8 tricks to writing the best Instagram bio for your e-commerce (+ some examples)

Your company’s Instagram profile is all set and you’ve been filling it with good content for a while now.

But there’s just one problem – you’re missing the bio.

It’s just a few lines, but you’re not entirely sure how to write it or what to say.

And that’s because it’s not just about specifying what you sell and saying that you offer free shipping.

If you want to get the most out of it, you have to make sure it mirrors your value proposition, attracts more followers, and directs traffic to your website.

And all that in just 150 characters?

YES! And that’s precisely what you’ll learn how to do in this post. 

Keep reading because today we’re going to share a few tricks to get your e-commerce’s Instagram bio in tip-top shape. 😉

👉 What is the Instagram bio of an e-commerce?

Let’s start by clarifying something.

When we talk about the ‘bio’, we usually think about the different elements that make up your Instagram profile.

To be more exact, the ‘bio’ (or biography) refers only to that 150-character text inside your profile.

This example by Taunton will help you see it more clearly.

In their Instagram profile we find:

• Username: the name people use to find you and tag you in comments (the ‘@something’).
• Name: the name or short phrase in bold above the bio. It doesn’t need to be the same as the username. 
• URL: this section must include a single link. You can change it as many times as you want.
• Presentation or biography: where you tell newcomers who you are and what you do.
• Profile picture: your logo or a picture that represents your shop.

So, as you can see, the bio is just part of a larger section – but don’t be fooled.

The potential of these 150 characters to attract new followers is much greater than you may think. 😉

✅ Why is it so important for your business?

For all these reasons:

• It’s where you have to spell out your company’s value proposition (what sets you apart from the competition).
• If you own a physical establishment, it could be useful to specify its location and opening hours.
• You can highlight ongoing offers and promotions.
• You can optimize it to encourage more people to click on the link.

Not bad, right?

Now we’re going to see how to put all this into practice to create an irresistible bio. 😉

👉 7 tricks to improve the Instagram bio of your online shop (so it reflects the essence of your business)

We said earlier that your Insta bio is more than just the array of elements that make up your Instagram profile.

Well what does that mean?

Do a quick self assessment of your profile.

• Is your profile picture catchy enough to draw attention?
• Is your profile optimized to attract new potential customers?
• Do you have an effective way to guide users straight to your shop?

If you answered no to these questions, you’ve got some work to do!

So, with these tricks, we’re not only going to explain how a bio is written but also how to design it to play nicely with the rest of elements in your profile.

Let’s do it.

✅ 1. Does your photo do you justice?

If you want to capture your users’ attention, you can’t overlook your profile picture. Ideally, it should be a high-quality image of your shop’s logo. 

In some cases, it’s possible that your logo doesn’t fit well into the required size. 

If that sounds like your shop, try this next store’s method.

Their original logo includes their full name: “Fashion Eye Wear”, but because it was too long for the profile picture, they opted for this simpler version that features only their initials.

✅ 2. Include your value proposition in your bio

The value proposition is a sentence that summarizes your business’s best features and shows what sets you apart from your competitors. Basically, it tells your customers why they should choose you over someone else.

To create your value proposition, you must:

• Know your buyer persona very well. 
• Spell out what your product brings to the table. How is it going to improve your customer’s life?
• Showcase what makes you stand out. 

In a nutshell, you must state what you do and how it helps your potential customers.

For example, Milk Shake offers professional hair products that go with any treatment or style.

✅ 3. Your profile name helps you get better positioning

In your profile name, you must include the keywords you want your Instagram audience to find you by.

Here’s an easy example.

At this furniture and decoration shop (lush_interiors is their username), they don’t make it clear what it is that they sell. However, thanks to their name, users will find them easily if they search for “home furniture” on Instagram.

So if there’s any keyword you’d like to position for on this platform, you should include it here.

✅ 4. Emojis to the rescue

Emojis are pervasive in every bio because if you use them properly, they allow you to: 

• Save space: sometimes you can use an emoji instead of writing the whole word, thus making the most of the space available.
• Give your brand a personal touch: many businesses use emojis to convey a rather warm and informal brand image. You can also use market-related emojis to help users understand what you sell right away. 
• Stand out: arrows, hands, exclamation marks, and other symbols help you direct the user’s attention to the exact elements in your bio that you want to highlight, such as the CTA. 
• Design and organize: use them as bullet points. It’ll allow you to divide your biography into different lines, which is more reader-friendly. 

Take a look at these examples.

As you can see, the online bookstore Book Depository uses emojis to highlight free shipping, saving space by using the books icon.

On the other hand, Primark uses them as bullet points for their different profiles.

✅ 5. The power of hashtags

Hashtags are another must-have in your bio. Here are a few reasons why:

• They increase visibility: users will find you by searching for one of the hashtags you use.
• They contribute to your brand’s positioning: some companies create their own hashtags and encourage their followers to use them as part of their branding strategy or to take part in a contest, as an example.

At Rubik’s biography, they include hashtags related to their product, such as #CubeAtHome and #RubiksCube. What they get with this strategy is users searching for posts about Rubik’s cubes on Instagram landing on their profile.

If you want to learn more about how to use hashtags on Instagram, check out our fully-detailed guide.

✅ 6. The link in the bio (and how to add more than one link)

For this, you need to know 2 important things:

➡️ A. How to add more than one link

As we said before, Instagram only lets you insert a single link in the bio, which isn’t a problem if you just want to insert the link to your website.

But what if you want to share more than one link?

In that case, we recommend using Linktree.

This tool automatically generates a landing page that includes various links. This allows you to redirect traffic to different sections of your online store (products on offer, your last blog post, etc.) or to your social media profiles.

At Lush, the natural cosmetics shop, they use this tool. If you click on the link in their bio, it takes you to this landing page created with Linktree.

➡️ B. How to make the link more clickable

Also very important: if you want users to click on that link in your bio, let them know.

Or, in other words, add a CTA.

For example, check out how they invite users to shop in their online store at ChildsPlay Clothing.

Besides that, they add a couple of arrows to direct the user’s attention to the link, as seen above.

✅ 7. Boost your Stories Highlights 

Your Instagram’s profile bio can also help you get more out of stories.

For example, are there any stories you don’t want to vanish after 24 hours?

In that case, Instagram allows you to set them as Stories Highlights, which can even be sorted in different categories.

Tooled-Up, for example, has created 3 different categories: “New Products”, “Best Offers”, and “Top Sellers”.

This helps them highlight these products at a glance.

Now check out what they do at Decathlon.

The covers of each category improve the user experience and give it a neater look. And, of course, they couldn’t ignore emojis either and make use of them to highlight the rest of stories they have. 

👉 Now you have everything you need to write an Instagram bio for your e-commerce

We’re sure you’ve found these tips and examples inspiring enough to create the perfect Instagram bio for your business.

But if you want a few more tips to enhance your profile’s reach even more, this post may come in handy.  

We recommend that you read the following article on social commerce for more information.

Now it’s time to put them into practice and let your company shine in your bio. 😉