How to Create High-Converting Product Pages for Your E-Commerce Website

September 17, 2019
alecia

Product pages are a critically important element of your e-commerce website. You can spend countless hours optimising your homepage, blog and checkout funnel, but it’s not going to drive sales unless your product pages can convince shoppers to make a purchase. Regardless of what your site sells, you can achieve higher conversion rates by optimising your product pages.

Create Detailed Product Descriptions

According to a study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group, one in five failed online purchases are caused by poor or incomplete product descriptions. When a shopper reaches a product page, he or she will probably look at the description first. To compel shoppers to make a purchase, you must create detailed product descriptions that accurately describe the product you are selling.

When writing product descriptions, try to avoid using unsubstantiated superlatives. In other words, don’t say your product is the “fastest” or “strongest” or “longest lasting” or “highest quality” without backing up those claims.

You can focus on the benefits of your products, like how they help the customer, in the description, but you should still talk about the features and specifications. Doing so allows you to create longer and more detailed descriptions while increasing the perceived value of your products in the process.

Emphasize the Call to Action

Every product page on your site needs a call to action (CTA). This is the clickable button with a text overlay that allows shoppers to purchase a product. If a shopper can’t easily find the CTA, he or she will probably leave without making a purchase. Whether you use “Buy Now,” “Order Now,” “Add to Cart” or “Add to Bag,” you need to emphasize CTAs so that shoppers will click them.

To make your CTAs stand out on the product pages, follow these tips: 

• Place CTAs in an open, uncluttered area above the fold. 

• Design CTAs with colors that contrast with your website’s background. 

• Use all uppercase letters or title case for text overlay. 

• Avoid drop shadow effects and instead, use clean lines to define your CTAs. 

Allow Customers to Leave Reviews

Some e-commerce webmasters are hesitant to implement a review feature on their product pages, fearing it will attract negative reviews from customers. But if your site sells high-quality products at competitive prices, and follows through by processing and fulfilling orders, it shouldn’t receive many negative reviews. Rather, you’ll attract positive customer reviews on your product pages that compel other shoppers to make a purchase. One report found that customer reviews increase e-commerce conversion rates by an average of 18 percent, making it an effective optimization tactic for your product pages.

Allowing customers to leave reviews on product pages is easier than you may think. If your site is powered by Shopify, you can use the Product Reviews app. If it’s powered by BigCommerce, you can enable product reviews from your account settings. For WordPress sites, there are product review plugins like WP Customer Reviews and Customer Reviews for WooCommerce.

Upload High-Quality Product Images From Multiple Angles

Since they can’t see the product in-person, online shoppers rely on images to understand what a product looks like. Using just one or two low-quality product images won’t work. Online shoppers want to see products in detail and from multiple angles, and if you don’t provide them with this content, they won’t purchase your site’s products.

Each product page should have a primary, default image that best portrays the product. Upon loading the page, however, shoppers should have the freedom to view images of the product from alternate angles. And if the product is available in different colors, include images for each of these colors. By touching up your product images, you’ll experience more conversions on your product pages.

Add Product Videos

According to a study conducted by Adobe, online shoppers are nearly twice as likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it compared to looking at photos of the product. This doesn’t mean that videos are a viable substitution for product images; you should use videos alongside images to provide shoppers with increased transparency. A short 30-second video depicting a product in action allows shoppers to see details like motion, movement, and relative size that aren’t present in photos alone.

Cross-Sell Related Products

Amazon does it, so why aren’t you? Cross-selling is a time-tested optimization strategy for increasing conversion rates on e-commerce websites. Amazon has even stated that cross-selling is responsible for more than one-third of its total sales revenue.

Cross-selling involves displaying relevant products on a product page that you believe shoppers may be interested in purchasing as well. On a product page for a golf club, for example, you could display links to other golf-related products on your site, including other golf clubs as well as golf balls, tees, and bags.

There are apps available for Shopify and BigCommerce that will automatically display related products on your site’s product pages. Alternatively, you can cross-sell manually by choosing the products yourself and then adding links to them on the product page.

Display Trust Seals and Badges

The conversion rate of your site’s product pages is heavily influenced by how much shoppers trust your brand. If a shopper has purchased from your company in the past, you won’t have to earn their trust. But others will need convincing that your e-commerce website is trustworthy, which is why you should use trust seals and badges.

Trust seals and badges are official graphics that are only granted to websites if certain requirements are met, such as using HTTPS encryption or verifying the website’s identity with a third party. Common trust seals and badges used on e-commerce websites include Norton Secured, McAfee SECURE, TRUSTe, PayPay Verified, Sitelock and Better Business Bureau (BBB). By displaying them on your product pages, visitors will have greater confidence in your brand, resulting in more sales.

E-commerce sales are heavily impacted by the design of product pages. When a shopper reaches a product page on your e-commerce website, he or she must decide whether to make a purchase. This is the moment of truth that can make or break a sale. By creating high-converting product pages for your e-commerce website, however, you’ll have an easier time convincing shoppers to make a purchase.