Let’s face it. Online shoppers are becoming incredibly savvy these days and boring product pages just won’t cut it. Because most shoppers have developed expectations in terms of ease of usability and availability of features, you’ll need to create an exceptional experience for them each and every time.
So to get you on that path of delivering exceptional experiences, here are 10 tips and features to help you boost conversions on your ecommerce pages.
1. Use an Emotion-Centric Approach in Product Description
Don't use generic product descriptions. Really, don’t. Many retailers use general superlatives liberally on all product pages, which could lead to a less exciting experience for the shopper.
Think of how search engines reject most ads with unsubstantiated claims and superlatives in them. Drop the exaggeration and keep the description specific to the product. Overpromise in your description, and you might just end up with reviews like this one:
Or even worse, this one:
Come to think of it, I can’t decide which one is worse.
2. Get Visual with Important Information
The only thing better than creating urgency by showing product availability is doing so in the form of an image. Shoppers are exceptionally visual and would rather “see” than read. So anytime you can display information in a more visual way, you’re increasing your chances of getting your message across more effectively.
The availability bars below are a great example of this technique. They also intensify the sense of urgency because the shopper can actually visualize the depletion, almost the same way they can at a real store.
3. Use Facebook's Open Graph to get Referral Traffic and Increase Engagement
Shopping is inherently a social experience, and what could be more social that Facebook? Its Open Graph allows you to create custom “actions” like Love, Want or Own as in the image below.
If a visitor takes any of these actions on your website, it will be revealed to their social network. Assuming friends and connections have similar tastes and interests, this creates an almost unintentional form of free advertising and word-of-mouth recommendations for your products and brand.
4. Add Videos of your Products
Ice.com does a beautiful job of letting you alternate between a static image and a video of their product. I’m certain they were thrilled to see a 400 percent lift in conversion rate shortly after implementing that.
Unsurprisingly, Zappos uses the same technique to boost conversions on their product pages. The only thing surprising here is the fact that you can buy a coffee machine from Zappos… now you know.
5. Show Purchase History to Instill Confidence
This is an underutilized but effective technique to help instill confidence in hesitant buyers. Millions of copies sold, thousands of software downloaded, or hundreds of items sold. Something just feels comforting about knowing that other people have made the same purchasing decision as you.
Here’s an example from eBay:
6. Show Estimated Shipping Time
Setting expectations about delivery dates can be a huge conversion booster, especially when it’s revealed upfront.
Here’s a simple but effective example:
Or even better, show the difference between express and standard delivery times:
7. Use Icons of Symbols Instead of Text
When appropriate, using icons or symbols instead of text can be more effective. Check out the two images below and decide for yourself. At first glance, would you rather see the highlighted spec icons below the phone then click for more details, or be presented will the full list?
8. Keep it Real
Most people are hesitant about buying clothes online because they don’t think it would look as good on them as it does on the models. So a great way to overcome this hurdle is to reveal the actual weight and height of the models, as well as which size they are wearing. Altrec does a wonderful job of that in the image below.
9. Make Sales look like Sales
Everyone loves getting a deal, even if they didn’t bargain for it. Simple cosmetic changes to prices can have a huge impact on your conversions. Dennis van der Heijden, CEO and co-founder of Convert.com, shares a client success story where simply striking the old price contributed to a 14 percent boost in conversions.
10. Test, Then Test Again!
Lastly, it’s important to note that while all these “boosters” have worked for some site, they might not all be applicable to yours or have the same positive effect. The best way to find out is to test. And once you’ve tested, optimize, then test again.
For a quick list of the top things to test on a product page, we can thank Bryan Eisenberg for this list of 7 Must Test Elements.
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