Website copywriting is the process of crafting the words on your website so the reader takes a desired action, such as making a purchase. Learning from successful website copywriting examples can help you create brand-aligned content for your own web pages.
Harlem Candle Company founder Teri Johnson grappled with writing compelling copy for her candles, which shoppers typically smell before buying. “When I first started, I knew I had the perfect scents, but I didn’t know how to necessarily describe them in words. [It had to] be evocative in order for people to want to buy it,” she says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. Teri hired writers well-versed in fragrance copy for the job. “Without even smelling the candle, they understood the top, middle, and base notes, and because they understand fragrance so well, they know which fragrances evoke which moods.”
In this article, you’ll learn the key components of website copywriting and tips for writing great copy, along with examples and insights from ecommerce business owners.
What is website copywriting?
Website copywriting refers to the short-form writing across a website, from hero copy on your homepage to product descriptions and checkout steps. The overall goal of website copywriting is to inspire conversions.
In contrast, long-form writing, like blog posts and your brand story on the About page, aims to strengthen the customer’s connection to your brand’s mission, personality, and values.
Great copywriting can use brand storytelling, urgency, humor, clarity, and more to move a customer toward a purchase. Here are some elements of compelling website copywriting:
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Clear value proposition. Strong website copy conveys the value of a service or product in clear, compelling language. Readers should not be confused or mistaken about the “why” behind their buy, whether that’s communicating features and benefits clearly, or the lifestyle vision driving the purchase.
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Customer-focused. Customer-focused website copy leads with customer pain points or aspirations to show how your offering solves their problem or meets their needs.
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Simple language. Per Unbounce, ecommerce pages written at a fifth- to seventh-grade reading level have the highest median conversion rate, at 11.1%, compared to 5.3% for college-level structure and vocabulary.
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Consistent brand voice. Killer copywriting consistently carries your brand voice throughout your website, from your product selling points to the fine print in your site’s footer and in downloadable media kits or portfolios. All of your copy should sound rooted in the same personality and in the same conversation between the brand and the potential customer.
5 website copywriting examples
Great website copywriting can do a lot with very little, or transport the reader with immersive descriptions. Below, you’ll find five examples of strong copywriting, including website headlines, newsletter sign-ups, and product pages that can inspire your own copy:
Bandit Running
In this homepage banner from Bandit Running, the copy plays on a familiar sales phrase—“see it to believe it”—to announce the launch of a new proprietary fabric that hides sweat stains. Its cheeky framing is aligned with Bandit’s brand personality: rebellious, niche, and intense.
It addresses the customer need for an elevated aesthetic and technical performance. It also implies that to believe it for yourself, you’ll have to put it to the test: nudging curious brand loyalists to get their piece of the limited drop.
Goodee
Goodee is a global marketplace known for its intentional catalog, personally sourced and curated by brothers and cofounders Byron and Dexter Peart. In this product detail page for a children’s table, the copy speaks directly to eco-conscious parents, describing the upcycled materials.
Their approach to copywriting is an extension of their belief in championing makers and artisans around the world; product descriptions are not just a place to list attributes and dimensions, but an opportunity to channel the reasoning behind a product’s inclusion in the catalog. “We meet the makers, we find out the stories, and we write our own original text on every single product,” Byron tells Shopify Masters. “We’re doing it in a human way, and I think that’s what connects to the customer in the end,” he says.
Good Bacteria
Email capture fields present a unique opportunity to dip into the fun side of your brand voice: the limited space demands a punchy, clever call to action. They can echo the product or the brand mission (Ghia’s “We’re booze free, but our emails are intoxicating,” or Blueland’s “Even our emails are cleaner,” for example), or directly call out the ideal customer, as seen above with probiotic supplement brand Good Bacteria.
The brand’s email capture CTA “Curious minds, resilient guts” is a good example of emotional marketing at work: It implies that the Good Bacteria community is curious and looking for wellness solutions, desirable attributes likely to resonate with their target audience.
Harlem Candle Company
When tangible experience, like scent or taste, is central to your product, product copywriting is a tool to bridge the gap and convince potential customers to take a leap online. For brands like Harlem Candle Company, words and images have to help readers smell each product in their mind in order to inspire a purchase.
Rather than seeing the online shopping experience as limited, the brand embraced the opportunity to set a much larger, more immersive scene. For the Josephine Luxury Candle, inspired by Josephine Baker, the product copy connects the fragrance notes with historical context and the personality of its muse in a “scent story,” and pairs it with a “musical moodboard” playlist to complete the effect.
Omsom
Noodle and sauce brand Omsom’s homepage copy does three things in two short sentences: it defines the name, a Vietnamese phrase; it sets the tone with its word choices (“unruly” and “raucous”), and it lets people in on the brand story. In one glance, the reader knows the meaning of a new phrase, what to expect from the brand voice and tone, and that it was created by siblings.
Tips for writing good website copy
Here are a few tips for using copy to make the most of your online space.
Be adaptable
Market realities may change how your brand messaging lands, and when it does, copywriting is one of the best ways to develop a new approach. Don’t be afraid to change what was working when it suddenly isn’t: Unbound Merino, for example, began as a fashion solution for travelers. Their T-shirts and apparel were meant to bring freedom through minimalism, and their copy reflected that.
“Our whole positioning was we help you pack less, so you can experience more,” CEO Dan Demsky told Shopify Masters. “When COVID hit, that message was useless. All of our best ads stopped working, and our sales just tanked.”
The team pivoted their focus to the features of the clothing instead: how comfortable and breathable it was. “We had always sold on benefits, on freedom of experience and the ability to focus on what matters. Instead, we had to sell on features for a bit. I think it helped make our business better and more bulletproof,” says Dan. The brand has since returned to travel-centric copy. For example, a homepage banner reads: “Unbound Merino clothing is designed to help you pack and own less so you can focus your energy on the experiences that matter most.”
Being adaptable also means not being overly committed to a single phrasing. Try A/B testing and customer feedback to determine which copy variations actually perform best with your target market—not just the ones you like personally.
Lead with your solution
The hero section is the space at the top of your website that a visitor will see first when landing on your homepage. Jaz Fenton of design agency Otherhalf Studio recommends using this space to communicate what your brand does for your customers: the problem you solve, the emotion or feeling you create, or the impact each purchase makes.
“Your hero section should really explain what you are trying to solve, and what makes you different,” she says on Shopify Masters. “It’s a huge thing that people forget because they assume everyone already knows because they know it so well. Focus on what makes you different, and on pulling in that social proof.”
Use AI to execute your best instincts
If you admire those who write their own website copy but need to scale with limited resources, your copy project can get a boost from AI language models.
Prompt the tool with what you’re aiming for in great detail, so what it generates will feel true to your brand identity and survive an increasing awareness of AI-generated creative: a recent consumer attention survey from Clutch found that 93% of consumers want brand copy to feel like it came from a real person, and that 55% view a brand less favorably once they can tell AI produced the creative.
AI-powered tools like Shopify’s Sidekick make it easy to create or edit existing copy based on various brand styles, like making wording more direct and concise, or injecting copy with bolder, more optimistic energy, while allowing you to personalize and tweak the results until you’re satisfied.
You can also use AI to ensure that the brand messaging and voice you use on your website carries over seamlessly to other areas of your business, like email marketing or social media posts.
“We went into Claude and built a copywriting agent where we put all of our favorite copy we’ve ever written, all of our best performing emails, all the data,” Ridge CEO Sean Frank says on Shopify Masters. “Now when we have a new campaign, we can outline and write it to match.”
Website copywriting examples FAQ
What is website copywriting?
Website copywriting is the writing that appears across a brand’s homepage and landing pages, with the goal of encouraging a desired action from the reader.
What are common website copywriting mistakes?
Common website copywriting mistakes include using technical or complex language that goes over your reader’s head; focusing only on your products’ features rather than communicating their benefits to the customer; inconsistent voice and tone across different areas of the website; and centering messages on the brand instead of the audience’s needs.
How do I write good homepage copy?
To write good copy for your homepage, familiarize yourself with your target audience and the voice of the customer to learn what your audience is motivated by. Then write copy that speaks to those needs and desires. Embrace simplicity with skimmable, impactful writing.
