CConversations: Caylen Walker, Copywriter at SSENSE
In this CConversation we discuss a range of topics with Caylen Walker a Copywriter at SSENSE.
Leveraging her vast industry experience, Caylen and I discuss e-commerce copy that converts, establishing a strong written tone, and positioning email campaigns to target engagement.
Caylen’s interest in communications was first sparked by the fashion industry in her preliminary years working as a model. Each business interaction presents the unique and delicate challenge of selling one's talent while also building memorable relationships with the client. Caylen is simultaneously pursuing communications in three industry sectors: fashion, business consulting, and healthcare. She holds the titles of Copywriter at SSENSE, a luxury e-commerce platform, Project Coordinator at Distinct, a Toronto-based communications consulting organization, and Branding and Communications Manager for W. Gifford-Jones, a health journalist. Her work across these realms, inspired by her personal interests, gives her insight into the intersection of communication styles in industries that continue to rapidly evolve. Making for a great CConversation!
Although Caylen and I personally connected during her work for W. Gifford-Jones where we were discussing the evolution of the brand. I was very interested in connecting with Caylen to further discuss her career in the copywriting industry and how she keeps detailed and up-to-date brand guidelines for the organizations she works with to ensure she remains consistent with intrinsic concepts and goals. Sharing her resources, Caylen discusses that she’s used our Creator Templates to create all of her reference resources and she “can attest to their ease-of-use if you need somewhere to start”.
Since its inception in 2003, SSENSE has expanded into new categories and sectors beyond fashion, establishing itself as a cultural hub within the industry. One thing that has remained consistent throughout is the ‘SSENSE Experience’. For customers, all aspects of their brand experience remain minimalist. One of the most obvious factors of this is product photography and written website copy. Each item is particularly and editorially styled to perfection with a clean white backdrop and clear and concise messaging. Minimalist. During her work as a copywriter at SSENSE, all of these aspects come into play. Caylen expanded on this stating “you’ll notice this tone carries across all facets of the SSENSE experience - even our office is minimalist! Having an awareness of your brand and your customers lends itself to good copy”. This heightened sense of awareness has catapulted the company beyond a ‘typical’ e-commerce entity and into the world of culture and content.
As someone passionate about the e-commerce realm I was eager to ask Caylen directly about what creating written content for e-commerce and marketing channels looks like at SSENSE. Specifically, what her recommendations are for copy that converts. “Successful e-commerce copy is all about appealing to the buyer. I’ve really learned the importance of this working as a copywriter at SSENSE. Our tonality is very bare-bones and the focus is on describing features that are not obvious. In most cases supplementary adjectives are rare and bullet points are used over complete sentences. This is because the SSENSE buyer doesn’t want a frilly description. Most customers (especially repeat purchasers) already have brand awareness of the designers or collections they are buying from. Anyone dropping $8k on an Alexander McQueen leather jacket likely knows what they’re getting into. They just need the nitty-gritty details on the lining, closure, hardware etc.” SSENSE clearly has an ideal customer and target when it comes to their written copy. In a world where many brands want to please anyone and everyone, Caylen writes to please a special kind of customer.
SEO - standing for Search Engine Optimization is often a buzzword when it comes to e-commerce copy. Long story short it helps you optimize your site and supports you in being more visible online. With buzz words such as SEO, a series of questions often follow. How important is SEO? Which keywords should I use? Where do I start? I decided to ask Caylen, the expert herself…does SEO driven copy really play a large role in successfully drawn up copy that has the ability to convert? “SEO is also extremely important especially in industries where customers can find the same product or service in more than one place. Ensuring that you incorporate SEO terminology into your writing means there’s a better chance of it reaching your desired audience. It might help to do some research before you start writing or keep a living document of SEO terms that pertain to you. If you’re working with a large company, they likely already have these resources available for you!”
When writing any written copy, whether it is geared towards social media, e-commerce, or any marketing endeavours establishing your tone is an important first step. It allows your audience to connect, reflect, and understand who you are and what you stand for. There is value in establishing a written tone whether you are a personal brand, business, or creator. For all the brands, businesses, and creatives reading, how do you recommend implementing and establishing your tone of writing before diving into the copy? Any tips for keeping the tone consistent in written content? “I’ve always found it useful to create avatars for my writing. I currently write for three companies from three completely different industries. So I have an avatar for each that I’ve conceptualized to represent the corresponding readers. I find this helpful because I can envision how my audience would respond based on the demographics I’ve attributed to that avatar. For example, I work for a company called Distinct, which guides corporate clients through communication programs with a human-centered approach. My avatar for the Distinct client is very different from the person I’m catering to when I write for SSENSE, or my third line of work in the health industry for that matter.” Communication styles are evolving, specifically the shift towards human-centered communication styles in large corporate structures. For Caylen, this “has been very interesting to explore, especially since I am a part of the 20-something-year-old demographic trying to carve out careers in a daunting corporate realm. The idea is that traditional business communication models are not working as well today as they once had. Even executives at large firms need to adjust their communication styles accordingly”.
In addition to written e-commerce driven copy, crafting successful email campaigns starts with content that is embedded with strategy. When launching email campaigns, how do you position the written copy with the primary goal of getting customers to open and engage with the messaging? “I do the most work on email campaigns for W. Gifford-Jones, a syndicated medical journalist and author, who also happens to be my beloved 97-year-old grandfather. Each week we send out three email campaigns: One goes to 15,000+ e-newsletter subscribers, another goes to retailers carrying our lines of endorsed products, and the third goes to publication editors. All of these have different goals, but again centralize on a strong brand and central tonality. I think it’s important to create approachable messaging, especially in email communications that can be easily overlooked as spam. In our digital reality, it’s nice to feel as if we are engaging with a real human on the other side of the screen.”
No matter when and where you start your email copy endeavours, ensure you take the time to reflect on the success of your campaigns. Caylen recommends the consideration of using platforms like Mailchimp or Constant Contact for email communications. Expanding on the benefits, Caylen shares: “programs of these types track the analytics of your email campaigns and generate reports to show you what’s working and what’s not. This is valuable information for altering your next communication to better achieve your goals”. Reflecting on your communications and creating a plan for a targeted strategy geared towards your audience will support your goals and help your audience feel like you are talking directly to them.
Pro tip from Caylen: "I also cannot stress enough the importance of a good subject line. Be mindful about who your audience is and what they might pause to read in their inevitably full inboxes. An uninspired subject line will likely send your email straight to their trash bin. And after carefully crafting your email’s content, what a shame it would be if you got sent straight to junk.”
Find Caylen Walker on Instagram @caylenwalker.