The attitude of designers towards designing product pages has taken an ingenious turn in the last few years.
Gone are the days when these pages were laden with unattractive product images, focusing every ounce of their efforts on highlighting the cost and a dull “order now” button…
Designers have now understood what ticks the emotions of the users. Or simply, what makes them dance to their tunes. The ticks are not the aesthetics but what go beyond it, the user experience and usability.
User experience goes beyond tuning the aesthetics of a page. The UX is designed after an extensive research on the users’ behavior, their needs, and the creative ways to meet those needs. Effective UX takes the users through the buying cycles in a flawless manner.
In this blog, I’ll outline some interesting and effective elements that make product pages do what they are built to do- retain users’ attention and generate sales.
High-Quality Images – According to a report by Invodo, almost 92% of shoppers claim that visuals are the governing factors in influencing the buyer’s purchase decision.
So, what make visuals so overwhelmingly effective? Users have the tendency to touch a product and get a feel of it. Visuals are the closest, ideal element that can give the users that virtual feel or experience. Hence, you see bigger and bigger images becoming a central part of latest websites.
Apple Inc. strategically uses the visual appeal through the large, high-resolution images of its products. Apart from appealing the eyes of the users, these images also give users a close-up look of the iPhone 7, its stunning features, body material, etc.
Product Zoom – As I discussed it above, users tend to look at a product from up close to check its material, design, color, and other features. Allowing them to zoom in on the specific details of the product images helps user to assess its fine details.
Infinity Shoes, an online footwear store, claims that it has observed a 51% increase in conversion after improving the product pages’ UX by including product zoom and a few other features.
Multiple angles/views – Adding multiple views of your product to the basket helps users to view the product from every angle. Hence, you can expect faster decision and conversion.
The women luxury fashion store Net –A– Porter fittingly highlight this feature on its product pages, enabling users to view how the apparel looks on a person from multiple angles.
Engage Users with Product Videos
People love to watch videos, and the reason is that sometimes images are not enough to express the emotions or information properly. According to the same report by Invodo, 4x as many buyers prefer to watch the product videos than reading about it.
After all, product videos or demo videos explain the specific details of your product more clearly. Hence, stimulate the buying decision of the users more efficiently.
InDinerio, an online financial board for businesses, did a laborious split test of the two versions of its landing page. Version A was a typical landing page layout and Version B had a large video with a simple signup form. Astonishingly, Version B increased the conversion by twofold, i.e., from 6.8% to 11.2%.
Instagram Photos are the New Black
UX is all about touching the right string, i.e., users’ emotions. Social signals are one of the ideal ways to trigger buyers’ emotions. After all, the buyers want to know what it feels like to use the product in real life.
If you say customer reviews have it covered, I would beg to differ. Customer reviews are although effective social signals but they are not enough, considering how skeptical as a buyer we are becoming. A skeptical mind could perceive a user review as fake because anyone can write it.
The best way to beat the skeptic out of potential buyers is using customer photos using the product, and Instagram can help you do it efficiently.
VanityPlanet is an online market place for beauty and grooming products. The website saw a whopping 24% increase in conversion on its checkout page when it added customers’ Instagram photos to its popular product pages.
Built Customer’s Trust with Product Details
Users come to product page to learn more about it so they can better assess whether the product meets their specific needs or not. Giving in-depth details of the products or its subtleties not just encourage customer delight but also trust.
Some websites do offer detailed description of the products and its features, but it is widely seen on e-commerce platforms that they lack useful product details. What we usually see is either the product specification or material.
Rent the Runway, an online rent-a-dress store, puts this fine idea into practice and in a very efficient way at that. Unlike other stores, it doesn’t just offer the usual product details like material used or size, but it goes way beyond that. The Styler’s Notes tell the buyers what accessories would best suit the dress. And the Size and Fit drop down explains how the dress fits on your body.
Let’s Conclude
It would be fine to say that the elements I’ve covered in this post are just a tip of the iceberg. After all, the world of UX web design and conversion is vast, and to see some positive outcomes we need to continuous experimentations.
A word of advice, whatever practices I’ve presented on this blog, although backed by real-world examples, may work for someone and not for others. Implement practices that best fits the needs of your page, and the leave the rest.
