The first online purchase was recorded on August 12, 1994 - an early landmark for an industry set to reach an estimate worth of eight trillion dollars worldwide by the end of 2027.
In an increasingly competitive market, brands struggle to reach a fraction of the 2.71 billion online buyers. However, research has shown that for some e-commerce brands, the best way to increase sales is to look inwards at what happens after customers have reach their product page and decided not to complete a purchase.
Exactly what makes up a great product page, and what turns people away from them?
Key takeaways
A well-crafted, content-rich product page can improve conversion rates from an industry average of 2.9% to over 10%.
Images, compelling copy, and customer reviews are the most desired elements on a product page and the biggest drivers of sales.
Ensuring consistency across product pages and maintaining updated information are significant challenges for brands.
What are product pages?
Product pages are any web pages specifically designed to showcase a particular product. It is where you typically find product photos, descriptions, dimensions, materials, pricing info, and so on.
In thoughtfully designed product pages, you'll also see special offers or discounts and reviews from other shoppers.
Why product pages matter
Data shows that most people do not type the brand’s name into search engines, but something similar to a product description. As a result, product pages are much more likely to pop up on search results, instead of a brand’s homepage.
This explains why the conversion rate or those who access a product page directly is around 7%, much higher than when the same website is visited through the homepage (which leads to conversion rates of about 2%).
“There is one item of a brand’s digital presence that should not be overlooked to improve conversion: the product page.”
Unsurprisingly, 87% of online shoppers say product pages influence their product selection process. Amongst the most decisive factors mentioned were the richness of product details, quality and quantity of photos and, above all, customer reviews.
Limitations of product pages
While product pages are essential for showcasing individual items, they have inherent limitations that can impact the overall customer experience and conversion rates:
Limited Space for Detailed Information: Product pages often have limited space, restricting the amount of detailed information and storytelling about the product.
SEO Constraints: Product pages primarily focus on specific items, which can limit their SEO effectiveness for broader search queries.
Lack of Social Proof: New products or low-selling items may lack sufficient customer reviews and ratings.
Difficulty Showcasing Versatility: Product pages may not effectively convey all the different use cases or versatility of a product.
Engagement Limitations: Product pages are typically straightforward and transactional, which can limit customer engagement.
Lack of Context and Lifestyle Integration: It can be challenging to integrate the product into a lifestyle or context purely through a product page.
Customer Education: Complex products may require more education than a standard product page can provide.
By leveraging blog posts and other content marketing strategies, ecommerce brands can address the limitations of product pages, enhance the overall customer experience, and drive higher engagement and conversion rates. In particular, integrating blog content with product pages ensures that customers have access to a wealth of information and resources, ultimately supporting their purchase journey.
Types of product pages
There are different types of product pages, each serving a specific purpose in the ecommerce landscape. Here are some common types:
Individual Product Pages: These pages focus on a single product, providing detailed information including specifications, benefits, pricing, and customer reviews. They often feature high-quality images, videos, and a clear call-to-action (CTA) button to encourage purchases.
Category Product Pages: Category pages group together a collection of related products. They help customers browse through a range of options within a specific category, such as "Men's Shoes" or "Home Appliances." These pages often include filters and sorting options to help users find what they are looking for quickly.
Landing Product Pages: Landing pages are specialized pages designed for marketing campaigns. They typically highlight a specific promotion or product and are optimized for conversion. These pages often have minimal navigation options to keep the user focused on the CTA.
Comparison Product Pages: These pages allow customers to compare multiple products side-by-side. They provide comparative information on features, pricing, and benefits, helping users make informed decisions. This type is especially useful for tech products, appliances, or any category where detailed comparison is beneficial.
Bundle Product Pages: Bundle pages offer multiple products sold together as a package deal. They highlight the benefits of purchasing the bundle, such as cost savings or complementary features.
Pre-Order Pages: These pages allow customers to order products that are not yet released. They provide information on the expected release date and benefits of pre-ordering, such as exclusive offers or limited availability.
Customized Product Pages: Customized pages are for products that can be personalized or customized by the customer. They include options for selecting different features, colors, sizes, or adding personal text.
Each type of product page plays a unique role in the customer journey, catering to different needs and shopping behaviors. By understanding and utilizing these various types, ecommerce brands can create a more engaging and effective shopping experience for their customers.
Why product pages fail
Creating effective product pages is crucial for any ecommerce business aiming to convert visitors into customers.
However, creating these pages comes with its own set of challenges and pitfalls that must be navigated carefully to maximize their impact.
Overly Complex or Jargon-Filled Descriptions: using complex language or industry jargon can confuse customers and deter them from making a purchase. Keep descriptions clear and straightforward.
Lack of High-Quality Images: poor-quality images or a lack of multiple images from different angles can reduce customer confidence and interest in the product.
Insufficient Product Information: failing to provide enough details about the product, including features and specifications, can leave customers with unanswered questions and lead to lost sales.
Ignoring Mobile Optimization: neglecting to optimize product pages for mobile devices can result in a poor user experience for a significant portion of potential customers.
Absence of Customer Reviews: not featuring enough customer reviews can reduce trust and credibility, as many shoppers rely on reviews to make informed purchasing decisions.
Inconsistent Formatting and Design: inconsistencies in formatting and design across different product pages can create a disjointed user experience and diminish the overall professionalism of the site.
Slow Page Load Times: long page load times can frustrate users and lead to higher bounce rates. Ensure that product pages are optimized for fast loading.
Weak or Unclear CTAs: a weak or unclear call-to-action (CTA) can result in missed opportunities to convert visitors into buyers. CTAs should be prominent, compelling, and easy to act upon.
What customers actually want from a product page
This is what customers actually want from a product page.
Big and clear product images
To 93% of online customers, a product page is only as good as its product photos. Consumers spend more time on a page that showcases a product with high quality and clear images.
It is important to ensure constant optimization of the images (name of the image files, Alt Tags, image size and preferably format in WebP), for a better page loading speed and SEO performance.
2. Videos and interactive media
According to recent survey data, 58% of consumers see product videos before making a decision. This just shows how important those videos are in helping us decide what to get. Consistent colours, fonts, and design elements help create a cohesive feeling that conveys professionalism.
“58% of consumers see product videos before making a decision”
Also, add some engagement features like zooming in on pics or customizing colours to keep shoppers entertained. Shopping should be fun, not a chore. Little interactive elements can make the experience more engaging and memorable.
3. Detailed product descriptions
The text on a product page serves a critical purpose: it informs potential customers about the product, highlights its benefits, and persuades them to make a purchase. To put it simply, if your product description is too brief or fails to provide a clear and detailed explanation of the product, it will not effectively convert visitors into buyers.
A well-crafted copy not only describes the product accurately but also emphasizes why it is worth purchasing, thereby enhancing customer confidence and driving sales.
This is what most people expect from product page copy:
Concise Product Title: a short product title with 3 to 5 words that clearly identifies the item.
Brief Yet Informative Product Description: a succinct product description of about 20 words that captures the essence of the product.
Highlighting Key Benefits: a detailed description that emphasizes the main benefits for the customer, explaining why the product is worth buying.
Features and Technical Specifications: a comprehensive list of features or a technical description that provides all necessary details about the product.
Also, don’t forget about SEO or Search Engine Optimization: use this are to include keywords relevant to the brand’s business.
4. Visible CTAs
The “Call-to-Action” (CTA) button should be located prominently on the product page. Most customers prefer a simple and clear copy, like “Add to cart”.
Ensure that the CTA button stands out visually by using a contrasting color and a larger font size. Position it in a place where it is easily accessible without scrolling, typically near the top of the page and next to the product image or description.
The goal is to make it as easy as possible for customers to take the next step in their purchase journey, reducing any friction that might cause hesitation or abandonment. Additionally, consider using multiple CTAs throughout the page, such as at the end of the product description and after customer reviews, to remind and encourage visitors to complete their purchase.
5. Detailed customer reviews
Creating a feeling of trust between the brand and the consumer comes mostly from the visibility of reviews from other customers on products pages.
For this reason, it is important that an evaluation system is available on the product page, as well as comments, with the possibility of even publishing photographs of the product they have purchased.
Good reviews greatly influence the purchase decision and having more than 50 positive reviews can increase the conversion rate by 5%.
7. Responsive design
Mobile e-commerce sales now make up 60 percent of all e-commerce sales around the world. Make sure the product page looks good whether one is shopping on laptop, phone, or tablet. Your product page needs to be ready for any device.
8. Updated information
Mistakes and out-of-date information is one of the most common deal breakers for customers. In order to ensure that a brand’s product pages is always up to date and errors are detected (e.g. non-functional links, products without description, images that do not load, UX problems), it is necessary to ensure:
An error reporting system on the product pages, to be completed by the customer who detects the mistake.
Monthly, quarterly or semi-annual audits, in order to make an internal review of all content on the product pages.
Automatic mistake detection designed to not allow employees of e-commerce teams to publish products with errors (e.g. if a product does not have X words in the description, or does not have relevant keywords, it is not published)
9. Consistency across product pages
For medium or large e-commerce brands, creating consistent product pages for hundreds or perhaps thousands of product pages is a huge challenge. However, it is also a key expectation for 75% of customers as they browse different products and categories.
“75% of shoppers expect a consistent brand experience regardless of channel”
For that purpose, it’s important to create internal rules in the company, to which all workers have access, whenever necessary:
Forms that guide staff in creating product pages, with a step-by-step approach, through which the person responsible for managing the product is guided with examples and best practices along the way.
Explain why certain fields matter the most. For example, when a team member is prompted to write a product description, he should be made aware that those few words will be critical to 90% of buyers. Internal guides should be shared on the Intranet and/or in eBooks for the commercial department.
Clear step-by-step guides in the back office, highlighting the main points in the construction of a product page.
Helping ecommerce brands deliver a consistent experience and grow sales
At Articulate, we have helped e-commerce brands of all sizes design and maintain product pages designed for conversion. Here is how we did it for 2 leading ecommerce brands.
Case study #1: Optimizing Product Pages for a Leading Ecommerce Brand
We partnered with a leading ecommerce brand that was struggling with outdated, overly formal, and low-conversion product pages—thousands of them. Our process began with a comprehensive audit of the existing content, which quickly revealed key areas for improvement, such as inconsistent messaging, unclear benefits, and suboptimal image usage. Based on these findings, we created detailed content guidelines outlining best practices for product copy and images. These guidelines ensured that each product page consistently conveyed essential information and appealed to customers.
Following the audit and guidelines development, we reviewed the existing content on the product pages. Our team worked closely with the brand's internal team, providing training sessions to equip them with the skills needed to maintain high-quality content. We also developed new content for their products, focusing on clear, engaging descriptions that highlighted key benefits and addressed customer pain points. This comprehensive approach not only improved the overall user experience but also significantly boosted conversion rates across their ecommerce platform.
Case study #2: Increasing Customer Reviews Through Post-Sales Email Marketing
We worked with another ecommerce brand that was experiencing growing sales but struggled to convince customers to leave reviews. To tackle this challenge, we revised the post-sales email marketing strategy. Our team crafted a series of engaging and personalized email templates designed to encourage customers to leave reviews after their purchase. These emails emphasized the importance of their feedback and included straightforward links to the review submission page, simplifying the process.
Additionally, we implemented a follow-up email sequence to gently remind customers to share their experiences if they hadn't done so initially. This multi-touch approach ensured that customers received timely and relevant prompts to leave reviews without feeling overwhelmed. As a result of our revised email marketing strategy, the ecommerce brand saw a significant increase in the number of customer reviews. This influx of positive reviews not only helped convert more visitors into buyers but also provided valuable insights for further product improvements.
Build product pages that convert with us
At Articulate, we specialize in helping brands enhance their content marketing strategies, particularly when it comes to optimizing product pages. Our expertise in auditing, revising, and creating high-quality content ensures that your product descriptions are not only clear and engaging but also designed to convert visitors into customers.
We offer ready-made briefings and templates for product and category pages that are crafted to maximize conversion rates. Our comprehensive guidelines provide your team with the tools they need to maintain consistent and effective messaging across all your product pages.
Whether you need to revamp outdated content, train your team on best practices, or develop entirely new copy, Articulate has the experience and resources to elevate your ecommerce brand's content. By partnering with us, you can be confident that your product pages will effectively communicate value, build trust, and drive sales.