If you want to increase online sales make sure your product pages are welcoming

Don’t underestimate the importance of your online product pages. Showcasing  your products to their full advantage is a crucial part of the selling process.

Having worked hard to get visitors to your site the last thing you want is for them to leave because your ecommerce product pages are unwelcoming, ill-thought out and poorly displayed. We take a look at 5 simple ways that will help you improve your online product pages and maximise your chances of that all important sale.

Think of it as a bit like being in a clothes shop. If you walked into a clothing store and saw all the clothes in a heap or thoughtlessly crammed onto a couple of clothing rails, the chances are you’d walk straight back out again. I certainly wouldn’t bother wading through piles of poorly displayed clothes to find what I was looking for. I’d simply take my custom elsewhere.

Ecommerce product pages should be approached in the same way. It should be easy for customers to find what they are looking for. Products should be visually appealing, shown off to their full advantage and the information your customer requires should be close to hand.

5 Top Tips to improve your online store’s product pages

1. Product Descriptions.

Product images on their own are not enough. Your products also need to have a product description. A good product description will provide customers with the added information they need in order to make a purchase decision. Plus, including product descriptions is a great way to help add relevant and fresh content to your site for SEO purposes.

Of course, make sure you are writing your own copy. Simply replicating the manufacturers product description is a no-no! You need to create your own unique product descriptions.  Not only do manufacturing descriptions tend to focus primarily on function, search engines also won’t appreciate you duplicating other people’s copy.

Re-write your product descriptions and make them relevant and user-friendly to your own target audience.  What keywords and phrases are they most likely to look for? Product descriptions from manufactures can be very dry – rewriting them can give them a bit more zing and present important information in a more interesting and digestible manner.

Product Images

• 92.6 % of people said that visuals are the top influential factor affecting a purchase decision. 

High quality visuals with alternative views are important. Remember when people are purchasing online they want to be sure that there are no nasty surprises when it’s delivered.  Going back to our clothes shop example suppose I was buying a jumper, in all likelihood I’d go to a fitting room and try it on before I made the purchase. Of course online people don’t get to try the product on for size beforehand therefore, they need a bit more help in making the final purchase decision. This is why it is essential your product images are as accurate a reflection as possible to the actual product. Customers are more likely to feel reassured and confident enough to make a purchase if they feel what they see is what they’ll get.

Therefore high-resolution images offering multiple and alternative views are a must. Indeed:

• Offering multiple product views and other alternative images can lead to 58% more sales 

Product Videos

Videos are an excellent way of spicing up your product pages. Not only do they provide your customers with additional information about a product in a user-friendly format,  relevant video content is also great for SEO purposes – search engines like video. Indeed, websites are 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of a search engine results page if they include a video.

Research also indicates that video can have a positive effect on a customers purchasing decision:

• 1 in 2 customers have more confidence in a product after watching a video 
• 31% of consumers bought the product after watching the video

Don’t just use video as a promotional vehicle. Think about video can be used to provide useful and relevant information to your customers. For example if any of your products require assembly then have an easy-to-follow instruction video. Showcase your product in real-life situations, this makes it easier for customers to visualise how they will use the product in their own environment.

Product Reviews

Having customer reviews next to your products actually help improve your conversion rates. Reviews can help allay fears or remove any last-minute concerns a customer may have over a product. In addition, reviews show customers that you are a trustworthy, transparent business that believes in the quality of your products and values customer opinion.

• Reviews produce an average 18% uplift in sales 
• 61% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase decision 
• 63% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase decision from a site that has user reviews   Too much choice?

Are you offering too much choice?

There is an argument that offering too much choice can actually overwhelm consumers and lead to less conversions. Renowned research carried out by Colombia University showed how offering too much choice can actually be demotivating to customers. Researchers used jam to test how choice effected end purchasing.

On the first day 24 jams were offered to taste and on another day just 6 jams were offered. Researchers found that although more shoppers stopped when there was 24 jams, when it came to purchasing 30% of shoppers who stopped at the 6 jam counter purchased a jam whereas only 3% of shoppers who stopped at the 24 jam counter actually purchased a jam. Researchers called this ‘choice fatigue’ where too many choices actually put customers off.

So when you are arranging your product pages think about how many products you have on each page. Rather than long lists of products, categorise them into more manageable, logical product groups that you can have on different pages. This will look cleaner, more organised, visually appealing and far simpler for your customers to navigate.

 

Finally, if you are looking for a bit of inspiration and some examples of online businesses who do it well, then Econsultancy has a great article on 15 inspiring examples of commerce product pages. It showcases online business who display there products in an interesting way and to their maximum advantage.

 We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this subject, so do please leave a comment.

• Welcome letters image courtesy of Lavoview at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
• Typewriter Image courtesy of Just2shutter / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
• Retro Camera image courtesy of Mr Lightman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
• Thumbs up image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
• Jam jar image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net