I’ve only recently realized the power of content design.

Crafting great content is super important, and an artform. No doubt about it. Words sit at the heart of our entire conversion optimization philosophy.

But if you craft the most compelling story and readers don’t read it from start to finish then the story is worthless and you will probably lose your job.

Many marketers assume shoppers hate reading more than a sentence or two. This is why product page word counts have been going down over the last decade.

The issue isn’t necessarily with the number of words. In many cases, it’s with how the words are laid out. If your product description looks like a wall of copy, many shoppers will glance at it, and walk away. Why? Because it looks like a chore.

But if you can visually break up the content and add breathing space between ideas user engagement will go up like crazy. I’ve seen this in 100s of user session recordings. That’s the power of content design.

I must thank Nash D’Souza for opening my eyes to the power of content design.

Things you should do to make your content feel less intimidating:

• Bolding, when necessary
• Line breaks, when necessary
• Break into columns, when necessary
• Nice big font size
• Checkmarks, when necessary
• Highlights, as needed

Content Design Example 1

Screenshot taken from bullymax.com ( not a client❓ ):

Content Design Example 2

Taken from SportRx.com ( not a client❓ ):

Notice the product description. There isn’t really any structure right now—no way for the shopper to quickly find the answers to their questions. We’re willing to bet many shoppers are not reading this description.

The solution is simple, and we don’t even need to remove any of the copy. Take a look at our idea:

As you can see, all we’ve done is split the copy into sections. Each section has a heading or subheading, which vastly improves readability and immediately lets shoppers know where the information they’re looking for is located.

Want to know how comfortable the glasses are? Now that you can see the “Unmatched in Quality and Comfort” section, you know where to find your answer.

Need prescription glasses? Look no further than the “Need Prescription Oakley Flak 2.0 XL Sunglasses?” section.

Which page do you think is easier to read? The current product page (control) or our idea? Comment below.

Content Design Example 3

Some of you are more design-obsessed and want to use more design to optimize conversion rates. I get it. Here is a way more visual example that still doesn’t take the focus away from the product story. Screenshot from Smartwool (not a client):

A little about us

Thank you for reading this article about content design. We are Frictionless Commerce and over the last 11 years, we’ve thought about just one thing: how do we get online shoppers to convert? We’re fascinated by buyer psychology. And once we understand how your site visitor thinks we use our 9 point copywriting process to convince and convert them.

If you’re on LinkedIn much you can should definitely connect with me. On LinkedIn, I post ecommerce conversion ideas every day, multiple times a day.