How to boost conversions through engaging product pages

Whether you’re at the start of building your website or looking to shake things up, effective web design is key. You probably already know the importance of clear and informative landing pages, but your product pages are just as important.

One key step in conversion rate optimization (CRO) using product page best practices in tandem with your own knowledge of your customers.

An engaging product page includes more than just good copy and clear photos: it’s about intuitive design, forging trust and simplicity. Consider adding engaging storytelling techniques to your sales strategy and start implementing simple tactics to make your product pages stand out.

We’ve removed the guesswork and compiled a list of nine strategies to teach you how to optimize product pages.

Simple CTAs

Your online store's calls-to-action (CTAs) are one of the most important features of your product page – they urge the reader to buy. The key is to keep them as simple as possible. There’s no need for any really eye-catching copy just yet (you can save that for your product description). What matters is the simplicity of your CTAs and how accessible they are.

Stick to clear CTAs, such as ‘submit order’ or ‘proceed to checkout’ instead of any overly complicated terms. You want to make the user experience (UX) as streamlined as possible so aim for simplicity above all. 

CTAs should be clearly visible, at the center of your product pages and consistent across your website. Consider making your CTAs a bright (but on-brand) color to stand out and entice the user to buy.

Understand your customer

Before you can start creating engaging copy, you have to learn about your customer. Consider their buying habits, their lifestyle trends, and what they desire (as well as how your brand can help them reach these aspirations). 

This is an incredibly simple but important step and will inform all other design efforts from the content you write to the photography you use.  

Consider the following example. Perhaps you sell automotive car parts and your data analysis shows that the majority of your customers are other businesses or car dealers. You surmise from this that your target audience probably already knows the ins and outs of your industry and consider themselves ‘seasoned experts.’ 

In this case, you want to appeal to their knowledge in-depth insights rather than providing detailed descriptions that explain what they already know. They want a quick, informed review of what your product offers to convince them that it’s better than what else is on the market.

Keep copy descriptive and concise

When it comes to e-commerce product page strategy, the copy may be limited to product titles and descriptions, so make them stand out.

It’s key to remember most consumers only spend 10-20 seconds scanning your copy so being concise is important. Only produce copy that adds value to your page and tells a story about your product.

What does your product look like? What are its main functions? Is there any technical information you need to add? Ask yourself what questions the customer might have and address them clearly and directly. 

Think about what needs your product fulfills and how it can enhance the lives of your consumers and draw this into your copy. It’s a storytelling process - you want to help potential customers visualize themselves using your products to increase conversions.

Just as your copy should be descriptive, it also needs to be concise. Avoid using flowery keywords and jargon unless you’re targeting a niche audience. If you’re selling a blue dress, for example, it’s unlikely customers will be searching for keywords like ‘cobalt’ or ‘cerulean’, so stick with simple keywords.

Highlight your brand voice

Your brand voice is unique to your image so be sure to highlight it in your copy. Tailor this to your brand and the products you’re selling so customers can get a feel for what you stand for. Think about what style suits you and your audience best – would casual copy fit well or are your products more technical?

Your brand messaging is incredibly important to hook customers on what you sell. It’s about creating a lifestyle around your products and building a world that feels right for your brand.

Highlight social proof

Build trust and confidence in your brand by displaying reviews to customers. Knowing others bought an item (and liked it) will entice users to buy more often. Customers are more likely to trust a review over a product description because it gives them confidence in what they’re buying.

Adding customer reviews to your product pages will depend on your layout. Consider implementing a page overview of reviews and constantly evaluate it, looking for the highest ratings. 

Be sure to include an option for photos to add an extra layer of trust and credibility to your products.

If you’re just getting started and don’t have any reviews, consider adding a review request into your post-purchase workflow or on social media.

Send an email a week after the purchase with a 2-3 question survey asking for feedback.

Use high-quality, professional product photography

Investing in high-quality photos for your product pages will go a long way toward building customer trust. Clear and professional photos add credibility to your products and assure customers of what they can expect.

Avoid using product photos from the manufacturer or royalty-free sites – you run the risk of using images already displayed elsewhere. You want to be original so invest in photos that show the product from all angles and add a zoom-in feature too.

Consider taking photos of your product in use. This is especially important for practical items like clothing, shoes, and accessories. Oftentimes, companies will incorporate user-generated content (UGC) in product pages including photos of products in use by real customers.

It’s okay to use stock images elsewhere on your site to complement the design, but your products deserve their own, custom photos.

Consider a live chat option

You probably already know the importance of great customer service in the purchase and customer retention process. Providing customers with a point of contact helps build trust and addresses issues directly.

It’s not enough to simply provide telephone lines to help customers – you should also be integrating a range of customer service tools as part of your strategy. When it comes to customer service communication, there are tons of tools that can be used. Grasshopper and Grasshopper alternatives are just some great tools that can be integrated into your product pages. 

The key is to have a point of contact available for visitors on your product pages. This way, you’ll be able to better engage with consumers.

One of the most popular forms of live chat is e-commerce chatbots. Consider personalizing your chatbot so your live chat uses your brand voice. We all know chatbots aren’t human, but adding a more personal feel to your live chat will build a greater sense of trust among users.

Some conversion rate optimization tech like Lucky Orange will include a live chat tool.

Use clear URLs and SKUs

The back page of your design efforts is just as important as what can be seen on the product page. Remember to always make your URLs as clear as possible, using keywords about the specific product. Steer clear of using lots of numbers and jumbled words in URLs – you run the risk of creating a URL that inhibits the UX.

Clear URLs communicate clearly to customers and help search engines scan your web pages more efficiently. Be sure to also give some thought to your product SKUs; though customers won’t see them, they are integral to your business.

Smooth operations depend on a clear manufacturer SKU, so remember to update your system with any SKUs if a new product comes into stock. This way you’ll streamline your entire inventory management operations, from your order processes to your shipments.

Key takeaway

At the end of the day, your design efforts are an evolving process. These tactics shouldn’t be implemented as a one-off but rather be part of a constant process of evolution, tweaking where necessary. 

Be sure to track the numbers and your CRO after each design has been implemented. Share results and progress across the board. Reviewing these results with your team is incredibly important as it will provide an overview of each department’s role and where any pain points have arisen. This will ensure you can address any issues before moving on to the next step of your design process, implementing any known successes to your next write-up of a product page.  

In the remote working age, a video call can be invaluable in getting your whole team together to perform such reviews. Whatever platform you use, remember there are a host of alternatives available, such as alternatives to Twist, so be sure to use the software that works best for your business. 

Weigh up different options, like taking a Glip and Chatwork comparison to inform you of which would suit your strategy better, and which is a better WebEx competitor.

Once your team is aware of benchmark performance metrics, you can start analyzing which design changes had the most impact on your CRO. This way, you’ll be able to start recognizing what draws in the most customers and continue with improving your design.