Think over this, A product page is usually the final step in which you convince someone to buy from you.
If they're not convinced by that point then there's no way you will make a sale.
Hence, it is ultra uber utmost important to create the right Product Display Page.
We're RevUp, a performance focused conversion rate optimization agency.
On Average We Improve Clients Conversion Rate +32% in Just 90-Days Working Together.
Our work has helped in generating $124,422,353 in incremental revenue and today I am going to share the most valuable things we have learnt.
Product Display Pages OR the PDPs are designed specifically for eCommerce websites and help potential customers understand why they should purchase from you instead of one of your competitors.
A great PDP effectively educates visitors about the features and benefits of your products and also effectively addresses their concerns. It's like your virtual salesperson.
And just like any other sales process, there are certain principles which when incorporated boosts the selling super powers of your PDP pages.
In this post, I will be the Yoda to your PDP Skywalker. I'll show you exactly what elements are needed and how they should be laid out for maximum conversions! And by following these steps and using the example covered, your conversion rates will skyrocket!
Convert You Must!
Here is what we will cover in detail from top to bottom:
Let's get cracking!
Let’s start this section by first explaining what an Announcement Bar is. As this section is known by different names, starting with an explanation will ensure that we are on the same page.
An announcement bar is basically a horizontal bar of your website that usually contains text, optionally with call-to-action button and/or images. This type of page element appears within the header or footer of a webpage.
Typically, these bars are used to alert website visitors about an upcoming sale or promotion, provide them with a coupon code for discounts/free shipping, display new product announcements, or even announce that you've moved to a new location.
Announcement bars can also be used to re-engage customers who abandon their carts without making a purchase. You can use an announcement bar to remind them that their items are still available in the shopping cart, and you could even offer them another chance to complete their purchase.
Do you want to announce a special promotion or sale? You could include an announcement bar that contains a countdown timer.
This type of page element is especially effective if you're hosting a Black Friday sale, New Year's Eve party, or any holiday-related event. People are drawn to time-sensitive offers and they'll often jump at the chance to purchase a product that's only available for a short period.
If you're hosting a sale or offering unique discounts, then an announcement bar is one of the best tools you can use to promote these offers. When combined with coupon codes, such as "SAVE10" or "FREE10" this type of page element can be effective and it will encourage people to purchase with you since they'll be receiving a discount.
Are you planning on releasing new products? If so, an announcement bar is a perfect tool for you. By placing one at the top or bottom of your webpage you can easily create a call to action that encourages visitors and customers alike to check out the new items you're selling.
When you run a holiday sale or offer your customers free shipping, it's important to be proactive. If you wait until the last minute to inform your website visitors that they can receive free shipping, then you could lose sales due to cart abandonment. You need an effective way to remind them about the availability of your free shipping offer, and an announcement bar is a great way to accomplish this goal. You could include a coupon code or countdown timer along with your shipping information so people don't forget about the special deals you're currently hosting.
If you've received positive reviews and ratings from third-party websites, then an announcement bar is a great tool to display your accolades. Many people rely on online reviews and ratings when they're choosing which businesses to purchase from, so you can use this page element to build trust, credibility, and awareness.
Here is my honest confession - when it comes to product pages Navbars are not one of the most popular elements. But, they are still important and can greatly influence conversions if you treat these babies properly.
So, what are some things to consider?
What I am saying here might raise a few eyebrows. But, I am saying this after reviewing data from over a thousand sites.
Rather, let's start with how you can yourself validate what I am saying for your site.
Just do this thing if not already done - install a Heat map tool like HotJar or Microsoft clarity. Let the data flow in.
Now, once you have enough data look at the heat map of your product page. Which are the top 5 most interacted items on the product page? Is there any element from Navbar?
Understand this thing - Navbar is an important element on the home page or collection pages, but on the product page - not so much.
When you are using a floating nav bar - you are constantly dedicating valuable screen real estate to an element that is not going to be hugely converting.
Further, I am not saying get rid of the nav bar. I am just saying, on the product page - make it non-floating.
The space that you use can be instead used for a better converting element like the announcement bar.
To create a top navigation bar that increases conversions and boosts traffic, it's important to place your logo in the right spot.
On mobile - placing it in the centre of the bar is often the best option, and on desktop - placing it in the left of the bar is the best option.
While a logo may seem like a small detail, it can have a big impact on conversion rates. Don’t put a big ass logo. Yes, we know you love your brand, but please love the screen real estate of your visitor more if you want to make some bling bling.
It's one of the biggest conversion killers if you have a big ass logo on a floating nav bar. Please don't do that.
The color scheme of your navigation bar matters, and so does its background!
If you want to give your conversion rates a quick boost, consider experimenting with the color of your top navigation bar's background. This conversion optimization tactic is simple but effective because it directly impacts how easy it is for visitors to find what they're looking for.
You can test out different conversion optimization color schemes, including light and white as well as darker options like navy blue, brown or black. Try them all out and see which conversion rate optimization tactic delivers the best results for your site.
Don’t use a nav bar background colour that makes everything else on your page dull!
Keep it simple - light colours that help readability and don’t compromise the visibility of other items like the CTA.
When a company has a large number of products, services or offers, it can be difficult to decide where to place them on a top navigation bar.
One conversion rate optimization tactic is to reduce the number of menu items on your navigation bar, focusing instead on delivering value and clarity. By reducing the amount of information displayed on your website's main navigation bar, you can improve conversion rates and increase website traffic.
In one of our CRO Experiments, we found that a reduction from five to three menu items led to improved conversion rates by as much as 22%.
This is because it reduces the amount of noise on the page, giving visitors an easy way to find what they're looking for.
When deciding what conversion optimization tactics to use for your top navigation bar, you can boost conversion rates by adding widely accepted icons that will guide visitors along their conversion journey.
These icons should relate directly to the conversion funnel you're trying to improve. An eCommerce conversion optimization tactic could be to include a shopping cart icon in the navigation bar.
One simple tactic is to display the number of items in the cart/basket on your site's navigation bar, so they know how many items they have already added to their conversion funnel.
Visitors will immediately be able to see how many items they have in their conversion funnel, and what's left to do.
A conversion rate optimization company recently studied whether or not this conversion optimization tactic improved conversion rates.
They ran tests on multiple websites, including one with over 90,000 products in its conversion funnel. The conversion rate optimization company found that by displaying total quantity in the shopping cart, conversion rates improved by an average of 7%.
The hamburger/burger style menu in the navigation bar is basically used for mobile. Clicking on that will collapse or hide all content inside the navbar, clicking again on it will expand back with page contents.
It basically has three lines, looks like a burger, hence the name.
This is already part of most modern themes, but for any reason - if you are not using this - please start it now.
This one is strictly relevant for sites that are accessible across different geographies such that these regions have different languages as well.
As conversion-oriented businesses know, conversion rates can vary dramatically depending on the language of your website.
For example, if you're selling t-shirts online and your conversion funnel is in Spanish, you'll likely have lower conversion rates than if it were in English.
To reduce this effect and increase conversion rates, consider using a top bars conversion optimization tactic that provides language selection. This conversion optimization tactic will give visitors the ability to choose their preferred conversion rate, which will increase your conversion rates overall.
Like the previous one - this one is also only relevant for sites that are accessible across different geographics such that these regions have different currencies.
During one of our conversion optimization tests, we discovered that providing a currency selection option increased conversion rates by at least 9%.
As I mentioned earlier - Navbar might not be the most interacted with element on the product display, but it is a standard element on the page.
Even though Navbar might not contribute significantly towards conversions on PDP, a shabbily designed one can tarnish the brand perception and pull down your conversions. So, do it properly please.
Your product image slider is like your elevator pitch!
When people land on your site, you have entered the elevator with them, and your product image slider is so influential that it can make or break whether they will do business with you or not.
That is why I keep telling my team that this one is like the big daddy when it comes to optimising your product pages.
Don’t believe me yet? Just do this - check in your heatmap tool (MS Clarity, HotJar etc.) to find out which are among the top most interacted items on your PDP? And chances are very high that the product image slider will be among the top 5 most interacted with items on the PDP.
So, what's the best way to set up your product slider? Should you include images of all of only your products, or add something extra? And how do you make sure that your slider catches people's attention?
I will answer all these questions and provide some powerful tips that will increase the chutzpah of your product slider. So, if you're looking to RevUp your eCommerce store, keep reading!
We all know that images are important when it comes to eCommerce stores.
The quality of the images are critically important. Make sure that all of your images are HD (high definition) and in focus. This will make a good solid first impression on your site visitors, most of whom will interact with the slider for sure.
However, if you do use HD images on your slider, remember that not everyone will have quick download speeds. So, make sure that your images are optimised. Don’t just put raw goliant size images just like that.
While high-definition images are important for your product slider, so is speed. After all, many people will be buying from their mobile devices. So, if your site takes too long to load, people might just leave before they even get the chance to see your slider!
Hire a professional to optimise the images for your site such that they look super amazing and also not heavy in size.
A great way to make your slider more attractive is to offer pinch-zoom functionality.
This will allow visitors to get a closer look at your products and see the finer details. It will also help them envision how your product would look in real life, which could encourage them to buy it!
Also, if you're planning to provide zoom functionality on your slider, make sure that all of your images are crystal clear! Ensure that there are no signs of damage or anything that makes the quality of the product questionable.
To tell people about your zoom feature you can add an 'enlarge' symbol. A magnifying lens is the most commonly used symbol for this and will provide an easy to understand signal to your site visitors that they can try zooming in the image.
It is best if you allow the zoom in the product image slider itself, avoid things like pop up etc. as users have to take additional steps to exit the popup.
I am personally not a fan of adding any steps that add to the friction in the user journey. Especially, when something is considered like a standard feature in the industry.
Yes, you can add a video in the product image slider and yes this is a good place to put it and yes daddy eCommerce - Amazon also does it! Don’t believe me - go check out the category best sellers.
This will provide an extra dimension of detail for your product, which could make it more attractive to visitors. It also makes it easier to demonstrate how the product works and hence greatly assists in enhancing the engagement on the page.
Also, if you're selling a high-tech product that could be difficult to understand with just an image, a video can be a great addition to the slider.
Another kind of video which works really well is testimonial video. This can give a boost with social validation to your elevator pitch.
But remember, Keep your video short and to the point. Plus, don’t forget the optimization. If you put heavy content that slows down your page, it will do more harm than good.
Don't forget to include promotions and deals on your slider!
Understand this thing - your product image slider is the most interacted element, it is your elevator pitch. So, anything you put here has higher chances of reaching your site visitors.
Hence, you can put information about promotions and deals as well, provided you do this creatively.
This might be something such as a seasonal promotion. Or, if you're running an event such as Black Friday, consider using your slider to promote the sale and encourage visitors to take advantage of the great deals.
Another thing that you might want to do is add some of your product reviews or testimonials to your slider.
This is a brilliant chance to establish early social proof. Adding some images to your slider demonstrating how your products are being used can be a great Conversion Rate Optimization technique. This is because it gives people an idea of how they can use the product in real life, which could encourage them to buy it!
You can simply add end-user images on the slider with a text bubble showing a terse testimonial. These might be photos that you've received from customers who have bought your product or it could even be stock images if you are just starting out (just ensure you have the permission to use those images)
Infographics when created properly are amazing!
Infographics are basically used to present information using graphics with the objective to present it quickly and clearly.
These could show product benefits, or just be marketing infographics that talk about your brand and what you're doing. Either way, they are helping people understand your product's benefits or your brand’s value proposition, and the easier you make it, the less mental conflict, the higher the conversion rates.
This is a great Conversion Rate Optimization technique because it gives people visual information which they can digest quickly and easily. And, this will allow them to better understand the types of products you're offering.
Another Conversion Rate optimization technique you might want to consider with the slider is adding before & after images.
This one is highly useful for products that can produce results that are visual, like lets say a hair trimmer OR a car polish OR a cosmetic brand might use before & after images to show how using their product can change you OR things you own.
Basically, these will show how your product can be used to transform something, which could give people ideas about the kind of changes that are possible
This greatly helps them visualise the product in their lives and can be a strong driver for conversions.
Since PDP is really influential I will recap the 7 things you need to include in your slider :
So, want to repeat again - Product image slider is one of the most critical elements of the product display page. Particularly, for cold traffic that you get from channels like social media.
Remember, it's your elevator pitch.
Whoever asked “What is in a name?” did not know about product display pages.
I hope you agree that product names are very important! But, what is equally important is how you display them.
Product names can be influential to drive a purchase decision especially if you are not in an ultra niche category.
We have seen multiple cases where we have seen conversion rates increase after making alterations to their product name fields.
Your product name can alter the perception of your product as names are strongly associated with psychology.
So, Let's just take a look at things you need to keep into consideration when it comes to your product names.
One of the things that you must keep in mind about your product names is that they should be of the exact length as mentioned by Google's Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) team. The reason for this requirement is that the search engine giant has found out through its research that reading time on a website is directly linked to it's conversion rates.
For example, if a complicated and long product name with 3 words is displayed and the user takes 10 seconds to read it, then the conversion rate will drop by 33% as compared to a product name which only requires 2 seconds to be read.
So, please avoid complicated names in the name of sophistication and consider using names which are easier for the users to read out.
Make sure that your product names are SEO friendly. There is no harm in including the right keywords on your product page that helps search engine bots to crawl it more efficiently and index it faster, which will automatically improve your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO).
For example, if we take a look at Amazon.com's mobile website, we will find that the product names include keywords which are then surrounded by asterisks.
This means that when users search for "iphone case *black*" and perform an image search in Google, they will see relevant results from Amazon's mobile website with the right keywords. This definitely helps to improve the Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) as well as increases its website traffic.
The font that is used for the product names also plays an important role in Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). When you use a bold and italicised font to highlight your product name, then it will make them stand out among all other details which are displayed on the page. So, there is a very high chance that it will be noticed and read by the users.
There is no prescribed styling for the aesthetics of the product name display and the best way to find out what will work for you is by running experiments for this. For example, we found in one of our experiments that using an italicised font for product names improved Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) by 3%.
Given these factors, you should be very careful about how your products are being named and also how they are displayed in order to maximise your product’s appeal for potential customers.
Next, let's dig into how to create a high converting product description for your e-commerce store.
To write a great product description you need to have a clear understanding of how your product solves the implied as well as the explicit needs of your target audience and you understand that all you need is good copywriting skills to transform these needs into product description.
Essentially, you have to write a product description that is more about what your customer wants from your product.
One of the ways to discover the implied needs of your target audience is to know what information people search for when they are going to buy a product in your category. Integrating the search queries in your product description is a great way to establish a connection with your audience.
Let's look at some of the top tips that we have discovered after 100s of experiments with the product descriptions.
Well written product description with bullet points is like a cherry on the cake. Bullet points work better than long and complex descriptions and help customers to figure out easily about how it works, and what all features are included in that particular product.
When shoppers land on your site, they only read the first few sentences of a product description. If they fail to understand what is written, then most probably they will leave your site and visit the other eCommerce sites which provide all the information about products in a brief format.
In this case, you lose your customers as well as sales.
So, trying out bullets in the description is a low hanging fruit that you can pluck to enhance the information quotient of your page.
Thumbnails are the best way to catch the attention of visitors. Icons in bullets will look more attractive and increase conversions for your product.
The reason is that, when someone visits your site and finds a product with thumbnail or icon based bullets they will read all information provided by you.
If it looks good, then they will surely read with more attention and if they like what they read then they will buy the product from your store. So, adding thumbnails or icons is an easy way to attract the attention of your visitor and keep them engaged with the details provided in the bullets.
You have to write a one sentence terse summary in which you should mention all the main features of your product.
This will help people know how your product is better than others. You can add this above the bullets or after the bullets - but it needs to be terse and not more than 2 sentences. You can end up with a call-to-action that tells people why they should buy it.
Instead of using words like 'good', 'nice' etc, you can use high-quality power words which will catch the attention of your audience. High-quality power words are the ones that are short and attractive.
Also, always try to use positive sentences in your product description.
Instead of using negative words like 'no', 'not', 'worst' use high-quality power words which will catch the attention of your audience.
You can find an exhaustive list of such words here :
https://sumo.com/stories/power-words
Don't use weak words, because they are after all - weak.
Social proof is one of the best ways to boost credibility and trust among customers. People love to know what other people think about a particular product so you have to include reviews from other people who bought your product.
To introduce social proof in product description, you can use lines like:
What I recommend is to have a solid awareness of the needs of your customers and then hire a great copywriter with whom you can share your knowledge about your target audience.
The copywriter can then take care of transforming this into a high converting clear and powerful description.
It is a well-known fact that pricing is a major part of Conversion Optimization. Pricing can influence your conversion rate in many positive and negative ways.
It can boost your conversions by highlighting special offers, discounts and flash sale events on your product details page. It can also turn away customers who find your price unreasonable.
I even suggest to our clients that they should experiment with their pricing every 6 months. The inflation is rising at a much rapid rate and not many brands are proactively adjusting their prices. This is critically affecting the profit margins of these brands.
But, also consider this - the way you display your price also significantly affects the perception of value.
Time and again we have found across numerous experiments that presentation of pricing can have a direct impact on conversion rates.
I am going to share with you these presentation strategies that we have found as potential conversion boosters.
One of the best ways you can boost your Conversion Rate is by adding "Best Price" assurance on your product detail page. This will assure your customer that they are getting the best possible price.
Adding this assurance is very easy to do. All you need to do is add a "Best Price Guarantee" badge or mention the same on your product page.
By including such simple assurances we have seen the conversion rates increase by as much as 20%!.
Another Conversion Rate optimization technique you can use to show your customer that they are getting a good deal is by showing the discount amount along with the original price.
You can add this strike through on your product page. This strategy works best when you offer discounts and price drops on your products. It shows customers that they are getting a good deal while they are shopping.
Some brands are concerned that providing discounts affects the quality perception of their store, which I will not debate on. But, having said that, I will always advise to AB test this out. Maybe you are getting too concerned about the brand and that is affecting your top line?
Maybe, by adding a discounting will not affect the brand perception that significantly? So, just test it out. It is worth it.
Another Conversion Rate optimization technique you can use to show your customer that they are getting a good deal is by showing the discount amount along with the original price.
Instead of just adding a strikethrough or price assurance badge, you could add this data in percentage terms. This shows how much money your buyers will save when using your product.
One Conversion Rate optimization technique that is very effective but often overlooked is promoting your upsells. You can promote your upsells if they are related to the original product you are selling or serve some other purposes for your customer.
You need to show this on your product page. This Conversion Rate optimization technique can be used for both digital products and products with inventory.
You can show your buyer the benefits of buying an upsell product along with its features and price.
Upsell is a great way to increase the Average order value which has direct impact on your revenues and ROAS.
You can simply keep a higher variant as default selection on the PDP.
This technique is also highly effective with subscription based products. If your customer has a choice to make a one time purchase or subscribe to your product, then keeping subscription as default selection is a nice hack to promote that.
A very simple technique is to offer your customer 3 variants where basically you want to sell the middle one. Keep the price of 1st 2 variants close to each other while price the 3rd one somewhat higher. You will hypnotise people into buying the middle one. Test it out.
Lifting interaction rate with the CTA is the holy grail of all CRO efforts.
Without the CTA, your visitors cannot move to the next step of your funnel. Hence, it is critically important to have a CTA that is easily accessible, plus attracts the visitors to click on it.
I'll now share some ideas discovered after plenty of experiments across the CTA have produced statistically significant conversion lifts. So, let's start then.
This seems like no brainer, and makes me, for one, cringe when I say a CTA button with shabby dimensions.
A CTA button with proper dimensions becomes more important for the traffic coming on the mobile devices, because these devices have smaller screens, and the ugliness of poorly designed components gets magnified.
Please ensure that your call to action buttons are of dimensions that make them look consistent with the other components around them. In the case of mobile UX a CTA with 85% to 90% screen width with centre alignment is a great choice.
The size should also be such that if there are multiple buttons on your page then the primary CTA should attract the maximum attention.
In the name of consistency, you cannot give the same visual appearance to your primary CTA like “Add To Cart” and other CTAs like “Read more”
The colour of the key CTA is equally important as the size. The colour plays a very critical role in bringing attention to any component on the page. Further, based on your product category, your brand, and other aesthetics - different colours can evoke different emotions among your visitors.
One common mistake that I see website owners do is changing the CTAs without ensuring consistency with the rest of the page aesthetics.
If there is inconsistency between your overall website and the colours you choose for your CTAs then that will do more harm than good.
So, before implementing any colour changes to your site - ensure that you have a balance between your brand guidelines and making your CTA stand out.
In general you need to ensure that your Primary CTA is clearly and distinctly visible. You may try to experiment with a set of colours and discover the right one for you. You can also experiment with gradients, which as of 2022 is the “in thing”.
Like check out the CTA on AirBnb. They use a white CTA and have cleverly used a gradient based CTA text :
Or checkout ClickUp that adds a shadow under the CTA to make it stand out :
Make My Trip uses beautiful gradient :
Just make your CTA attractive, but like an athlete with a supple and attractive body, not like a russian gangster with gold chains.
This might seem difficult to believe, but we have seen lifts in conversion rates by changing button shapes.
The catch here is though that we never found a pattern on which shapes do better. But, can changing the shape affect your conversion rates? Absolutely.
There are not many options with CTAs when in comes to shapes, most of the times you can play with the roundness of the edges.
You can keep one which is oval, having slightly rounded edges or a totally edgy CTA.
Like Love Complement uses an oval CTA with glow and animation :
Amazon uses rounded edges on mobile UX, but almost oval on desktop :
The easiest way to find of which shape will be best for you is by running experiments on it.
The text on your CTA significantly affects your messaging.
There is a huge difference between “Instant Checkout” vs “Securely Checkout”
“Add To Cart”, “Add To Bag”, “Buy Now” are some of the same options.
But, you can play around based on your product category. For example, an eyeliner product page can use the text “Get My Eyeliner” Or “Get Your Eyeliner”.
If you are running promotions, you can try “Get This Deal”
You can also introduce urgency through CTA text, for example - if you are offering 10% off, you can put on CTA - “Buy Now To Save 10%”
Or if you are offering multiple variants - you can add the discount % in the CTA text. Example - Subscribe To Save 20%.
You can also put the text in 2 lines instead of one, where one line can be in smaller font size compared to the other.
Check a few examples :
Visual cues like arrows can increase click-through rates by adding a sense of direction. Conversion rates can improve if you use arrows as visual cues for your call-to-action buttons.
For example, "buy now" will look more appealing when a right pointing arrow is added beside it. Conversion rates can increase if you find the perfect combination for yourself.
You can also use visual cues like a bag symbol on add to cart button or add a padlock symbol with text “Secure Checkout”
Few examples :
I hope you agree that the Facebook + Shopify combination has given a solid boost to plenty of ecommerce stores.
But, understand this thing - that majority of traffic that you get on your store through Facebook will be first time visitors.
It should not be very surprising that many people who are coming to the site for the first time can be sceptical about the security of your website.
One way to enhance the security perception of your site is by adding badges and logos under the CTA.
If you think over it then adding these icons under your CTA also makes a lot of sense as right when the traffic is contemplating on moving further to the next stage of the purchase funnel, you assist them with their decision by providing a security assurance.
Here are few examples that can guide you on how to do this :
Just like security assurance - adding content for social proof can be highly effective in convincing the cold audience that their decision to make a purchase on your website is not something they will regret doing.
Again, keeping this near the key CTA has its strategic advantages as this nudge comes right at the “moment of truth”.
You just need to keep a terse review from a happy customer that effectively presents either the benefits of your product OR addresses the key concerns of your audience OR maybe does both.
Here are a few examples :
This one is a very simple hack that ensures that your key CTA is easily accessible right at the moment your customers are ready to make a purchase.
It helps in reducing the friction one has to go through in looking for a CTA.
We have seen this time and again across numerous experiments that adding a floating CTA greatly impacts the conversion rates.
We even consider this a no-brainer and strongly recommend adding this to the page. Floating CTA buttons is super effective in increasing the click-through rates by making it easy for users to access the button.
Particularly on the mobile UX, floating CTA is a must.
But, here is a catch - we are still trying to find out what is the optimum location for adding the floating CTA :)
We have seen it work at both positions - the top as well as bottom. So, my usual recommendation is to AB test it out and discover what works best on your website flow.
Testimonials are basically special reviews that get dedicated space on your page.
Customer testimonials are powerful marketing tools that can bring in massive conversions. This is the reason why most top e-commerce brands spend a lot of time, effort and money into collecting them.
However, there's always room for improvement when it comes to utilising these little pearls. In many cases, marketers simply add them to the end of the sales page, which might not be the best location for this important content.
So now, let's look at how to do this THE RIGHT WAY!
We'll begin with the simplest method first. It is also something that I have presented as a hack in the CTA optimization section, but it's relevant here as well.
Simply put, if you want to boost your sales by adding more testimonials on product detail pages, all you need to do is add a customer quote below the call-to-action button.
Don't be deceived by its simplicity. This straightforward method will yield great results if done right:
Reiterating on why it is effective. Any section close to the CTA will strongly influence the purchase decision. Hence, a testimonial just after key CTA can be a great way to positively influence the purchase decision with social proof.
As usual, I recommend that you test different variations of this to discover what works best for you.
People are more likely to believe in something if it's realistic. There's no point in adding quotes like 'I got 100% discount' or similar claims that would make your company look like a scam.
Instead, you should consider using real testimonials from real customers with actual results.
Don’t assume that your audience is stupid. It will do more harm than good.
Even if your testimonial includes something negative, then it's still worthwhile to put it as long as it does not jeopardise the positives that is parallely presents.
For example, we got a review that our services are expensive (which they can be), but there was an additional statement that the quality and time makes up for the premium pricing. Now, something like this seems totally genuine and can definitely influence our customers to engage with us.
So, keep it real.
Consider the testimonial as a catalyst.
As the customers are going through the page learning about your product, your value proposition and other details, a review will act like a catalyst and strengthen the purchase intent.
You should try to put testimonials which are related to the content that your visitor would have just gone through.
For example, If you have put in content around how to use a face cream, then you can follow the content by a testimonial where your customer tells that they regularly applied the cream twice a day and they saw the benefits after 2 weeks.
This is an interesting little trick right here, and all you need to do is add a small signifier after your quote. A 5 star rating would be the simplest choice.
Stars are traditionally strongly associated with quality across a variety of domains and industries. According to studies, people tend to trust the reviews more if they are complemented by the visual cue of 5 stars. So, feel free to use this little trick to your advantage.
The value of the testimonial greatly depends on who is providing it. If someone with relatively higher social authority provides a testimonial for you then that definitely enhances the trust quotient of your brand.
Also, keep this in mind - you will need to sincerely and proactively put in effort to gather reviews from your customers. You will need to come out of your comfort zone and request people to provide you these.
As I stated above, testimonial is a special review - hence you need to put in special effort. Particularly, if you are looking to get this from popular people or domain experts, you will need to proactively approach them. Chances are less, that they will provide it on their own just like that.
Start with an email, try to get an appointment, just use the channel which you feel has the highest chance of reaching out to your ideal persona, a review from whom can boost the quality perception of your product.
Most products will have usability for multiple customer personas. By putting testimonials from different personas, you tend to enhance the reliability of these testimonials.
For example, one of our clients owns an online auction store which exclusively sells ancient coins. For them there are 2 primary personas - one the people in the academia who are historians or researchers and the others are aficionados who are collecting these coins out of hobby.
Hence, if they put testimonials from both these personas then visitors who belong to either of these personas relate to the review better.
I mentioned this earlier as well - your PDP is your virtual salesperson. It needs to effectively educate your visitors about the benefits and also address their concerns.
One of the common segments of questions that visitors will have is how to use your product OR what to expect after placing the order OR how to maintain the product etc. etc.
This might not be relevant for all products, but you can creatively spin it off and show your visitors that you care.
One way to improve your pages is to add a "how to use" section that explains how the buyer can use the product. This will help buyers understand the product and make them more likely to buy it.
In this section, we'll discuss some best practises for adding a how-to section to your product detail pages. We'll also provide some tips for creating effective instructions that will help buyers use your products correctly. Let's get started!
You can put a short video explaining what the product is. People who are actually interested in the product will engage even more if you show them such details. This is a great way to educate the users in a visual manner on how the product can help them, what are its features and other “one more thing” qualities.
Keeping illustration of how to use the product is also a very good way to engage the people. Such a section is highly effective in adding to the excitement and anticipation associated with a purchase.
Lastly, showing product usage by actual customers is not only a great way to enhance the engagement on the page, but also a great way to add social proof.
If applicable, you can take this section further one notch up by showing the usage of the product in different situations. Checkout example below :
One easy way to improve credibility of your product is by adding an "as seen on" section.
Adding an “As Seen On” section can help with that trust-building process a lot in a few different ways. It reinforces social proof giving people the impression that your business is reputable.
The "Featured In" section works well for any type of business. Almost all categories of products can benefit by showing off their media placements. This can be a huge plus to increase trust and engagement.
If you’ve been quoted or mentioned in a publication, it gives the impression that you know what you’re talking about and that will help potential customers to trust you even more.
Just like the testimonials from the influencers section, this one also needs proactive effort from your side. You might also need to hire a PR agency to get this done for you.
The more relevant your coverage media the better, for example if you are a fitness company, then coverage in a fitness journal or magazine is more effective than a generic coverage.
Perhaps, one of the biggest strategic advantages that Amazon has over the rest of the ecom stores and marketplaces is its goldmine of reviews.
Amazon has created a brilliant eco system to source these reviews from buyers which has significantly impacted its customer loyalty.
Think over it, people are more comfortable in buying on Amazon because they know that the reviews are from certified buyers.
Product reviews are testimonials about products that customers leave online. They're an invaluable part of ecommerce nowadays, and can make or break your conversion rate.
Most eCom stores are still not putting enough emphasis on the review section. This particularly hampers their conversion scores with cold audiences.
I want to address the elephant in the room first - What to do if I don’t have reviews?
First is obvious and can make some people cringe - you need to put in proactive effort to source the reviews. You need to get in touch with your early customers - send them emails, call them, text message, try every channel to get those reviews.
You might also need to incentivise your customers to give you reviews. Something like a discount coupon on next purchase or an immediate cash back from previous purchase. Consider this like an investment which will give you huge returns.
Second is kind of a hack - if certain products don’t have enough reviews - you can slip in brand or store level reviews. They are still your reviews and can help your visitors know more about your delivery, various assurances that your offer or about your customer service.
But, having said that, it is preferred that you can get proper reviews for each product.
Lastly, think it like this - reviews are perhaps the best source of information that you can leverage to improve your business.
After-all, this is coming from your actual customers and if you are able to incorporate these improvements you automatically improve your business model in a consistent and incremental manner.
And who knows, one of those feedback pointers might give you such a massive strategic advantage that you might end up dominating your industry.
Now, the sections ahead explain what are some ways in which you can leverage the reviews to give a boost to your conversion rates. Let's start then.
A dedicated review section has two key benefits :
- It allows you to maximise exposure for your reviews.
- By providing a dedicated section you also encourage repeat customers to leave reviews of the experience of their past purchases.
You can put a count of the total reviews after the product name and link it to the review section like this :
This quick link can direct the people to a review section like this :
Just like you can improve blog post titles with catchy headlines, your customer review widget should have one too. The goal is to make it appeal to customers who are browsing other parts of your site. For example:
- "Read what people say about our newest waffle iron!"
- "What do consumers think about this vegan soap?"
You might need to experiment with multiple headlines to discover what works best for you.
In general, we have observed that if a section contains questions words like what, why, how etc. then the engagement with the section is better. We believe that there is a general tendency among people to find the answer if they are prompted with a question.
Example of a good headline:
These platforms like TrustPilot, YotPo etc. provide more assurance and credibility to your reviews.
People are smart and aware these days - many of them know that it's always possible to tamper the reviews if someone owns the source. But, it's not that easy to generate fake reviews from these sites which have the core business model of sourcing and displaying genuine reviews.
Hence, when you showcase reviews from such sources then you obviously enhance the credibility associated with your claims.
Pictures say a thousand words, which is why it's a great idea to include images of your customers using the products they reviewed.
That way, not only will you be able to show off their awesome photos to other potential customers, but they'll also help those who are undecided about buying.
You can easily do this by using a review platform like Judge.me. Judge.me lets you upload images of your customers using the products they reviewed, which is then included with their review for everyone to see.
Or you can put images that your customers are putting on Instagram and Facebook, and then use a review platform to showcase those images on your site.
Based on your reviews you will get an aggregated score. Most review scales are out of 5, so you can get a score of let’s say 4.8 out 5 based on 321 reviews.
You can now use this at strategic places across the site.
One of the places you can present this is at the announcement bar. I have already covered this in the announcement bar section.
Another place is using this under CTAs, particularly the key CTAs on home page banner
You can even leverage this on your Ads!
I don’t think I need to elaborate a lot on the importance of making it easy for customers to leave reviews. Obviously, if you don’t make it easy then you will not get enough reviews, and by now I have tried my best to establish that reviews are important.
So, let's understand how we can make it easy for them to leave reviews.
Nothing fancy or complicated here, just do it consistently and continually. You should never pause the process of requesting for reviews from your customers.
There's constant debate in the world of online business about what kind of images convert best. Some people insist that you need product shots, while others argue that lifestyle images are the way to go. The truth is, it depends on your audience and the products you're selling.
However, after running 1000s of experiments we have identified that there are six specific types of images that are almost always necessary for a high-converting PDP.
We'll now take a look at each one of those types of images and show you how to create them yourself.
You can keep these images in the PDP as well as at other places on the page. These can be high quality images from your customers or you can get them done through a professional photoshoot.
These can be high quality images through a professional photoshoot or if you have received some high quality images from your customers then you can leverage those.
These kinds of images give customers an idea of how your product might fit into their lifestyle. Ask yourself what feeling you want to generate in your customers, then capture that feeling using images featuring people's faces expressing that emotion.
If haircare is your niche, try having someone with frizzy hair look at the camera with a fresh haircut. If you sell vintage clothing, have someone look joyous as if they're dancing in an old movie.
These types of images are the easiest way to spark customers' imaginations about their own life once they begin using your product.
The main purpose of images showing the product being used by a person is to show how it fits into your customer's lifestyle. They're also great for creating trust because they make customers feel as though they've already experimented with your products before making a purchase.
Most people who will be buying your product will be in the before stage of the customer journey. The after state is where they want to be.
The before and after images are a great way to convince people that your product solves their problem.
Before and after images are backed by social proof. People who were going through the same problem as your customers are now happy and in a state where your customers want to be.
Such images with social proof nudge them emotionally to give your product a try and hence these images are highly influential in assisting purchase.
Cosmetics and healthcare is an easy niche for this type of image. But, many other categories can also use this. Just show how your product has altered an object or an emotional state. You just need to figure out how you can quantify a change.
Example - a massage gun can show that it has greatly improved the sleep quality of its users and you can put an image of sleep trackers.OR it can say that he has helped recovery and enhanced the strength of its users and you can show someone lifting heavier weights etc.
I agree that not all product categories will be able to leverage these images. Particularly, in case of apparel products - there is minimum application of before and after images. But, whenever possible using these images can significantly impact conversions.
This type of image is a little less common, but when done properly, it's a real winner. Typically, this kind of image should feature a collage of customers with a copy that states something like "97% of customers want to recommend our product to your friends and family".
The goal of the images is to create a sense of social proof and increase feelings of trust, so try choosing photos from different locations and times of day to make viewers feel as though they're seeing evidence of widespread user satisfaction.
You can use the photos that customers have sent you of themselves using your products to build trust. This type of image should only be used when you're selling a high-quality product with lots of positive reviews and feedback from happy customers. If your product doesn't have many reviews, don't bother with this type of image.
This is just a hack to convince your first time buyers that your product is popular and they can trust you with the purchase.
These images help your customers visualise how the product and the package will look and feel once it reaches them. Psychologically speaking there is very strong relationship between what we see and what we do
By putting in such images you are helping them imagine the product in their lives and this again is very influential in assisting a purchase decision.
Make sure to take photos at different angles so customers can see every element included in the box and understand exactly what they're buying.
You can use this type of image when you want to explain important elements about your products and why they're so useful.
For example, if you sell a belt that has an expandable strap to fit any waist size, take a photo of the waistband being pulled tight in your hand.
GIF Images are quickly becoming the most popular type of image on PDP sites. Although you can upload photos and videos to encourage more positive reviews, GIF images are still worth considering because they stand out from the crowd, grab people's attention, draw them in, and in turn help boost conversions.
Gif images should be used when you want to show off an important product feature because they allow you to create an entire sequence of images that explain exactly how your product works.
GIF images should help people understand how your product benefits them, solve problems for them, and address any questions or concerns they might have about using it.
You can use this type of image when you're selling items like clothing because viewers want to see the product from different angles and how it works in real life situations. By including GIF images of your clothing worn out in the wild, you'll provide more information to people who are considering purchasing something new for their wardrobe.
You can use this type of image when you're selling fashion items like necklaces or sunglasses because customers want to see what they're going to look like when they wear them. If you sell a belt that's perfect for every waist size, a GIF image of a belt being pulled tight in your hand is a great choice.
This type of image is ideal for PDP sites because it draws people in with flashy movements and gets them wondering about what the item actually looks like. GIF images are highly engaging and make people want to click through to the site for more information, so they're a great choice if you're trying to boost conversions on an eCommerce website.
You might not think this type of image is important when you're running an online store, but it can actually be an effective way to show people your company's values and level of transparency.
An image like this also answers critical questions for customers who want to know where their item is coming from and whether or not it has been inspected by professionals.
This also adds a human touch.
For example, if you sell clothing that's handmade by seamstresses, upload a photo of the factory where your products are made to show customers exactly what goes into creating a quality item.
If you are selling cosmetics, you can show an image of your lab. If you sell electronics, show the images of your packaging or manufacturing facility.
I have earnestly tried my best to succinctly share my learnings that I have acquired after running 1000+ experiments.
I am highly confident that the points that I have covered in this post can positively impact the conversion rates of most of the product pages out there. But, having said that, I still strongly stress on developing an experimentation practice within your organisation. Throughout this post as well, I have also emphasised on driving experiments to discover what converts the best for you.
You can leverage this framework to optimise your existing product page or you can leverage this to create a new product page. But, that should not be the end of it. You should continue to steadily work towards getting those incremental gains that eventually will snowball and lead to a monster level high converting page.
I would be very excited to learn any hacks that you have found for yourself when it comes to the product pages.
If you are looking out for extended partners to drive conversion optimization functions for your company, then we are just a call away :