Product Page Design Strategies That Boost Conversions

Intro

What’s the most important page on your website?

No, it’s not the homepage, although the homepage does play a key role in making a memorable first impression. The winner, in this case, is an underdog — your product page(s).

It’s absolutely logical if you think about it. A great deal of your email, SEO, social media, and paid ad efforts are aimed at sending traffic not to your homepage but to specific product pages. That’s where the actual decision-making and purchasing take place.

However, on average only 2.5%-3% of ecommerce website visits result in successful conversions. The culprit for such an underwhelming conversion rate is usually poor design and optimization of product pages.

This post will discuss what makes a well-designed product page and delve into why each strategy works. We’ll also explain how to implement each strategy, so read on to learn more and take your product page design to the next level.

Make the Customization Process Easy and Intuitive

Brands that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue than those that lag behind. The same research study has shown that 71% of customers expect companies to provide personalized interactions.

Based on these stats, it’s safe to conclude that delivering tailored experiences and catering to customers’ needs isn’t optional. Customization has become an indispensable element of every successful product page.

Even though customization is easier to achieve online, you have to be careful not to overwhelm your potential customers. Choice paralysis is a real thing, and it happens when people are presented with a number of different options.

According to Hick’s Law, the more choices a person has, the longer it will take them to make a decision. This delay can result in your potential customers giving up on purchasing and, in turn, hurting your sales.

How can you lower this choice paralysis?

Here are some tips:

• Limit the number of choices or at least highlight a couple of the most distinct. You can always add the “More” button that will display other, less popular choices.
• Simplify the personalization process and make it easier for your prospects to customize the product they like.
• Offer default, predefined options based on the most popular choices and best-sellers. This will reduce decision-making fatigue in some customers.

It’s all about making the entire process as user-friendly as possible and helping your customers have their say in what the final product will look like.

Nike does a great job of giving customers creative control over the sneaker model they want to purchase. The brand’s product customization tool is intuitive and clearly lists all product elements that can be tweaked. Plus, customers can click on the sneaker section they would like to change and see the available colors or materials.

(Source: Nike)

Diversify Your Product Gallery

One of the biggest barriers to online shopping is customers’ inability to touch, feel, try out, and experience products. Even after the purchase, these factors can hurt your sales since they’re responsible for the fact that 10-15% of products bought online will be returned. In certain industries, such as fashion, this number is even higher and reaches 50%.

While engaging all the senses is still a privilege of brick-and-mortar stores, you can use the next best thing — a diversified product gallery.

1. Provide as Many Images as Necessary

Showcase your product from different angles and closeups to help your customers to envisage it. Use high-quality images only, but make sure they’re optimized so that they don’t slow down your website.

Grainy or pixelated images will only hinder your conversion rates since they don’t show your products properly, thus adding no value. Such a faux pas will both negatively affect customers’ perception of your products and damage your reputation. Remember that visual appeal is a make-it-or-break-it factor when it comes to trust and credibility, meaning that your site visitors will be reluctant to give you their credit card number if your product pages come across as shady.

2. Offer a 360-Degree Product View

A 360-degree view functionality doubles as a substitute for visiting a physical store since it allows customers to move a product and see it from different angles.

Additionally, by implementing this UX element, you will be able to upload fewer images without sacrificing the user experience.

3. Enable a Zoom-in Functionality

When customers browse products in a physical store, they always want to look closely and inspect details.

A zoom-in functionality mimics this and enables your site visitors to get a better visual understanding of a product and see its texture. When they can explore the product in such great detail, potential customers feel more confident about making a purchase.

4. Show Your Products in Use

Contextualize every product by showing potential customers how others use it.

This will give them a sense of what a product looks like in the real world and how it should be used. For example, it’s more relatable and engaging to show a garment of clothing on a model than place it on a flat surface.

In-context photos give customers a better idea of garment fit.

It’s a good idea to include models of different sizes and ethnic backgrounds to connect emotionally with all segments of your audience.

5. Leverage Video

88% of people say that watching a product video convinced them to make a purchase.

The ability of this format to condense a lot of information in a short time frame is particularly powerful. We’ve already mentioned the short attention span problem, and instead of forcing your potential customers to read about product features and benefits, it’s much more effective to show all that in a short video.

6. Show the Product Size in Real Life

Size does matter when you’re shopping online.

If you don’t want to mislead your potential customers, make sure they can visualize how big or small a particular product is. List all the dimensions of both the product and package and add a size chart for clothes and shoes.

If there’s even a slim chance that the size of a product can be deceptive, show scale by placing it next to objects that can be used as points of reference.

Somnifix is a great example of product gallery diversification. The brand’s product page is packed with useful images, illustrations, and other visual elements showcasing how to apply their product, who can use it, and what its main benefits are.

(Source: Somnifix)

Make Use of Price Anchoring

Marketing heavily relies on human psychology. Pricing is no different, and you can use several strategies to boost your conversion rates.

Customers have no idea how much a particular product should cost, and they form an opinion about whether a price is good based on several reference points. For example, they will check how much a similar product costs and use it as a yardstick.

Also, if a product is in high demand, people will be ready to pay more. Hermès, for example, has been capitalizing on this for decades by creating artificial scarcity and an aura of exclusivity around their iconic Birkin Bag.

Hence, this evaluation mechanism indicates that your customers’ perceptions of the price are

1. Relative
2. Susceptible to manipulation

Back in 2010, Steve Jobs gave one of his keynote presentations, this time unveiling the company’s brand new product, the iPad. When discussing the pricing of this flashy gadget, Jobs addressed the speculation that its price tag would be just below $1,000, which is the industry code name for $999. At that point, the number appeared on a big screen in the background, only to be crushed by the $499 price tag 60 seconds later, during which the audience learned more about the device’s benefits.

Then, when the price “dropped,” customers were under a powerful impression that they would save $500 and get an amazing product for just a fraction of its actual value.

This cognitive bias that Jobs masterfully played on is at the core of price anchoring. You can achieve the same effect by giving your customers the impression that a product’s actual price is much higher. The trick is in stating the initial price, crossing it out, and placing a new, lower price next to it. And voila! Your customers now think they will get a great bargain.

Use Visually Striking CTAs

An effective call to action can do wonders for your conversion rate. That’s the reason why it has a second entry in this article.

Although crafting these couple of words placed on a button-shaped element might not seem like rocket science, the process actually requires a lot of research, data, and A/B testing. A recipe for an irresistible CTA is concocting the right combination of copy, size, color, and location.

Create Action-Oriented Copy

The point of a CTA is to tell your visitors what to do next and encourage them to take action.

But instead of saying “Buy,” your wording must be more compelling and persuasive. Phrases such as “Find out more,” “Yes, I want a free trial,” “Get a discount,” or “Give me my exclusive deal” are more attention-grabbing and powerful.

Going combines this principle with some clever wordplay on their cheap flights product page. The brand’s name lends itself to a cute pun that catches the eye and also motivates action.

(Source: Going)

Pick the Right Size

On the one hand, you want the copy in a CTA to be legible; on the other, you don’t want a gigantic button that will look cheap and off-putting.

The right balance would be a button large enough to stand out but not to the extent of overwhelming other content on the page.

Cotton Bureau’s product pages feature conspicuous CTAs that are easy to read, and yet they don’t overshadow other elements of the page or come across as too salesy.

(Source: Cotton Bureau)

Use Contrasting but Complementary Colors

Different studies attempted to pinpoint the most effective CTA color, but the color matters mainly because it should make your CTA button pop against the background.

Using complementary colors (those on the opposite sides of the color wheel) will create the best contrast and increase the visibility of your call to action.

Another way to make your CTA noticeable and prominent is to leverage negative space.

Kettle & Fire takes advantage of all these best practices; their CTA is bright red and highly visible against the white background. Another reason this example works is easy order customization and transparency.

Customers can choose the number of packs they want to buy and see exactly how much they will be charged. There’s also an option to choose between a one-time order or a subscription.

(Source: Kettle & Fire)

Embrace Explainer Videos

Viewers say they retain almost 95% of a message from a video.

Even if you think that this number is a bit overblown, it can’t be denied that this format is infinitely more powerful in conveying a marketing message and showing the benefits and use cases of a particular product.

No wonder 96% of people say they watched an explainer video to find out more about a product or service they’re interested in. This format is especially useful for complex service products in the SaaS world. If your product is unfamiliar to your typical buyer persona, invest in producing one or two videos for your product pages.

Explainer videos are great for demonstrating how to use a product because they work better for providing instructions. Instead of facing your customers with a wall of text describing a particular product, offer them a short, engaging video that shows how it works and delivers your message more quickly.

Plus, people are twice as likely to share videos than any other format with their network, which means that you can also expand your reach and generate more traffic.

Bay Alarm Medical leverages the explainer video to show how to install their medical alert system so that potential customers don’t have to look for written instructions.

(Source: Bay Alarm Medical)

Address Common Conversion Obstacles

Online shopping is convenient as customers can purchase a product from the comfort of their homes. However, there are some obstacles that can hinder conversions, and the most common of them are:

Transactional Security

Your customers are worried about how secure their payment will be. 18% of people abandon shopping carts over security concerns. Apart from implementing a system that will keep your customers’ sensitive and credit card information safe, use trust badges that will indicate you exercise due diligence.

Safe checkout and accepted payment badges, together with third-party endorsements, will inspire trust in your customers and encourage them to follow through with their purchases.

Shipping Costs and Return Policies

Shipping costs and return policies can have a significant impact on your conversions. If your customers don’t see their total costs upfront, the odds are they will abandon the shopping cart without completing a purchase.

Similarly, given that they can’t try out the item they’re ordering, a generous return policy is something that can get them off the fence.

Availability of After-Sales Support

Conversion isn’t the end of the buyer’s journey. Once someone purchases from you, it’s crucial to deliver an exceptional customer experience and cater to their needs. If people aren’t sure what will happen if they need support post-purchase, they will be reluctant to do business with you.

So, let them know they can reach out in case they encounter a problem or simply want to learn how to make the most of the product or service they purchased.

Mannequin Mall removes all conversion barriers by addressing these concerns on their product page clearly and right off the bat. Their potential customers can get all the answers they need without having to explore the website and click back and forth in search of the shipping or return policy.

(Source: Mannequin Mall)

Keep Mobile Shoppers in Mind

Mobile ecommerce spending is expected to reach $728.28 billion by 2025.

For 59% of consumers, the ability to shop on mobile is an important factor they consider when deciding where to buy.

Finally, 57% of internet users say they won't recommend a brand with a poorly designed mobile site to their friends and family.

All these stats make a solid case for creating a mobile-friendly ecommerce store. That’s why you should always apply best practices when designing your product page’s mobile version.

Here are some tips for a mobile-friendly website that won’t annoy your visitors:

• Keep the design simple and allow for easy navigation.
• Use large buttons to prevent the fat-finger error.
• Avoid using pop-ups, as they can be difficult to close on a mobile device.
• Optimize images for mobile devices to increase loading speed.
• Use the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) framework to improve the server’s performance and boost loading speed.
• Turn off autocorrect on web forms to accelerate the filling process.
• Use standard fonts that are easy to read.

Many Mornings implemented mobile-friendly design on their product pages. Simplicity, easy navigation, large CTA buttons, and a clear process overview make it easy for customers to browse the product section, add a product to the shopping cart, and quickly access items they have already selected.

(Source: Many Mornings)

Final Thoughts

Well-thought-out and optimized product pages result in significantly more conversions. When a customer gets to a product page, it usually means they’re purchase-ready, and it’s up to you to facilitate the checkout process and make it as smooth and distraction-free as possible. These strategies will point you in the right direction and walk you through the process of optimizing critical product page elements.