Whenever anyone hears that I write for the beauty industry, the first thing I hear is, “What a fun job!” And they’re absolutely right…sort of.

Beauty can be a notoriously challenging vertical to write for. It’s tricky for potential customers to look at a tube of lipstick or a vial of serum and understand whether it’s right for them, true to color, and so forth. Effective writing needs to help customers overcome some of these barriers to purchase.

Over time, I’ve learned some tips and tricks to help potential buyers feel confident in their purchases. Adding in a few of these best practices can mean the difference between an abandoned cart and a happy (purchasing!) customer.

Ratings & Reviews

This is an effective trick for many verticals, but especially for beauty. Past buyers weighing in on the staying power of a lipstick or the creaminess of a lotion can help future buyers get a better sense of the product they’re evaluating. It also gives them confidence, knowing how a product has worked for someone else. Lots of clients make the mistake of assuming that a rating system alone is enough, but actually letting customers write reviews will help you see a significant uptick in purchases. You can get a jump on populating this content by sending follow-up emails after a purchase, inviting customers to come back to your site and rate their new products.

Quizzes

A simple search for “eye cream” can produce a staggering number of results…so how do you decide? If you were in a store, a sales clerk could help talk you through the different products,based on your needs and skin type. A quiz can help do the same for an online buyer, narrowing their choices and guiding them to the best product for their needs. Besides helping buyers decide on a product, it’s a great way to make the shopping experience personal.

Tutorials

Tutorials are a great way not only to help buyers understand how to use products, but also to introduce them to products they might not have considered purchasing. Tutorials can be as simple (“How To Layer Your Lotions and Serums”) or complex (”How To Nail the Perfect Smoky Eye”) as you’d like, but are a great way to help engage potential buyers with your products.

Editor’s Picks

A section or a list of editor’s picks not only helps introduce buyers to new products, it adds an element of authority to the shopping experience. Knowing a beauty pro trusts a particular item can make a buyer feel sure it’s a quality item worth investing in.

Don’t Forget the Product Page

Congratulations! You’ve gotten a customer all the way to the product page. Beside the usual content suspects (ingredients, reviews), I’ve found that fun little nuggets of information help boost sales. For example, a pro tip on how to wear eyeliner helps buyers see themselves wearing that trend. For skincare, stats on how soon they can expect results gets buyers excited about efficacy.

Keep it gorgeous out there!

This is the third post in our six-part series on writing for specific industries by beauty writer and one of our star contributors Jenny Jean Muller. We’ll be posting every week for the next six weeks, so check back often. Have an industry we don’t write about in this series? Let us know on Twitter @sparkingbrands and we’ll write one just for you.