The dmi guide to ecommerce

Ecommerce Copywriting

“When people see bold text on the search 

results page they tend to see it as more 

relevant and are more likely to click.” 

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Good sales copy should focus on FOMO (fear of missing out) and 

appeal to the sense of urgency that online customers may feel when 

they are searching for a product. Highlight what they may be missing out 

on so it’s hard for them to resist buying the product. Include social proof 

that the product is loved by many people, such as customer testimonials 

or online reviews. Besides text content, add a video showcasing the 

product and/or several photos that allow a user to see everything  

from all angles. The ecommerce store Zappos does a good job of this:

Videos can allow users to experience a product in a more Videos  

can allow users to experience a product in a more physical way, 

something that is very difficult when you’re buying online. Being  

able to see a person with the product can give users a better sense 

of scale and what it looks like when it’s worn or used. If it’s something 

mechanical, like a demo on how to use it, that is also helpful and gives 

customers more confidence when it comes to buying. If something  

is complicated or hard to show in photos alone, a video may  

be the best way to properly showcase the product.

Moz recommends

 using powerful action words in copy, such as 

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“brilliant” and “dominate.” These emotion-evoking words can motivate 

the user to complete a purchase. 

Foundr magazine recommends

 telling 

an “origin story” through ecommerce copywriting by showcasing the 

brand’s history and expertise behind each product. The homepage 

 and About page should reflect why the customer is the hero, but  

use the product pages to make an impact on why the user would  

want the product based on its (and the company’s) history.

It’s also important to not make your product pages too repetitive. Make 

each product page unique and don’t recycle the same copy over and 

over with just a few edits. Attempt to make each product page as unique 

and in-depth as possible in order to increase your chances of getting  

indexed and shown in search engine results. 

As well as listing information about a product, pages can include 

recommendations of related products. This is something Amazon  

does especially well. They use a mixture of factors like the user’s 

personal purchase history as well as what other users have  

bought when they bought that specific product. This allows them  

to recommend a carousel of highly relevant products that a user is  

more likely to click on, as opposed to recommended products that  

were chosen at random. If possible, add a recommended product 

widget or feature on product pages that provides personalized 

recommendations. This type of functionality exists natively in Shopify 

and many other ecommerce platforms.

“...personal purchase history ... allows them 

to recommend a carousel of highly relevant 

products that a user is more likely to click on, 

as opposed to recommended products that 

were chosen at random.”

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