Today’s guest post is from Andrew Scherer andrew@hsbo.com
8 Best Practices to Increase Product Page Conversion Rates
Getting your product pages right is critical if you want to succeed at ecommerce. Whether you’re listing your products on your own ecommerce store or a third-party marketplace like Amazon, optimizing your product pages will increase conversions and sales.
Here are eight practices that will help you get more conversions on your product pages.
1. Use High-Quality Media
The first thing you should start with is using better-quality photos and videos. Humans are visual beings, and good product images will sell your product in a way that words can’t.
Research shows that we process visuals 60,000 times faster than words! That is more important than ever on the internet, where you are competing with so many other ecommerce websites and need to catch someone’s attention quickly.
Furthermore, people can process multiple elements of an image simultaneously. On the other hand, when you only list a product’s benefits in a bullet point list or paragraph format, people process those different benefits in a more linear structure. Due to people’s short attention spans online, getting as much information across as quickly as possible is critical.
Additionally, visuals affect different areas of the brain, triggering emotions that influence decision-making. They engage the imagination. Thus, good visuals can directly lead to more conversions.
According to Dr. Lynell Burmark, we process text using our short-term memory, while images allow for better data retention. Images can lead to more conversions in the long run. Most people won’t make a purchase the first time they land on your site, so getting them to remember you is critical.
So, what type of images should you use? One tip is to hire a professional photographer to take your own pictures instead of using photographs you took from the manufacturer’s site. Otherwise, you won’t stand out in the Google image search results.
You should take photographs of the product from different angles, ensuring the lighting is on point and you are using a high-quality camera. Another tip is to include humans in your pictures, especially happy-looking people that fit your target audience, so your visitors can identify with them.
A video walkthrough of the product and its benefits can also be helpful, but use a professional voice-over artist instead of a robot-like voice.
2. Write Compelling Product Descriptions
While images are important, they are not enough; you also need a compelling product description. The product description is what people look at to find the product’s specific benefits.
A good product description lists the item’s top benefits in a bullet-list format, using simple language that is easy for most readers to understand. Each bullet point should be short and sweet, focusing on one specific aspect. You should lead into the bullet point list with a brief intro highlighting the product’s primary purpose.
You can go into more technical details about the product in a second bullet point list or a separate section at the bottom. For example, if you are selling a computer, you might go into more specific information about the Intel chip, graphics chip, etc. On the other hand, something like the RAM capacity might go into the first bullet list, as it’s more important to potential buyers.
3. Focus on the Value Proposition
A common mistake online sellers make is not focusing on the actual value the product offers to consumers. You must put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and figure out what truly matters to them. How will this product affect their lives? How will it improve their daily quality of life? Which problems are they experiencing and looking for solutions for?
When listing the product benefits, you need to focus on the benefits on the user’s end instead of simply listing the product’s great qualities and features. That requires a better understanding of your target audience.
Using surveys can help you understand the issues potential buyers are trying to solve and the top things prior customers like about this product. For the latter group, using automated email follow-ups after a purchase can help.
4. Remove Unnecessary Elements
Too many unnecessary elements can overwhelm visitors and lower your conversion rate. Unneeded aspects on your product page might include:
- Pop-ups that ask readers to sign up for an email list
- Advertisement banners
- Self-playing news videos
Including plenty of white space and minimizing elements allows the most critical page aspects to stand out. For example, instead of including many CTAs, have a single, prominent call to action.
5. Make the Add-to-Cart Button Very Accessible
By the same token, make the add-to-cart button easily accessible. This button is your primary CTA on your product page.
The reason this button is so effective is that it doesn’t force users to make a purchasing decision just yet. They can add the product to their carts and then decide later whether to buy it. Allowing potential customers to take small, positive steps toward a purchase instead of requiring them to go all out all at once is a very effective strategy for increasing conversions in the long run.
Once someone has added something to their cart, you can use abandoned cart email reminders to follow up, even if they don’t check out right away.
One way to make the add-to-cart button more accessible is to make it “float” at the bottom or side of the page, even if the user scrolls down, allowing them to click on it at any time.
6. Include Customer Reviews
More than nine out of 10 people read reviews online, and 84 percent trust them as much as personal recommendations from family and friends, according to research. If you don’t have any reviews on your product pages, people will be more hesitant to purchase the product.
Customer reviews create social proof. They allow people to see first-hand what previous buyers are saying. If they are satisfied with their purchasing decision, potential buyers will be more confident going in.
Not many people like being the first one to try something. People like to travel on the beaten track. They would prefer if someone else takes the risk instead of them.
So, how can you get reviews? A simple automated email follow-up sequence after a purchase is one of the best ways to do it. Include a link that takes people directly to the review section and encourage them to share their thoughts.
Remember that if you are trying to get reviews on third-party marketplaces like Amazon, you have to adhere to the review guidelines of that platform. Most third-party marketplaces do not allow you to incentivize users to leave reviews by offering discounts, free products, or other perks.
On your own website, you have more freedom. Nevertheless, you must still follow FTC guidelines regarding incentivized reviews:
- You must disclose the incentive.
- Do not make the incentive conditional on the review being positive.
- Do not ask only customers you think will leave positive reviews.
- Only ask actual customers, not people who have not purchased the product, staff members, family members, or friends.
You can read the full FTC guidelines here.
7. Upsell or Cross-Sell
Not everyone will be interested in the specific product on the page or decide to buy it. However, they may still be looking for similar products, which is why cross-selling is so essential.
You can cross-sell before, during, or after a purchase. If you’ve ever visited Amazon, eBay, or another online marketplace, you’ve probably noticed that it lists relevant products that potential buyers might also be interested in.
When someone checks out on Amazon, it will sometimes suggest they purchase the product together with another product, saying that people often buy those two products together.
That’s known as cross-selling. You could also do it after a purchase. Once someone has paid for something, recommend another product that complements the original product. Upselling is similar, but it involves selling a higher-priced product, such as a more expensive membership tier.
The theory is that once someone has already spent money, they are more likely to spend even more money to get a better overall experience.
An excellent example of how to cross-sell is no other than McDonald’s. It has always trained employees to ask questions such as, “Would you like fries or coke with that?”
However, these days, it has taken cross-selling to a new level by using digital order screens that encourage customers to add extra items to their orders.
8. Optimize Your Website Speed
Finally, make sure your website loads quickly. One of the top reasons customers will abandon a product page is because the website is too slow. Whether the images load slowly or it takes forever to be taken to the shopping cart, people don’t have a lot of patience online.
Final Thoughts
If you want to get more conversions on your product pages, it’s essential to look beyond organic traffic and start using other sources, such as Facebook and YouTube, to drive visitors to your site. Diversifying your traffic sources ensures a steady traffic flow, even if a specific product page doesn’t rank well or a Google algorithm update ruins your rankings.
Is it required to be on your website? Interestingly enough, no. But you can still be sued. And digital lawsuits are on the rise.
