Making the right changes, no matter how small, could improve your performance and significantly increase your conversion rate, says Founder of SEO Optimizers Brandon Leibowitz
As an e-commerce business, your product page plays a crucial role in your performance. A poorly-designed page could not only look unappealing to potential customers but also result in a lost opportunity for conversion.
So by making the right changes, no matter how small, you could improve your performance and significantly increase your conversion rate. Take a look at the following ideas and tips to help you optimise your product page for increased sales:
1. Minimise distractions with a simplified layout
Having too many elements in your product page can prove to be distracting for shoppers. It’s easy to end up with a cluttered product page design if you’re unable to decide on what’s important. Focus on only the most important elements such as the product image, pricing, and CTA button. However, even if you hide other essential elements like product descriptions and reviews, make sure shoppers can easily find and access them.
You can make use of tabbed navigation, which will limit visible text and de-clutter the page. At the same time, important information can still be easily accessed for prospective customers. Here’s an excellent example of a clean and simplified product page from Watches of Switzerland.
Also Read: 9 major e-commerce trends of 2016 you can’t afford to ignore
As you can see in the image above, the page mainly comprises of the product image with the price and CTA button clearly displayed on the side. Below the CTA, you can see a vertical tabbed navigation box, where shoppers can easily access other useful information.
2. Use larger, high-quality images
When you’re selling something, you need to display your product at its best. Use high-quality images that clearly showcase how your product looks. In order to visually communicate the quality of the product and steer the focus towards it, you’ll also need to go big. In fact, using bigger images helped Hyundai get 62 per cent more test drive requests than with smaller images.
Here’s how the original page looked. As you can see, the images on the side are quite small and may not be so appealing to the visitor.
Now take a look at the changes that were made, after which there was a massive increase in test drive requests. The images are bigger, making them more prominent in the page.
In an e-commerce setting, bigger images are especially important because you’re selling products based on images alone. Net-a-Porter uses high-quality images, which tend to be the main focus on their product pages. As you can see in the screenshot below, a quick glance at the page gives you a good view of the product image and the CTA button.
3. Make your CTA more prominent
Along with the product image, the CTA button should be the focus on your product page. In fact, a Visual Website Optimiser study found that a prominent CTA button could boost sales by 6.3 per cent for a clothing company.
The button needs to be in contrast with the primary colours used on the page so that it stands out from the rest of the elements. For instance, if you’re using mostly blue elements on the page, you can try creating a green or red CTA button that clearly contrasts with the primary page colour.
Take a look at this product page from Urban Decay and examine their CTA button. You can see that the CTA button is large enough and in contrast with the primary page colour, which is white.
The button is quite prominent, but there are ways to optimise it even further. The other elements right under the button seem to be a bit distracting from the pain purpose; shifting them to other areas of the page could help make the button even more prominent.
4. Display customer reviews to earn trust
Shoppers trust other shoppers more than they trust you. A Bright Local report revealed that 92 per cent of shoppers read customer reviews online before making a purchase.
Back up your claims from real reviews by real customers regardless of whether they’re positive or negative. This is a great way to establish trust with potential customers and influence their decision to make a purchase.
Take a look at how Toys “R” Us prominently displays the star ratings for the product right under the product name.
As you click on the number of reviews, you’re automatically taken to the bottom of the page where the product reviews are displayed.
What’s helpful about this section is that they not only display the average customer rating but also display the pros and cons to help shoppers better understand the qualities of the product.
In addition to this, they even display the most helpful positive reviews and most helpful negative reviews to further assist customers.
5. Enable live chat to help customers
What if people were hesitating from making a purchase because they have some difficulty understanding certain terms and conditions? Or maybe they had some questions about the product and were unable to find sufficient information to answer those questions. Having a live chat feature on your product pages could significantly make things easier for shoppers, encouraging them to make a purchase.
In addition to this, a Live Chat functionality can help you address objections on a real-time basis and improve your chances of closing the sale. Here’s another example from Toys “R” Us, wherein the Live Chat window pops up after you remain idle for a certain time on the page.
Also Read: The rise of chatbots: targetting Southeast Asia’s booming chat commerce space
You can also access the Live Chat help manually by clicking on the button that’s displayed towards to the top right-hand corner.
6. Make the most of scarcity and urgency
If you’re a marketer, you already know the importance of scarcity and urgency to persuade customers. Even with your e-commerce product page, you can display stock or size scarcity or create a deadline for an offer, so shoppers feel compelled to make a purchase right away. However, it’s important that the scarcity and urgency are genuine in order to build trust with your customers.
There are a number of ways to use the scarcity and urgency principles. For example, display it when you’re running low on stock or sizes, colours, etc.
You can also put a countdown timer or deadline for an offer like a discount. Maybe you could even compel customers to make a purchase immediately by giving them a timeline to purchase so as to avail free next-day shipping.
Take a look at how Amazon implements both stock scarcity and urgency. The product is a part of the “Deal of the Day” items with a massive discount of 51 per cent.
Buyers also get free shipping for the item. Amazon displays a countdown timer just below the offer price, showing shoppers that they need to purchase the product within a certain period. They also display that there is only one item left in stock.
Also Read: The evolution of e-commerce business models in Southeast Asia
So you can see that there are several techniques to optimise your product page and boost your e-commerce conversions. While these may not be all of the possible ways to optimise a product page, they are effective and crucial for e-commerce success. Got any questions or ideas? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Brandon Leibowitz is a Digital Marketer with over 8 years experience in the SEO galaxy. He has been featured in Social Media Today, Examiner, Self Growth, eCommerce Times, Tech.co, Business2Community, and more to count.
The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here .
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