Your catalog copy needs to capture the buyer’s attention quickly and persuade them that they need to buy right now. Many companies use stale, boring descriptions and don’t understand why their catalogs have poor sales performance. They don’t bother targeting specific audiences, their copy only covers product features and their buyers are closing the catalog after the first page. Instead of exciting buyers with your latest products, you’re creating a negative impression of your business. Revamp your product copy and make your catalog into the selling powerhouse it should be with these tips.
Learn Your Audience’s Language
Your marketing and sales teams use buyer personas and demographic information to create a picture of your ideal buyers. These buyers respond to specific writing voices. For instance, college students will be receptive to a colloquial and informal tone, while account executives will expect a more authoritative tone. In order to get a feel for the right language, visit websites, social media profiles and other online locations that your target audience frequents. Identify common terminology and slang used in their communication style and incorporate these phrases into your catalog copy.
Identify Buyer Pain Points
Another benefit of conducting audience language research is discovering common pain points. Your buyers may spend too much time trying to accomplish a task or get frustrated because they use five products to achieve a goal instead of one. When you understand the buyer pain points and the language they use to refer to these problems, you can create an emotional connection through the catalog copy.
Use Benefits-First Structure
Your product may offer never-before-seen features in your market segment, but you’re going to lose your audience’s interest unless you use a benefits-first structure. You need to show buyers the solutions your products solve or the value they add to the buyer’s life. Not only do you help buyers discover helpful products, but you also screen out customers who are better served by a different product. Your features provide more information after you attract the buyer’s interest.
Anticipate Buyer Questions
Address potential sales objections within the catalog copy instead of adding friction to the buyer’s purchase decision. If your buyer knows how the product fits into their life, how it addresses their pain points and gains enough information to make a purchase decision from the product description, you decrease the chance that they change their mind or need to spend time contacting sales or customer service for answers.
Keep It Succinct
You’re writing copy for a catalog, not a novel, so you need to keep things succinct. You have a lot of information to convey in a small space, so choosing powerful words designed to maximize your copy’s impact is a must.
Consider the Visual Impact
Your catalog copy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Product photos, specifications and other catalog design elements surround it on the page. Consider how your copy appears with the visual context surrounding it. Do you have enough emphasis on the buyer benefits or is the page design too busy? Create a natural flow to your catalog copy so the buyer’s eyes go from the product photo to the most important parts of the description.
Your catalog should be a major sales tool, but you may need to overhaul your copy before it reaches its potential. Creating top performing catalog copy should be a business priority instead of an afterthought. Once you start treating product descriptions with the same consideration and care that you use for other marketing copy, you’ll turn it into a critical sales tool for your business. Use these tips to give your catalog copy the face lift it needs for better sales. Looking for a copy management solution to keep everything organized during this process? Explore Catsy’s PIM Software for your catalog needs.
