Creating Product Descriptions that Close Sales

12/05/22 • 11 min

Good Food Marketing with The Virginia Foodie

In the last episode, Anna Bradshaw and I talked about conversion copywriting and how investing in it and your website’s content could help generate sales for your good food business. There were many important topics in that conversation about conversion copywriting, creating good content, and drawing in customers to your business website. I thought the issue deserved a closer look.

A frequently overlooked part of the business, copywriting is the foundation of everything your customer experiences. Investing in great content should increase your ROI, especially if you repurpose your content for different communication channels. “Message matching” across all your marketing touchpoints will drive customers to your site, encouraging them to click that “buy now” button.

Join me as I share some actionable steps you can take today to help improve your close rate.
Virginia Foodie Essentials:

Landing pages are destinations for your site, and the intention is for the viewer to have only one obvious action. Your product page has one obvious action: putting the product into the cart. - Georgiana Dearing
Good writing helps close sales; poorly written descriptions and poorly organized content can turn shoppers away. - Georgiana Dearing
The goal of all content design is to make it as easy as possible for the readers. - Georgiana Dearing
There’s no hard and fast rule about the length of a product description. What you need to consider in your product details is the content that will add value to your readers and help them choose to buy from you. - Georgiana Dearing
Your product page is the place to share that great news. Social proof sells, and you need social proof on your site. - Georgiana Dearing

Key Points From This Episode:

Product descriptions help turn clicks into sales, but many brands still need to improve this aspect on their sites.
Your product page is the “last mile” of the sale. How you set up that page will make or break the sale for you.
Invest in your product description. Invest in good writing. Good writing helps generate sales, while poorly written descriptions and unorganized content do not attract shoppers.
The product name on your site and your packaging should match. It makes it easier for customers to find your product.
The “price” and “buy now” buttons should be as close to the top of the listing as possible. This placement in the site makes the purchase decision as easy as possible for your customers.
Shipping information on the site should be clear and located near the product price.
Include a subhead that would sell the product in a concise manner.
The first paragraph of your product description should answer customers’ initial questions about the product.
Your product description should also include product expectations about the flavor, quality, quantity, and what to expect in the shipment.
Make sure to include a review feature on your site, as it’s becoming a basis for people to buy your product.
Make it easy for your customers to spread the love by adding share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Shared posts create direct links to your products. They help your product rise in popularity and organic search results.

Follow The Virginia Foodie here:

Support the show

Join me as I share some actionable steps you can take today to help improve your close rate.
Virginia Foodie Essentials:

Landing pages are destinations for your site, and the intention is for the viewer to have only one obvious action. Your product page has one obvious action: putting the product into the cart. - Georgiana Dearing
Good writing helps close sales; poorly written descriptions and poorly organized content can turn shoppers away. - Georgiana Dearing
The goal of all content design is to make it as easy as possible for the readers. - Georgiana Dearing
There’s no hard and fast rule about the length of a product description. What you need to consider in your product details is the content that will add value to your readers and help them choose to buy from you. - Georgiana Dearing
Your product page is the place to share that great news. Social proof sells, and you need social proof on your site. - Georgiana Dearing

Key Points From This Episode:

Product descriptions help turn clicks into sales, but many brands still need to improve this aspect on their sites.
Your product page is the “last mile” of the sale. How you set up that page will make or break the sale for you.
Invest in your product description. Invest in good writing. Good writing helps generate sales, while poorly written descriptions and unorganized content do not attract shoppers.
The product name on your site and your packaging should match. It makes it easier for customers to find your product.
The “price” and “buy now” buttons should be as close to the top of the listing as possible. This placement in the site makes the purchase decision as easy as possible for your customers.
Shipping information on the site should be clear and located near the product price.
Include a subhead that would sell the product in a concise manner.
The first paragraph of your product description should answer customers’ initial questions about the product.
Your product description should also include product expectations about the flavor, quality, quantity, and what to expect in the shipment.
Make sure to include a review feature on your site, as it’s becoming a basis for people to buy your product.
Make it easy for your customers to spread the love by adding share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Shared posts create direct links to your products. They help your product rise in popularity and organic search results.

Follow The Virginia Foodie here:

Support the show

Previous Episode

The Power in Words: What is Conversion Copywriting and How to Use it to Leverage your Brand with Anna Bradshaw

As a good food brand, you need to emphasize the good in your brand. And when we say good, we don’t just mean the delicious, healthy, sustainable products you create. We also mean the good story behind your pursuit of success in the good food economy. It’s not enough for your story to travel word-of-mouth in your community. It’s essential to build your brand around your philosophy, and the best way for your mission to guide your brand is to put that story into writing.

This is where Anna Bradshaw’s job as a conversion copywriter comes in. Anna believes in the power of your story—the power your brand mission holds. All she needs is the right angle to frame a fitting choice of words and the online space to do so. Her job as a conversion copywriter helps brands like yours tell your story so you can make more sales online.

In this conversation, Anna shares the significance of copywriting for setting up our businesses for success.

Virginia Foodie Essentials:

I like to blend the best practices for sales with the brand personality. - Anna Bradshaw
You have to paint a clear picture with words and use the copy to reduce the perceived risk of buying something online.... We can use our copy to minimize that risk, to build trust right off the bat. - Anna Bradshaw
We eat with our eyes first.... Words can’t save you if you have unappetizing-looking photos. - Anna Bradshaw
In the end, it’s the same thing. It’s writing a message that someone wants to read and will take action based on that message. - Anna Bradshaw
It’s really wonderful to have a vision of a lifestyle that fits into the core values you put into making your product. - Anna Bradshaw
The best business relationships are always built on trust. - Anna Bradshaw

Key Points From This Episode:

Conversion copywriting puts an emphasis on getting people to take action. These actions might be anything but not limited to the following: purchasing, subscribing to the email list, following on social media, sharing, etc.
Anna Bradshaw approaches conversion optimization by trying to blend in best practices of persuasion tactics, information, and sales that fit the company’s brand vision. It’s working on balancing the fine lines of these approaches.
For food brands, it is a must to establish an online presence, and this is where a [sales] copy takes a significant role.
One thing to remember for food brands: Appetite appeal is a driving factor in food sales.
Knowing your audience and your target market—the Streakers, Strollers, and Studiers. But the end goal is to make sure that they can spot the most critical messages right away from the copy, no matter what type of audience they are.
Anna has worked on various brands, making her flexible and experienced as a copywriter. So far, she has written for the following: consumer-packed goods like beverages and food brands, skincare and beauty, apparel, jewelry, events, etc.
Maximizing your business’ website is vital, especially carefully crafting your landing page, homepage, and about page.
Aside from content, design, font and font size, colors, and pictures all factor in converting your audience’s clicks and making them valuable.
Proof of sales, such as customer reviews, is very helpful in establishing a brand. Being covered in the local newspapers and news press mentions is equally essential.

Follow The Virginia Foodie here:

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Next Episode

5 Tips to Carry Into 2023

To say that 2022 was a rollercoaster year is a vast understatement. Everybody was rushing to rebuild, recalibrate and rectify post-pandemic, while most of us want to start fresh in 2023.

Fortunately, I’ve witnessed some fantastic successes in the craft food industry. Whether restaurants, catering, or packed foods, the food business has taken a massive hit over the past two years. So it’s inspiring to see - and be part of - stories of overcoming obstacles and crises averted.

This episode chronicles stories from five specialty food & beverage businesses. Listen to the practical lessons from these good food brands:

Edwards Smokehouse: the value of sticking to the principles of being a good food steward
Back Pocket: maximizing the off-season to connect with your network of suppliers
JoyeBell’s: strategically switching from a small bakery brand to a manufacturing business model amidst a crisis
Nopalera: understanding the retailer you are choosing to partner with
Crescent Simples: how strategic investment in design helps grow sales

I am sharing tips from these five brands that have succeeded in retail while staying true to their commitment to locally-sourced quality ingredients with responsible, ethical practices. I hope it inspires you to do the same. Because when we are authentic and stay true to our commitment to the good food economy, it’s the consumers who end up being the winners.
Key Points From This Episode:

Stay focused on heritage, organic, and quality ingredients
Form strong partnerships with your farmers
Recognize that getting into retail chains takes a LOT of time, so plan for slow growth.
Do your homework and choose those retail partners wisely
Invest in good package design to be sure that your hard-won spot on the shelf continues to work hard for you

Follow The Virginia Foodie here:

Support the show

Good Food Marketing with The Virginia Foodie - Creating Product Descriptions that Close Sales

Transcript

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
[00:00:00] Georgiana Dearing: Hello foodies. Welcome to another episode of the Virginia Foodie. I'm George Deering, founder of va foodie.com, and I provide content marketing strategy and coaching for good food brands. For today's Marketing Monday episode, I'm revisiting my interview with Anna Bradshaw, a copywriter specializing in digital copywriting for brands.

[00:00:21] in epi