What’s in a name? If you’ve ever had to name a child, you know the answer is “a lot.” Certain names are taken off the table immediately because of past bad experiences: “I knew an Evan back in elementary school, and he was a wimp!” “I have an ex named Christy. Pass.” Suddenly, the names of everyone you’ve ever met take on greater meaning. It’s ridiculous but also human nature — wouldn’t you know it, “Hannibal” saw a sharp decline in baby name popularity in 1992, the year after Silence of the Lambs hit theaters.
The title of your product page wields the same power of first impression. Your title is one of the most important aspects of your product page. It’s often the first thing people see along with your hero image, and it plays a critical role in helping customers feel confident that they’re in the right place, looking at an item that will meet their needs.
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as giving your product a unique, branded name that catches people’s attention. That certainly helps, but your title needs to do a lot more than stand out. It needs to clearly communicate what your product is, and the words you choose can determine whether or not people even find your product when they look for solutions in your space.
Want to make sure you pick the best possible title for your product? Here’s how to get it right.
Use the same language as your customers
Sometimes your customers arrive at your product pages because they searched for your brand by name. But often, they get there by searching for your product category. They use specific keywords in a search engine, and they compare the products that appear on the results page.
The categories consumers use don’t always neatly align with the categories your retail partners allow you to tag products with. They may search for specific types of shirts or speakers or pencils, whereas the retailer may simply use broad, general product categories.
If you want your products to appear in search results, your titles need to include the terms your customers use to find products like yours. That may take some research. It helps to use search engine optimization tools like Ahrefs, but you may want to conduct some surveys as well.
Check out our ecommerce optimization tips to learn more about what you can do to make sure you show up in search results.
Explore other ways to describe your product
Depending on where you live, the people around you may be more likely to call low-cut rubber-soled shoes “sneakers” or “tennis shoes.” You don’t necessarily need to think about regional terms, but it is important to keep in mind that people may use a variety of terms to describe the products they’re looking for — and they may gravitate toward the product titles that more accurately describe what they’re looking for.
Qualities like your product’s material, ingredients, quantity, size, amperage, common use cases, or cut can all help someone decide if your product page is the one they want to click on. The trick is to find the most relevant descriptions to include in your title. If your title looks more like a paragraph, you’ll need to bump some of those words and terms into your product description.
Pay attention to what your competitors are including
Presumably, your competitors are being thoughtful about the titles they choose, too. But even if they aren’t, the competitors who show up at the top of the search results influence the way customers think about your product category.
If all the top results are using similar terms, you may need to borrow some of them to compete (assuming those terms are relevant to your product as well). It would be wise to periodically examine your product category in various search engines, see what your target audience is encountering first, and adjust accordingly.
Highlight the most important features
Your title doesn’t have to do all the work of describing your product. But highlighting key features and capabilities can make your product stand out and/or help consumers feel more confident that your product is right for them. For example, even if someone doesn’t specify that they’re looking for a “deodorizing” product or an item with a “power saving mode,” these could be important details to surface in your title, as they help differentiate your product and emphasize appealing features.
Test your titles regularly
The only way to know your product title is the best it can be is if you test it. Experiment with variants of your title and see how it affects your rankings. With tools that collect in-cart data from retailers (like PriceSpider’s Where to Buy), you can use universal tracking to see which titles have the best impact on your conversion rates. Over time, you’ll start to develop a clear picture of the words and phrases that resonate the most with your target audience and do the best job converting your traffic into customers.
Get more ecommerce marketing insights
Whether you’re a top-of-mind brand or an up-and-comer in your product category, there are always ways to improve your sales funnel and optimize your marketing efforts. In our free ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Ecommerce Marketing, you’ll get valuable insight into the wide range of channels, strategies, and techniques every brand needs to master to effectively market their products.
