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How to Make Your Email Marketing Fast and Easy

How to Make Your Email Marketing Fast and Easy

Writing emails for your list. Falls somewhere near updating your blog on the priority list, huh? You know both things are super important to keeping your crowd up to date on your brand happenings and growing your audience. But email marketing is so dang time consuming. Plus, you have to dream up what to write about too.

What if I told you I could show you a way to save time on email marketing and make it feel a lot easier too? Well, sit tight because I’m about to make your day.

If you took the time to grow a list, don’t leave your followers hanging. They signed up because they want to know what you are up to, keep tabs on the latest happenings in your biz, and learn a thing or two along the way.

List kinda on the short side? There’s no better way to grow that puppy than by sending out emails people want to read. Share link included, of course.

Now, what you’ve been waiting for. The solution to your email marketing wishes.

3 Simple Steps to Easier, Faster Email Marketing

1. Come up with a plan: You probably aren’t surprised that I’m suggesting an editorial calendar for your email marketing. I believe in creating ed cals for pretty much everything you write on a regular basis, from blogging to social media posts. It helps to keep you on track and give you a longterm vision. Plus, there’s no better feeling when it comes time to write something up than a next step. Completely eliminates the guesswork and time spent staring at a blank Word doc.

So, make a list of what you want your audience to know about your biz, your products, your events, and yourself. Yep, your followers want to know more about YOU too. Emails that pop into your inbox only when it’s time for a sale or promo get boring fast. You can talk about your products, of course. But offer stuff up for free too. Like application tips, seasonal recommendations, ingredient and formulation info, and anything else you feel makes your products and brand interesting and unique.

Now that you have the list. Take a few minutes to chunk the items out into months. November is the perfect time to talk about moisturizing ingredients or warm makeup tones. Plan on giving gift ideas or ways to keep skin glowing in December. January is all about making skin feel detoxed and revived. You get the drift.

I like to put my ed cals in a Google doc. This makes them easy to share with your collaborators or team, add notes, make edits, etc. And don’t forget to mark them off after you’ve written about them.

2. Take a day or two to write for the month: Do you send emails out weekly? Twice weekly? More? Schedule a day or two each month to devote to writing your emails. Not only will this knock the task out and get your email marketing ready to go, but sticking with one task will set you on a roll and you’ll have those guys finished up in no time. You can even add them to your email editor and schedule them in advance.

3. Make your writing even easier by using email templates: Like ed cals, templates are one of my favorite writing tools. Why come up with a brand new format every single time you write an email? This is a huge time waster and totally unnecessary. When I create templates for my clients, I usually do two or three different types. For example, I may make one template for informational emails that link back to a blog post, and another that is shorter and features scannable tips.

Not sure where to begin with creating these templates? To get your creative juices flowing, I have come up with one for you. Download my email template by clicking the link below, add your own info, and off you go.

By taking a bit of time to come up with an ed cal and a template or two, your email marketing will feel like a snap. Keeping customers happy couldn’t be easier.

If you have questions on creating templates for your email marketing plan, get in touch!

How to Make Your Email Marketing Fast and Easy

 

Why Doing What You Do Best is Key to Success (Plus, Help With Your Content Plan)

Why Doing What You Do Best is Key to Success (Plus, Help With Your Content Plan)

It’s so easy to start an online business these days. Got a domain, some hosting, and a business name … you are off and running.

It may be a cinch to get all of that stuff but where do you go from there? Your website won’t create itself, sadly. It needs two things. Words and pictures.

Yep, content and images are the crux of a good looking, customer attracting, audience pleasing site. Sounds simple enough, right?

Anyone who has been in those shoes knows otherwise. Unless you have serious photog skills (and if you do, yay you!) then you will have to find a source for those pretty images that align with your brand.  And even those of you who love to write need a solid content plan. Journal style writing isn’t going to cut it online, sorry to say.

While I am the first to admit I definitely do not have picture taking skills, my biz is all about writing. And while it’s something I love to do, and my clients seem to love too, whether I’m writing for a client or my own site, it takes a bit of prep.

Here I will walk you through the basics of setting up a content plan for your site. Those of you who already have a site can use this as a checklist to see if you need to add anything new.

As for those images … I’ll let you in on where I source mine. As I said, this is all about doing what you do best. And if pic taking and writing copy aren’t two of them, hire them out so you can do what you are all about. It’s the key to a successful biz and a happy you.

 

How to Plan Copy for Your Website-2

How to Plan Copy for Your Website

Decide on pages: First off, what pages do you want to have on your site? A good natural beauty site has the basics: home page, about page, ingredient commitment page, and product pages. You may also want a blog on your site.

What you’ll share: What will you share on these pages? A home page should introduce your brand, tell your visitor why they are there, and offer the solution they are looking for. Your about page should tell your readers about you, why you started your brand, interesting facts, a bit about your team if you have one, all in a format that sounds like YOU. Ingredient commitments are pretty straightforward. Use mine if you want and add in your hero ingredients. Product pages, huh? These need to be super enticing and make your customer’s trigger finger twitchy. And if you are an online store, copy and pasting from brand sites is not acceptable.

Get it down: Write it all out on paper or put it in a word or google doc. Read it and read it again. Have someone else read it if you need a fresh set of eyes. If you are happy with it, feel it delivers what your customers are looking for, and feels like it jibes with your brand, go ahead and upload that good stuff onto your site.

Blogs and email: Blogs are so yesterday, right? Wrong! A healthy site blog lets you share new info with your followers and is a place where more personal info can live. Super into drinking chlorella at the moment? Talk about on your blog. Have a unique way to use that new facial serum you created? Tell ‘em all about on your blog.

Guess what? Your blog content also makes great email content. Yes, it’s almost too good to be true. But it is, it’s true! Take a piece from your blog post and use it as an excerpt, along with a fresh intro, as your email that links back to your blog, where your followers can read more, browse around, buy your stuff, you get the drift.

Editorial calendar (yep, you need one!): One rule of thumb I swear by, for myself and my clients, is an editorial calendar. You can come up with one for each week, each month, or each quarter. Heck, you can create one for the whole year if that’s your kinda thing. Don’t worry, you can always go in and switch things around or add to it, but having an ed cal in place is key to consistently delivering new material, sticking with your plan, and eliminating that gut wrenching feeling of having to come up with a new post spur of the moment.

Two things that make my life a ton easier.

Ok, remember it’s all about doing what you do best and supporting others who do what they do best. For me, writing comes easy. Making my site look gorgeous, not so much.

To make the site layout a ton easier, I use Bluchic templates. They are designed for female entrepreneurs, super easy to use, and affordable. There are templates for ecommerce too, so go check them out. If you are wondering, I use Jacqueline here.

Those images I keep referring to? Here’s where I source mine. They look profesh, can be used in a thousand different ways, are totally in sync with my brand, and worth every cent I’ve ever spent.

Hope this info helps you get your site snazzed up. If the whole content process sounds like a mind blower, time sucker, or completely out of your wheelhouse, let me know. It is what I’m all about and I’d love to help you with it too.

Why Words are So Important When Shopping Natural Beauty

Why Words are So Important When Shopping Natural Beauty

Natural beauty is all about being good to your skin and body. Using the best, healthiest ingredients. Getting a glow that’s as naturally gorgeous as your products are good for you. Right?

Of course, using natural beauty IS healthy, and better for you and the enviro. And yes, it IS all about the highest quality, natural and organic ingredients. So what the living heck do words have to do with all of this?

Words are the first tip off to who you can trust, and who you can’t.

If you’ve even tip toed around the natural beauty world, you know that not all brands are as pure as they’d like you to believe. Yep, greenwashers have always been (and still are!) a big ugly zit on the face of healthy beauty products.

Why? Money, honey. The natural beauty biz is a-boomin’ and folks want in. For a more in depth look at how this looks in today’s natural beauty climate, check out an article I wrote for Organic Authority with the help of some of the most authentic natch beauty brand founders around.

Back to those faux naturals. It’s all about marketing and most greenwashers are good at it. They use words that make them seem super natural and nontoxic and hot button phrases that catch consumer attention. Once you get the hang of how these posers work, you’ll be on your way to identifying fakes in a flash and stick with supporting the authentic brands who make the planet a better place for all of us.

Think words can’t possibly sway your view of a product so easily? Think of it this way. You meet up with a new acquaintance for coffee. She seems super nice, smiles a ton, and makes appropriate eye contact. But once you are seated and sipping your coconut milk latte, she can’t quit complaining. She looks sweet, her expression is happy, but she’s bitching and bashing to no end. Would you overlook her words and set up another coffee date simply because she looks good on the outside? Please tell me you would not.

You choose friends based on what’s on the inside. You should do the same with your beauty products. That cool label means nothing compared to what a product is truly made of, and hopefully that’s healthy ingredients.

Words to Look Out for on Natural Beauty Product Labels

Natural — I know, I know. We ARE talking about natural beauty products here. Is it really so weird that the word would appear in product marketing? The problem with the word natural is that it has no legal definition, and is flung far and wide on beauty product labels. Don’t put stock in a product that is merely labeled as “natural”.

Organic — This one seems like a no brainer, right? Organic is good, but it’s the other ingredients comingling with the organic ingredients you need to be concerned with. If a product is labeled “100% Organic” you can trust it is made entirely with organic ingredients. Otherwise, more investigating is required to ensure a product is toxin free.

Pure — Again, no legal definition. This one can be spotted on authentically healthy products and those who simply want to appear that way.

Paraben Free (or Phthalate Free, Petroleum Free…(you get the picture) — A decent marketer knows which ingredients have made the most headlines and will grab consumer attention. A product can be free from parabens or phthalates or petrolatum or any other nasty ingredient and still contain other toxins.

The moral of this story? Read ingredients listings. Check out a brand’s story and commitment. Follow and support brands who back up their labeling with clear information, and have values that align with your own.

Best Places to Find (and Ways to Use) Stock Photos for Your Beauty Site

Does the phrase “stock photos” turn you off? Not all that long ago, stock phots were basically those Shutterstock-y, unnatural, fake poses of overly perfect looking people doing ordinary things with a much too happy disposition.

Not only is it hard to keep things real when using those types of photos, but who wants their blog to look like the next person’s? Not me and not you!

Good thing for us, stock photos are not what they used to be. You can get beautiful images that match your brand aesthetic, and that are totally customizable too.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Well, not so much a secret if you scroll back through to some of my older posts, but … I used to try to take my own pics. Not gonna lie, it was cringey then and still is.

See, I once thought that in order to be good at running a website, you had to know how to do it all. And this included creating graphics and making your own images. Thankfully, today we solopreneurs are embracing our best attributes and hiring out the rest.

You wouldn’t fix your own car if you knew nothing about mechanics, right? Well, why wouldn’t that same level of professionalism go for the images you use with your business? There are people who are beyond great at creating gorgeous photos. Let them do what they do best. It not only makes your site, blog, social media, and emails look hella better, but keep things simple so you can do what you do.

My 4 Favorite Stock Photos Sites for Beauty and Lifestyle Brands

As you may have guessed, I like images that fit in with the beauty theme. Of course, they also have to match my site design and brand aesthetic. Most often I like images that speak for themselves, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to add text too.

There are three sites that are my go-tos for choosing images. They can be found here on the pages of OBS, at the top of most of my blog posts, in my emails, and even on my Instagram account. These gals make it super easy and their skills are over-the-top awesome.

1.Social Squares: Created by Shay Cochrane of The SC Stockshop, this vast (and growing all the time) collection of easily searchable images are tailor made for your social media, but can be used anywhere you like. They are simple and versatile. When I hop over to SS, I usually search by color or item, like “gold”, “glasses”, or “green leaves”. And you can’t go wrong at $6 an image.

2. TwigyPosts: These classic, natural images are soft and neutral with a bit of warmth. Also totally modern and a bit romantic. Shop by individual image or super affordable photo bundles.

3. Haute Stock: Clean, crisp images that are perfect for modern biz woman office vibe. This membership site offers a YouTube tutorial library that shows you how to do pretty much anything you can think of with stock images, from creating a pop-up graphic to customizing photos in Canva.

4. Styled Stock Society: Beautiful and bright images that work for beauty, lifestyle, wedding, and female business owner brands. I discovered this brand through the creators of my website theme Bluchic, also a fabulous resource for solopreneurs who love gorgeous stuff. Shop bundles and great sale prices, or grab yourself a membership.

No matter where you get your stock images, be sure to read the company license agreement to ensure you stay within the boundaries of proper use. The four I’ve listed above can be used pretty much however you see fit, other than on items you intend to sell or give your customers, like in a digital download or something. ALSO, all three offer free images monthly and they are always gooood!

Now go get yourself some pretty new pics!

Image :: Styled Stock Society

How to Write Copy That Meets FTC Compliance

How to Write Copy That is FTC Compliant

One thing that is universal in the beauty industry right now? Concern over Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations. Big name companies like Goop coming under fire for misleading advertising has been a wake up call for small businesses and large retailers. Do you know how to write your own copy and make sure it meets FTC compliance?

Even if you hire most of your copywriting work done for you, there will still be times when you need to come up with some brand words on your own. And when you do, it’s handy to know how to write in a way that is FTC compliant.

The problem with FTC compliance is that all of this is pretty ambiguous. I called both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the FTC to get the down and dirty on writing copy for natural beauty brands and retailers (that is my bread + butter, after all), and after being rerouted several times and turned down for comment once (!) I did get some decent info and have since compiled my own guide to writing for FTC compliance.

So, today I am sharing with you my guidelines on staying out of trouble with the FTC when writing for your website, email campaign, or social media, while still sounding like a real human being.

How to Write Your Own Copy That is FTC Compliant (A Guide to Keeping You Out of Trouble)

I’ll shoot it to you straight — this subject gets pretty in depth. In other words, there’s a legit learning curve here. I’ve spelled it out below as concisely as possible. Believe me, it is worth it to learn the ins and outs of this stuff.

What is FTC compliance? First of all, it’s helpful to understand what’s behind these regulations. The FDA regulates cosmetic product labeling. The FTC regulates cosmetic marketing and advertising, which includes product description and sales pages, blog posts, printed materials, social media, and how product ingredient, products, and uses are described. Yes, you read that right, social media posts count too. (that’s one tidbit I did get out of a representative at the FDA)

The FTC pays closest attention to ads that make claims about health and safety, like “this sunscreen will reduce the risk of skin cancer”.

Many brands run into trouble with misleading claims. Remember, according to the FDA definition of a cosmetic product, it cannot claim to treat or prevent disease, or affect or alter the structure or functions of the human body in any way. The FTC pays closest attention to ads that make claims about health and safety, like “this sunscreen will reduce the risk of skin cancer”.

Another hot button area for the FTC is with essential oils and aromatherapy claims. Steer clear of saying that EOs will help your customer sleep, get rid of anxiety, quit smoking, get rid of headaches … you get the picture.

Even if you aren’t making anti-cancer claims, it is still important to stick with FTC regulations when writing about cosmetics. Claims that a product will eliminate wrinkles, prevent acne, cure rosacea, or anything else that does more than affect the appearance or feel of skin or hair is considered misleading advertising.

What you can say: Under FDA rule, cosmetics can beautify, cleanse, promote attractiveness, and alter the appearance. In order to stay within FTC guidelines, it’s important to tell the story of the product in terms of how it makes the skin, hair, and body look, feel, and smell.

How do you keep from writing copy that sounds awkward or boring? This is a good question and one I’ve been asked by clients before taking on a project. Remember, tell the story. If you were to use a facial serum, how does it feel in your hands when you apply it to your skin, how does it make your skin feel, how does it smell, how does your skin look right after you apply the product, how does your skin look after using the product for a couple of weeks?

The bottom line is consumer perception. After reading your product description, will the consumer feel the product is intended to make their skin look radiant and youthful, or that it’s going to eliminate wrinkles and reverse aging? There’s a big difference when it comes to FTC compliance.

How natural is it? The terms “100% natural” and “all natural” are also no-nos when writing for FTC compliance. You can say that organic ingredients are organic, or that organic or natural ingredients are used to make the product. But because the term “natural” has no legal definition, all natural and 100% natural should be avoided.

A Snapshot of Dos and Don’ts to Use In Your Copy

Don’t Say These:

Eases pain/disease/skin issue
Prevents pain/disease/skin issue
Heals pain/disease/skin issue
Treats pain/disease/skin issue
Helps sleep/stop smoking/lose weight
Kills bacteria
Controls oil production

Do Say These:

Cleanses skin/hair
Conditions skin/hair
Moisturizes skin/hair
Lessens/diminishes the feeling of…
Lessens/diminishes the look/appearance of…
Improves the look/appearance of…
Makes skin look better
Reduces signs of …
Makes skin feel better
Beautifies

Yes, it’s a lot to take in and it’s a lot of work, not gonna lie. But since you can get your fanny in a jam by not taking time to figure this out, it’s the only way to go when writing any ad copy for your business.

Have questions? Get in touch and I will help guide you on your path to writing for FTC compliance.

How to Write Copy for Your Brand (The Formula I Use for My Clients)

How to Write Copy for Your Brand

Branding. It’s all about creating a cohesive and memorable experience for your followers. Know what is one of the most important elements in any brand? Your words. Yep, they should be as consistent as your brand colors, fonts, and images. Today I’m sharing my formula to teach you how to write copy for your brand that is 100% YOU!

Writing in your own voice seems like it should be easy, right? Then you imagine it going out to your followers and you think twice about that snarky line or slang term. Or maybe your voice is inconsistent. As in, sometimes you write in a casual, creative way, and other times you tend to sound more by the book.

The best way to keep you on the same track when writing your own copy is to have a formula. A guide that you can refer to that keeps your words sounding like your brand.

How to Write Copy for Your Brand

My Formula for Creating Cohesive Brand Copy

 

  • When I take on a new client, the first thing I do is have them give me a few words or phrases that they feel best describes their brand. I may or may not use the actual words in their copy, but they definitely give me a vibe to base things on.
  • Next up, I ask them for any keyword terms or tags that they would like included in the copy I write for them. These are usually well researched and highly important to the brand.
  • Third, I work up a voice and tone. Most often brands will have an idea on this already. If not, I give them an idea on voice and tone for their copy based on the description they give of their brand.
  • I also like to know the main demographic a brand works with. Who reads their blog, follows them on social media, and subscribes to their list? Are they thirty to forty year old mothers who are strapped for time? Are they twenty-somethings with less disposable income? Are they 50-ish and looking for high-end items that make them feel fabulous? It’s important to dial in on your target audience before you start writing.

If you are wondering how the heck you are supposed to make all of that happen, let me break it down for you. Fill in the blanks below and you are on your way to creating your own brand copy formula.

4 Key Elements to Creating Your Brand Copy (Fill In the Blank)

1. Your Brand Terms and Phrases: Which three words or phrases best describe your brand? Do you feel your brand is authentic? Luxe? A catalyst for change? A mother’s best friend? Try to think of how you want the user of your products, services, or site to feel.

 

2. Your Brand Keywords and Tags: You probably know which keywords and tags are most important to your brand for use on your site, blog, and social media. If not, head on over to Google Analytics keyword analyzer and get busy.

 

3. Your Brand Voice and Tone: These two terms are thrown around a lot in terms of copywriting. But what are they, really? Voice is your brand’s overall personality, while tone is the feel of your brand. For instance, my brand voice is straightforward and knowledgeable. My brand tone is casual and fun. I like to communicate my message in clear terms that are backed up with experience and know how, but in a way that is relatable with a bit of slang thrown in. Make sense?

 

4. Your Brand Demographic: You know who you are dealing with. Jot down the demo!

 

Now, follow these guidelines whenever you write any copy for your brand. From product descriptions, to emails, to that new downloadable guide you are wanting to write. This way you will have a professional brand that conveys your important message, and your followers will recognize you in a heartbeat.

There you have it. My formula for writing cohesive brand copy. Not feeling the DIY method? Get in touch so we can talk how to create your brand copy!

Is Fresh Copy On Your New Year’s Resolution List?

Is Fresh Copy On Your New Year's Resolution List?

I’ve had my nose so buried in client work lately and getting things tied up for the end of the year, that I almost forgot I have a blog of my own! I didn’t really forget about it but, as you online biz owners can probably relate, my own blog often gets the least of my attention.

It’s still here, I promise, and I am currently booking for next year. If you are a natural beauty brand or retailer and fresh copy for your site is on your list of New Year’s resolutions, let’s get you penciled in and start setting up a plan for your project.

Not sure exactly what your project looks like or if you need help at all? We can set up a Free Discovery Session for your site and see what may need to be brushed up.

Some things that you may need help with in the copy department:

FTC compliance — Did you know FTC advertising regulations apply to your product descriptions, information pages, ebooks, etc? You can learn more about FTC regulations and how to comply here, or feel free to shoot me a message for more info.

Product descriptions — You retailers aren’t using the brand description on your site, are you? And you product creators, do your descriptions share the full experience? If not, it’s time to get some super juicy product descriptions rolling on your site.

Standard Pages — Did you know this is one of the first places your visitors go when they get to your site? Whether you have decent About and Commitment pages that need a brush up, or haven’t gotten around to those yet, I can help. For now, feel free to use my Ingredients to Avoid page. All I ask is that you give me credit with a link back to my site.

Let’s get one thing checked off your to do list for next year and set up a time to talk more about your copy needs. Send me a message to get things started.

 

Image via Haute Stock Photography

How To Avoid the Writing Errors That Put Gwyneth Paltrow Under Investigation

How To Avoid the Writing Errors That Put Gwyneth Paltrow Under Investigation

Uh-oh. Looks like Gwyneth Paltrow is getting some public flogging over her health and wellness website, Goop, once again. She’s taken flack over the sometimes silly-seeming products she promotes, but this time it’s not coming from consumers and bloggers. Or even Martha Stewart.

It looks like Goop may be in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Those of us who are beauty bloggers recognize these guys as the ones who make us put up those disclaimers telling our audience things like “this post is sponsored by …” or “there are affiliate links in this post from which I receive a small compensation”. Yep, if you’ve ever wondered why we bother with those obtrusive disclaimers, it’s the FTC.

While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) governs cosmetic labeling, the FTC regulates advertising claims. This includes product descriptions on brand websites.

As a beauty copywriter I am very familiar with FTC regulations. Basically, when marketing a cosmetic product for sale you cannot describe the product as altering or affecting the structure or function of a human body, or curing or preventing disease or health issues. In the eyes of the FDA, drugs do those things, cosmetics do not.

Even if I absolutely swear a client product has done something amazing to my skin, like made it firmer or erased a wrinkle, I can’t say that in the product description I write for them. It has to be all about making the skin look and feel more attractive. That’s the law.

But it looks like the copywriting team at Goop missed the memo. I love to read the health articles at Goop and Jean Godfrey-June has long been my beauty editor idol. The problem isn’t with the articles recommending products or remedies, it’s when health claims are used to market the products, as in product descriptions on sales pages.

For example, one of the products in question is a flower essence blend that can be used on the skin for “trauma repair”. The trouble spot is “this formula helps clear, stabilize and soothe emotional trauma.” They could have said “this formula lends a feeling of clarity, stability, and soothing to emotional trauma.” (I’m also a fan of the Oxford comma 😉) or “designed to offer a clear, stabilized, and soothing feeling to mind and body.” Either of those would have worked with FTC law but making health claims is the no-no.

Another example is a moisturizer on the site that is said to “work throughout the day to firm and rejuvenate the skin.” It can “give the feeling of firmer, rejuvenated skin” or “increase the appearance of firmer, rejuvenated skin” under FTC law, but it cannot claim to physically alter the skin.

If all of this is a bit too word nerd for you, the main issue is this. If you read any cosmetic product advertising that claims to improve your health or the actual structure of your skin, it is in violation of FTC laws. Authentic natural beauty brands know this and product descriptions that follow FTC regulations are proof you are dealing with a pro.

If you are a natural beauty brand or shop owner who would like help coming up with product descriptions that won’t get you in trouble with the FTC, contact me. It can be tricky to work within these guidelines and not repeat the same words and phrases over and over. I’m well versed in FTC laws and would love to help you put together fresh product descriptions that are as creative as they are legal. Let’s talk!

Photo by Lauren Mancke on Unsplash

Product Descriptions That Make Shoppers Want to BUY

 

 

Product Descriptions That Make People Want to Buy

I look at organic beauty websites. Like, a lot.

Not only because I am way into organic beauty, which I am, but because I write about organic beauty five days a week. Ok, sometimes six.

There are certain sites I go to constantly. Others I check in with once in a while. And then those that I want to like, but…don’t.

Why? It’s not the products they sell or the way the site looks (pretty beauty sites are a must!). It’s the words. Or lack of.

When you are looking at beauty products online, the experience is dramatically different than when you are shopping in real life. Duh, right? Hear me out here.

Beauty products are used on your face, your body, your hair…You want to know what it feels like, what it smells like, how it makes your skin (hair, nails…) look. Who doesn’t open up a sealed bottle in store if there is no tester? I’ll totally cop to that on the reg.

So, the only way you can know what the product is like, how it feels, looks, and smells IRL, is through the words that are on the website. No words? Disappointment to the max.

And sometimes the words themselves are disappointing. A too generic or just plain blah product description is not, well, descriptive. C’mon, we want the deets, here.

So, what I am urging you shop owners and product creators to do is get some super ripe and juicy product descriptions on your site, pronto. Customers want to know if a product is floral or herbal, or citrusy, or even unscented. Is it lightweight or ultra rich? Does it feel velvety or quenching? Does it smell like a single crisp, chilled rose or like a walk through the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden on a freakin’ 90 degree day in June?? They want to know. And, most often, they want to know before they’ll buy.

When I write product descriptions for brands or shop owners, I request samples of select products. Not the entire product line-up but certain items to get the feel of the range, so I can tell visitors what the product is all about. Not just what it will do for their skin or hair, but what the experience is like.

So, do your customers and yourself a favor. Can the standard (read: boring) product descriptions and get to know the products you sell, then tell the world about them. And, I promise, I’ll visit your site.

Have trouble putting those mouth watering words together? Have the words but no time to get them down? Lucky for you, words are my thang and I’d absolutely love to help you with some fresh, juicy, super shop-able product descriptions. Get in touch!

Image :: Twigyposts.com