Whether youโre planning on launching a webstore or you want to create a product catalog, itโs essential to diligently plan how youโll position those products. Positioning your products not only includes how you will describe your wares in a way that connects with your target audience, but also the finer points, such as categorization hierarchies and pricing. In our experience, when launching an eCommerce website that links to shipping services like USPS, UPS, and FedEx, itโs equally important to go ahead and determine product dimensions and weights.
Make A Spreadsheet
Iโll go ahead and come clean here. I really wanted to write a blog post about spreadsheets. Thatโs what this is. Iโm laying my heart bare for the world to see. I love spreadsheets. My crew makes fun of my spreadsheets. Itโs cool, though, because I have them for everything, and theyโll never know a love quite like this one.
Nonetheless, when youโre dealing with a variety of data, you have to be organized, or the data is useless. Enter the spreadsheet. Creating a spreadsheet to organize all of your product information is going to make your life easier. If youโre hiring an agency like ours to create your website or catalog, youโll save time and money by presenting them with a concise list of product info, so they donโt have to assemble it for you.
Choose The Right Software
First, youโll want to decide which spreadsheet software to use. There is a handful of programs out there that will get the job done. Personally, I use two different ones, Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. For me, it boils down to what my intent and usage needs are when creating a new spreadsheet. For cases where I need advanced formulas and file linking abilities, I use Excel. When I need something quick, easy, and super shareable, I use Google Sheets. Excel requires a software subscription to Microsoft 365, and Google Sheets is free. Ultimately, if youโre creating a simple product list, and youโre not already paying for Excel, Google Sheets should do the trick.
Make Your Columns
Now that you have your spreadsheet software figured out let’s dive into creating the layout of the spreadsheet. Now, we could discuss adding a ton of columns to create a detailed product database. To keep things simple, we’ll stick to the basics, and perhaps we’ll do another article on creating product sheets that help you determine profit margin, break-even points, and work with Square’s importing options. Here are the columns I recommend you start with: Name, Description, Price, Categories, Weight, Length, Width, and Height.
Names
While this column is self-explanatory, itโs important to note that the name should be simple and easy to identify. If someone was searching for this product, would the names youโre using to label your products pop up as keywords? Also, consider how your product names can add intrinsic value.
Description Writing
Another critical area of a product positioning strategy is developing useful descriptions. Your descriptions should creatively combine enticing language that connects with the target audience with keywords and related keyphrase usage. In crafting your descriptions, focus on benefits over features, identifying how your product will solve a problem as opposed to simply stating what it does. Itโs also helpful to pepper in unique selling points that separates your products from your competitors.
Standardizing honed product descriptions will also make your life easier if you have employees that interact with the public. You can quickly make training materials for new and current employees so they will be able to master your product knowledge and present a clear and consistent description of what you offer. Itโs worth saying that taking the time to create standardizations of not only your product positioning but also other areas within your business operations is imperative if you plan on scaling your business.
Also, I canโt stress enough to make sure your grammar is correct. Whether or not youโre going to be the one in charge of developing content for your business, I highly recommend getting a subscription to Grammarly.
Price
Of course, youโll want to enter prices for each product, although we have received product listings for various projects in the past that lacked pricing. Pricing is a pivotal part of your product positioning and worthy of one or more separate blog posts that detail some of the popular methodologies for determining product and service pricing. If you’re a hardcore DIYer, you’ve probably already researched pricing methods and have some in mind.
Category Planning
THIS! Categorization is absolutely critical in your product positioning. If you have a variety of products that you want to sell online, your shoppers are going to have a difficult time navigating your site if you havenโt taken the time to categorize and subcategorize your products. Functional categorization also applies to thick product catalogs and useful tables of contents. Not only does categorizing make it easier for your customers to find what theyโre looking for, but it also makes it easier for them to find products they didnโt know they need! To put that notion into perspective, consider the last time you were browsing an online shop. You likely came across a โSimilar Productsโ section on a product page. The site wouldnโt know the products were similar unless they were in the same categories.
Full Disclaimer: I should warn you that this part of your product planning process could take the longest time, although writing your descriptions will be mentally taxing, especially if you have a variety of products.
Iโve found the categorization process usually is back and forth. First, youโll want to assign the main category that comes to mind for each product. Take that initial list and decide which categories are primary categories and which are subcategories. This part of the process might be made simpler if you briefly switch to a word processor like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or even a simple notepad app. Paste the categories into one of these programs and make it into a bulleted list. Arrange the subcategories underneath their respective primary categories.
Next, position the cursor at the beginning of the subcategory name and tap the Tab key to indent the subcategory. The bullet will likely change in appearance, too. You can tap the Tab key again if you need to make even deeper levels of categorization. Using this method will allow you to visualize your categorical hierarchy better. Hereโs an example that rocks:
During your hierarchy planning, itโs likely youโll end up with third and fourth-level subcategories, possibly more if you have a broad range of specialty items. While this might seem like thankless work, and maybe youโll feel as though youโre overplanning, trust me, this will pay off. Aside from helping shoppers find what theyโre looking for and discover new things, youโll also curry the favor of Google Crawl Bots, who will also be able to scour and index info on your site with ease, thus further optimizing your website.
Itโs also worth noting that doing a little competitor research can go a long way, especially if you focus on industry leaders across the nation and globe. Pay attention to how theyโre categorizing their products that are similar to yours, making a note of what makes sense and what doesnโt.
Once you’ve listed and figured out all of your categories and their levels, hop back into your spreadsheet and list each category your products fall under, separating multiple categories for each product by a comma. (i.e. Sedimentary Rocks, Sandstone, Arkose)
Weight
Whether or not you plan to ship your products now or in the future, your customers still might find this information useful, especially on heavier items. Be sure first to establish a global unit of weight measurement for your site to avoid any confusion on your part, as well as on the part of your employees and customers (i.e., don’t use grams on one product and pounds on another).
Dimensions
Create separate columns for length, width, and height. You might think to yourself, โWell, Iโll just create one column and enter the info โLxWxH,โโ but consider cases where youโll need to parse your data and organize your products by their widths. If you listed your dimensions in a LxWxH format, youโd only be able to sort your products by length, since the length is the first number in the LxWxH series. Also, if you want to migrate your product data to an importable format for Square or WooCommerce, youโll need these dimensions separated into three separate columns. Basically, this is a long-winded way to tell you just to go ahead and divide product dimensions into three columns. Youโll thank me later, I promise.
Keyword Planning
When considering keywords and search engine optimization, youโll likely already have some great keywords in mind, especially if you were pragmatic with your categorization work. Keep in mind that each product page within a webstore will need a unique keyword, as your siteโs SEO will take a hit for having multiple pages using the same keywords. The name of your product ideally will contain your chosen keyword for its page, but also including related keyphrases can boost your SEO potential. Consider each item and what the average person would type in a search to find that item.
Maybe youโre selling a specialized product that requires a lot of jargon to connect to your primary target audience. If thatโs the case, consider how an under-informed individual would refer to the product when searching for it online. Perhaps you could use additional keyphrases that center around search terms some may erroneously apply to your product. Ultimately, there are different methods to hone in on your keywords, and with a little research, youโll surely find a few that work for you.
Update And Adjust
As you continue growing your business, donโt neglect this crucial document. Be sure to either periodically go through and update your product list spreadsheet or, better yet, update it as soon as you begin planning new product releases. For the more savvy spreadsheet aficionado, you can add more specialized columns that help you determine markup, sales pricing, breakeven points, and inventory thresholds. Adding more specialized columns will surely give you more of a reason to open your spreadsheet and keep it up-to-date, as the sheet will have more usefulness.
Conclusion
By creating a tool like this before you get too far along in putting together any sales materials, especially for larger projects like eCommerce websites and product catalogs, youโll save yourself more than just money and time; youโll likely save some of your sanity. Pace yourself and start putting together a simple spreadsheet that organizes product names, descriptions, prices, categories, weights, and dimensions. Develop and polish your product information, working towards a goal to create standardized product positioning that can be recycled into training materials for your staff. Once youโve completed your product list, donโt let it become obsolete; be sure to keep your data updated, and youโll enjoy running your business a bit more!
