A lot of thought has to go into product names for an online shop because shopping online is not an immersive multi sense experience. Customers cannot pick your product up for a closer look. They cannot experience it with their senses.
Product names will affect how easily customers can find what they are looking for when they search online. Successful online Sellers will fuel the purchasing decision by providing enough information about the product just from reading the product name.
So what information should you include in your product name when selling online? Where do you start with your marketing language? Are there any strategies you can use to increase the chances of your products being found and bought? What qualifies as important product name information to help potential customers make a buying decision? Here are our top tips to help you answer these burning questions.
Since your product name tends to be the first piece of information an online shopper will see, it needs to be complete, clear and discoverable.
Name your products in a way that appeals to the type of person who fits your target audience. What type of person buys your product? What information is important to them?
Potential buyers need to get sufficient information from the product name to click into it. In some cases, sufficient information will be the brand and model. In other cases, you may need to provide more detail in the product name as described below.
The best product name for one product could be very different from another. Factors that will come into this are who you are selling to, how strong the brand of the product is and whether your target audience is knowledgeable about your product or not. Consider the following factors:
The key question is always, ‘What qualifies as important product name information to help potential customers make a buying decision?’
Many people will find a product by using search, either on a search engine like Google, or by searching the website your product is selling on.
To increase the chances of people finding your product, use words they will use when they search.
Here are two key things to remember:
Our product naming system follows the key elements that should be considered for inclusion in a product name. We input raw data in such a way that your product name is complete, clear and discoverable.
We’ve picked three product types, a phone, SUV and shoes. We'll use these examples throughout this guide.
People may recognise and search for brand names.
Name what the product actually is (phone, SUV or shoes) and include distinguishing product information that helps people narrow down and find specific products they may be looking for.
The product name would look like this:
In many cases, the brand and model type will be sufficient for a product name. But there may be target audiences or product types where variations, common keywords and key attributes may need to be part of the product name.
These are small but highly important differences between the same product such as colour or size. They are optional product choices that a customer can choose from.
This product name would look like this:
Shopbwana.com has a dedicated space below the product name and product description to house variations. The situations when a Seller may want to include variations in the product name are when:
It may be important to express what the product is in words that we all know and understand.
These are additional but important pieces of information about a product that are non changeable and defines the product's use case. Such information may sometimes be needed to guide customers towards buying a product.
The fact is people will get frustrated and quickly move on if they cannot easily find the information they need. Lack of information can result in a lost sale.
Let’s demonstrate with two examples of fictional brands.
Poor
"Ranch Farm Steaks" The Buyer may recognise the quality of Ranch Farm products. They assume these are steaks. But what meat are they?
Average
"Ranch Farm Beef Hotties" The Buyer now knows the meat is beef, but what is a Hottie?
Good
"Ranch Farm Large Spicy Beef Sausages" The Buyer now gets enough information to click through and potentially buy this product.
✔️ They like Ranch Farm products
✔️ They like beef
✔️ They like spicy food
✔️ They like sausages
Let’s use another example and say that Curly Girl is the fictional brand name of a hair care brand.
Poor
"Natural Hair Oil" There is very limited information supplied to the Buyer. What type of hair is it for? What brand is it?
Average
"Curly Girl Natural Afro Hair Oil" The Buyer now knows the brand is Curly Girl and it is for afro hair.
Good
"Curly Girl Restorative Natural Afro Hair Oil" The Buyer now also knows the hair oil is restorative.
✔️ They like the Curly Girl brand
✔️ They see it is 'restorative' so understand it is for dry or damaged hair
✔️ They want a natural product
✔️ They need hair oil for afro hair
We have designed our platform so there is a place for everything. There is a place to input the data for brand, model or product type, variations and key attributes.
We have designed the shopbwana.com platform in this way so that in the near future we can name products programmatically based on standardised rules.
For example, we may decide that it is important to include brand names in a product name because it helps potential customers and benefits Search Engine Optimisation. With the raw data in the right places, we can automatically pull the brand name into the product name without having to do a mass manual update.
We are launching a user login imminently. All our Sellers have to do is think about the key information needed for the brand, model or product type, variations and key attributes and input it in the right places. There are tips to guide you once logged in and our editorial team will be on hand to support our Sellers.
In time we will develop sector and product specific guides to help our Sellers even more. For example, the key attributes for a car (such as fuel and engine size) will be very different to the key attributes of skincare (such as skin type and ingredients).
Supporting our Sellers in this way will help everyone to present their product information in a way that is attractive and useful to Buyers.
The most successful Sellers on shopbwana.com will be those that respond to the needs of online shoppers. It's not about being the most established with the biggest budget. It's about giving online shoppers the products they want, to the standards they expect while providing all the virtual signposts to your online shop.
The result is raving reviews (coming soon to shopbwana.com) and referrals from a loyal fan base.
This is a lot of content for something as small as your product name! However, since it sets the tone for whether a sale is made or lost, it warrants this level of detail. With the help of this guide and some practice, you’ll be on your way to effective product names for your products to fly off your virtual shelves.
When submitting your product information to shopbwana.com please bear these guidelines in mind. Provide all the relevant information through the tools we give you. By working together we we can cultivate a thriving ecommerce culture in Zambia.