Copywriting for the E-Commerce Consumer of the Future

E-commerce is becoming increasingly competitive. To succeed, you need to have a well-written, well-designed online store.

Seeking an e-commerce copywriter? Get a quote on product descriptions and website copy.

E-commerce is changing. No longer can you simply throw up a store on a platform like Shopify, post manufacturer-provided product descriptions, and assume you’ll attract customers. The online world is too competitive.

These days you need to stand out with creative copy and innovative approaches to help the customer get the “fit and feel” of a product before they commit to a purchase.

E-commerce is moving at a breakneck speed. If you want to compete effectively, you’ll need to keep abreast of the trends. An e-commerce copywriter can help you capitalize on opportunities and stay relevant in your customers’ mind.

Let’s take a look at e-commerce today and how it’s changing.

E-commerce is changing fast. Are you keeping up with the latest trends?

Customer Expectations – Consumer e-commerce today is largely driven by price and convenience. The customer wants a good deal on products that are ordered easily and delivered quickly. A smaller but growing number of consumers are starting to want more from e-commerce. They want easily navigable sites, well-written product descriptions, convenient checkout both online and in-store, and personable customer service.

The Shopping Experience – Consumers want their online journey to be interesting and intuitive. They want the ability to discover unique goods they will not find in big-box retail chains.

Shopping Anywhere Anytime – Instant gratification will come to mean something more sophisticated than a quick fix. While instant access and fast turnaround will still be a critical part of the equation, it is evolving into expectations of a seamless shopping experience across an increasing range of connected devices – online and mobile – in which immediacy and convenience are a given.

Hybrid Shopping — 4 out of 10 consumers are more likely to shop at businesses that offer flexible, in-person pickup options, according to a survey of over 3,200 consumers in November 2021. In the prior 12 months, nearly 2 in 3 adults said they’d gone in person to pick up a purchase after starting or completing their transaction online.

The Consumer Journey – Due to the proliferation of wearable devices and technology, smart TVs, connected cars and household appliances, and other technologies, the consumer journey will increasingly look like a pretzel, complete with twists, turns and loops back on itself.

Consumers want to be able to shop online, on mobile or tablet, or in-store and have a consistent experience.

Consumers can start and end their shopping experiences on a mobile platform, in store or online, and on a growing number of devices. Retailers must ensure that the customer experience is seamless and consistent at every touchpoint.

Truthfulness – Consumers will expect goods they see advertised online to live up to their promises. What they see and what they get need to be one and the same. This places great pressure on retailers to write their ads and website copy with honest, and those that fail in that endeavor will find repeat customers elusive.

Brands – In an era in which consumers expect a seamless shopping experience as a matter of course, retailers will have to seek other means to differentiate and stand out from the crowd. Store brands and product brands can help the customer feel secure in making a purchase.

It’s about fostering a brand identity that has a strong emotional bond and relationship of trust with consumers.  By providing distinct and tangible shopping experiences, stores can demonstrate their value and differentiate their offerings from others.

A big part of building your brand is making your online store professional and intuitive. Quality copy and design can go a long way in providing a good customer experience and gaining trust.

Seeking an e-commerce copywriter? Get a quote on product descriptions and website copy.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) – Also known as Click and Collect, BNPL is a type of short-term financing that allows consumers to make purchases and pay for them at a future date, often interest-free. BNPL arrangements are becoming an increasingly popular payment option, especially when shopping online. If you don’t offer BNPL options, you may want to consider it. Check out Klarna and Affirm, which offer BNPL financing on purchases made from participating merchants.

M-Commerce – Mobile devices are already a fundamental platform for digital content and communications, and the same is becoming true in the retail and commerce domain. This is being driven by the huge growth in smartphone sales volumes, which reached 2.05 billion in 2020.

A mobile-shopping experience will continue to improve as people switch to increasingly powerful smartphones, many with larger screens.

M-commerce, shopping via mobile, is growing rapidly. Retailers need to optimize their online presentation for smartphones.

Retailers must optimize their sites for mobile shopping. It needs to be a platform that can support the whole shopping journey, from product search and discovery, to comparisons, recommendations, and payments.

Loyalty Programs – Loyalty programs can provide levels of interactivity and engagement that traditional programs cannot match. Mobile is expected to soon become the dominant channel for loyalty programs and rewards.

Advertising – How advertising feels to a consumer will be as important as what is being sold. Advertisers working with skilled marketers and copywriters will focus on creating a story around their retail brand, and making the story persuasive and personal.

Augmented Reality (AR) – A strong driver for online and physical retail going forward, AR is expected to have a significant impact on the retail experience in the near future. Customers will have normal views of reality that have been enhanced by digitally generated information or graphics superimposed on that view. 

Augmented reality is likely to become a part of e-commerce in the near future.

AR will further blur the boundaries between online and in-store shopping. It will give online customers an in-store experience, so they can confidently make decisions on items such as apparel and jewelry.

AR will allow them to virtually try on clothes and accessories. This could significantly help lower returns on products, which cost retailers $428 billion in sales in 2020.  AR apps will also allow consumers to view products in their homes, such as furniture and housewares, which can then be purchased on the spot from their mobile devices.

Ready to boost sales of your e-commerce business? Get a quote on professional copy.

Personalization – Retailers will want to offer more personalized products and services to customers to differentiate their store from others. For many products, this may not be viable, but another approach known as mass customization may provide a suitable alternative.

Mass customization lets retailers offer more tailored, personalized products and services, but in a way that such products and services can still be produced and delivered with cost-efficiency and at scale (i.e., mass production). This has already been widely implemented in several industries, such as the apparel and automotive sectors. 

Delivery — The largest retailers will invest in their own delivery systems for reliability and to draw a distinction from competitors, as Amazon has already done.

Retailers that offer fast delivery will sell more product.

Digital First and Digital Only — eCommerce companies will not only be competing with big name retailers that have physical stores. Expect there to be more startup internet-first and internet-only shops.

The Future Is Bright for e-Commerce 

Retailers that allow customers to shop when, how and where they want to will be the ones that thrive in the future. They’ll get goods to consumers  fastest and most cost-efficiently.  They’ll offer seamless, omni-channel, hassle-free experiences that simplify the entire customer journey from opening an account, to selecting a desired product, making a purchase, and choosing a delivery option. 

A professional copywriter can help you create product descriptions and web copy that generate sales.

Consider working with an experienced e-commerce copywriter to optimize the customer experience and take your online store next level.  

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