Your marketing team works tirelessly to bring customers to your website, but their efforts go to waste if your product pages don’t convert them. Poor product descriptions, confusing photos, and a lack of supplemental information can all hold people back from buying.
If you’re ready to update your eCommerce product pages, follow these eight best practices to turn customers into loyal buyers.
1. Write for Your Target Audience
Many eCommerce companies place product descriptions at the bottom of their product pages and stuff them with so many keywords they’re almost unreadable. These marketers aren’t writing for their customers, they’re writing for search engine bots.
Stuffed product descriptions are ineffective as search engine crawlers become more advanced and identify poorly-written content. They also turn off customers who struggle to find the information they need.
Instead, optimize your eCommerce product pages with customer-centric product descriptions that match your company branding and connect with buyers.
2. Publish Consistent Photos
Some eCommerce retailers struggle to maintain consistent brand representation throughout their product photos. They might take photos in-house for some items but use vendor-provided photos for others. Similarly, some photos might have models using the items, while feature the items alone on a white background.
Make sure photo usage is part of your style guide. Customers should be able to compare items across a variety of brands without seeing two to three different photo displays on your product pages.
3. Create Product Videos for Added Context
More eCommerce product pages come with individual videos with spokespeople interacting with the items. This provides context as far as size and shape, but also helps people see how the items work and what the material is like.
A third of all online content is video and half of online video is viewed on mobile devices. Your customers have spoken. They want to see videos of the products they buy before they make a purchase.
4. Tap Into Customer Reviews
One of the main concerns with buying items online is trust. Customers need to trust that the items are high-quality, even if they can’t physically hold them. By tapping into customer reviews, you can show honest answers on the quality of your products. These reviews increase customer trust and provide valuable information when buying, like size needs or materials.
Studies have proven that reviews are the element that turns shoppers into buyers.
5. Add Size Guides When Applicable
The information on your product pages can increase conversion rates but can also save your company money with reduced returns. Some shoppers will buy two or three items through clothing retailers because they’re not sure of their size, knowing they will return whichever sizes don’t fit.
By adding fit guides to walk customers through the shopping process, you can make sure they find a size that fits instead of ordering multiple and hoping. For example, the retailer PrAna asks customers to select their favorite brands (like Gap, Target, or Forever 21) and share their sizes in those stores. It then compares those sizes to their items. A size 8 customer at H&M might be a size 6 at PrAna.
6. Clarify Your Return Policy
Brands can build trust on their eCommerce product pages by clearly explaining their return policies. What is the window for returns? Do you cover the return costs? If you have a fair return policy, then shoppers are more likely to take a risk and buy an item, knowing they can return it.
A fair return policy can also grow your business. When a customer decides to make a purchase, they might add other items to the cart to reach a shipping threshold. Buying two or three items and returning one is better than buying none.
7. Add Shipping Costs to Your Product Pages
Adding shipping costs to the actual product pages instead of in the cart can reduce abandon cart rates by giving customers an idea for what the final cost will be. Consider showing an estimated shipping cost or adding an API to calculate shipping costs within your product pages to help customers out.
You can turn your shipping information into a sales opportunity as well. Highlight the cost of the item and place a free shipping threshold underneath it. This keeps customers shopping to add items and receive the free shipping bonus.
8. Add Inventory and Time Limits to Increase Conversions
If your website has a problem with high abandon cart rates, consider adding time and inventory limits to create an element of scarcity on your website. When you feature a sale item, add a countdown for how long the item will be discounted. If you’re trying to push clearance items, mention that there are only a few left in stock.
These additions compel people to take action or risk missing out. They also increase perceived demand (and therefore value) if shoppers think items are selling fast.
Adding these elements will take time. It’s almost impossible to redo your product descriptions overnight or create dozens of videos. However, adding these features will make your customers more confident when they add items to their carts, increasing your conversion rates and growing your sales. If you are looking to optimize your product pages, consider a UX optimization program focused on this site function. To learn more contact us today.
