Boost Your eCommerce Conversions with the Right Language, Narrative and Placement
In an ever-increasing competitive landscape for eCommerce businesses, you might be wondering how you can improve your conversions in 2023.
As an eCommerce brand, landing in that soft spot of attracting customers takes a careful balance of consistent messaging across all channels and meeting their needs at each stage of the buying journey.
But how exactly do you create messaging that creates a striking connection with your audience?
In this blog post, we’ll be discussing the messaging tools you can leverage in order to boost your eCommerce conversions. We’ll talk about using the right language, crafting a strong narrative, and the importance of placement. Let’s dive right in! 👇
Every Brand’s Challenge With eCommerce Messaging
Effective messaging is a crucial part of eCommerce success – your messaging can make or break a customer’s experience, so there’s a lot at stake. The thing is, eCommerce brands encounter a few hurdles along the way when it comes to crafting an effective message. It can be hard to create effective messaging that resonates with your target audience while driving sales.
One of the most common problems businesses face is making things either too promotional or too technical. Customers are drawn to content that inspires and informs them, that speaks to their needs and desires.
Messaging that is too promotional can come across as pushy and might turn customers away. The same thing goes with anything too technical – it can be confusing and difficult to understand for potential customers who will quickly scroll down or click away.
Another challenge is creating messaging that is consistent across different channels. Inconsistent messaging often leaves customers confused and frustrated. Conflicting information isn’t a great sign of a trustworthy brand, so if you want to help customers feel like they can trust you, keep messaging consistent across all channels.
The Worrying Consequences of Poorly Executed Messaging
Getting messaging right is hit or miss, but neglecting your brand’s messaging can come at a great cost. The worst consequence of poorly executed messaging is of course lost sales and revenue. If your customers become frustrated with your brand because of subpar messaging, you’ll risk them taking their business elsewhere and not making a purchase.
Ultimately, if your brand’s messaging fails to guide your customer through their buying journey, it will likely result in an abandoned cart. Even worse than a customer not purchasing – a negative perception of your brand.
Some customers affected by poorly executed messaging might even be compelled to leave negative reviews. When customers receive mixed signals from your brand’s messaging and what they actually purchase, ie. if some features weren’t clear or if delivery times weren’t fully disclosed, some will express their dissatisfaction through negative reviews. This can harm your brand’s reputation and deter potential customers from making a purchase.
In the long run, poorly executed messaging will have significant consequences for brands’ bottom line. With so much competition around and so many options for consumers to choose from, brands just can’t afford to neglect their messaging.
Creating Truly Powerful eCommerce Messaging: a Bumpy Ride
In today’s omnichannel retail landscape, creating effective messaging can be a hefty challenge. That’s because brands now need to create messaging that is consistent across different touch points. Consumers expect a seamless experience no matter which channel they’re interacting with brands on.
With the average consumer’s low attention span, potential customers can quickly get frustrated with inconsistencies and will choose to shop elsewhere instead. For example, if your customer sees a special offer on your social media that isn’t, in fact, available on your website, they might:
- Become frustrated and choose to shop at a competitor brand instead
- Gain a poor perception of your brand
- Lead to negative reviews and decreased customer loyalty
The best response to mitigate these risks is to develop a clear messaging strategy, aligned with your brand values and customers’ needs. You can establish messaging guidelines that apply to all channels for a cohesive experience that guides the customer through their buying journey.
Another significant challenge in eCommerce messaging is creating messaging that is both informative and engaging. Customers expect businesses to provide them with useful information about products, services, and promotions, but they also want messaging that is interesting and engaging.
If your messaging comes across as too technical or dry, it will fail to resonate with your target audience. Customers might end up misunderstanding the information or just finding it completely irrelevant. On the other hand, if your messaging is too promotional or salesy, it will turn customers away. Consumers hate brands that seem pushy or insincere!
That’s why brands need to strike a balance between providing useful information and making their messaging truly interesting and engaging.
The Importance of Strong Messaging Throughout the Customer Journey
Customers go through various stages during the buying journey, and each stage requires different messaging strategies. For instance, customers in the awareness stage at the very beginning need more educational and informative messaging, while those in the decision-making stage call for more persuasive messaging.
Crafting strong messaging throughout the customer journey means comprehending customers’ needs and preferences at each stage. The ultimate goal is to have carefully tailored messaging that seamlessly guides consumers through their buying journey, hitting the mark on their exact needs and expectations.
Why You Should Focus on Positive and Informative Messaging
Positive messaging is messaging that can create a sense of excitement and engagement for customers by highlighting how the product has the potential to change their lives for the better. Not only will you be able to persuade consumers that your product has great benefits for them, but they will also be more likely to make a purchase because they feel excited and engaged.
Let’s explore the other huge benefits to creating positive and informative messaging for your eCommerce brand👇
To Provide Positive and Informative Information to Potential Customers…
Positive and informative messaging can enhance the customer experience by providing customers with the information they need to make an informed purchase decision. Positive messaging includes just about anything that can help customers understand the benefits of a product or service, like product specifications, sizing charts, and more.
…In Order to See Customer Trust and Loyalty Soar
The main reason why it is crucial to provide positive and informative messaging is because it can hugely help build customer trust and loyalty. When customers feel that they have all the information they need to make a purchase decision, they are more likely to trust your brand and become loyal customers.
Building trust and loyalty is especially important in eCommerce because customers are sometimes hesitant to purchase products online. Depending on what generation your target audience is, you might need to put in extra effort in terms of messaging to dispel objections that don’t come with brick-and-mortar locations older consumers are used to.
When customers trust a business, they are more likely to make a purchase and become repeat customers. And repeat customers are a huge part of eCommerce success because they act as brand ambassadors, spreading the word about the brand to their friends and family.
Other positive and informative messaging strategies include:
- Personalised messaging can make customers feel valued and appreciated
- Honest and transparent messaging which customers value hugely
- Social proof, such as customer reviews and ratings, which can increase customer trust and loyalty
All in all, increased customer trust and loyalty can lead to higher conversions and revenue. Whether the reward is repeat customers, referrals, or increased average order value (AOV), the benefits of providing positive and informative messaging to customers are huge. 👍
Proven Strategies for Hugely Effective eCommerce Messaging
Nowadays, effective messaging can be the key differentiator between a successful business and one that struggles to stand out. When executed well, messaging has the potential to transform the customer experience, drive sales, and increase customer loyalty.
In order to create effective messaging in eCommerce, businesses must focus on strategies that resonate with their target audience and drive conversions. Let’s take a look at some of those strategies. ⬇️
Opportunities for Signposting in eCommerce
Signposting refers to the use of visual cues and clear language to guide customers through the buying journey. Signposting refers to anything from call-to-action buttons to product categories and other visual cues that make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for. Clear and consistent signposting enhances the customer experience and drives sales.
💡 Quick tip: Use clear and concise language and place signposting cues in prominent locations across your marketing assets.
Using an Active Voice, Engaging Language, and Clear Messages
Using active voice makes messages more direct and impactful while engaging language makes the messaging more interesting and memorable.
Clear messaging helps customers quickly understand the information and products on offer, making it easier for them to make a purchasing decision.
Some examples include:
- Nike‘s “Just Do It” uses an active voice and encourages customers to take action
- Dollar Shave Club‘s “Shave Time. Shave Money” is catchy and memorable
- Apple‘s product descriptions use engaging language to create a sense of excitement and interest in their products – “stunning new design” and “powerful A14 Bionic chip.”
- Grammarly‘s tagline “Clear, effective, mistake-free writing” speaks directly to their target audience’s desire to improve their writing abilities
Effective messaging needs to be clear, simple, and easy to understand to ensure that customers are able to comprehend the message quickly and take action accordingly.
Consider using action verbs to create a sense of urgency and excitement for the customer, while also incorporating humour or storytelling techniques to make the messaging more relatable and memorable. This can help to grab the customer’s attention and increase the chances of them taking action.
It’s also essential to ensure that the messaging is clear and easy to understand, using simple and concise language that speaks directly to the customer’s needs and preferences.
Content that Grabs Attention and Skyrockets Conversions
Creating content that captures the attention of customers and drives conversions is a key element of effective messaging in eCommerce. A good rule of thumb is to always use emotional language, highlight benefits before you talk about features, and address customer needs and preferences.
Using customer reviews and testimonials can also build credibility and trust, ultimately leading to higher conversions. Using language that resonates with the customer and speaks to their needs and preferences helps establish a connection with the customer and increases the chances of them engaging with the messaging.
The Bottom Line: Conversions Don’t Come Without the Right Language, Narrative and Placement
Effective messaging is crucial for eCommerce success. Brands can focus on creating messaging that is both positive and informative, using an active voice and engaging language, and offering content that resonates with the customer’s needs and preferences.
Strong messaging can do wonders to help brands build trust and loyalty with their customers, resulting in higher revenue and success. 👍
✅ Want to find out more about crafting powerful messaging for your brand? Watch our webinar video below to master eCommerce UX & storytelling! Join Adam King and Damian Rees, industry experts in eCommerce, who will provide you with the strategies to help overcome your sales pain points and optimise your brand for success!
