Your website and your product page is your shop, you need to be able to provide your users with all the information that they need to be able to clearly understand your product and make the decision to buy.
Unlike traditional bricks and mortar stores where shoppers can touch and feel your products and ask your team questions about the product that they are looking at, ecommerce retails do not have this luxury. That is why it is our job to provide visitors with all the information that they need to take the next step of buying your product.
The quality of your product page makes all the difference, a good quality product page will reduce exit rates and bounce rates. Increase your conversion rate from browsing to buying as well as reducing returns rates.
This article is going to look at the importance of –
- Product images
- Product descriptions
- Product video’s
- Reviews
- Page speed
Product images
Your product images will be the first thing people notice on your product page. Unless you are Sainsburys selling baked beans, 1 image just isn’t going to cut it.
Images to consider using on your website –
- Standard product image, forward facing product on white background.
- Product from multiple angles
- Close up of specific elements and design
- Pictures or samples of different products
- Lifestyle image – your product in a real-life situation
- Products in different states for example if your product comes in a reusable box, what does it look like when it is in your box
I haven’t mentioned 360 visualisation at this point as it is a considerable time investment.
Product Description
Your product description is meant to provide a description of exactly what your product is and what it does.
Many retailers often overlook this element including only basic product descriptions, this is often because they are too close to the product and elements, they take for granted that people know them as well as they do. I have often spoken to clients who say, it is OK someone who buys this product knows this information when this most probably isn’t true.
Pull out what makes your product special, what is its USP?
When creating your product descriptions be mindful of the layout of your text, big blocks of text are hard for users to digest, split up your information into smaller paragraphs and subheading where possible as it will make it easier for users to digest the information.
Don’t forget, ignore jargon and talk to your customer in a language that resonates with them.
Product Videos
Product videos really make your products come to life, with 68% of people saying that they were more likely to buy a product if they have been able to view a product video*.
Creating product videos can be expensive especially if you are looking to create videos for all your products. If this is outside of your budget, you could consider creating video content for your top selling products. Then creating a business case to assess the viability to expand your video content over more products.
Although it is great to get a professional videographer don’t worry too much about the production standards, with good lighting and an up-to-date phone you can create your own videos. To find out more about creating video content on your mobile for your business.
Why not encourage your reviewer to submit video reviews.
Product Reviews
A whooping 95% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase**, users trust them as much as advice that they receive from a friend, with customers reading as many as 4 or 5 reviews before making their decision.
Don’t worry about negative reviews as this makes it more authentic, users don’t trust reviews that don’t have a couple of negative comments. It allows users to fully understand your product and decide if the negative angle of your product is something that they can live with.
Make sure that you respond to your reviews especially your negative reviews.
If you see a negative trend in your reviews you can deal with it, improving your product where necessary.
All this lovely rich content is not only great for users but also for search engines.
Page speed
With all of this rich content we have to make sure that we do not impact our page speed, the time it takes for your content to load. A slow page will turn users off, they may not even load the page properly but simply go back to the search results to visit your competitor next.
Page speed is also important for search engines, a poorly loading page will impact your customers behaviour as well as your search engine ranking.
Conclusion
Creating a rich product page brining your product to life will improve engagement rate and conversion rate as well as reducing your returns rate. I think you will agree it is a win win.
How have you gotten on with optimising your product pages for customers? Drop a comment below.
Sources –
*50 Consumers Online Shopping Behaviour Trends [Survey] (brizfeel.com)
** Spiegel_Online-Review_eBook_Jun2017_FINAL.pdf (northwestern.edu)