are always going to be explorers, they’re gonna look at almost every page of your website. But at the same time you for the people that are the clicking go types, right, you want to be that you want to show the short version, and then you want to offer the the rabbit trail for the people that are those types of buyers. So I want to I said at the beginning of this, you want that copy to be to the point foremost, because it’s not only that there are explorers, there are the the nerds, the wire cutter types, right? You know, the 3000 word article on what’s the I don’t know the best coffee maker or like whatever type of thing that that it’ll go to the nth degree of, of what you’re trying to do here.
Cory Miller 31:14
All right, well, it’s it’s very much put yourself in your buyers, your ideal buyer shoes, and think about what they need to know what they need to see and get straight to the point with it, we used to say like, you think about a compete buying a computer, very similar to what you just said about your press, you want to know all the specs, there’s something you want to know this is the highlights, delicious coffee anywhere, that’s incredible. But their specs you want to know about like the grind and the different things, they probably do that you can also hide in a tab with with, you know, like the ingredients, we want to actually hide the ingredients in a tab until you’re ready to look. So you don’t see like a wall of text on bita bars, for instance. But I think I think that’s great points for sure.
Brian Krogsgard 32:00
And that’s what there’s a lot of overlap in some of these examples that we have. But I think we’re also seeing how some could probably improve the way they’re doing it because one day one of these stores does something really well and another one, you know they could learn from it. Alright, next we’re going to talk about how to relate and how to make relatable content. Now, making something relatable doesn’t mean that you make it generic. And that’s why I actually brought up this specific example. So this is the the tonic. So jack Rudy cocktail company, one of our family members gave us this and I was like, come on, this is ridiculous. It’s sold out. There you go. That’s crazy that so as normally $16 that’s for the part you need to focus on. This is a $16 bottle of tonic. Now, all of y’all have probably had tonic water from the store before to get like a six pack of them that are closest size for a few bucks. So why in the world am I making a $16 bottle of tonic? Well, what’s making this relatable is not that it’s generic. This is not for everyone. But look at the very first sentence they write.
Brian Krogsgard 33:10
And here’s my other design complaint making this entire copy in this metallic scripty font is very difficult to read. It does enhance this kind of narrow focus though of like fancy dancy tonic syrup. The first sentence we believe we’ve managed to create the closest possible thing to a perfect gin and tonic. So there they are diving in here this is not for people that like their Christmas tree gin and tonics like the ones that are really piney it’s like with cheap sea drums and a lime and yeah, it’s not, not this perfect Gin and Tonic. This is for people that are Gin and Tonic nerds like they not only like Gin and Tonic, but they love Gin and Tonic. They love a quality Gin and Tonic and they know the difference between what’s going to happen if they use St. George’s or if they use Hendrix or if they garnish it with a lime or cucumber. They know those differences and this classic tonic syrup is built for the people that care about that.
Brian Krogsgard 34:16
They’ve got the artisan handcrafted thing all over this, all of their copy is talking specifically to this nerdy tonic lover because what are they doing this entire time? And I said that they make this relatable but they are justifying a $16 bottle of concentrated tonics or because this maybe you make like 10 drinks out of this right? So you’re may say you’re spending $1 60 per drink, just for the tonic. That’s not for the gin. You know, like this is something that is making a premium level tonic, but at the same time, Cory, this is relatable to our very specific and narrow audience of buyers that we’re trying to reach.
Cory Miller 34:58
Well, so my wife’s best friend Jill hat loves Gin and Tonics. And so they have quite a few Gin and Tonic. So I’m like, Okay, I need to go find out how I can get a tonic for her for Christmas. But you’re speaking their language like closest thing to Gin and Tonic. And just like you said, You’re diving in with this one, the imaging, the branding stuff is incredible on this.
Brian Krogsgard 35:20
It’s an old school pharmacist thing, right, like, yeah, I could see it in the drugstore shelves in 1995.
Cory Miller 35:26
Oh I bet. My only knock is they shouldn’t put all this in italics.
Cory Miller 35:30
That was I was thinking too. Yeah.
Cory Miller 35:32
I think it does work. But like a refreshing brighten life eivol. I mean, it’s like throwing in little facts in here, where doctors, there’s some personality you can inject into copy. And I really, I really dig that too. In the hole, how do we relate to our customers, when you can kind of we just talked about, we were talking about getting this use, talk to their aspirations, talk to their get their pain, but also talking the language that they think is cool and fun. I’ve tried to introduce personality, but I’ll tell you, we know this for a fact, on Twitter, for instance, when I post a picture or something funny about my family or kids, I get way more engagement. Oh, yeah, you know, when you include a few some kind of personal aspect with the content. And I think this is this is great. Like, you know, we aren’t doctors, but have you know, it’s all about fun and happiness.
Brian Krogsgard 36:30
And they do another note about how to relate. And that’s the other reason I liked this one for the relationship. Stay up there Cory, if you scroll up, just a tad.
Cory Miller 36:38
I want to get to that. I’m gonna have to do this, go back, because I want to see this SP calculate.
Brian Krogsgard 36:42
Yeah, go down there. But first, I want they their first tab is about customer service down here. So they say the bottom line is that we’re a small company, and we’re positioned to ensure your experience with us is pleasant. And I say if it’s not, we’ll take care of it. And I think that’s the other thing that’s helping them really show who they are. Now I want to give a critique here to copy is not just text, they do well relating with the text, but they do poorly in relating with the product imagery. It’s great to have a nice clean product image. But what they don’t do, what some of these other websites that we’ve shown you do is they don’t show the product in its natural environment. Right. Cory? Tell me they don’t need like some hipster making a drink at a bar here. Like that’s the picture they need here, don’t they?
Cory Miller 37:33
It is kind of cool. But I’ll tell you, I’m not definitely the opposite of a hipster. I think to myself, I can already see the hipster. But you’re right. Like depends on their avatar they want to they should showcase…
Brian Krogsgard 37:47
Or, as I just mentioned, you know, I talked about the old drugstore thing like they need it on a shelf. It looks like it’s that old school drugstore. And it’s like their product imagery is it just is their products. It’s not what are their products look like in the real world. And that’s the one thing I think they’re missing in their in the way that they do their coffee. But I do think that it’s relatable like our great grandparents might once have it.
Cory Miller 38:11
Okay, listen, look at this writing see what you think Todd, our goal is to take long forgotten staples of the American Bar and reinvent them in an effort to drink, like, our great grandparents might wonder what it is, like, that’s got to be my favorite mission statement of the world. You know, like the Aeropress should be making the empowering delicious coffee anywhere you go. That’s, that’s pretty cool. It’s pretty cool stuff. This is on brand.
Brian Krogsgard 38:39
Yes. They’re basically saying, you know, people don’t make them like they used to anymore, but we do. Right? Like, it’s like, what do you think of? What are the quality like tools in the world? And would I rather have a bandsaw today? Or would I rather have a bandsaw that was made in 1955. Like, I’d probably if it wasn’t if it was opera, you know, operating I’d probably rather the bandsaw that was 1955 because it’s going to be so much sturdier and better and you know, just a better tool than the, you know, cheapo Home Depot version that I would get today. And I think that’s what that’s the type of mentality that they’re encouraging with the way they talk about their products. So that’s what makes them relatable and that I wanted to use one that speaks to because we’ve talked about this before speaking to a niche speaking to narrowing who you’re who you’re trying to sell to with your store. And I think too often people talk about being relatable, and they think that needs to be to everyone. But that’s not what it is being relatable is really relating to someone specific.
Cory Miller 39:45
It’s kind of like saying, you know, you’ve got this club, and you want to be by the door or the you know, in the trade fair or whatever it is, and and when people see it go, that’s where I should be. That’s like you’re talking about the visuals. Then also go. This is the group I want to identify with. This is the group I want to belong to. And it’s kind of like this open door of going, Hey, if you want these things, this is where you come in, and jack Rudy cocktails. Like I’ve got, I’m gonna I’m gonna come back to this private water, a couple things for friends and stuff. But also…
Brian Krogsgard 40:20
You had one more thing that you said you wanted to show an example of.
Cory Miller 40:25
Oh, I’ll think about it. But your bag thing made me think about Tom Ben. Oh, yeah, so Saddleback has nailed the Okay, this is you just see their dynamic right here. It’s leather. Like it’s tough. And I could also see for you, too. When you see this, you’re like, you’d like those nice, the, you’re in the finer things club. Okay, so Tom Bihn is my – I hardly ever buy a bag that’s not Tom Bihn’s because I love Tom Bihn. But they do. What recently captivated this is they’ve got some videos that show people and what they use it for. But they do. And let me just find one of these bags just show it to you.
Brian Krogsgard 41:06
While you’re doing that you’re right about what I like I actually got into leather working. So like I have things that I’ve made. So I can be even more appreciative of some of those details that they talked about and how much work goes into that.
Cory Miller 41:21
So one thing they do really well as product images with, you know, actual with people and stuff. But tagging along what was the Aeropress we get to meet Alan, he’s the inventor. Yeah. So Tom Bihn is the inventor as well. And like stories down here, you’ll see in some of the copy that why this was created. And it’s really story. And if you look at the photos, as you go around the site, and then they do a great job of pulling in the social side, you’ll see it’s for kind of like for like a better term. hipster granola like hiker outdoorsy types. It’s all there. Now, I’m not like perfectly in their demographic. But because I love hiking, but I don’t do it religiously. But you’ll see in some of their like, I just love the how the story of Tom been waves in there, out there, you know, back to the story again, like I can watch videos of Alan making the inventor of the Aeropress making it and talking about it. That’s the same flair I get from the Tom Bihn stuff. He’s been doing it since Well, before 1972 he’s been designing bags, but they Oh, yeah. Here’s Tom. And by the way, you can buy this pencil I know. But in the… What do you call that? Multicolor? Clickable? Oh, yeah, yeah,
Brian Krogsgard 42:42
There’s like multi pens. I didn’t know that.
Cory Miller 42:44
There’s multi pens. Yeah, you can buy all that in here.
Brian Krogsgard 42:48
There’s a certain thing we bring up Tom Bihn or bags in general, there is a large group of people. And they’re, I don’t know what better term to use other than, like, organization freaks. And so like,
Cory Miller 43:01
that’s who these people are,
Brian Krogsgard 43:03
Yeah, it’s like, I want something that I want to organize wonderfully. You know, like, I want it to be just the perfect compartments. But then I need like, strong zippers. And I need, you know, everything to fit just right. And I have five book bags, because I have a book bag for every single type of scenario that could exist. And there’s a huge contingent of people with it just speaks to them for to organize well, and for that to be something that they can do in a premium way. And to fit their personality as well. I love this example Cory.
Cory Miller 43:38
Well, like some of these little smaller things, you know, because the materials, it’s not leather, but this material is virtually indestructible. It’s incredible. So like, when you see this, I know, as a customer, this is made out of that same indestructible type material. So it’s so cool. It’s like you just kind of get hooked in for sure.
Brian Krogsgard 43:57
So we have a couple more quick points. One, I’m gonna spend just a brief minute on because how to guide them. That’s what we talked about earlier with the infomercial. So if we kind of skip to the the biggest thing to keep in mind here though, is throughout this copywriting experience throughout your storytelling, your persona, making your details, highlighting your reviews, when you’re doing all these things, you need to make sure that you make it simple, because at some point during this process, they’re going to make the decision I’m ready to buy. Yep. The way you’re guiding them is you’re always making that available. And this is a feature on certain websites or maybe an extension. I know like Amazon, some of the others do it really well. They essentially make that add to cart button visible everywhere. As long as you’re on a product page, you essentially see the Add to Cart button.
Brian Krogsgard 44:53
But even beside that like just making it simple to get back to the Add to Cart button, make it very straight. foreword to add it took the cart if you’re on the product page, and if you’re on the other pages making it very easy to get to the product page itself to get to that process, because at the end of the day, like we said earlier, you want to convert these customers, these visitors to customers. So you’re always trying to guide them back to purchasing that is the goal of all of this, whether you’re doing it in a variety of ways. And that gets us to our last point, we’ve spent most of our time talking about product pages, we’ve dug around a little bit like digging, going down the rabbit hole and looking at the stories and different things. But finally, I want to talk about where does our copy go. We’ve talked about product pages. But that’s not the only place where we provide copy for our products. And the other key places, we’ve talked about email a ton. So I don’t have the example of email. But email is where you do it on that consistent and regular basis. That is all copy for your products as well.
Brian Krogsgard 46:02
You talked about comments earlier. The last one I want to focus on which I think a lot of eCommerce stores tend to forget is our blog. And I’m highlighting a company that we know well Cory because we’re in the WordPress space. This is a company that builds products for developers it is for nerds, they’re called delicious brains. And their products are very developer centric. But Cory if you go back to their blog and scroll down, they write posts that you wouldn’t think are like, so specific to what they do. But they have these extremely detailed written by their core development team. So they’re valuable customers. Now your business may be a little different. It may be that you write blog posts from directly from your CEO or directly from your, you know, the designer of the product. But you’re writing blog posts that are worth reading. And that’s what delicious brains does really well. And they stick out to me when I think of who is doing product copy in their blog in a way that is extremely effective. Look at this post that Cory scrolling down, I mean, it is thousands of words of development, heavy stuff that is going to be extremely informative. This is going to save someone’s freelance gig, when they’re at the you know, like, they’re going to be like, I need to solve this problem. And wow, this solution is amazing. Who are these people? I trust them? And that’s what they’re establishing throughout? Yeah, this is 80 comments.
Cory Miller 47:31
This is nuts. It’s so good one that’s all written by their founders. So leaders lead the way. And so 80 comments is why I, I went to that particular because look at all this huge engagement. Yeah, to even get one comment is pretty amazing. But if I look down here, I see a lot of words, phrases that I go, developer, their audience would just love to go Oh, okay, yeah, I feel like…
Brian Krogsgard 48:02
They are providing proof of expertise. And they are also providing social proof. At the same time, they are accomplishing both of those things by having a highly effective blog. Now, those are not product copy, those are not specific to the product pages. But these are very effective at one getting people on your website, because they could be providing information about something not to do with their product specifically. But the same person interested in this may also be interested in the products that they provide. And that’s what their goal is here. So they’re pulling them in. And then they’re establishing expertise. And they’re establishing some social proof on top of that. And that’s going to drive people from these pages to say if I don’t already know who these people are, I need to find out. So I go and I click on the product itself and find out. Well, who the heck is this? And why? Like, do I need their product, they are experts, they get it. In some of our other examples. This is a software product.
Brian Krogsgard 49:04
Some of our other examples, you can do the same thing about what we’ve talked about with leather, with soap, with coffee. These are with cocktails, these are people who are authoritative about what they make. They are experts at their product line and what’s that made me want to do and makes me want to buy their products. And at a premium. This is not your Walmart version or like discount big box version of these things. This is the expert level version of these products and it is screaming at us across the page whether we’re on a blog and email or product descriptions, their whole brand is screaming expertise and that’s what’s gonna make us go to their specific thing and say I want to buy from them. I don’t want to buy from all these other bag makers or I don’t want to buy a Mr. Coffee. I don’t want to buy I don’t Want to buy? You know, big box shampoo, I want to go to these people who know what I need. And they have therefore convinced me to buy because they have written excellent copy for their products.
Cory Miller 50:14
Yeah. Such great examples. And I’m glad you showed off delicious brains. I just love love this, like, I there’s SEO value here. But if you can really quickly go, the end result or whether the outcome for the reader they’re trying to do to their copy is at the end, they have known something completely. And I love you what you said, Brian is like their certifying their expertise. Oh man, Who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t be part of dinos, when I scroll down, it shows a little pop up here, which is even elegant for their office for their audience. But like who wouldn’t want to be on this list?
Brian Krogsgard 50:50
Yeah, it’s pushing you to. To be guided that was our point before is, it’s going to guide the customer to something signing up to their email list is just another step in the process of becoming a fan. And in there’s, there’s is a long sale, it’s not necessarily an impulse buy, it can be but they’re driving you to the long sale, being a reader of their blog, being a subscriber to their newsletter. And eventually, when you have need of their product, pulling the trigger on it, how you how you guide the customers, exactly, it’s gonna differ a little bit like you may be the type of thing where it’s more of a, this is what I need, I want to buy it right now. Here we go. One Two punch type of thing. But most of our products are going to have room for what we’ve shown here today with our examples, which is copywriting that enhances the, our brand within the broader space. It separates our brand from all of the regular ol versions of what we make, there is a degree of quality that is accomplished. Honestly, without proof of the product itself. It’s done through the messaging. It’s done through the copywriting. And it establishes this authority, this quality, all the way throughout the copywriting that they do.
Cory Miller 52:20
We’re really talking about connection, empathy, aspirations, problems, pain, gain, all that, and just connecting solution, your product service with audience in the middle. And that’s, that’s key. And we’ve given you some really good example. So this has been good and a good refresher for me to think about this.
Brian Krogsgard 52:41
Yep. So wrote the six points we talked about earlier, we’re converting visitors into customers. priority number one. We’re writing to someone a persona. We’re writing something that’s informative, whether it’s long story driven, or short, and to the point, preferably the best ones to both. We’re writing something that’s relatable. And we’re writing something that guides the customer. That’s our tips. Thanks so much for joining us. Cory, any words of send off?
Cory Miller 53:11
Go out there and start running some great copy and start and work and keep making iterations to it and you’ll be better and better at connecting product message to your audience.
Brian Krogsgard 53:22
If you want to connect with us, you can go to commercejourney.com/Facebook. Check out GoDaddy Pro Commerce Journey.com/go-webinar. Thanks for joining us. We’ll see everybody next time.
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