You are going to generate all of your income from your product pages, that is where people will add stuff to their carts and buy.
Do check your sales funnel, you will see some gaps and improvements required. Even if you are doing a great job, there are chances that you are not getting enough visitors.
Shopify product pages can make or break your business. It is up to your UI/UX team and you to create an experience that converts visitors into customers in great numbers.
For a matter of fact, you know your product pages must be convincing so that more and more people add products to their carts but they are not and you don’t know how to fix it. No need to take any pain, hire professional help.
However, we are drilling down in more detail about how to design and optimize product pages with some expert tips and best practices.
Table of Contents
What actually makes a Shopify product page convert?
According to eMarketer, there are 5 key factors determining product page conversions. Here are they:
-Product images (83%)
-Product descriptions (82%)
-Product reviews (75%)
-Star ratings (64%)
-Comparison charts (45%)
Given above the product page features crucial in making a buying decision. Our brains are wired to process visuals that is why you can see product images harness the most attention – 83%.
Whitespace or minimal design for uncluttered user experience
When you are doing online shopping do you like loud, on-the-face design where you see pop-ups going off every 3 seconds? or do you prefer a smooth experience where you can scroll as you feel comfortable?
Whitespace design means uncluttered shop aisles and draws attention to the product itself.
Also, according to a research, whitespace can improve page readability by up to 20%. Apart from that, a user feels the freedom of buying.
Here is one of the examples.
Speed is the first impression of your product pages
Consumer behavior is tricky and if your website takes more than 3 seconds you lose 57% of your customers.
Product pages must be responsive and speedy as slow pages are conversion killers.
There are a number of free apps available in the Shopify app store. Page Speed Optimizer is one of the apps which you can use for speed optimization.
Anatomy of product pages – why design and structure of product pages are essential?
A typical product page has a product image, name, description, and add to cart buttons all above the fold (upper page section). However, there are Shopify themes that have detailed options for engaging product pages.
First, you have to pick the Shopify theme, and there are 3 ways of doing it.
1-Stick with the template that comes with your theme. Every Shopify store has a theme that builds the overall look and features of the store.
2-Customize Shopify theme.
3-Use a page-building app.
Here is the list of essential page elements for any Shopify product page:
Product images
Product name
Product description
Customer reviews
Shipping
CTAs
Now the question is ‘how to place each element effectively?’ Here is a quick answer, ‘the less you make your customer think, the better their overall perception of your Shopify store will be’.
“Amazon, eBay, Shopify and other online marketplaces offer unprecedented opportunities for marketing products but the competition is tough. More than 350 million products are listed on Amazon alone.”
“To create more informative experiences, bulleted features are 83% stronger than their effects on any other experience dimension, while a comparison matrix is 62% more effective, and descriptive detail is 54% more effective. Recommendation agents are 150% more effective.”
“More social experiences should be built by employing a conversational linguistic style and lifestyle photos, which are 139% and 134% more effective in shaping this compared to any other experience dimension, respectively.”
“Sensory experiences are also beneficial and can be built through product videos and product feature crops, which are 106% and 29% stronger in building this compared to any other experience dimension, respectively.”
Source – American Marketing Association
Some expert recommended tips for product page optimization
Live chat on key product pages for a high level of satisfaction.
Activate live chat on all support channels, customers like getting answers to their queries fast. This helps in making an informed decision.
Use live chat during busiest or high traffic time or on key product pages such as the ones generating high average order values (AOVs).
An impossible to miss CTA (Call-to-Action)
Use ‘add to cart’ in ‘above the fold’ design i.e. on the upper page section right along the product image and description.
As you can see in the example.
And please, call-to-actions must be buttons. Text links or other non-standard UI will cause confusion because shoppers are conditioned to look for the ‘Buy’ or ‘Add to Cart’ button.
A good CTA stands out from all the other elements of the product page.
Full width images, go for professional product shoot
Use high quality product images, a professional shoot is ideal. Use a headline which depicts the features rightly so.
Take a full shot of the product preferable against white background (this tip is helpful for beginners). Include images anywhere near 12 (if you have them) highlighting different features of the product.
Don’t forget the human mind consumes a product image 60,000 times faster than written text. So be sure your product photography leaves an impression.
Where do the product images ideally sit on the product page? Above the fold (means customers don’t have to scroll the screen). This placement is important because this is the first thing a customer expects from the product page. 93% of the customers consider images as a buying source.
Here are the key notes for product page images:
-High quality product images (no blurry or low resolution images)
-Display all angles of the product
-Display all possible product variants
-Close-ups and detailed shots (important for showing textures, pattern, quality etc.)
-Mention model height and size he/she wearing
State clear pricing, right next to product image
Another key element of a product page which sits ‘above the fold’ (customer finding the pricing without scrolling). Ideally place pricing next to product image and title.
Even if the product is expensive, keep the pricing in pride of the place i.e. near the product title or close ‘buying’ button.
Nobody likes hunting pricing on your product page. So make it standout. Here’s how:
-Use large font size.
-Use color in contrast.
-Highlight discount or offer (for instance, free shipping)
An example is given below.
Informative product descriptions, solving customer pain points
Again product descriptions sit ‘above the fold’ and are meant for providing information. Keep the description short and sweet above the fold and place a detailed description down the fold design.
Product descriptions support the images and help customers in better understanding or functioning of the product. Descriptions are your chance to convince customers into buying the product.
Tip # While writing product descriptions, focus on benefits and not features.
Example, Storage box
Feature – high density polyethylene
Benefit – dishwasher friendly
Tip # Sync with your brand voice, if your brand is playful, you can add pun and humor descriptions and get creative.
We love ‘hardgraft’ descriptions.
Personal testimonials and reviews are your brand ambassadors
Nearly 95% of online shoppers read reviews before making a purchase. Also, surveys (eMarketer) show us that customers believe in reviews more than the product descriptions.
Don’t have reviews activated on your product pages? Hire a Shopify expert for the services.
Bonus tip – follow your customers after one week of their purchase and ask them humbly for an honest review.
If you sell personal outcome stuff like skincare items, better ask for testimonials.
What are good testimonials? They share stories of real people, provide a before and after comparison of the product usage. This establishes trust that the product actually works.
Add badges of social proof, certifications
Seal of approval or endorsement badges build trust and are social proof. Do add them if you have any. Any certifications or badges are good in a way that they don’t occupy much space as in the case of text/copy (as part of the description).
Do show your return policy or rock-solid guarantees as this is the biggest concern of the customers.
Optimize your meta tags
Title tag and description should breakdown what the product is, what are the benefits and why should people buy? This is the stuff people would read when they Google.
Anytime you Google a product, you see the title and the description on Google because that’s what Google pulls from your source code.
Don’t forget to include your main keywords in your title and description.
Look into your bounce rate
Never overlook user metrics. If users are coming to your product pages and the bounce rate is high this means you must be missing out something.
‘Focus on the product’, make sure the description is good, product reviews and videos must be there for them to assess.
Use H1 and H2 headings
There are chances that you may not be using H1 or H2 headings. Leverage from your headings. Use H1 or H2 headings as they help in keywords placement and Google can easily spot and rank. Amazon uses H1 headings and the product display along with the specifics are pretty much clear.
Include features list in bullets format
People often search with the features in mind about the products. By having a features list of your product displayed, again it will help Google extract what customers are searching for.
Use a features list in your description in the form of bullets. This improves readability.
Easy navigation between product pages
Breadcrumb navigation acts like a map, they tell customers where they are on a website. They get a better understanding of the product categories / hierarchy. This eventually increases their time on the website and reduces bounce rates.
Here is the example of a breadcrumb.
Unboxing product videos
Unboxing videos are often by customers and are real. Potential customers get to know exactly what they’ll get.
You can encourage customers for unboxing videos or you can shoot one yourself. Remember, brand personality plays a vital role.
Product tour videos
Some products have much more details or put it like this, they contain more information which users often expect. For example, electronics. In such products, details add high value, and improves conversion.
Here is an example video of Nikon.
If you test out any of these tips and practices on your site, do come back and let us how they worked for you.
Best Shopify apps for product pages – a list of must-have apps
Oberlo – dropshipping app, find products to sell on Shopify
Oberlo is the best platform from where you can get small business ideas and products for selling in different marketplaces (Shopify, Amazon, Ebay etc.). Oberlo helps you in sourcing a supplier and you can directly import the products into your Shopify store. This means, no need to think of physical product stock or if you have sufficient stock at hand for selling.
No need to worry about packaging and shipping the product yourself.
Rating: 4.2
Price Plans:
Explorer Plan – Free
Grad Plan – $7.90/ month
Boss Plan – $29.90/ month
Fast Checkout – pass add to cart direct to checkout
It’s a page feature plugin that removes a step from the checkout process. Having said that, the plugin is added on all product pages showing ‘Go to checkout’. No need to add all products and then checkout. A short sales funnel we can say.
Rating: 4.7
Price plans:
5 day free trial
Developers – Free
Unlimited – $4.49/ month
Privy – exit pop-ups, email marketing, retargeting
A conversion suite which helps in setting email campaigns, exit pop-ups and it’s a SMS tool as well. This app helps in storing consumer data for targeting and retargeting purposefully.
Rating: 4.6
Price plans:
Free to install
Privy convert – $20/ month
Privy email – $13/ month
Privy starter plan – $30/ month
PayWhirl – recurring payments, sell subscriptions
Customers can set their accounts, look into their billing history, and can change payment plans anytime. New payment methods could be added and information as required.
Rating: Free
Price plans:
PRO – $9/ month
Plus – $49/month
Ultimate – $249/ month
Promo.com – product videos
Increase your sales with impactful product videos for your Shopify store, products, brand awareness, social channels etc. Just select the type of video and product you want a video for, the app will do the rest.
Rating: 4.7
Price plan: Free
Easyship – instant access to 250+ courier services
Whether you are selling out 100 shipments or 50,000, the app has a solution for every merchant’s shipping needs – all through a single account. It is a shipping platform that reaches customers around the world with low shipping costs and high conversion. More than 100,000 merchants use this app for delivery services.
Ratings: 4.3
Price plans: Free to install
(Users simply pay for what they ship. Costs incurred are shipping costs and subscription fees for established stores)
Shogun – landing page builder
A popular landing page builder for Shopify stores. Anyone can create high converting landing pages because of the variety of templates with simple design interfaces.
Rating: 4.8
Pricing plans:
10 days free trial
Build – $39/ month
Measure – $99/ month
Optimize – $149/ month
Optimonk – pop-ups
For on-page messages you can use Optimonk like pop-ups, nanobars, sidebars and full-screen messages. You can use them for discount offering, social sharing, or for capturing emails.
Rating: 4.7
Price plans:
Free
Essential – $29/ month
Growth – $79/ month
Premium – $199/ month
Pre-order alpha – sell pre-order, out-of-stock and coming soon products
Using Pre-order alpha, highlight pre-order products with custom ribbons or Pre-Order Now buttons on the product pages. This keeps track and you don’t have to enter manually each time. The set up takes 5-10 minutes.
Rating: 4.7
Price plans:
Free
Social photos – a social proof app
The app collects images from your social media accounts and applies them to your Shopify store in the curated gallery section.
Rating: 4.8
Price plans:
Basic – $15/ month
Advance – $30/ month
Premium – $50/ month
Wishlist Plus – allows adding products into wishlist
A new form of engagement where customers can add their favorite products into wishlist till they get a discount offer. Rather than adding items in the shopping cart, customers can add products into their wishlist. Customer support is amazing and the dashboard of the app is simple.
Rating: 4.8
Price plans:
30 days free trial
Starter – $14.99/ month
PRO – $49.99/month
PREMIUM – $99.99/ month
Campaign Monitor – email marketing automation
You can send automated emails with powerful audience segmentation and can turn every campaign into a personal interaction with the customer.
This tool generates automated receipts, abandoned cart emails and follow-ups. Also, collect reviews and photos and use the positive ones in your email campaigns.
Rating: 4.6
Price plans:
Paid plans start from $9/ month, based on number of subscribers.
Mochi live chat – real-time customer support – Shopify chat application
Store owners can see and support their customers in their online stores as they shop. This tool tells from where the customer lands, what products do they like, and what they put into their carts. Also, customers can send text messages or webchat with the support staff.
Rating: 4.2
Price plans:
14 days of free trial
Starter Plan – $15/ month
Basic – $35/ month
Stocky – smart inventory management
Automated inventory management is a big plus for a brick and mortar store. Are you out of in-demand products? Or have too much of an inventory but resources are draining? A simple solution is Stocky by Shopify for optimizing inventory management. Manage and track products with a single tool.
Rating: 3.4
Price plans:
Free to install
The app comes with Shopify POS subscription.
Printful – print-on-demand dropshipping
From apparel to accessories, they have 265 products on which you can use your designs. Best thing is, you only pay when you get a sale. No setup fees.
Rating: 4.3
Price plans:
Free
Cross-sell and up-sell products for 2x sales
First, what is upselling? A strategy to sell advanced product versions which a customer had bought already. Advance products would be with high pricing.
What is cross-selling? A strategy to sell related products along with the one a customer is buying.
What are some real-life examples?
Up-selling – You are looking for baby cots for a 2 year old son and a store offers a better version with more space for 40 more bucks.
Cross-selling – You are looking for baby cots for a 2 year old son and a store offers a teddy bear for just 2 bucks, the bear is a cross-sell.
‘People don’t know what they want until you show it to them’ Steve Jobs
Customers find more value than they expected in the first place via up-sell and cross-sell techniques.
On the Shopify App Store, you’ll find many apps, we recommend ‘Shopify also bought’, it will do the heavy work for you.
Final Verdict
Product pages give you an insight on where the customer journey is breaking and what best you can do about it. Build a great Shopify product page by considering the shared tips and best apps, you can exceed expectations of customer psychology and can sell your products like hotcakes.
