Your product pages play a vital role in the customer journey. People may land on these pages from ads, blogs, Google searches, social media, emails, and more. Some of them arrive ready to buy, and others come to do some research or arrive purely out of curiosity. Some visitors are already very familiar with you and your products, and others have never even heard of you.
Product pages need to serve all of these visitors, regardless of how much context they have and how they got to your page. That means they need to drive people toward the buy button while still providing everything people need to make a decision. (Because you don’t want them leaving your product page to do their research.)
They need to be comprehensive, yet streamlined, so you can turn those visitors into customers.
As the makers of a conversion optimization platform for manufacturers that sell online, we know a thing or two about product pages that convert.
Here are eight of the most important product-page features.
1. A clear product title
Your product page’s title should clearly establish what your product actually is. You might think that just means the name of your product, but this is actually an opportunity to provide more clarifying information like your product’s category, what it’s for, or it’s most appealing feature.
If you limit your title to the name of your product, that can make it take longer for people to figure out if your product is what they’re looking for. That ambiguity can be enough to make people leave your page, uncertain whether they were in the right place.
That said, your title should not include marketing messaging like benefits or rebate offers, and you shouldn’t stuff it with all the keywords someone might search to find your product. An overstuffed product title makes it harder for someone to confirm “this is what I was trying to find.”
2. Real ratings and reviews
When people are close to a purchase, one of the first things they do is look at ratings and reviews. 93 percent of consumers say reviews influence their purchases. If you don’t have reviews on your page, you’re basically telling people to leave if they want to do more research.
While you might think it’s good enough to have your own curated reviews on your website, the reality is that consumers tend to rely on websites like Amazon for crowd-sourced reviews, where they can be more confident those reviews aren’t being manipulated by a manufacturer. (This is why PriceSpider showcases all your ratings and reviews from popular retailers on your product pages.)
Additionally, ratings can have a huge impact on someone’s first impression of your product. Not displaying them can make consumers suspect your ratings are low, or that no one has bought the product. And having a significant number of high ratings makes people more confident that you are legitimate and can deliver what your page promises. (Another reason why it helps to display ratings from sites like Amazon.)
3. A compelling product video
Videos let visitors see your product in action before they commit to buying it. They give you an opportunity to showcase the ideal outcomes of using your product and walk people through the entire process of actually using it.
It’s becoming more common to see product pages include a video gallery that highlights some of the most common ways a product is used and answers some of the most common questions people have. High quality, engaging videos can seriously increase your product page’s conversion rates by giving visitors a chance to find answers to their questions without leaving, and they also present your product in a visually appealing way.
4. A detailed description
Your product description needs to give people all the basic information about your product, including specs and features. This text should appear above the fold so that the moment people arrive on your page, they understand exactly what your product is. Like your page title, it’s contextual information that helps people confirm that they’re looking at the product they intended to.
5. Enhanced content
“Enhanced content,” also known as Amazon A+ content, rich content, or deluxe content, contains the real meat of your product page. This is where you sell people on what your product is capable of, the things that make it better than anything else out there, and the problems you can help them solve. It should emphasize your product’s biggest benefits and connect your product to people’s lives in tangible ways.
Larger online retailers include this content because they know it helps your product page convert visitors who are further down the sales pipeline. It’s one more nudge leading them toward the buy button, and it allows them to investigate your product more without leaving the product page.
Enhanced content can include things like:
- Graphs
- GIFs
- Videos
- Dynamic copy that targets specific audiences
6. A prominent buy box
The buy box is a hub that encompasses everything someone needs to actually order your product from the page:
- Product name
- Price
- In-stock status
- Quantity selection
- Color or size options
- Shipping information
- “Buy now” button
Online marketplaces like Amazon may have additional fields such as the name of the retailer selling the product. While we know the buy box requires constant effort with no guarantees, this is important for manufacturers to monitor because you want to do your best to ensure that only authorized retailers sell your product.
7. A robust image gallery
When people arrive at a product page, they expect to actually see the product. You can get by with one or two images, but these days, consumers are accustomed to inspecting products from every angle, so they can get a better perspective on how it looks and confirm that it has everything they need. Sometimes a product description accurately describes the product, but the consumer imagines the description means something else. A robust image gallery can eliminate confusion and set better expectations.
The number of images you should have really depends on the product. It would be excessive to have more than two images for something like a gift card, but things like clothing and electronics could easily have six or more high-resolution images, ideally with hover and zoom capabilities.
8. Customer questions and answers
Often after reading your product description, consumers still have questions about how your product works in specific situations. Before they buy, they want to be sure it can do what they need it to.
That’s why it’s important for your product page to have a section dedicated to customer questions and answers from you. (In some cases, answers can also come from customers.) This helps consumers continue researching your product without leaving your product page, and it can give them the confidence they need to make a purchase.
If certain questions come up regularly, that’s a good indicator that you might want to address them in your product description or enhanced content. For every person who asks you a question, there are probably others who had that same question but never asked it.
If you answer questions on your product page, your visitors won’t have to leave to continue their research.
Turn your product pages into conversion machines
When you point people to your product pages, you want them to become customers. But if your pages are missing important information and don’t provide opportunities to really explore your products, people will leave without buying. With the right features, you can dramatically increase the conversion rates of your product pages.
Of course, when you sell your products online, you’re not always in control of what those product pages look like. Every retailer is a little bit different. But with the right brand monitoring tools, you can ensure that your products look and feel the same to consumers wherever they appear.
See how PriceSpider helps manufacturers turn more visitors into customers.
