As category management experts, we know that success isn't confined to the supermarket shelves anymore.
We are here to help you leverage every touchpoint across the shopper journey, whether it's in-store, online, or somewhere in between.
So we are here to share our top tips for some simple fixes you can make to boost your online sales.
The best place to start is your product name.
Something as simple as the name of your product has an overarching impact on performance and can sometimes be one of the easiest things to fix.
Why is a product name so important?
Product names on eCommerce are linked to how retailer websites work. A good product name can impact how it shows up in search results and where it appears in site navigation. It is also key for converting shoppers to purchase.
Think back to the last time you ordered a Saturday night takeaway from an app. How did you know what to add to your basket?
If you’re lucky enough to see product photos, they may often be poor quality and it can be impossible to tell the difference between the spring rolls and crispy wontons.
This leaves you with the names given to the dishes by the restaurant.
We’ve all been there, accidentally ordering the wrong thing, wasting money and food because the dish’s name was not what we expected.
Product images on grocery sites are usually better, but they don’t always have the information a shopper needs to add the item to their basket. This means the product name is doing a lot of the heavy lifting to help shoppers make their decision.
So what makes a good product name?
Here are 3 simple tips to make your product name work hard enough and convert shoppers.
1. Include all the essential product attributes ✅
Take a look at one of your products online.
Does the name include all of the basic information a shopper would need?
A great way to check this is to look at the shopper decision hierarchy for your category. This will tell you how a shopper typically chooses what to buy in your category and the levels will be the attributes you should include.
For example: “Brand - Sub Brand – Function - Variant/Flavour - Pack Size”
Calpol Six Plus Paracetamol Suspension Colour & Sugar Free Strawberry 80ml
Missing even one of these key elements could be enough to stop a shopper from clicking ‘add to basket’.
2. Incorporate the key category search terms 🔎
On many retailer websites, product names are an important part of the search algorithm. Including the most popular search terms in your title means more shoppers will find your product and in turn more people will buy it!
If we look at the Calpol example again, perhaps ‘paracetamol’ is a key search term.
This search term returns 26 results on Asda.com and this Calpol product is currently ranked number 20. This suggests that the majority of shoppers searching for ‘paracetamol’ are adding other products to basket.
Lets try searching ‘childrens paracetamol’ on Tesco.com.
The key search word ‘children’s’ is missing from the product name, therefore Calpol does not appear in the search results.
Tesco’s own label version does have ‘children’s’ in the product name, so if a busy parent is doing their weekly online shop in a hurry, their decision is clear.
So let’s fix our product name.
Calpol Six Plus Children’s Paracetamol Suspension Colour & Sugar Free Strawberry 80ml
3. Highlight the core product benefit ✨
When it comes to buying groceries online, most of the missions are planned, but there are opportunities to influence purchase decisions.
In one scenario, a shopper may only be aware of their need or a problem they need to solve.
This is especially important for non-grocery retailers, like Amazon, where shoppers are more likely to be on these single purchase missions.
For these retailers in particular, you need to highlight what the product will do, whether its solving a problem or meeting another need.
Lets revisit our Calpol example.
One of the key benefits the shopper will be looking for would be ‘Pain & Fever Relief’.
This is an attribute called out on the product image, but you have to squint pretty hard to see it. Including it in the product name gives the busy parent the reassurance that this is the correct product, so they can click with confidence.
So, let’s fix our product name.
Calpol Six Plus Children’s Paracetamol Suspension Colour & Sugar Free for Pain & Fever Relief Strawberry 80ml
Changing our naming structure to
‘Brand - Sub Brand - Function - Benefit - Variant/Flavour - Pack Size’
So there you have it, some quick and easy tips to boost your online sales by making small tweaks to your product names.
Why not block out some time in your diary to check your product names online?
Want to know more about Online Category Management?
Get in touch and we can set up a call to discuss how we can help!
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