• By michelle
• In Content Marketing

Best Luxury eCommerce Writing Practices

When you hear the words luxury eCommerce, you may find your mind drifting to images of women dripping in diamonds, high-end sports cars that cost more than your current home, or men wearing $3,000 Roberto Cavalli jeans.

Stereotypical, maybe. However, there is some reason and truth as to why we picture these product images.

These images of luxury products are ingrained into our subconscious for a reason—they resonate high-value and create desire.

Nothing says, “‘I’m living a life of luxury” better than wearing a $3,000 pair of “underwear covers” that you can never wash for fear you might shrink them.

Perhaps underwear covers is a bit of an odd term for what most people call pants, but this is my point…

No matter what brand of pants you buy, whether they cost $20 or $3,000, they all have the same job:to keep you covered and ensure others don’t see those embarrassing tighty-whities your Mom gave you for Christmas last year.

So, why the price difference? I’m so glad you asked.

The significant difference in price exists because those $3,000 jeans are considered special and unique, are endorsed by a designer, are made with high-quality materials, and most important are positioned as a luxury product.

If your products have just one of the different luxury characteristics listed above, you should consider positioning them as luxury products.

When you can prove your product has exceptional value and is luxurious, you’re able to increase the value of your product and ultimately make more money.

We’ve had some great opportunities to write for luxury eCommerce websites, and would love to share what we know with you! Keep reading to discover some of our favorite practices for writing luxury products.

Luxury eCommerce Tip #1: Create Demand for Your Products

Luxury is often created when demand exceeds supply.

For that reason, tailor your product copy to send a message that there is a limited number of whatever products you offer or materials that make up that product.

The trick, however, lies in creating that demand and then proceeding to let your audience know the quantity of the products you’re selling is limited.

This creates the opportunity for you to offer a set number of products that have a luxury price tag attached to them.

Think about how Apple releases its new iPhones.

Everyone and their mother’s uncle knows when a new iPhone is being released. Apple produces TV commercials, print ads, etc. Yet, on the day of the release, they only have so many phones in stock.

If you’re not one the first 100 people in line (or whatever their number is), and don’t pay the highest ticketed price, you will not get the latest iPhone on release day.

Move forward about 3 months, and suddenly the price drops (not much, but enough that it’s noticeable), and everybody who visits an Apple store, or cell phone store, can purchase whatever iPhone they desire.

Another aspect of exclusivity is limited-edition or one-of-a-kind products.

While not considered a luxury product, Nintendo provides a perfect example to drive home this point.

If you’re an old-school Nintendo fan, you may know about the NES classic edition gaming system, complete with all the original Nintendo games, that Nintendo released just in time for the holidays.

This is a limited-edition product that is also limited in quantity.

Stores around the country were each given a set amount as inventory, and the morning they went on sale, people got up at 4:00 a.m. to wait in line for a ticket, hoping they’d be able to snag one.

Once a store sold out, that was it. If you wanted one but didn’t get a ticket, you now had to wait until someone sold their system on eBay.

Having a limited quantity of highly desirable products motivates shoppers to not only purchase your product, but also pay a higher price.

If you have a product that you can position on your eCommerce website in a similar fashion, give it a try!

Oh, and this doesn’t mean you have to keep producing new products to sell limited quantities of them. I’m sure Nintendo will eventually sell the NES classic edition gaming system online without any limits.

But for now, this strategy is creating demand and allowing Nintendo to raise their prices on this specific product.

Luxury eCommerce Tip #2:Clearly Define What Sets Your Product Apart

Let’s go back to the underwear cover analogy again: pants are just body covers that all do the same job, right?

Yes, they are to most people. Well, unless you can clearly define why your pair of pants is much more valuable than just a standard pair of pants that keeps your legs warm.

Maybe your pants are …

• Hand sewn by people with exceptionally small hands (not children, of course, that’s not cool!) so the stitching is so tight and perfect that they don’t tear as easily.

• Crafted without the use of chemicals which makes them better for the environment.

• Made from cotton that’s grown on farms that hire people to sing and talk to the plants so the cotton is healthier and happier. (Weird, yes,but it’s a thing. Look it up!)

If you sold pants that had these unique and valuable qualities, you would want to share is on your eCommerce website.

Here’s a great example from the Baja Baby Shop, a luxury bath product store for children that we had the opportunity to write for.

Notice all the details in this small piece of copy that segment this Baja Baby bubble bath as a luxury product.

Before the copy begins, we see  badges that let us know that Baja Baby products are organic, paraben-free, sulphate-free, cruelty-free, etc.

Throughout the website, the web copy highlights why you would want to buy this product, whom it’s for, and then reiterates what makes this bubble bath different from other kid soaps that are filled with harmful chemicals and other junk.

If you visit the Baja Baby Shop website, you’ll notice that all of the product descriptions follow the same format.

The product descriptions aren’t the only thing that showcases why Baja Baby is a luxury brand. Check out this image of the home page…

If you’re eco-conscious and/or worried about the chemicals you expose your kid to, this is clearly  a product that you can feel good about buying, even if it costs you a few extra pennies.

It’s all about value.

Luxury eCommerce Tip #3: Provide Quality Product Information to Simplify the Purchasing Process

You can bet that if someone’s going to be spending $100,000 on something like a car,  they are going to do their research first.

I certainly would.

This is why it’s so important to provide as much information about your product on your eCommerce website as you can.

Do this by…

• Clearly listing out and defining your products features and benefits.

• Letting your audience know about customization options.

• Providing testimonials and reviews.

• Including downloadable manuals/guides for your products.

• Adding clear and clean images of your product.

Here’s an example of how Maserati does this…

I clicked on the “more info” button  for their 2017  Ghibli S Q4. I was sent to a page that gave me this info:

First, it gave a features overview.

 

Next, I received information on craftsmanship.

 

Then, material choices…

Extensive information about the car just kept coming. I could fill at least 2 more pages with the images, design details, etc., that Maserati provided on this specific car.

Even after all of this info was given, they offered me an option to get in touch with them to learn even more about this car.

This is the type of info you need to make sure you write for your eCommerce website to help sell your products.

Luxury eCommerce Tip #4: Use Social Media to Your Advantage

A post on Facebook is probably not the first thing you think of when you think about promoting the luxury products on your eCommerce website.

Yet, many luxury brands are finding great success by using social platforms like Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, and Twitter to sell their products.

One major reason social media works for luxury brands—celebrity endorsements.

Partnering with celebrities to promote your luxury products is something we see all the time. It’s old news,yet it still works well to sell products.

Now imagine partnering with a celebrity that has 5 million follows on their Instagram or Twitter account.

Jackpot.

When your celebrity partner shares your products through social media, you now have 5 million new eyes on your products. The best part…those eyes are all influenced by the celebrity you partner with.

If Michael Jordan or Ellen DeGeneres thinks your product is awesome, others tend to jump on the bandwagon.

This Ulta Beauty promotion from Ellen DeGeneres has only been posted for a few weeks and already has 615,000 views!

If Ellen likes it, and her fans seem to like it, I will probably like it, too!

See how awesome that is?

I understand that not everyone has celebrity spokespeople at their disposal. Not to  worry…your social media success does not have to rely on celebrity endorsements.

In fact, there are many businesses that are finding creative ways to use social media to share and promote their products. Without the help of celebrities.

We’ll use Burberry as an example.

Burberry simply created an Instagram account and started posting pictures of their products.

Stunning images, aren’t they?

Over time, these images have provoked 8 million people (insane, right?) to follow the Burberry Instagram page.

Now, they have 8 million people that follow them and are exposed to their products every time they post a new picture.

Think about that for a minute…

That’s 8 million people who are exposed to Burberry products for the low cost of pushing a button and publishing a photo.

That’s a heck of a lot cheaper than having to pay for a print ad or TV commercial every time they want to show off a piece of their collection.

On top of Instagram, Burberry has other social accounts in which they post the images and give information about their products to all the people that follow them on social media.

The exposure itself is incredible. And for that reason alone, I highly recommend making sure that you write and put together social media content for your eCommerce website.

It can be a slow process as you build your social following, but as it grows, you should begin to see the rewards (people purchasing from your eCommerce website) while using social media outlets.

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