7 Must-consider Morsels Before Hiring an eCommerce Copywriter

1. Zero in on the mission
2. Set up a sensible schedule
3. Experience is essential
4. Passion is pivotal
5. Seek out SEO-savviness
6. You get what you pay for
7. Add a little AI

You’ve got a great product. It’s going to change lives and take the world by storm. Heck, you’ve even got a whole line of great products - a bona fide team of superheroes (step aside, Avengers). 

But the world doesn’t know it yet.

Unfortunately, a megaphone and a mountaintop won’t get you very far. Your eCommerce business could certainly garner a bit more reach if you build your website and write your marketing content effectively. 

Your daily business tasks, however, are piling up faster than the dirty dishes after Christmas dinner. Besides, you’re no Shakespeare - you won’t be churning out a Romeo and Juliet anytime soon. 

So, you’ve decided to dive into the wonderful world of eCommerce copywriting and enlist your own marketing hero.

The only problem?

Finding the right one for you, in an ocean of options.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to swim from LA to Shanghai to figure it out - we’ve put together 7 Must-consider Morsels you need to have in mind when hiring eCommerce copywriting services.  

Sound up your alley? Put your SCUBA gear back in the closet and read on.

1. Zero in on the mission

Establish your target audience. If you don’t have a specific type of buyer in mind, you’ll end up with “everything-but-the-kitchen sink” content that casts an impossibly wide net - but doesn’t catch anyone.

Understand your ideal buyer - build personas for your products! How do your buyers communicate; what kind of language do they use? What are their needs and desires?  

Answer these questions and it will inform your copywriting with the message you want to send, the tonality and language you want to use, and even the format of your copy.

This foundation will go a long way towards helping you choose who will bring your brand to life - or give it a new one, if it needs some phoenix magic.

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2. Set up a sensible schedule

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your eCommerce business (hopefully) doesn’t face quite the same challenges as an ancient civilization, but the same principle applies. Quality results require investment, and when hiring a manual copywriter, that means time. 

Wait, “manual”? Isn’t all copywriting “manual”?

The short answer is no.

Intrigued? We’ll get into that more later.

Let’s calibrate here: developing content traditionally takes weeks. Revisions, refinements, style tweaks - the creative process takes time. Rushing this process generally results in work that is more expensive, or low caliber, or both! 

It’s best to approach the process with a reasonable time frame in mind. Work with your copywriter to establish an agreed upon editorial calendar and set of expectations. 

A natural extension of time frames and expectations is to consider availability. If you’re working with freelance copywriters, bear in mind that the brand voice in your copy may be tied to their style - which could affect your longer term strategy if your relationship with that particular copywriter discontinues. 

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3. Experience is essential

Okay, it’s a no-brainer. Of course you want your copywriter to be experienced - you’re not going to just hire some Joe Schmoe who flashed a brilliant smile at you on the street (although you may want to compliment his dentist).  But what does “experienced” really mean? 

The field of copywriting has different facets, but can become rather specialized in two realms: industries and media. 

Copy for finance is different from copy for fashion, or for consumer electronics. It can certainly be helpful, and preferable, for any copywriter you hire to have had a couple spins around the block in your particular industry. 

Some would argue, however, that it’s even more important to have had experience writing for the medium you are targeting.

Imagine needing goods (or in this case a key marketing message) delivered - on the one hand, yes, it’s absolutely helpful for your delivery driver to know the grid and streets around the city.  But how about whether that delivery person can drive your large, stick-shift delivery truck if they’ve only ever driven sedans? 

A copywriter who has only written for magazines may not have honed the skills to create short, digestible segments for your website. They may not be well-practiced at optimizing hyperlink placement, or cultivating a smooth, user-friendly flow to ease website navigation. 

Copywriters who create blog posts are great at answering questions and targeting keywords, but may not be able to write copy to compel visitors to take action, like you need for your landing pages.

Writers who whip up catchy snippets for social media posts may not be so proficient with the highly professional style needed for press releases...and so on. You get the idea. 

What’s important is that your copywriter has had enough experience to be able to jump right into your business.

They can quickly learn your background, values, and unique selling points, and adapt to your preferred style in executing your brand personality.  They’re enthusiastic about engaging readers, generating leads, or driving conversion rates - and they know how to do it.

The trick, of course, is to balance experience level with your budget. It goes without saying that more experience is accompanied by a higher price tag.

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4. Passion is pivotal

Keen interest and enthusiasm lend themselves to an entirely different universe of output than boredom and apathy do.

Does your copywriter’s brain buzz for what they do? Does creating marketing poetry and making brands come alive spark fire in their belly? 

Beyond just zeal for writing, is your copywriter an eager learner?

Sure, they could bring an enormous wealth of experience in the industry and your target medium. A prevailing truth, however, is that they still won’t know your business inside and out the way they need to in order to give it the service it deserves.

Your ideal copywriter must be ready to learn, and learn fast.

eCommerce copywriting is, at its core, two things: learning and writing. Your business will always be better served by an energetic, knowledge-thirsty wordsmith. 

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5. Seek out SEO-savviness 

Particularly if your medium is online (web copy or blogs), it’s important to consider how well your copywriter understands Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques.

You’re paying hard earned money for great content - but how much value does it actually bring you if it doesn’t appear in search results and get in front of real people? 

SEO can be intimidating for many new website copywriters, resulting in them avoiding the “S” word like they avoid their Aunt Gertrude at the family reunion. In reality, just like their ultra-nosy, cheek-pinching aunt, it catches up with them eventually.

The bottom line is that your website needs to reach your target audience quickly and consistently. Fortunately for those copywriters with an Aunt Gertrude, one doesn’t need to become the ultimate SEO rocket scientist to make the basic principles work for your content.

If you have already developed a keyword strategy, your copywriter should be able to implement it into their work to help you build your online presence on search engine results pages (SERPs).

If not, conducting solid keyword research and developing a practical set of primary keywords (long-tail keywords for extra credit!) is an approachable task your copywriter should be able to work with you on.

6. You get what you pay for

Oh, no. The old adage. Hey, they’re around for a reason. 

Would you drop a big budget chunk on snazzy web build or graphic design, then cut that spending in half for your actual content that’s meant to generate leads and drive conversions? 

You’d be wrapping your box of a website in the prettiest paper with a big sparkly bow...then filling the box with straw.

Great for horses. Not so much for humans.

This strategy just doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, it is a path many businesses take, hiring eCommerce copywriters who make bottom-line-battering mistakes...

...and their leads and conversions suffer for it later. 

A hard fact of life - it’s full of tradeoffs. Take shortcuts or channel your stingy side, and you’ll see it in your results. 

There is a huge range in copywriting costs out there - we’ve seen numbers ranging from $25 to a whopping $25,000 per page!

Of course, you’ll shell out on the higher end of the spectrum for more experienced writers, especially ones with specific niche or industry experience.

Looking for editing skills? Expect to pay a little extra there too. 

In the eCommerce industry this can be particularly tough, given how quickly some copy - like product descriptions - need to change.  Going through the process (and making the gargantuan payments) every season can get exhausting.

Your wallet would agree, too.

But wait - emptying your pockets for great copy doesn’t have to be your only option.

Remember how we talked about “non-manual” copywriting options earlier?

7. Add a little AI

The future is here, and one of its hats is automation. 

The growth of automation has already resulted in a lot of website copy that is software-generated. With the help of natural language generation (NLG) technology, these software platforms are able to produce high quality “sound like a human” texts - faster, cheaper, and more consistently.

They’re able to analyze text written by real humans, then produce unique content that reads like it was written by real humans.

If you’ve got big copywriting service needs, these tools can automate the tedious and repetitive parts for you - and do it scalably. 

Go forth and convert

There you have it, 7 essential considerations that will help you find your dream copywriter. Go do it - and build a sustainable working relationship that will help your business blossom!

Intrigued by the idea of using automation to help you with your content? You’ll be ecstatic to learn more about the benefits. 

When you automate your eCommerce copywriting, you really can have your cake and eat it too - you’ll save time and money, without losing quality.  

Don’t know where to start? We’d be glad to help! At Xanevo we offer a unique capability in highly customized copywriting, with a focus on product description generation. 

We harness the best of both man and machine to produce exactly the content you need. It’s based on your style preferences and real professional copy written (by humans!) just for you. 

We work with award-winning copywriters and use AI-assisted technology to automate 90% of the texts you need - saving you 80% of the time and up to 50% of the cost, while keeping 100% of the quality.

Book a free 30-minute consultation with Xanevo today to fast-track your journey to streamlined, pain-free copy that converts. Stay SEO-focused, up to date and one step (or thousands!) ahead of your competitors. 

Life doesn’t always have to be about tradeoffs. Go for it, bask in the best of both worlds!