A guide to high converting product pages

1Ometria Academy: The Ultimate Product Page

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A HOW TO WIN AT ECOMMERCE Series...

THE ULTIMATE PRODUCT PAGEA GUIDE TO HIGH CONVERTING PRODUCT PAGES

A Publication by academy
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WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

This e-book is an intermediate level e-book for a broad range of ecommerce professionals including ecommerce managers, UI/UX experts, Front-end developers and more. It is highly relevant to anyone who sells products online. The book outlines the top 20 tips on how to create high converting product pages. These are, after all, the most important pages on your website.

Weve included a mixture of strategic advice on issues such as shipping policies, as well as more practical pointers on how to optimise design and content. Some of the tips cover, in that new media clich, low hanging fruit - others cover more advanced areas. Anyone involved in ecommerce will, we hope, find them useful. Happy reading!

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Helps optimise product selection and positioning by tracking conversion rates, engagement, margin and stock.

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Identifies your best customers, where they come from, and helps you attract and retain more of them.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS...

Written by EDWARD GOTHAM

Ed manages client relations and consulting at Ometria as the Head of Ecommerce. He delivers results, utilising a data driven mindset, across all areas of ecommerce, from strategic guidance to more specific topics such as UI/UX optimisation.

Designed by DJALAL LOUGOUEV

Djalal is a technology entrepreneur and a co-founder and Chief Financial Officer at Ometria. He is the Head of Design and product management.

Edited by JAMES DUNFORD WOOD

James is a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Ometria. He is an experienced content creator as well as new media strategist and technology entrepreneur.
https://twitter.com/Edgothammailto:l.djalal%40gmail.com?subject=The%20Ultimate%20Product%20Page%20-%20Designhttps://twitter.com/James_DWhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardgothamhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/publisherhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/djalallougouev


CONTENTS

6 INTRODUCTION

7 UNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE & PRODUCT PAGE GOALS

13 TOP 20 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT PAGE CONVERSIONS

54 MEASUREMENT, TESTING & ITERATIVE IMPROVEMENT

59 ENDING NOTE


INTRODUCTION

Think of product pages as the shop windows of your website. Many site owners spend disproportionate resource on getting the homepage right. But its worth remembering that typically, many more first time visitors will land on your site via a product page than on the homepage, especially if you have optimised your site and marketing correctly.

So its vital that your virtual shop windows are well constructed. Its also important that they work equally well across all devices, and in particular on tablets, where conversion and spend is often higher.

A common reaction is Where do I start?, closely followed by What should I test? and How do I measure response?

This e-book is designed to help bring to light the most important features of high converting product pages. We will give you insights into:

Why you need to start by understanding your customers. What our ecommerce experts consider the 20 top tips for increasing

conversions on product pages. Our step by step method for systematic testing and improvement.

We hope this helps!


CHAPTER ONE

UNDERSTAND YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND PRODUCT PAGE GOALS


Theres a battle between what the cook thinks is high art and what the customer just wants to eat.- Mario Batali

Before we go into any detail on how to implement or improve your product pages, you first need to take a step back and answer a few key questions:

What are my goals?

What are my visitors goals?

1 WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF MY PRODUCT PAGE?

Primarily to either:

Achieve a sale (conversion) or,

Efficiently direct prospective customers to other products or categories of interest if the featured product is not the right fit.


These points are ultimately geared towards one of your websites principal goals, which is to maximise revenue. In this e-book we will be focusing specifically on the goal of maximising the chance of a sale, in order to create high converting product pages.

Product page conversions are based on a huge variety of different factors, so we have shortlisted the twenty most important.

However, it is important to note that for each of the points below to be

utilised to their full potential you must first have a complete understanding of your target audience. If you

are marketing effectively, then most of your visitors will by definition be interested in the products you have to sell.

However, you should still split up your target market into different cohorts according to their own particular preferences. It is important to evaluate these different personas using customer profiling, because armed with this youll have a much better idea of what visitors are looking for when they land on your pages. Once you have determined their goals, you can prioritise them accordingly and create your product pages with these goals in mind.


2 WHAT ARE MY VISITORS OBJECTIVES?

How do you determine the objectives of your product page visitors? In practise this means looking at your product pages in a completely user-centric way. You need to be asking these questions:

What value will my visitors derive from this page? How does it meet my visitors goals?

A product page must focus on giving customers exactly what they want, at the right time, and in the right format. To paraphrase President Lincoln, youll never satisfy all of the visitors all of the time, but you can get close.


Try to create a list of visitor goals, and prioritise them by level of importance:

What does this product look like? How does it work? Can I get international delivery? Will it fit me? Is it the right size? Am I able to return this if I dont like it? How can I trust this brand?

Remember, the above list needs to be tailored to your specific audience. For example one audience may be particularly price sensitive, another may be sensitive to speed of delivery. This outlines the importance of prioritising your visitor goals.

Acquiring Customer Intelligence

If your current knowledge of your target customer is not

developed enough to create detailed visitor goals, then you will need to undertake research

to help you understand them. This research should

be based on customer feedback and user behaviour

on your site. As far as possible, build up customer profiles with demographic information such as age, gender, education, income, family status and so on.


Suggested methods for gathering this data:

User surveys, online or via email. Customer feedback tools (Zendesk is our current favourite.) Short telephone interviews with your best customers (with their permission

of course.) A/B/Multivariate testing, to see how your visitor behaviour changes.

With all this fresh (and immensely valuable) information at your fingertips youre now ready to start optimising your product pages!


Page 12 - Title page

Title: Chapter 2: The top 20 tips to improve your product page conversions.

CHAPTER TWO

THE TOP 20 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT PAGE CONVERSIONS


Users strongly prefer website designs that look both simple (low complexity) and familiar- Google

1 PRODUCT PAGE LAYOUT - KEEP IT CLEAR, KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Ever wondered why the best ecommerce sites seem to follow a pattern? Dont try to reinvent the wheel. Usability experts will tell you its all about patterning visitors need to feel comfortable, and know where to find things. Of course in the beginning of the web there were no familiar patterns, so websites were all over the place. However, as time has gone on, patterns have emerged, and they are continually evolving. Todays patterns will look outdated in ten years time. But dont try and outrun the herd!

Aside: Whatever funky new designs your designer wants you to adopt, you must always keep hold of your page goals - dont get caught up in personal preference. Alltoooftencreativeideasconflictwiththe commercial aims of the website. And all too often the site owner, if they are entrepreneurial, will veer towards the creative too. Its their site, and they want it to look good. This is often a recipe for going backwards, as site owners wonder why conversion drops off after the latest whiz-bang redesign.


Back to the point! The layout of your product page is fundamental to its success. Its the building block which all other features are based upon.

There are two main goals:

Simplicity

Show the product in the best possible light, with all the pipes and wires of the page infrastructure tidied away and invisible. A viewer shouldnt be distracted by the page design, he should be focused entirely on the product.

Usability & Consistency

Seamlessly, gently, and in a totally frictionless way, provide the supporting information

visitors need to see, in a familiar place and format, with clear and obvious calls to guide them on their way - whether to purchase, to

wishlist, to share, or to find what they are looking for elsewhere on the site.


Design tips:

1. Beware the fold

Keep all essential information above the fold. We would even go as far to say that if possible keep everything above the fold to maintain a simple user experience.

2. Information Ranking

Prioritise your customer goals and preferences, then organise your product page elements and

information accordingly. Certain parts of your website will inherently be more important than others. Answer your customers most pressing

questions as quickly as possible.

3. Familiarity

Keep the same base structure to your product pages as you see in other popular sites. The human mind loves patterns, patterns, patterns!


4. Consistency

As far as possible, keep the same fundamental structure on all your product pages. Your visitors

will become familiar with your page structure and will appreciate consistency. Dont confuse them.

5. Less is more

Your visitors appreciate simplicity, and studies show that it works. They come to your product pages for a purpose. Help them achieve that purpose in the simplest way possible. If your analytics is telling you that an element or feature isnt being used, get rid of it! If your visitors complain, then you can always put it back. All information that is not top priority should be tucked away, using features such as expandable tabs, which show information only when selected.


Excellent product page layout:

Below we have illustrated an example layout according to the best practices listed above. In this example we have shown one that is specifically designed for the fashion industry, however the fundamentals are the same across most ecommerce categories.

++++

_

AWESOME SHOPMAIN MENU

Description

Size + FitAbout DesignerEtc...

Product Title

reference number

234.30

Color

Size

XS S L

Add to Cart

Product Variations:Size, Color etc...

Simple navigation bar

Collapsible product information

Extra product images and videos

Social Media, reviews, wish list, contact etc...


2 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION - PAY ATTENTION TO THE PRODUCT COPY.

All too often e-tailers will copy and paste marketing copy from offline brochures, or as supplied by the manufacturer. This can lead to a mish-mash of word counts and tones of voice.

However, it is true that if you pay attention to this copy, and write it with a voice of your own and in a style which inspires trust and confidence, it can incrementally improve your conversions. It shows your visitors that your organisation cares, and has a personality, which in turn helps foster an emotional attachment to your brand.

Above all, your product copy must anticipate the questions your visitors will want answered. Make sure you list them so you can answer them - see our comments on understanding your visitors

goals on page 11.

For example:

What colours/sizes are available? What is the product made of? How

does it work? How big is it? What spec does it come with?


Excellent product copy should:

Differentiate

Summarise what is special or unique about the product. For example, if the product is made in a country synonymous with quality, then say so.

Focus on the Benefits

You must explain, in detail, the benefit(s) your product will bring to a purchaser.

For example, in fashion the visitor goal may be to create a certain image to

match their lifestyle.

Utilise Personal Pronouns

Peronal pronouns like you make the prospective customer feel like the page and the product was created just for them. Being personal is very appealing.


Relate

Write in a language your audience understands and relates to. This may include using specific technical vocabulary or jargon. For example, check out the product copy on the Dollskill website which really connects with its target market.

Include Compelling and Emotive Vocabulary

This is designed to nurture an emotional attachment and a desire to own the

product and/or your brand.

Optimise

Make sure the keyword group relevant to your specific product page is integrated into your product copy early on, in order to maximise its search engine ranking.
http://bit.ly/18KuIki


Design Tips: Product Copy

Always maintain simplicity.

Try to keep the all of the most important copy above the fold.

Hide less important details in tabs/drop-down/pop-ups - test new designs and see what works best with your visitors.

Try using bullet points to easily define your products key benefits.

3 PRICE - SET THE RIGHT PRICE.

Setting the right price is easier said than done in many cases, and youll never get it right all the time. However:

80% of consumers rate product pricing as critical/very important - (The Connected Consumer 2012: Evolving Behaviour Patterns, Oracle)

The above shows the importance of gaining customer intelligence. You need to know your customer preferences. Lets analyse this in more depth.

I know some are repeated b

ut we want

them to be ingrained in your

mind!


How much should I charge?

How price sensitive are your customers? You need to know this in order to set the correct price points for all the different items in your product range. This will be determined by:

The types of customers you serve. The type of brand or company you are. The competitive landscape.

There are typically THREE commercial models in ecommerce:


Selling other peoples products with no clear business model

differentiation.

The result is highly competitive pricing. Your prices are determined by the

going market rate. Any pricing above this rate will likely be very detrimental to

your conversion rate.

Selling other peoples products with a clear market differentiation that transfers extra value to the customer.

For example, Zappos operates in a highly competitive area. However, it is able to charge above average market rate because of its strong focus on customer satisfaction. They still have to keep prices relatively competitive, however there is the ability to leverage the extra value customers receive to charge a slightly higher price.

Selling your own products.

You determine the price for your product. They should be priced at the market value for that product (determined by your target market) + brand value + any extra value obtained from your specific business model, strategy, marketing etc.


Price Layout & Design tips

1. General Rule of Thumb

Have clear, bold and easy to discover pricing. Dont tuck it away - you will frustrate viewers by not making it easy to find.

2. Discreet Pricing

In the special circumstance where your customers have very low price sensitivity, such as a marketplace for exclusive or luxury goods, you can be a lot more discreet with your pricing. Heres a great example from a luxury clothing brand.

3. Bold Pricing

The more competitive your market and more price sensitive your target consumers, the more emphasis should be put on your pricing. Price becomes increasingly important in the decision making process, the higher these two values.

An extreme example is a supermarket retailer in a highly competitive environment, who will often have a clear focus on drawing attention to their prices. They even go to the extent of showing how much a product is per unit, or in an easy to understand measurement such as 1.25 (0.27/100g). Though this is done to make the product seem more attractive, not to invite comparison.

We advise testing and adapting your pricing levels frequently to find the most profitable levels. Remember though that people like to see consistency, so dont continually alter your current product range. Try out new pricing with discounts, or on new products.
http://bit.ly/1bEFVrq


4 IMAGES - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REMARKABLE AND

CONSISTENT IMAGES.

We cant emphasise enough how important your product images are. The main purpose of any product page is obviously to sell that product. You must utilise enticing imagery to induce a strong desire for your products.

With few exceptions, for any product you wish to buy you will want to see and examine that product first in order to get a real feeling for it. The problem is that everything online is virtual, so you cant touch the product like you would in any physical store.

Consequently you have to make up for this by creating and

displaying images of your product in such a way that your prospective customers can fall in

love with that product.

++++

_

AWESOME SHOPMAIN MENU

Description

Size + FitAbout DesignerEtc...

Product Title

reference number

234.30

Color

Size

XS S L

Add to Cart


Image Tips:

High Definition Photos You dont want an image to just be a representation of the product. You want people to feel like its physically in front of them, as if they can actually touch it. Your product should be the focus of any product page - keep them large and high definition. If people arent commenting on how beautiful your images are, try again.

Focus on the Product!

Keep it clean without any distraction from irrelevant objects, shadows or distracting

backdrops. In most circumstances this means using white as a background. If

youre going to cut out the object/image against white, be very careful you do it so

it does not look cut out.

360 Images

This allows any prospective customer to choose any viewpoint they want, so they can view every small detail.


Zoom and Enlarge

When people find a product they are interested in, they want to see it in as much detail as possible. Utilise zoom or enlargement features.The rule of thumb for an enlarged image is that it be at least

twice as big. Experiment and see if offering full screen images increases conversions.

Multiple Photos

Your customers want to see a diverse selection of product photos from all

possible viewpoints. Make sure at

least all the important angles are covered. This becomes even more important the more complex the product.

Visual Variations

Your visitors dont want to simply imagine what your

product looks like in a different colour - they want to see it.

Increase conversions by showing them exact images of the product,

in all variations.


Context

Give the product a relevant context. If you are unable to physically try out the product, you want to imagine as vividly as possible using it in its relevant context. Example: If you sell dresses, make sure you have a picture of each dress on a model.

Auto-Scrolling Images

Auto-scrolling might not work for all websites, but they can be a great way to grab attention. But

make sure they dont scroll too quickly.

Consistency

The most important thing to remember, however you decide to display the products, is to keep the style consistent. The best way to ensure this is if you shoot your own images. If you do need to take images from a range of third party suppliers, make sure you get them in a consistent format i.e. against white to minimise any variations in quality.


5 VIDEO - INCREASE ENGAGEMENT WITH VIDEO.

Consumers are 64-85% more likely to purchase after watching a video - BigCommerce.

Good videos can create a more engaging experience than even the best images, and all it takes is one click. Ecommerce product pages mainly have two categories of video:

Product demo videos. How-to videos.

Product demonstration videos are used to replace or complement product images, in order to provide a more immersive experience, and to display the product in action.

How-To videos are extremely effective for products which have at least some degree of complexity to them, whether that be in building the product, or using it. A prospective customer is more likely to purchase if they understand the product fully, because this reduces the risk of problems after it has been delivered and paid for.


6 CTA - OPTIMISE YOUR CALLS TO ACTION

Your main product page CTA will always be an Add-to-Cart or Purchase button. As soon as a visitor has the intent to purchase, you have to make it as easy as possible for them to find the button which takes them to the purchase page. They shouldnt have to think about it - follow conventional practice.

However it is important that you do not under any circumstance try to make your CTA stand out as the strongest element on the page. The product is the main focus. The CTA is only important once they have made the decision to purchase. Drawing their attention to it before they have made this decision will only irritate them.


CTA tips:

Maintain Consistency

Keep the same design, size and positioning across all product pages.

Keep it simple

Dont be too clever with your wording and design. Once someone has decided they want to add a product to their cart, they should be able to do it instantly. The text Add to Cart/ Add to Basket or Buy is a good place to start. Everyone understands what this means.

Position

It is good practice to place the button very close to options for different variations of the product, such as size, colour, type. Additionally, give the button some space, so that it is easily distinguishable from the other content surrounding it.

Colour

Make sure the text is in high contrast to the colour of the button. Additionally, the colour of the button should be in high contrast with the rest of the page content. This does not mean the colour has to be red, but it should be distinguishable from the rest of your pages. It needs to fit with your voice, while remaining clear and highly clickable.

A/B Testing

Test different colours, positions, and text. Its amazing what you can discover. Remember that you should think of your website as in permanent beta - it is meant to evolve, not ever be a finished product.


7 OFFERS - USE DEALS TACTICALLY

Offers are an exceptionally good way to entice customers to purchase, and if used in the right way they can be very advantageous. Many people just need a little nudge in order to persuade them to purchase.

However, some brands, especially owner-operated brands, maintain that deals demean them and go against their brand values. This can be the right judgement call, but all too often its simply a reflection of the owners prejudice, and not good

commercial sense. If you feel there may be an owner bias in this decision, always

get third party advice.

One-off deals for first time purchasers

are incredibly useful to

convert visitors into paying

customers. Someone who has

purchased once is far more likely

to purchase again, especially if they receive an exceptional buying experience. Their lifetime value to your brand will far outweigh any reasonable discounts applied to their first order.


More deal ideas::

Specific product discounts.

Time-limited deals - Daily deals.

Buy more/Save more.

Free gift with purchase.

Free gift to first X number of randomly selected customers.

Gift vouchers for the next 50 customers.

Free gift wrapping.

Any deals should be thought of as a Call to Action and designed and positioned appropriately. Try using deals to sell items you have overstocked, or items that are not selling.

IMPORTANT! Make sure any deals youre running have the offer codes easily accessible via your website. A common problem revealed by analysis of data across multiple retailers is visitors abandoning baskets with products already chosen, to try and find a discount code, and then never returning. If this is occurring then make it easy for them to find a discount code supply a list of them on the product page.


8 REWARDS AND LOYALTY POINTS - ENCOURAGE CUSTOMER

LOYALTY.

Loyalty programs and rewards were the most popular factor (39%) in persuading customers to make repeat purchases. - econsultancy.

This concept is similar to the deals tip, however it is targeted at repeat customers. Try setting

up a customer reward or loyalty scheme as part of your strategy to create repeat customers, and encourage loyalty.

Next to the purchase price of all or a selection of your products, you can include loyalty or reward points on purchase, which can be

redeemed for specific goods or experiences. This added value can

make all the difference towards a sale.

37% of ecommerce sites have loyalty programs in place and 48% are planning to implement them in the near future. - Social Annex Survey (What e-commerce execs are planning in 2013.)


9 USER-GENERATED CONTENT

Customer Reviews70% consult reviews or ratings before purchasing - (BusinessWeek, Oct. 2008)

Amazon set the trend here and - lo and behold! - it works. People want and expect to see reviews. If you dont have them on your site, visitors will go elsewhere to try and find them, and most likely will buy from the site where they read the review. People trust the reviews of others, and building trust is very important in helping people make a decision to buy through your company. They perceive a reduced

risk in their purchase if they see that others have had a

positive experience before them with the same product.

There are several companies offering review solutions Feefo, Revoo and they have

the added benefit of helping your SEO.


Review Tips:

Was this review helpful?

Include functionality to answer the above with options for yes and no. This question provides increased levels of trust by prospective customers if there is a high quantity of previous customers who have agreed with a particular review. If that review was very positive, it can result in a sizeable increase in conversion.

Product value

Generally, the higher the value of the product, the more important reviews are, due to the higher risk involved.

Subjectivity

It can be argued that reviews are less important for products that are known to be highly subjective, and based on personal preferences. A broad example would be the fashion industry. Use A/B testing to see if customers appreciate reviews for your particular products.


Distribution & Averages

Try displaying average review scores prominently on your product pages, or

mini charts alongside the distribution of product reviews.

FAQs

Experiment with the functionality for user generated FAQs. This is a section where customers can enter questions, and see if they have already been asked and answered by your team.

Over time, user generated FAQs increase the likelihood that any questions you have not answered for any visitor on your product page is likely to be answered in your FAQs. This increases conversions, as it increases the possibility that prospective customers should have access to all information required for them to make a purchase. Additionally it saves you support costs.

Not ready to make this yourself? Try Uservoice instead.


Customer Generated PhotosConversion rates on product pages that include customer photos can increase up to 30%. - Olapic

Showing pictures of actual people enjoying your product and feeling proud to be an owner is another way to increase trust, and reduce perceived risk for would-be purchasers. The right photos will reflect positively on your brand and, for some products, project an image which your target audience will want to emulate. Consequently this increases conversions, because it increases the desire for that product. It is likely that this feature will work best for brands and products that convey a specific lifestyle choice, such as fashion.

10 VIDEO TESTIMONIALS

Video testimonials are well known to increase visitor engagement, trust and loyalty through social proof, which consequently increase conversions. They can be professionally created, and make for a richer form of customer review with the potential for a highly captivating experience.

Try utilising Vine for short but sweet customer videos which allows them to connect and express their appreciation of your brand.


11 LIVE CHAT - PROVIDE PROMINENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

OPTIONS.

Typically, email is still the preferred method of contacting customer service, but customers expect a response within 24 hours, preferably much shorter. Social media is rising as a customer service channel, and the telephone is always cited as the most frustrating. Live chat is becoming more popular - according to these stats from a recent E-tailing group survey:

29% of survey respondents said they were more likely to buy from a site that had live chat.

77% cited speed of response as the main benefit.

So you should provide, prominently on the product

page, all the channels you have for reaching

customer service, and asking a question about the

product. However - and this is very important - if you include

a service, make sure you can support it.


Live chat is effective because:

It provides access to instant support

Live chat empowers your customers to ask any questions that are not currently answered via your product pages. As already noted, a fully informed visitor is more likely to convert.

Make a note of frequently asked questions and try to incorporate them into your product page or FAQs where possible.

Offer to email the live chat history to the customer.

It can assist in closing a sale

Use analytics to segment visitors that are engaged with a page but are taking a particularly long time in making their decision. Prompt these visitors by connecting with them via live chat to see if you can help close the sale. The personal touch of actually speaking to a helpful member of your staff can help the customer experience even if the sale is not captured right away. According to surveys, 65% of online shoppers now accept pro-active chat as useful and will respond to it.

Extra chat tips:

Remember to allow them to email you if nobody is instantly available via live chat. Do NOT offer the service if you are not able to handle a reasonable level of live chat requests during office hours.

When the live chat pops up, show a photo and name of the employee offering the support in order to suggest a more personal service. Keep away from cheesy stock photos! People see straight through them.

The more complex your product the more questions customers will likely ask, and the more useful live chat is.

If you have overseas visitors, consider live chat that automatically translates for international customers.


12 SIZE, COLOURS & FIT - BE CLEAR ABOUT PRODUCT OPTIONS

All product variation options should be placed prominently, above the fold and near your CTA for Add to basket.

Specifically relevant for fashion products are the sections for size and fit. Make sure all sizes are displayed either in a drop down menu, if there are many, or just a horizontal list of buttons if there are only a few sizes. The less effort placed on your visitors, the better!

If some sizes or colours are out of stock, say so. See Tip #13 below.

Always include detailed instructions for fit if you are selling a product that comes in multiple sizes. One of the main barriers to purchase will be the inherent risk that you order a product that is the wrong size, and you will then have to go through the hassle of returns. Make your customers as confident as possible that they have chosen the correct fit, with a detailed table about size specifications for each variation. Remove this risk and you remove another barrier to conversion. Additionally, the more accurate you are with sizing, the less returns you will receive.


Useful Tips:

Try creating different versions for your best selling products. For example different colours or sizes for your best selling dress.

Make sure any differences in price are clearly displayed next to the product option. Dont give your customers unexpected price increases during the purchase process.

Some individuals may not know their size, and it is therefore important to enable them to find their size by showing them how to measure it.

Provide a prominent link to a sizing chart, with corresponding international sizing.

Try out some innovative sizing features.

Example: For jackets, allow customers to input detailed sizes for a jacket they currently own which fits them well. Show a visual comparison between their jacket and the jackets from your website.


13 STOCK INFORMATION

It goes without saying that you should always maintain accurate stock information on your website and always try to maintain good levels of stock. Bad stock management is a conversion killer. You must have stock information on your product pages and not later on in the checkout. Never make you customer put effort into something which was eventually worthless.

Tips:

Try highlighting low levels of stock - this can actually enhance conversions due to the increased desire for the product because of the element of scarcity involved.

It is good practice, after a customer has selected a certain product including size and colour, to show underneath the value of the current stock availability. Alternatively you can link to a page which shows a grid of all the different products and their related stock levels.

If you have products out of stock:

Make it clear that this product is out of stock.

Still allow customers the option to order, giving an accurate estimate for delivery time. The option to convert is far superior than no option at all. Potentially give a small discount due to the period a customer has to wait to receive their product. Additionally, offer the option to email the customer when an out-of-stock item becomes available again.


14 RETURNS/DELIVERY

Delivery

Try to aim towards complete customer satisfaction. One of the major disadvantages of shopping online is having to wait for your product to arrive, as opposed to just picking it up straight away from a bricks and mortar store. Subsequently delivery is a big part of the online shopping experience, and should be treated as such. Make sure it is handled as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Best practices:

Numerous different types of delivery

Standard.

Express.

International.

Pick up in store (if applicable).

Free Delivery Increasingly the trend is to offer free shipping. People are becoming used to free shipping, so dont put yourself at a disadvantage by not offering it. Try incorporating the cost of shipping into your base cost.


Estimated Time to Delivery

Customers may have certain time restrictions or have certain preferences with regards to delivery time. Make sure you display accurate delivery information so that there is minimal uncertainty for the customer when purchasing.

Delivery Tracking

Delivery tracking increases consumer confidence and keeps your customers fully informed. Its one more

comfort signal that helps reassure before purchase.

Clear Pricing

Play nice, dont hide your pricing. It should be clearly displayed on the product page.

Upfront Delivery Information

This should all be accessible on the product page itself, not half way through or at the end of the

checkout, that will only frustrate people.

Personalised Information

Try to optimise your content delivery so that for international customers you automatically show only the relevant delivery information.


Returns

The more you can reduce the risk for potential customers through a generous returns policy, the better. The best way to do this is to offer free returns. If you are unable to incorporate this into your business model, then offer the best terms you can. Remember that a short term investment now which could increase your sales and loyal customer base in the long term.

The best policies we have seen simply offer a freephone telephone number which customers can call, and have the company arrange to pick up the product. The next best is printed postage-free return labels sent with every delivery.

Make sure both the returns and delivery information are clearly visible. If you offer special discounted or free shipping highlight it! Make sure people know about it.


15 SOCIAL BUTTONS

92% of consumers say they trust recommendations from friends and family above all forms of advertising - Nielson (Global trust in advertising)

Always include the ability for visitors to easily share your product page with their friends via the main social networks. A friends opinion on a product can dramatically influence an individuals buying decision.

It is very important that if they want to share, then the relevant buttons are easy to find. Dont try and force sharing upon your visitors, they will interact with them when they choose to, provided they are easy to find.

We recommend using Pinterest, Facebook, email and Twitter initially. Dont overload your page with too many social buttons. Focus on the most effective ones with the largest relevant audiences. Its worth doing some research here with regard to your target audience.


16 PAGE LOAD TIMES

Page load times are very high on our priority list to optimise for conversion. The rule of thumb is to never let your product pages load slower than 2.5s on average. However, the market consistently wants and expects pages to load ever faster. The slower your page loads, the higher the percentage in page bounce.

However, when you look at your analytics, bear in mind there are two factors that make up page load time - your servers, and the customers own connection speed. Dont panic if you see high page load times coming from visitors from Saudi Arabia - it is more than likely down to their local connectivity. What you need to look for is consistently slow page loads from a wide range of visitors - and of course you need to test it yourself.

83% of consumers expect a website page to load in 3 seconds or less. - Kissmetrics

Tips:

Full page caching Gzip compression Super image compression service such as jpeg mini A Content delivery network (For large businesses only)
http://bit.ly/KREetC


17 INTERNATIONAL VISITORS.

Retail is going global and if you havent expanded internationally yet then you still need to prepare accordingly:

Automatic Currency Conversions

If you have a large amount of international sales, you should at a minimum have automatic conversions of product prices to different currencies. Do not make them go through the extra effort of converting the currency units, this is an extra barrier to a sale.

Country Specific Websites

The more major your international operations become, the more beneficial it will be to have individual websites for each of your major markets, with navigation and product page content translated.


Foreign Language Live Chat

This software senses the IP address of your visitors and displays a block of content in the visitors language, explaining that your staff speak it, and giving an international phone number.

Personlise Your Shipping Messages

You should also prioritise international shipping messages where you recognise overseas visitors. It is highly irrelevant to highlight domestic shipping for

international visitors.

Unique Pricing for Foreign Markets:

Where you have significant foreign traffic, and dont have individually translated pages, you need to consider unique pricing per market and not just automatic conversions. There are a number of reasons for this:

Demand

Products have different levels of demand in different countries, and therefore should be priced accordingly in different markets.

Conflicting Pricing Levels

You want to maintain optimal pricing levels. For example 10.99 and 10.50 not 10.93 or 10.76. Automatic currency conversions generally return inconsistent pricing levels.

Integrated Shipping

If you can set a price specific to foreign customers, it will allow you to bundle in lower or free shipping for them whilst maintaining optimal margins.


18 PRODUCT BADGING

Adding badges to products is a very effective but neglected strategy for increasing engagement and conversions on product pages.

Most often they are used to highlight best sellers, or to focus on unique attributes that will attract your target audience.

Example badges:

Best seller Made in Britain/Africa/US User recommended Popular Item Real leather Muscle fit Extra soft cashmere

19 TRUST BADGES

New visitors must quickly be shown in a convincing way that they can trust your website or brand before they will be willing to purchase from you. The following badges can help:

Security badges- SSL certificate 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back Price match promise

If you plan on using these badges, make sure they are clearly visible, and dont clutter the page. Also, dont OVER-use them!


20 PRODUCT CUSTOMISATION

Nobody wants to be exactly the same as everyone else. Therefore offering unique customisation options on particular products can help increase conversion rates for a specific user segment. There are always people who are willing to pay more to either be unique, special or to create something that better suits their requirements.

Examples:

Football boots with your name

Embroidered shirts

Laptop spec customisation

Engraved jewellery


Page 12 - Title page

Title: Chapter 3: Measurement, Testing and Iterative improvement

CHAPTER THREE

MEASUREMENT, TESTING AND ITERATIVE IMPROVEMENT


1 KEY METRICS TO MEASURE

In order to improve your product page conversion statistics in an efficient, unbiased way you need to measure the correct performance metrics. Weve made a list of our most popular ones below, however each business is different, so feel free to use these as a base and add your own.

Revenue Per Product / Page Views

These are both great overview metrics that show you the overall effectiveness of the page based on the quantity of traffic that it generates. Use this as your top level metric to gauge the performance of a particular product page, and look towards increasing it with your optimisation efforts.

Product Page Conversion Rate = (# add to cart (for specific product page) divided by product page views)

This is a great metric to use in combination with the one above. It gives an overview of how popular the product is in terms of quantity, rather than overall revenue. Products vary in price, and therefore some may not be making as much money per visit, but if they are selling a lot of units, then clearly theres a market demand.


# of Product Page Views

Always compare Product Page Conversion and Revenue per Product Page View with the total number of page views for that product during a specific time period. It is possible to have a high Product Conversion Rate and Revenue per Product Page View but a low amount of overall page views. Clearly where you have high converting products and low page views, you will want to consider increasing marketing on those products to increase page views.

Micro Engagements

We would recommend setting up what we call micro engagements. We have defined these as any user interactions on a product page that can be said to have above average engagement value. These engagements, although not immediately translatable into monetary value, are very useful in determining the pages which elicit the most user interaction.

The quantity of micro engagements generally has a positive correlation with overall conversions for that product, so a strategy to focus on increasing micro engagements is recommended.

Examples of interactions to track:

Add to Watchlist/Favourite Follow this Designer/Brand Love/Like this product Social sharing interactions Picture enlargement Clicking on size guide (fashion) or similar supporting content


2 TESTING / ITERATION

Once you are tracking and following the correct metrics, you need to put into place a systematic process for continual testing, iteration and improvement.

The 20 conversion tips included in this e-book all focus on areas that are known to have a high impact on product page conversions. They are not guaranteed winners, however, and any improvements will depend on your business model, market and skill in executing them. Your website visitors are ultimately the people who will judge what changes are valuable.

Process for Testing

A. Prioritise

We have listed 20 possible areas above. Prioritise which to test first.

B. Test

Utilise A/B/multivariate testing to try out different product page configurations and features. Always maintain a control group so that you can compare metrics.


C. Analyse

Analyse the data gathered and

see if there has been a statistically relevant

improvement in your key metrics. Remember to isolate your hypothesis

variable as much as possible so that you dont attribute an uplift to your product page

alteration which was actually due to other factors.

D. Optimise

If you find that your hypothesis has caused a positive change in your product page performance, then optimise your pages accordingly for your entire traffic and work towards iterating it further.

E. Rinse and Repeat

This is a perpetual process which should result in continual optimisation of your product pages.


Ending Note

We welcome your feedback, as well as any ideas you have for creating high converting product pages that we may not have covered here. Please feel free to leave your opinions on our feedback forum or contact us by email:

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Marketing

A guide to high converting product pages