The product pages of your Shopify store are perhaps the most important pages on your site for your eventual bottom line. If they don't work perfectly, you will be losing business and customers.
Taking the extra steps to improve your product pages will make all the difference and really make your page stand out among your competitors. The more energy and time you put into your product pages, the more the consumer will trust your company and be impressed by your product.
Little changes can have a big impact on your Shopify product pages.
Many online business owners make the common mistake of thinking that more traffic will equate to more sales. You have to have a site that converts or else traffic is pointless.
You can’t put water in a broken glass — it will never fill up. The same principle applies to traffic on your site; if your product pages are broken you will never get sales.
The real trick to e-commerce growth isn’t growing traffic but being able to convert a higher percentage of traffic into sales. That’s why you need an optimized site that can generate conversions from the traffic that you are getting.
The question, of course, is how. We are going to discuss how to create Shopify product pages that create conversions. These are the main components that need to be tested and optimized.
Be Specific with Your Product Title
Typically, longer names work better. Each word in the title can be used in an organic search. As an example, the title, “Women’s Adidas NMD Retro Running Shoes Size 6,” is better than “Adidas NMD Trainers.”
The longer the name of your product the easier it makes it for the customer to look for it. They don’t have to click on a specific title they can do a general scan for it.
Focus Your Product Description on the Consumer
When making a product description you can get bogged down writing the gritty little details of the product - i.e. weight, battery life, etc.
Though these things are important, they should not be the focus. Instead, make the text about how the product will help the reader.
In turn, you need to know your consumer and their wants and needs and even how they speak. The product page should be written in a way that addresses their wants and desires.
You need to show the consumer how your product is going to help them. How will a microwave improve how they make their meals or live their life?
When making a product page, you need to understand the relationships between your product, the reason the consumer is purchasing said product, and any hesitation they may have in purchasing the product.
BioLite, for example, knows that customers want to know about functionality more than just how it looks. The look of the product can be shown with a photo giving space to write about how the product functions and its durability.
A description needs to:
- Be easy to scan
- Terse
- Include only information deemed to be vital
- Address customers reasons not to buy the product
- Answer questions that are necessary
Use High-Quality Images
Since your store is online, customers can’t touch or feel your products. High-quality images that sell the product and what it can do for the reader really increase conversion rates.
Make sure to capture your product from different sides to really allow the consumer to get a feel for your product.
Show your product being used for what it was designed for. So if you’re trying to sell headphones, have some pictures of someone listening to music with them.
Showing your product being used will allow the customer to imagine themselves using it. Consider the potential reader and who they will identify with.
If you’re selling gaming headphones, you’re generally going to want to show images of young people wearing the headphones in the images, for example. If you’re selling high-end audiophile headphones, you may be looking at an older target audience who want the best sound quality and are willing to pay for it. Your product images, in this case, may benefit from using an older person enjoying the headphones.
Your description and the pictures you take work together. The description tells the customer about the product, while the picture shows them exactly what the description is talking about.
The Price Needs to Be Visible and Clear
For most customers, the price is the most crucial element of whether they will buy a product or not. If they cannot see the price, then they won’t consider the product further.
Place the price in a clearly visible area, and if you are discounting the item strike out the old price and put in the new one. This is a commonly used strategy on Shopify product pages, and it works.
Videos Sell
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth tens of thousands. This is strongly supported by data, as well. Studies have shown that videos can increase product conversion rates from 84-144%, and this is the reason that videos are so effective and abundant.
If a product could be perceived as difficult to use, a video can lend a demonstration that increases a buyer’s confidence that the product is actually simple to use.
The usage of video can also describe differences in features that the item has.
Beyond these applications, a video allows the customer to feel as though they themselves are using the product.
Social Proof
Typically, the more a product is reviewed favorably by customers, the better it fares on Shopify. Reviews establish a rapport between the consumer and the producer, and it builds trust.
Up to 95 percent of shoppers do, in fact, take the time to read reviews, and those customers have been shown to trust the reviews they read more than any advertising by the manufacturer.
There are review apps available on the Shopify App Store. Beyond that, it is usually helpful to allow some time after the purchase before contacting the consumer to see if they are willing to provide a good and honest review of the product.
The larger the price of the purchase, the more reviews will be relied upon, as most consider trivial purchases small enough to throw caution to the wind.
The best testimonials use real everyday people and provide a glimpse of how they apply the product within their daily lives
Make Comparing Products Easy
Usually, it takes more than one product viewing before a customer decides they have found the best option. Variation in style, color, and size are all factors the customer may take into consideration.
A comparison between other products can help gain the attention of the customer and move them closer to making a decision on their purchase.
Apply macro-purchasing trends (historical data) and target the proper audiences so that the recommendations appeal to the reader.
Upselling and Cross-Selling
A product page’s first objective is to sell, but some online stores fritter away their customer bases by ruining the product pages with too many additional offers and excessive linking to related products.
Upselling and cross-selling are the key to increasing the size of average orders, but without some moderation and organization, it is destined to fail.
Too many products and banners result in a “spammy” feel to the page and they tend to do little more than distract the shopper from even placing an order at all. Readers are frozen and paralyzed by the imposed choices, and it becomes a losing proposition for both the consumer and the merchant.
Keep the Shelves Stocked
Just because something has sold out does not mean the customer cannot be turned onto a different item. It is important to retain the customer and keep them on the line, and asking them for their contact information only can help the prospect of future sales, whether with the original item or an altogether different one.
It’s All About Trust
It is tough to gain the trust of all the customer base for any product, and there are always those who prefer not to buy things online. This could be due to a previously poor experience, or even the fact that many older consumers do not like to shop online to begin with.
However, for these people there are ways to gain their trust and turn them into buyers. Some of the things that would persuade them to shop online include lucidly defined return policies, money-back guarantees, customer service live chats, warranties, and clear shipping details.
The consumer needs to know if a problem arises with the product that it will be properly addressed and fixed. Trust is gained through these avenues. It only helps increase the chance of a sale.
Showing the product’s endorsements and seals of approval is also a way to establish trust because a badge or seal allows visitors to see tangible success.
It is valuable to allow the customer to check off his biggest concerns over the item, and it’s important that permission is obtained before using any certificates or seals on the webpage. Unless the official website is widely known, creating a badge for it on your own is still an important step to legitimizing the item.
Provide a Clear Call to Action
If your page has shown what the benefits of the product are, removed all potential customer hesitation on getting the product, and answered all potential questions a consumer might have, the customer should be ready to make the all-important action of the product page.
In the majority of cases, this is done by clicking "Add to Cart." This is the action you are enticing the reader to make.
The CTA needs to be clear and simple, and the most obvious thing on the page.
Further, the checkout needs to be as easy as possible. Consider Amazon and how easy they have made the process. They store your info and have one-click checkout to make it super easy. Why? Because speed is crucial when you check out, and every extra step a customer must make for their purchase to go through is a step where you will potentially lose them forever.
Testing and Optimization
After all of the above advice has been incorporated, A/B testing is best used to determine the proper layout for increases in conversions on the page. Optimization really should be data-based, as A/B testing is not properly done if it is random or based on impulse and gut instinct. Hypotheses based on the data must be tested and evaluated before changes can be implemented.
Start with the areas that have the greatest potential to improve conversion rates. Test one element at a time. Then, evaluate the results and change what must be amended.
Continue this process until finished, but be iterative as conversion optimization is not a “one and done” process by any means. After choosing a winner of an A/B test, repeat the test and change some of the variables to optimize the data. The more things are repeated, iterated, the higher the conversion rate will climb.
Title Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash.
