The product page is one of the most important items to consider for your online store’s design when building an ecommerce website from scratch. It’s also at the heart of your digital marketing strategy.
Your product pages allow you to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and make sure that you tick all the boxes to align with Google’s requirements for organic searches. The overall objective within these pages is to include pertinent keywords and create a strong internal network.
Most importantly, they allow you to respond to the questions of your site visitors to help improve your store’s conversions.
These questions can be universal, such as “Will this product meet my needs?” “Is it good quality?”... or specific to a product: “Would this couch look good in my living room?”
The product page plays a role in every element of your client’s purchase cycle: from the recognition of a need, right up until the satisfaction after their purchase.
In addition, it serves two objectives:
- Create desire for your product by gauging the visitor’s interest and creating a need
- Reassure, inspire confidence, and respond to visitors’ questions; this is one of the keys to consumer loyalty
Juggling your SEO objectives and your conversion objectives is a balancing act. You need to find a happy medium when determining what ecommerce customers want, especially since expectations vary from one product to another and from one person to another.
In all honesty, the perfect product page doesn’t exist.
However, you have two different elements to achieve your objectives: text and visuals.
In terms of writing your text, I’m going to show you a foolproof way to convince your clients of their need for your product.
I’m also going to show you the features that allow you to enrich your product pages and encourage shoppers to make a purchase.
Here are all the best practices to create an optimized and effective product page!
Optimization of your content
First, let’s start by talking about the general aspect of product-page design.
Your text should be “airy” rather than super condensed.
For this, you can opt for a system of bullets, dashes or even use tabs that allow shoppers landing on the page to quickly scan the properties of the product.
To lighten up the text, you can also make paragraphs according to the topics covered or the information provided.
Include relevant headings and subheadings to separate information. To do this, use the different levels (h1, h2…).
Note that users tend to read information diagonally.
They must therefore be helped to quickly capture all the important details. Emphasize terms using bold type. This way, if they read only those expressions in bold, they should be able to understand the main ideas of your description.
Finally, the "Add to cart" button must be unmistakable and visible above the waterline.
This means that visitors shouldn’t have to go down the page or scroll to find this call-to-action.
Around 300 words is good for improving SEO. It’s also sufficient for describing the product as well as convincing and reassuring site visitors.
Consider writing the key phrases several times to improve your positioning on the most relevant terms. Be careful, however, to keep the density
index in mind. The presence of a keyword shouldn’t exceed 5%.
In addition, make use of the semantics related to your product to optimize this web content.
In terms of SEO, also think about incorporating long-tail keywords to rank more highly for these specific searches and thus generate more traffic to your website.
Regarding the content to be exploited, you’ll have to describe your product perfectly while presenting it well:
- use
- characteristics
- maintenance
- guarantees
- technical specificities
- accessories, etc.
The information must be precise and above all not misleading. Transparency is key when supplying your product information.
Avoid overdoing it with phrases like “Our products are of better quality than others.”
You don’t have to go into a commercial speech.
Demonstrate how your products are better by presenting them simply but effectively. Let the visitors be the only judges, but give them something to judge.
The tone should be neutral and the words simple.
It’s you and your content that must adapt to your targets and not the other way around. The tone can thus be different according to several criteria:
- Industry: For example, if you offer festive or more lighthearted products, you can use exclamation points. On the other hand, if you sell high-end furniture, it’s best to maintain a professional tone.
- The B2B or B2C target: If you’re selling material that’s a bit technical for a B2C target, you should probably avoid overly complicated words. For a B2B target, the technical jargon won’t be an issue. In addition, aim to focus your content on the customer benefits.
- The origin of the creation of the product: If it’s unique and you’re the creator of it, you’ll talk about it as if it were your child. If the product is from a supplier, you’re going to look at what the competition is saying.
To know what to say in your description, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the consumer.
What information will be useful to them?
How to build your description
First of all, compile all the relevant information for the product that you’re selling.
Then, use the “inverted pyramid” technique. This involves beginning with general information then funneling down to the details. Start by creating a need or an emotion right from the first line.
Demonstrate how the product is useful, attractive, effective, and whichever characteristic defines its strength.
You should then ask the following questions:
- What’s the overall unique value proposition of your product?
- What are the main benefits for customers?
- What experience does this product provide?
- What do you propose to do next? Watch the demonstration video? Download the manual? Test a simulation? Add to cart?
Go further with copywriting
There’s so much to be said for copywriting that we could write pages and pages on the subject.
However, this isn’t an article about copywriting, so let’s just discuss the most important elements!
So, what is copywriting?
Copywriting is the art of persuasion. It’s a powerful writing technique for the web. It prompts your reader to take action. When it comes to an ecommerce store or a product page, the desired action is to add the product to the shopper’s basket and complete the order.
The most important thing is to be sufficiently persuasive.
There are multiple formulas and techniques recognized for their effectiveness, whatever the context or industry. For example, let’s take a look at the PAS formula:
- Problem: Identify a problem that your target is facing and describe it precisely. This is a very powerful persuasion technique, as the simple act of reading about our problems makes us more alert. The better you describe the problem, the more the reader will feel that you understand it. This is essential because you gain their confidence right from the get-go and give them reason to keep reading.
- Agitation: Once the problem has been identified, you should describe it in as much detail as possible. This is what we call “pouring salt in the wound.” The person reading must feel emotions. This serves to accentuate the negative effects that this problem has on the life of your reader. They should feel like their problem must be solved.
- Solution: Return to the positive. You present exactly what your reader needs in order to overcome this obstacle!
You should also make use of storytelling. Tell a story so that your different targets feel fully involved.
A good copywriter must also know how to answer any questions or possible objections people may have regarding the product page.
It’ll be necessary to identify and address all the doubts that an internet user may have before ordering. Thus, there will no longer be any obstacle to the act of purchasing the item.
Finally, there are magic words and expressions for good copywriting.
For example, use “you.”
“You” is a very powerful word. In using it, I’m speaking to You, the reader. In contrast, if I use the word “we,” I’m talking about me, about my company.
And that probably doesn’t interest you.
What interests your reader is that you tell them about them, about what you can do for them with your solution, your product. How are you going to improve their lives? For them, that's all that matters.
Other key phrases that are strategic for your product ages include the following: simple, easy, results, guarantee, prove, sure, love, gift, revolutionary, innovative, astonishing, your advantages, exclusive promotion, limited offer, hurry up, improve, receive, discover, get...
In addition, the word “because” gives people a reason. It’s a true powerhouse of a word. Giving your user a clear and defined reason to act will result in more positive results.
Finally, there are different themes to the words that you should include in your text in order to engage your reader. These should be used particularly in your headlines, offers, and calls-to-action to create movement. Use the following words to convey certain characteristics:
- Newness—introducing, welcome, unique, breakthrough, surprising, exciting…
- Exclusivity—hidden, truth, secret, special, never, forbidden, revealed, limited, exclusive...
- Urgency—now, new, results, discover, hurry, quick, only, fast, direct…
- Reassurance—guarantee, care, can, proven, simple, lifetime, safe, easy...
- Care—love, dream, health, family, love…
- Savings—cheap, free, save, money, win, reduced, bargain, discount, bonus, discount, lowest…
- Pain—lazy, hate, afraid, failure, humiliation, alone, reject, stupid, stress, guilty...
To conclude this section on creating text content, keep one golden rule in mind!
Make a real effort to ensure that your spelling is correct. This is a gauge for your readers to determine whether you’re professional and serious and if they should have confidence in you.
Spelling mistakes will scare your visitors away! For this reason, be sure to convey your professionalism with impeccable writing skills.
The importance of imagery
Now let’s concentrate on the photos that you’ll include on your product page.
There are a number of best practices to follow for ecommerce images.
With ecommerce images, we’re able to address one of the principal limitations of online shopping: being unable to touch the product and examine it in finer detail.
Of course, within the description, we detail the materials, etc., but the photography should stimulate customers’ imaginations. It should make the user feel closer to the product.
First of all, I want to stress that amateurish photos should be avoided at all costs. You can see up to 60% less sales if the image isn’t of high quality.
Besides having high-definition photos, you must provide multiple shots of your product: different angles, close-ups to show detail, etc.
Use a thumbnail and zoom system. So that you don’t slow your page down, don’t have all of your photos in large format. Instead, opt for a pop-up or Javascript.
It’s also great to show your product in its context so that your potential customers can imagine themselves with it. This could include, for example, a couch in a beautifully decorated living room or someone wearing an item of clothing.
However, make sure that the user is always able to identify with the product.
To do this, you need to depersonalize the product as much as possible so that your user doesn’t feel like the product isn’t for them. Try and find that fine line between providing context but not making it too personal.
For example, you could present a piece of clothing on a model. However, if the model is in the countryside, city-dwellers may find it hard to imagine themselves with the product. For the model in question, aim to use somebody who resembles an “everyday” person, as this will be more relatable for most consumers.
To meet these various challenges, you may want to use a professional photographer. This way, you’ll have somebody who knows how to best frame your products and how to adjust the lighting to bring out the details.
You could also invest in a mini-studio which makes it easy to take “packshots,” also known as product photos with a plain, usually white, background.
Finally, you could alternatively call on a specialist or freelancer who specializes in product photography.
To perfect your visuals, be sure to follow our guide to product photography for ecommerce!
Features that improve your conversion rate and user experience
In addition to the text and visuals, you can add other elements that allow you to enrich your user experience and make the act of purchasing easier.
To achieve this, the content strategy must go beyond “simple” product information. You need to integrate other elements that will reassure your users and increase conversions…
Customer reviews
You already know how important this is.
Internet users these days want and need advice and reviews from other consumers before they make their purchases. Reviews serve to reassure, inform, add credibility, retain, and convert. You need to include these on your product page so that shoppers can find everything in one place.
If people can’t find these reviews on your website, they’ll leave and look for them elsewhere (forums, social networks…). In other words, it’s best to keep them on your site!
Be aware, though, if you feature 100% positive reviews, this might have the opposite of the intended effect. Users may think they are false reviews, and this doesn’t inspire confidence. Thus, visitors will be wary of your professionalism and may even opt to leave your site.
“Share” buttons
Social sharing is a tool for acquisition and conversion. Thanks to “sharing” buttons on social media, you can reach a vast number of online users. The traffic coming through to your site or profile in this manner is usually of a higher quality.
Users who have discovered your product via a friend sharing it will automatically have confidence in your product. They’re basically already convinced of the quality of your products before they even land on your site. There’s therefore a good chance that they’ll transform into buyers!
Cross-selling/upselling
These are common practices in ecommerce. The objective is to send the visitor to another product on your site that may interest them. This allows you to increase the value of a customer’s basket, either by
- cross-selling: suggesting complimentary products (for example, batteries to work a toy)
- upselling: suggesting equivalent products but more expensive and with characteristics that justify the higher price
This proposition of associated products generates traffic. It benefits your SEO because it creates internal links. This will also help to increase your chances of conversion.
Photos from your community
To have even more social proof on your product page, you can insert photos of the product in question, taken by your clients themselves.
This will have several advantages to push your visitors to purchase:
- You reassure your users by showing that people have already bought your product and are satisfied with it.
- Your clients will publish photos of the product in context. This could be, for example, a chair in someone’s living room. It will help potential customers to envision the product in their homes.
- You involve your clients in your business. People are always delighted to see their own photos published on the site or social networks of a brand. It makes them feel important and valued.
- You get free photography content.
The owner of the photo will naturally have to consent before you can publish its content.
To generate further social proof, you can also publish photos from an influencer partnership that you have (of course, with their consent).
This will be a token of confidence and inspiration for those who identify with these opinion leaders and trendsetters.
A size guide, a manual…
Depending on your industry, providing this type of document can be really useful for the user.
If you sell clothes, a size guide is essential. It’ll help you limit the number of people that return their items and therefore any associated costs and restrictions.
A video
Integrating a video into your product page can help capture the attention of your potential customer, boost your sales, and make the product more real and accessible.
It’s a fun way for you to present your product, and it’ll also allow you to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Creating excellent-quality videos for the web often requires professional help. This consequently then comes at a higher budget. It’s therefore advisable that you only create videos for your best-selling products or those for which you have the greatest profit margin.
You can, of course, alternatively create the videos internally if you prefer.
To prepare for a video, you need to think about the following questions:
- What are the qualities of the product that I want to show off?
- How do I make the important details shine through in the video?
- Would it be best to film the product in a studio or in its own environment?
The video shouldn’t be too long. Two or three shots are sufficient. However, always film more than you need so that you have a selection to choose from when you’re editing and putting together the video.
Another advantage of video is that it’s highly visible and generally very well received on social media channels. This is a great asset to have for your digital communication strategy.
A 3D representation
This is the new trend when it comes to product pages.
A 3D representation gives the impression that you can see and touch the product when looking at it online. It also allows the customer to see all of the details up close.
What’s more, it enables you to show the product from every angle so that the customer can imagine what it’s really like.
Augmented/virtual reality
If you’re an online seller who has a larger budget on hand, it’s possible to go even further with the presentation of your products.
The current technologies of augmented reality allow customers to see the product in their own space, interactively.
For example, a visitor would be able to see a couch in their living room so they can easily picture the end result.
In terms of user experience, it doesn’t get much better than this!
Conclusion: Traps to avoid
As you’ll have seen, the creation of a product page isn’t a trivial detail. This is real content marketing work, at the heart of your digital strategy.
To note, here are three traps that you’ll want to avoid:
- You shouldn’t build each product page differently. The visitor would be lost. You should keep your website consistent and easy to navigate.
- Sometimes you might end up with a clear, neutral, and plain product page that details all the characteristics of your product but doesn’t provide any sensation or emotion.
- As you’ll have already noted, you should avoid product pages with too much information to avoid overwhelming your user. In addition, make sure that your text and visuals are visible and not too small.
And what about you? What are the elements of your product pages that you feel make the most difference? Tell us all about them in the comments below!
