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We all have brands that we know and love for their product copy or tone of voice. Good copy makes a brand memorable, relatable, and fun to interact with. It won’t just sell your products to your consumers, it will also keep them coming back for more.
However, creating killer copy isn’t just about writing a quirky product description and being done with it. As well as capturing your customers’ interest and keeping them engaged, you need to offer them clarity, make sure the copy is peppered with good SEO to help it get discovered, and also make sure it has a clear call to action at the end. It’s a fine art that can take some time to master, but one that is well worth the effort.
But what determines whether a brand’s copy is “killer”? We took a look at seven of our favourite brands and analysed some of their product copy, giving them a rating out of five for the following factors:
SEO – How do they rank for relevant non-branded keywords?
Quirkiness – Does the copy capture your attention and is it fun to read?
Clarity – Does the copy tell you exactly what you’re getting, how to use it, and anything else important you need to know?
Clear CTA (Call to Action) – Does the product copy compel you to buy it with some kind of button to click or an irresistible hook?
1. Oatly
A screenshot of Oatly’s Chocolate drink product page showing an image of the product and their fun product description … delicious.
Oatly is famous for taking something boring and turning it into something amazing. Oat-based milk alternatives weren’t on many people’s radar before Oatly came along and completely changed the game. Their products are delicious (it’s a favourite among a number of Novae) and their product copy is unique with a strong tone of voice throughout. From the “Boring (but very important) Side” on their cartons to interesting online copy, Oatly is a great company to look to for product copy.
SEO: 5/5
Oatly ranks really well for a number of keywords. They rank first for terms such as “chocolate oat milk”, “barista oak milk”, and “organic oat milk” and rank highly for other related keywords as well.
Quirkiness: 5/5
Oatly has a really friendly tone of voice that feels like reading a text from a friend. Their copy is casual and easy to read and the tone is quirky without being overly familiar with the reader. They are also very down-to-earth by readily speaking about both the good and less-good things about their products.
Clarity: 5/5
They have all of the information you could possibly need regarding their products clearly laid out on the product page. All of the ingredients, allergy information and even the carbon footprint can be easily found without the need for too much unnecessary scrolling.
Clear CTA: 1/5
The Oatly webpage is not an e-commerce website and so there is no call to action or button to click to add it to your basket. However, they do make it easy to find out where you can buy their products with a button at the bottom of the page.
2. Huel
A screenshot of the Huel Powder v3.0 product page showing the different flavour options and some basic nutrient information at the top of the page.
In case you’re unfamiliar, Huel is a company that offers high-quality vegan meal replacements. They have simplistic, striking and instantly recognisable branding and are pretty hot on the product information.
SEO – 1/5
Huel is, unfortunately, a little lacking when it comes to their SEO rankings. They rank really well for branded terms which is excellent but they fail to rank for any unbranded search terms above 10th position.
Quirkiness: 2/5
Their copy isn’t what one would call quirky, however, they do have a strong brand voice across their copy. The information they offer is good too and they speak with clear expertise about their products.
Clarity: 5/5
The information available about Huel’s products is very clear. Everything from the flavour to the nutritional information to the carbon footprint of the products is clearly laid out in bitesize chunks and easy-to-find sections.
Clear CTA: 4/5
The flavours and buy buttons are right at the top of the page so are easy to find and navigate, making it super easy to add your chosen flavour to your basket and checkout.
3. Patch
Image shows a screenshot of Patch’s “Big Ken” plant product page. It shows all the sizes that Big Ken comes in as well as offering planter options to add to your purchase.
Patch is an online plant shop that offers both indoor and outdoor plants right to your door. They’re dedicated to bringing ‘the joy of gardening to anyone and everyone’ including those in large cities where buying quality plants isn’t always feasible.
SEO: 5/5
Patch ranks really well for a number of different keywords (and rightly so considering they were a client of ours). They rank first for a number of difficult keywords such as “small plants”, “hanging plants”, and even for the head term “plants” which is pretty impressive.
Quirkiness: 4/5
Their tone of voice is really friendly and fun to read but isn’t just quirky for the sake of it. They have humorous human names for their plants, based on the Latin names, which makes the brand feel really relatable.
Clarity: 5/5
All of the information provided for the products is extremely clear and well laid out. You know exactly what you’re getting, what size the product is, the price, and how to care for the plant right off the bat. By scrolling through, the care instructions and information about the plants are available in an easy-to-read format.
Clear CTA: 4/5
The journey from browsing to basket for Patch Plants is really simple. Their “add plant to bag” button is right at the top of the page alongside any important quick-fire information about the product. It makes the customer journey super easy and quick.
4. Monzo
The image shows a screenshot of the Monzo current account web page with its easy-to-find CTA button.
If you don’t know who Monzo is by now then you might have been living under a rock for the last few years. Monzo is one of the most well-known online banks, famous for its no-nonsense, easy-to-understand language surrounding banking. If you’ve ever seen someone pay for something with a neon orange debit card, that was a Monzo card.
SEO: 3/5
The keyword results for Monzo are quite mixed. They rank very well for some things such as ranking first for “online bank” and “online bank card” but they also have some very unexpected keywords that they rank for such as “are pyramid schemes illegal”.
Quirkiness: 5/5
Monzo is very well known for the fun, easy-to-read, and jargon-less tone of voice which plays both into quirkiness and clarity for them. They make banking seem fun without taking away any important information.
Clarity: 5/5
Clarity is a huge part of the Monzo ethos and you can really tell when it comes to their products. All of the information is laid out in an easy-to-understand format without any small print or complicated jargon.
Clear CTA: 5/5
Monzo offers a number of different types of banking options. There are clear CTAs across the website from “get a Monzo Bank account” buttons to CTAs allowing you to explore all of their different options.
5. The Protein Works
Image shows exactly where vegans get their protein – The Protein Works’ Vegan Protein Extreme product page.
If you’ve ever wondered where vegans get their protein, you now know it was at The Protein Works. This brand offers protein and meal replacement shakes and powders to everyone and anyone (not just those on a plant-based diet).
SEO: 4/5
The Protein Works ranks really well for some good, related keywords. They are first for “vegan meal replacement” as well as “natural protein powder”. They also rank 2nd for “vegan protein powder”.
Quirkiness: 1/5
The tone of voice for The Protein Works is very straightforward and no-nonsense so the quirkiness is in short supply. But for what it lacks in eccentricity, it makes up for with in-depth information.
Clarity: 4/5
The information about the products is split up into different sections which is good as it makes the info easy to find. But there are a lot of big blocks of text which makes it a little less clear.
Clear CTA: 5/5
The calls to action that The Protein Works have are very clear and easy to find. The “add to basket” button is right at the top of the page and is nice and big, you literally can’t miss it.
6. Firebox
Image shows a cute little planter pet sold by Firebox and shows off the website’s easy-to-use product description plage.
If you’ve ever been on the lookout for unique gifts for someone, you’ve probably heard of Firebox. It’s a brand that sells an incredibly large range of products and gifts. From fun planters to joke gifts and loads more, Firebox is a one-stop-shop for unusual gifting.
SEO: 3/5
Because of the wide range of items that Firebox sells, it’s hard to really narrow down their keyword rankings however they do consistently rank highly for terms that include “unusual gifts” as well as ranking first for “unusual gifts for men”. We also noticed that they rank second for “gifts for me” – it’s good to know that Firebox customers are treating themselves.
Quirkiness: 5/5
Firebox has a very distinct tone of voice for its products. It is very playful and fun and has no issue with making innuendos if it fits the product. The product copy is really fun to read through and really adds to the buying experience.
Clarity: 5/5
As well as being a joy to read, Firebox also makes sure their product descriptions are very clear. Each product has bullet-pointed information above the longer copy to highlight key features and provides any additional information, such as dimensions, in a separate tab.
Clear CTA: 5/5
The call to action for Firebox is also really good – a big, black “add to basket” button right next to the product image. You can’t really go wrong.
7. Barking Heads
Image is a screenshot of the Barking Heads Fat Dog Slim dry food product page for overweight pups. It shows off their comprehensive size range and product image.
A dog food brand that will leave your furry friend grinning from ear to ear, Barking Heads boast a range of natural, grain-free, filler-free, and delicious food and treats for dogs and cats. Their products have charming and entertaining names, such as “Golden Years” for their senior range of dog food and “Big Foot” for large breeds, and their branding is bright and eye-catching.
SEO: 3/5 – They rank well for “dog food trial” coming in second place on the front page of Google but most of their high-ranking keywords actually revolve around how lucky or unlucky black cats are thanks to a well-written blog post about the very subject.
Quirkiness: 5/5 – Barking Heads has a really fun tone of voice that is as playful as the pups they cater to without making light of important topics. Nutrition is clearly important to them and they make it engaging and interesting to read about while still making it lighthearted and fun.
Clarity: 5/5 – All of the information you could ever need to know about your dog’s food, you’ll find on the product page. Ingredients are easy to find as well as all of the nutrition information. You can even find the food calculator right on the product page to ensure you’re feeding your dog the correct amount of food for their weight and activity levels.
Clear CTA: 4/5 – The “buy now” button at the top of the page is easy to find however it blends in quite a lot with the surrounding page as it’s the same colour as the rest of the branding. There’s also no CTA within the copy itself so this area could be improved somewhat.
As you can see, there are many different factors to creating “killer” product copy and it’s not as straightforward as just writing something quirky and getting away with it. You need to keep your readers engaged while still working to make sure your products can be found by Google as well as guiding your consumers to buy from you.