I know, it is hard to write about yourself and your products… especially if you’ve not had training in copywriting! And everything takes soooo long!!!
In this post we are going to break down 6 tips for writing product copy that sells with practical examples to help you write copy that helps sell your handmade products!
You will not only learn some tips about creating copy that sells but how to then repurpose your hard work for your social media!
So, let’s get started with these 6 copywriting tips for handmade product listings
TIP #1: Write for your target audience
Have you worked out who your target audience is? Having a niche, and knowing your ideal customer is a really important part of writing for your brand. We can’t be all things to all people, so knowing who you’re writing for greatly simplifies the process of writing product copy.
If your target customer is a life coach in her 30s with no children and a love for boho style and sustainable living who lives in Byron Bay and travels by bike, you’re going to write your copy differently than you would for woman of the same age who is a working mum of three under 5 who LOVES K-Mart, drives a SUV and lives in the outer suburbs of Sydney. These two women have completely different lifestyles which your product needs to fit into and while both might like the physical product, one is likely more aligned to you, your own values and who you want to connect with through your business.
If you’ve not yet worked out who your target customer what you want to do is create an avatar of your target customer, think about who they are, what their days look like, where they live, other brands they like, what hobbies they like, their education, if they have children, what do they do socially… all things that form a full picture of your ideal customer.
A fun way to do this is by creating a pinterest board for your ideal customer and use pinterest as that person, pinning things they might like. It seems like a funny idea, but once you have a bunch of pins on that board you will start to notice trends you had not realised. Maybe colours they like, styles and themes that keep coming up… Let this person become one of your friends, and when you see something that they might like, go and pin it and then refer back later when creating content for inspiration and ideas on what you could do to attract that target customer to your brand.
Then, when it comes time to write your product copy, write it FOR your target customer. Make sure to tailor the benefits to her, and always have her in mind when doing your marketing and social media (for example, when choosing your hashtags on instagram!).
TIP #2: Write scannable copy and focus on the benefits, not the features
There is nothing that is more offputting than a wall of text that you have to go through to find the information that you need!
Good copywriting should be clean, tidy, not include spelling errors (guilty) and be easy to scan using bullet points and concise clear language.
Using bullet points to list the features is a great way to summarise the information without making the reader look to hard for the bits they need to know like materials, size etc without blabbering on and burying the lead.
By focussing on the benefits of your product rather than the features, you are inspiring the buyer to purchase your product.
For example, for an A4 print of a floral bouquet you could say
This print is printed on heavyweight 200gsm paper, and fits in standard A4 frames.
Or you could say
This floral bouquet featuring geraniums, sunflowers and pansies would look great sitting on a bookshelf or up on your wall. Because it is printed on a beautiful textured 200gsm paper, it looks lovely unframed, or perhaps in a second hand frame you’ve found in your travels.
See how one is written with basic technical language, and the other includes words tailored for my target customer who loves to op shop on the weekend? We’ve now planted seeds and made the customer think about where they might put the print, and if they have the right space and the price is right, what reason is there not to go ahead and add to cart!
TIP #3: Use natural language and power words
We talked before about writing for your target audience and this means using language which is natural for them. If your audience consists of doctors or corporates, you’re going to use different language to if you are talking to artists and makers 😉. For example, using that emoji, prob not appropriate in corporate but it is possibly a great way of connecting with a creative type like you (my audience).
When you start thinking about SEO especially, you can start to get a bit robotic in your copy, as you’re trying really hard to tick all the boxes and include everything you need to. Writing in a conversational tone as if you’re talking to a friend or collegue is more friendly and approachable. I always say, write for the robots, but not like a robot in my SEO workshop, and what I mean by that is to write conversationally but make sure to include the things the robot scanning your page needs as well.
The other thing to talk about is power words! Power words are the delicious and colourful words you’ll scatter throughout your copy to make it more enticing. So rather than writing “red handbag” you might write “handcrafted handbag in eye popping tomato red”. Its a bit more fun to read and giving the reader a more sensory experience which will take them out of body and hopefully straight to cart!
If you’re trying to think up some powerwords, go through your copy at the end and pop some words into powerthesaurus.org to grab some synonyms you could use instead!
TIP #4: Think about Storytelling
Why do we like buying handmade… what is it about handmade business that makes us giddy and excited to spend money? It’s the connection to another human and knowing the story behind who made your clothes, jewellery, homewares or art.
I am sure you’ve been there before. You’re at the craft market and you see some earrings you like from another maker. You tell yourself you already have enough earrings but get into a conversation with the maker about their brand and the thing that makes them special. You walk away and marinate on that for a bit, and by the end of the day you’ve not only bought the earrings, but shared them on your instagram and tagged the maker (or is it just me?). Everytime someone says “I love your earrings” you reply with “Thank you, I bought them from this amazing lady at [market name] who makes jewellery out of junk”.
Humans want connection to other humans, and story telling is an ancient way of sharing information and creating those connections and bonds.
By inserting some of your brand story and passion into your product listings you’re enriching them with yummy information which will carry your message and products further than the product page.
TIP #5: Writing with SEO in mind
If you want to be found on search enginges you need to be thinking about what people might be typing into Google to find products like yours.
SEO tools like Rankmath and Yoast, or the ones inbuilt in ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Etsy help you to adjust your content so it ticks all the SEO boxes, but good copywriting is essential for creating content that will rank in search engines.
I’ve written a post all about SEO which focusses on the technical aspects of SEO like using header tags, naming your images and usuing titles and other tools to help optimise your content, but these tools really only work if you have taken the time to write your product descriptions in a way that is going to help sell them. They will give you tips on how to improve your content, but that is all they do, help you craft your content better.
Ultimately, it is up to you to write copy that is descriptive, includes all the keyphrases you should be ranking for, and sells your product once the person arrives on your page. This means, using natural language and writing detailed descriptions which include your keyphrases (for example “Amethyst Pendant Necklace” or “Flower Bouquet Print”) throughout the listing, and keeping the viewer engaged when on your page by having them read it, view photos and maybe look at what else you have.
By writing longer descriptions you get more opportunity to include relevent terms in your copy, which search engines will then read and help you get infront of your target customer!
Let’s see these copywriting tips in action!
I know that’s a lot of information, so let’s see it all in action!
Below are two examples of copy, both featuring the same information but one taking into account all the things we just discussed.
Amethyst Pendant Necklace
This necklace is made from sterling silver and an amethyst stone. The sterling silver is hypoallergenic and the pendant hangs from a 60cm wax cord that is adjustable so you can wear it at whatever length you desire.
The crystal was ethically sourced and amethysts are known to have several healing properties. The crystal measures 4cm x 1cm. Made with love right here in Melbourne by myself. Comes with care sheet and gift box.
Amethyst Pendant Necklace
This gorgeous amethyst necklace was made in my home studio in Melbourne.
The pendant includes a beautiful, ethically sourced piece of amethyst wrapped in sterling silver so it has no nasties to irritate your skin!
Amethyst is suggested to have properties to help with a variety of things which you can read more about on my blog.
The pendant hangs on a gorgeous black wax cord that can be adjusted to your desired length to suit your outfit.
This amethyst pendant necklace includes:
- 60cm wax cord to wear at your desired length.
- pendant size 4cm x 1cm
- ethically sourced amethyst
- hypoallergenic silver finding
Comes with complimentary gift box and information sheet on how to care for your brand new crystal necklace.
This necklace will suit a variety of outfits and styles and looks gorgeous on its own, or layered with other crystal necklaces from my collection.
Which one do you find easier to read? Which one is more enticing as a customer?
In the second version, I took each sentence from the first and bulked it out into its own short paragraph, adding descriptive language and taking my target audience into consideration and focussing on the benefits, rather than the features.
I also added links to other collections on my website to cross sell and a link to a blog post about the materials to show that I am knowledgeable in the topic I am illustating (links for display purposes only). Note: if adding links make sure to set them to open in a new tab!
Adding the “features” in bullet points makes it easy for the buyer to scan the page quickly for the info they need, and makes the listing seem more detailed as well.
I finished the description by giving the customer an idea of how they may use the product, to hopefully inspire them to add to cart!
By using the copywriting tips we’ve discussed above you can turn your very informative but not all that inspiring product descriptions into exciting and tasty content for your customers to consume!
TIP #6: Repurposing your content for social
I know what you’re thinking by now…. that is a huge amount of work to put into my product listing for a $48 necklace. And I hear you! However, you’re competing with the entire world online, and you need to stand out from the crowd.
I have good news though… good copy will not go wasted! By writing a robust product description you’re giving yourself several different social media posts and repurposable content for you to use in other products and marketing materials. From example, in my amethyst necklace description above, I can make several different instagram posts.
- Post of you creating the piece (materials on workbench)
- Post about the stones you use
- Post about healing properties (if that is your niche)
- Post about how to wear the piece at different necklace (reels anyone?)
- Post about packaging and the care you take in packing orders
- Ideas on how to style the piece, showcasing it amongst other pieces in your collection and outfits.
You’ve heard it before… work smarter not harder, and for handmade businesses this is really important as you need to spend more time making and less time on admin! So after you write your description, go schedule some posts all linking back to your product – especially if it is a reproducable product:)
Now to practice
I hope you’ve found these 6 copywriting tips for handmade business helpful. Now it is time for you to go off and start working on your product listings using all the tools we have discussed.
Remember, practice makes perfect, and it takes hours and hours to perfect a craft. You’ve learned this with your own craft, and you’ll learn it with copywriting too if you give it the time.
If you would like to book a mentoring session to create a plan and work on this topic with Elle you can do so here!