Clean beauty is rising in the world and there’s no end in sight. According to Market Research Future, the market value of the clean beauty space was $7.1 billion in 2024. But it’s expected to reach $34 billion by 2032, nearly 5x growth. But the growth isn’t just numerical. Consumers on all sides of the beauty spectrum are demanding more clean beauty options in retailers. According to ESW, 68% of consumers are looking for clean skincare brands, and 63% think clean beauty is "extremely important" or "very important" when making their cosmetic choices.
All that to say, the demand is there, but how about the copy? Many clean beauty brands hire in-house copywriters and digital marketers for their marketing campaigns. However, a freelance copywriter with a wide array of clean beauty clients might offer clean beauty brands more perspective, competitive analysis, and ultimately better digital marketing strategies. As a freelance copywriter myself, here’s what I’ve learned about writing for the clean beauty niche and what I’d recommend in-house clean beauty marketing teams and other freelancers to consider when writing copy and sales writing for this niche.
Research ingredients and how they work
The beauty space has always been about ingredients. Whether a customer is reading the product detail page (PDP) of a popular beauty brand like Loreal, or an indie beauty brand like Cheekbone Beauty, people want to know, “What’s in this and how does it work?” As a copywriter, my first task when writing copy for this niche is to understand the ingredients and formulations of the brand I’m writing for and how each ingredient performs.
Now, I’m not going to become a chemistry expert overnight, but usually, the founder, marketing director, or a series of rabbit hole Google inquiries can lead me to the answer for what Glutathione is and how it works to fend off free radicals. Or how Ceramides restore the skin barrier. Or even how Retinol may or may not cause irritation in certain people’s skin.
Most of my writing process is spent researching key ingredients of the formulations I’m writing for and finding a way to make the explanation of these ingredients as simple and compliant as possible.
Think about compliance
Compliance. It’s probably the least sexy word in the English language, but it’s one of the most important words in the world of clean beauty. As much as we want to say that this Retinol cream will save your marriage and that Hyaluronic Acid will convince your employer to give you a raise, there are some promises that we just can’t make.
In the United States, we have the Federal Drug Administration, also known as the FDA. They’re a regulatory body that keeps track of the claims and promises clean beauty brands make about their products. As a copywriter and digital marketer in this space, I’m always keeping an eye on the guardrails that the FDA or another country’s equivalent has set up so that the brands I write for are in the good graces of their regulatory bodies.
Essentially, stick to the facts about the ingredient without making too many promises about what it can or cannot do. If it hydrates, say that. But don’t say, “It will make you look 10 years younger.” Otherwise, the brand and perhaps you as the digital marketer will receive one of those very threatening letters from your country’s regulatory body, and guess what—it’s not fun.
Create an intentional brand voice and tone
Nothing screams boring like a generic brand voice and tone. Most clean beauty brands, especially when they’re just starting out, haven’t given much thought to how they want their brand to sound or come off to their ideal customers. If a brand is targeting a younger Gen Alpha demographic (those born between 2010 and 2024), then more fun, silly, and trendy language might be better received. Or if a clean beauty brand is targeting Gen Xers (those born between 1965 and 1980), then perhaps more sophisticated language with pop culture references from that time will hit better with that audience.
However, no matter who you choose to focus on, being intentional about your brand’s voice and tone is essential. Why you might ask? Because you can make a customer feel understood, connected, or seen. When your customers have an emotional connection to a brand, their loyalty o’meter goes off the charts. They start buying from that brand religiously and turn their friends and family onto them, too. It’s a cycle that keeps on giving and so much of that cycle is related to brand voice and tone.
Mimic customer reviews
As a copywriter, one of the first places I go to research a brand’s products and get a sense of how to write their website copy, emails, blog posts, etc. is the review sections of their PDPs. This is where customers spill the tea on the good and bad about the product. I’ve spent many hours grooming through customer reviews and getting a sense of which features and benefits customers like and highlighting that in the copy. But most importantly, I’m taking notes on the exact language customers are using.
What’s the point of mimicking customer reviews in the copy? It’s an old psychological trick. If customers see reviews that say, “This cream is so hydrating, my skin went from flaky to flawless in days!”, I know that mimicking that in the website copy will give soon-to-be customers affirmation. You see, if someone sees the same message once, twice, or even three times in various places of the website, customer reviews, emails, etc, then it starts to “click” what this product does and it makes it appear like truth and fact.
Now, we’re not lying to the people. It is true, that the Hyaluronic Acid cream a clean beauty brand offers does increase hydration and reduce flakiness, but we also scream it from the rooftops at every customer touch point, and that makes them believe it and therefore, feel more comfortable making the purchase.
Be up on trending language
I’ve been writing a lot of social media captions lately and this tip has become super handy. When it comes to writing website copy, the information is best presented when it's straightforward. What does the product do, how does it work, what’s in it, who’s it for, and the list goes on. But when it comes to emails, social media captions, and other fleeting momentary touch points with a potential customer, clean beauty brands really need to come correct with clever, cool, and trendy language.
Check out what Fenty Beauty is doing or Rhode. These are great examples of how trendy language not only engages potential customers, but it makes them feel understood. Harkening back to the the last couple of sections, we always want to make potential customers feel like they belong, that your brand is made up of their “tribe”, or their “people” and that buying from your clean beauty brand is more than just a purchase, it’s a sense of belonging. On these internet streets when feeling like you belong has become less and less available to people, give followers and email subscribers the dopamine hit that your clean beauty brand gets them and that purchasing from you makes them part of the group.
Ultimately, trendy language is like a hook on a fishing pole that attracts people, but other copy like your PDPs, emails, and blog posts are what can reel them in.
Tap into what people actually want
At the end of the day, your clean beauty brand always has to tap into what people want. If you’re selling clean lipstick, formulators, the founder, and others have to think about: what do customers actually want? And does this lipstick achieve that? From there, marketers have to think about, “How do we communicate what people want? Is “performance” the right word, is “lasting shine” the right phrase, or is “smudge-proof” the right descriptor? It all boils down to communicating how that product really meets a customer's need and tapping into why they need to buy it.
If you take into account the other sections of this article around brand voice and tone, compliance, researching and communicating ingredients, and so on, this final step of creating copy that makes customers drool when they’re at the checkout will come easily.
Need a writer for your clean beauty brand?
If you learned a lot from this article, but still aren't sure how to make the copy for your clean beauty brand stand out, turn heads, and get sales, work with me. I've written web copy, social captions, emails, and more for clean beauty brands just like yours. Check out my services to how I can help you reach new potential customers with powerful, conversion copy and content.
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