A Guide To Optimizing Your Ecommerce Product Pages

Product pages are at the heart of every Ecommerce transaction. No matter how many resources you dedicate to drawing in leads and bringing fresh eyes to your products, if the pages are not set up to close the deal, your time has been wasted. If you're ready to optimize your product pages and boost your conversions, here is what you need to know:

1. Provide great product descriptions

In the case of product descriptions, more is more. When you include the necessary selling points while also providing as much information as possible, your customers will be more confident in choosing your products. Plus, the more unique text you have on each page, the more words search engines will have to boost your SEO.

The key is to make it easy for readers to find what they need quickly. A list with details such as available sizes, materials used, weight, and product dimensions will speed up the reading process as people skim for what they find relevant. Avoid burying these important details in long paragraphs. Instead, save the prose for telling a story and creating an emotional connection between the product and the reader.

Images are another essential component of a successful product description page. Include several images from many different angles so consumers can feel like they are closely inspecting the item. If you offer your items in various colors, include photos of each color.

It's important that each photo has the option to zoom in, and if it's possible, videos and 360-degree photos will enhance the experience. Lastly, include photos that give users an idea of a product's size by showing it with or on a real person, in a room with an ordinary object like a sofa, or in a relevant space with everyday objects for comparison.

2. Make it easy for customers to convert

Conversion happens when consumers are confident that they have made the right choice and when you have removed all barriers to completing a sale. Including plenty of photos and details on your product pages is half the battle. Once you have provided the necessary details to make readers want the product, the next step is to make it very easy for them to complete the purchase.

Making "add to cart" options obvious will make it easy for buyers to click that button. The button should stay above the fold, be nice and large, and in a contrasting color so it stands out. In most cases, avoid using red for your "add to cart" buttons as it can be a deterring color. Many will advocate for green and orange buttons, but be sure to test several colors to find the one that's right for your customers.

For those customers who might want even more information before committing to a sale, make sure you have FAQs, warranty and return details, shipping information and shipping costs (if possible) directly on the page so they are super simple to find. Answering common questions with an FAQ page will also provide you with keyword-rich content that will boost your site's overall SEO performance.

3. Offer personalized content

It is a common misconception that people are generally annoyed by advertising. The truth is that they are only bothered by irrelevant ideas. When you make the shopping experience as relevant to your customers as possible, they will be more satisfied and more receptive to your suggestions. 

When you encourage the purchase of additional or related products, it's an easy way to generate extra revenue. Do this with tag-based personalization that automatically pulls up products with similar tags as recommended products, or by showcasing similar products that other customers have viewed or purchased.

Machine learning personalization is another route to extra revenue. It relies on user personas to deliver personalized content for readers. Each persona is associated with typical behaviors, and visitors who are exhibiting that behavior will be assigned to that persona. You then map product recommendations that are relevant to each persona.

4. Include multi-lingual options

Even in areas with a dominating common language, multi-lingual options will only help open opportunities to a wider audience. One way to offer different language experiences is to automatically convert the content based on the country the website is being accessed from. Or you can let visitors choose for themselves using a drop-down menu at the top of your site. 

5. Allow user-generated content

Almost 90 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. When people are on the fence as to whether a product is right for them, the positive experiences of others is usually enough to win them over. You'll also be boosting your company's credibility if you show that you already have happy customers.

User-generated content for Ecommerce sites usually comes in the form of product reviews and company testimonials. You can also allow customers to upload photos and videos of the products they have purchased. The quality of these additional photos and videos might be low, but potential buyers will view them as "real", so the appeal will often be stronger than even your best professional product photos.

If you don't have a lot of reviews and customer feedback to draw from, speed up the process by sending an email to recent customers encouraging them to rate their purchases. You can also use social media to spread the word and encourage customers to offer feedback.

6. Optimize for mobile

The number of mobile users has surpassed the number of desktop users and 62 percent of smartphone users have made a purchase from their device in the last six months. What's more, in a 2016 survey, mobile shoppers listed several user experience problems as barriers to a sale. For example, having to enlarge the page before clicking to ensure the click is in the right area is at the top of the list. Slow load times, small text, and incomplete mobile pages are also among the top 5 complaints. Failing to optimize for this segment of your audience is a mistake. 

Whether you incorporate a responsive design or create a separate mobile-friendly site, ensuring accessibility via mobile and tablet devices is a must. It's also important that mobile shoppers receive the same detailed, photo-filled product pages as desktop users. The more seamless you can make the two interactions for users, the better their experiences and the probability of conversion will be.

Remember, optimizing for mobile means more than just making everything smaller. Consider that mobile users are more comfortable scrolling for additional content and that most of the interaction will be completed with a thumb. Make sure your buttons are big and not near any links or other actionable items to avoid frustrating misclicks.

Site speed is also critical to mobile users who are not going to wait patiently for a full minute while all your page elements load, especially while browsing through several products. Pare down your mobile pages to contain only essential images, and take every opportunity to make the file sizes as small as possible.

7. Ensure it’s SEO-friendly

On-page SEO optimization is important, so make sure you're using keywords correctly and that headers and other titles stand out. It's also essential to write unique product descriptions for every page, even with similar products. Duplicated content, or even content that's slightly altered, will do you no SEO favors or add to search rankings. Avoid copying and pasting manufacturer descriptions and start from scratch with each product page you create.

Other off-page considerations should include URLs that are SEO-friendly. URLs should have a logical flow from category to category, and among sub-categories within your products. They should also be simple and fairly readable, so avoid long strings of numbers and symbols. Whenever possible, squeeze a keyword or two into your URLs.

Optimize for Success

The key to having product pages that convert more visitors into customers is to take the visitor's perspective at every turn. What does she need to hear to feel confident about a purchase decision? Are there elements on the page that are only getting in the way, such as pop ups and slow-loading images, instead of helping the customer along? Do your products show up in a simple Google search? Is it easy to complete a purchase from a smartphone?

When you start and finish your Ecommerce product page design with the customer in mind, the rest of your elements including SEO should fall into place. Remember, your customers probably know nothing about design and have never really considered the terms "Ecommerce" or "optimization." Instead, they want to make a purchase, feel good about it, and hopefully tell their friends and family about the experience. Create an experience centered around those ideas and you'll find success.