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Why product titles are a DEAL breaker and how they will help you strike one?

Believe it or not, good product titles can be a strong indicator of the seriousness of your eCommerce tactics. In a nutshell, the proper method of writing them is pretty simple, it only requires to stop beating around the bush and get to the point.

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Although there are infinite ways to write a product title, there are only a few great ones that will do the job and convince your audience to buy the product. We’ve got some good suggestions on how to get started and let them work for you. 

What is it exactly you`re trying to achieve?

Conversion is the primary chase of any business. However, when writing product titles, it’s easy to forget to see them as a significant part of your strategy. It’s a pity because good product titles can help you raise your business`s conversion rate big time. 

You know that your product title is successful when it engages well with the customer, which in turn leads to the customer purchasing the product. Titles are part of psychological matching, where the keyword used in the search ideally leads to the right product that awakens the user`s wish to have it. Think of it as a magnet, the right match of users’ needs and their desires materialized as things that can be delivered to their doorway in just a few days with Amazon Prime. It sounds like an easy task when we put it that way, but writing a good product title craves practice.

Tip: your product title is successful when it engages well with the customer

It may look like a small thing to consider, but the tiny effort to make it right shall help you reap a large number of benefits. Having complicated, duplicated or unclear titles can seriously damage your chance of making a sale – in fact, at least 20% of purchase failures are caused by missing or unclear product info. 

Did you guess why?

It’s actually walking a thin line, the lack of primary information about the product can be a big turn-off, but too much of it can appear spammy. There are also situations where a well-written product title can really save the day. For instance, if a user is looking for a t-shirt of his favorite band and the hosting is slow, or the image file is too heavy to load, the title of the product will be able to display while the image may still be loading. This creates a user`s sense of trust, as whatever you we`ve been looking for has shown up correctly due to the accurate description of the product’s title, even though the image hasn’t been loaded. Exactly this feeling of trust is what you`re aiming for.

Keep in mind that you need to write for both your customers and search engines.This way you are supporting good SEO practices too, as all search engines will prioritize clear and unique content. Creating the perfect product title can help Google understand exactly what it is you are selling and drive more traffic to your site. Unless the customer already knows the exact product they are after, the keyword-rich title is more likely than the shorter one to rank for far more search terms on SERPs.

Who is the important one here?

Try to focus on the user. The product title should answer your audience’s questions that you can pretty much sum up: “What’s in it for me?”

 And the only thing they want from you is to bring out the benefits and make clear offers when talking about your products and services. You will make it a lot easier for the customers and also reduce getting additional user questions about the product details. If you`re stuck with the way to present your product, a good start is to think about the features that make you attracted to the product. That is the best method to find a strategy on how to handle your customer`s needs.

Tip: Good product titles include obvious classification and organizational marks 

This should go without saying, but clear titles don’t play with words or try to make a joke. A great title goes directly to the point of your content. Even being clever or intriguing doesn’t help much. Use your wit in other types of content because in this case, most people will miss it. Before anything else, you should know who your target audience is and to whom your product is going to set. Once you are aware of that, you can start creating titles based on what your audience will like and be attracted to. Try to incorporate their language and words into your product copy in order to get their attention and convey your message more resoundingly. Understanding your buyer personas can help you describe your product better and really make a difference.

Tip: A great title goes directly to the point of your content

 Also, an important thing to consider is web accessibility. 15% of the population worldwide have disabilities which means that millions of people with disabilities are struggling to use the Internet. But the good news is that accessibility-friendly sites make things easier for them as well as for non-disabled users. The first thing you want to consider is font size. It’s important that your text can easily be read by people who are partially blind or who simply have trouble seeing smaller font sizes. You should build your website in a way that allows a user to zoom up to 200% without losing the ability to use or view your site content. When writing clear product titles, you allow screen readers to quickly identify the product and help them understand what exactly it is. Have in mind that all information must be presented in a way users can perceive it, no matter what software (i.e. screen readers) they operate with or what disabilities they have. That way you are making sure that all of your users can consume your content and make a conversion. 

Biggest product title mistakes

You’ve seen plenty of sketchy product titles that practically yell:  Don`t click on me! Your headline is an ad that has to convince the audience that your product has the solution for their needs. So it’s best to avoid these crucial 5 mistakes.

You can skip:

  • Capitalizing conjunctions, articles and prepositions. 
  • Using all caps
  • Listing features 
  • Anything that has to do with pricing or promotions. Don`t reference free shipping or list the price in the product title.
  • Blowing your own horn – Saying your product is the best or greatest one is actually a turn-off!

Now, what should the product title actually look like?

Without creating an unnecessary commotion, the product titles have to be clear and quickly convey exactly what you’re selling. While this may seem obvious, it’s often overlooked. It`s of big importance that you allow potential buyers to single out your product from among dozens or hundreds of competing products found online. An easier thing to do is to use a relevant title that clearly describes your product. The more specific you are with your title, the easier it is for users to identify the correct product. 

Tip: The more specific you are with your title, the easier it is for users to identify the correct product.

For example, if you`re selling dresses, you have probably listed a few different types on your landing page, all distinguished through different sizes and colors. Users need a simple way to quickly identify the product they were looking at initially and a well-written title can help with that. ASOS knows how to do it and that’s why the dresses on their site own titles like “oversized mini sweatshirt hoodie dress in navy” or “curve mini wrap shirt dress in black”.

Don`t forget to be grammatically correct. Zero – flaws grammar is easier to understand and gives you a more professional appearance, which can lead to more clicks. Also avoid gimmicky ways of drawing attention such as all caps, symbols, HTML tags, and promotional text. Try to avoid using words from foreign languages, unless they’re well understood such as a product with a foreign name or title. Letters with accents are allowed. Also, it’s a good idea to skip any terms that are potentially confusing (i.e. jargon).

Tip: Users need a simple way to quickly identify the product

As already mentioned, relevancy is key, and so is the length of the title, so ensure to keep your titles short and simple, consisting of all the relevant details regarding your product.  Try to stay with the optimal product title length that is between 20-70 characters. Simply finding the right length for a product title and product description will surprisingly help you get  51% more clicks!

Users who are already familiar with the brand are further down the funnel to making that crucial purchase decision. As an example, customers are more likely to search Google for “Kindle” than “e-reader”. So according to the fact that 82% of consumers say they are loyal to specific brands, it probably makes good sense to have that included in the product title as the very first word they’ll read, but keep in mind it only works with well-known companies.

Another tip is to approach product titles as keywords. It will help connect your product with a user’s search and help the user recognize what you’re selling. To write a good product title you will need to have some understanding of how it fits into the context of the entire product range. The right keywords should include types of product details like product name, brand and specific details about the product area.

To summarize, here are the easy and powerful headline formulas:

  1. Write in plain simple words 
  2. Include specifics such as size, color, gender, material, and condition
  3. Don’t use extra white spaces
  4. Try to use 20-70 characters
  5. Try to make it informative, relevant and attention-grabbing
  6. Put the most important details first. Users will usually see only the first 50-ish characters of your title, depending on screen size.

If you`re using WordPress, you can easily check the quality of your product titles and learn how to make them ideal. These are some popular title-specific WP plugins that will make your job a lot easier:

A good product title is brief and concise while telling you just enough. Their role is to say only the necessary for shoppers to get the gist of the product. Your product title should be teasing enough that shoppers click to learn more, and you can win them over with great product descriptions. The average customer’s attention span is more limited and more distracting than ever. This is why in order to pitch your product effectively, you should entice your customers with the copy that will actually assist them to find the right product.

When visitors shop at your online store, they can’t examine your product. The only thing they see before purchasing are the visuals, read the product title and description and also check out the reviews. With such a small number of elements to base their trust and money on, they better be good. Easier said than done, but by using these tips your product titles can without a doubt make a difference sooner than you expect!

Tena Gašparac
Tena Gašparac Copywriter and Content Maker

Into art and theatre, Tena brings that classical mindset into the ever evolving modern tech ecosystem


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