Taking into account the statistics, only slightly more than 2.5% of visits to the online store end up finalizing the purchase. Low conversion with heavy traffic is not uncommon. The reasons should be found in the product pages, and more precisely, the lack of attention to their optimization. They are relevant to almost all levels of the sales funnel and are crucial in completing the transaction. Below we present proven methods that will help you reduce the number of abandoned carts and properly present products in your online store so that they position themselves and sell well.
What drives customers away from poorly designed product pages?
Creating a good product subpage is not easy. The online store’s assortment changes frequently and it takes time to complete the information about the products on offer. This sometimes results in pages with a sparse or duplicate description, no photos or the use of specifications sent by the manufacturer as content. The informative value in this case is close to zero and dissuasive. The statistics leave no doubt.
98% of potential customers give up a purchase because they do not find enough information about the desired product or because it is false. Before finalizing a transaction, everyone wants to make sure they are making the right choice. Does the product description match the photo presented? The t-shirt is available in a women’s version, but the visuals only show a male cut? Is this watch waterproof? Dry information about dimensions, weight and color may simply turn out to be insufficient.
50% of customers after making a purchase do not hesitate to return the product, as long as its actual condition differs from that described on the website. Complaints caused by this are not only a waste of time for the store and for buyers. It is also a flaw in the brand image.
60% of would-be customers abandon their shopping carts when finalizing their order they have to bear additional hidden costs. This includes charging an additional commission on selected means of payment, no discount or high delivery costs, about which they were not previously informed. The most extreme and unacceptable example is one where the price on the product card differs from that in the order summary.
The specificity of the internet client has changed as a result of the pandemic. According to Paraphrase Online Experts, the growth in the domestic e-commerce market in 2020 is almost 26%! Along with a much greater interest in online shopping, the expectations as to the standards offered by stores are also growing. Therefore, the topic of product page optimization is more relevant today than ever before. Find out how to improve them.
>> Why customers abandon SEO <<
Search results – what to improve?
According to Paraphrase Online research, as many as 35% of customers start their shopping path with search results. They allow you to quickly compare the offers of many online stores. When customers enter a product subpage directly from the search engine and make a purchase, in 60% of cases they convert there without browsing further content on the site. This data means that a great many potential customers at the very end of the sales funnel only need the final incentive to close the deal. The page that stands out of all the results will be the one they choose.
URL and Metadata
The refinement of these elements affects what the customer sees immediately after searching for a product using the search engine. The url should be simple and devoid of special characters that mean nothing to the customer. Its content should include the name of the product, which is also the key phrase. As a result, the address and its content are also more readable when sharing it. The above address is an example of a suitable optimization. Contains descriptive keywords that are separated by dashes. Any strings of characters that are less understandable to customers are placed at the very end, without adversely affecting the reception and transparency of the whole. The meta title should contain information about the product, such as its name and keywords that users use to search for it. However, you cannot exceed 60 characters, as only this number will be visible in the search results. The meta description is equally important, it must be unique for each product and also include keywords. It cannot exceed 156 characters.
Structured data
Tags placed in the website code in the schema.org, hCard, RDFa or JSON-LD format. Their optimization will allow search bots to recognize the content posted on the website more efficiently. They are also useful for people, because they can show additional information about the product in search results, before clicking on a subpage. These are the so-called Rich Snippets. These may include, among others, price, dimensions or stock. An appropriate structured data schema also allows breadcrumbs to be displayed in the search results. This is a trend that Google is promoting by replacing crumbs with displaying traditional URLs.
In structured data, particular attention should be paid to the visibility of opinion ranking. According to data provided by Paraphrase Online Experts, as many as 95% of customers check other users’ reviews before making a purchase. Their presence is therefore a factor strongly encouraging to visit the subpage.
Features of good content on the product subpage
Many of the problems that result in customers abandoning the shopping cart can be solved by optimizing the content. This is important both for positioning and improving the user experience.
Text layer
Each subpage should contain a unique content, created especially for its needs. A common problem is to use only the specifications provided by the manufacturer as a description. As a result, many stores use the same texts, and Google bots treat them as duplicate content and lower the page ranking. Google also takes into account the length of the text on the page. It does not specify a specific number of characters, instead it uses a fairly general statement that high-quality pages have “a satisfactory amount of high-quality content.” Therefore, in this case, use common sense. Important information, such as product features, must not get lost in the text wall. At the same time, descriptions should be used to emphasize these features. As mentioned earlier, insufficient product information is one of the main reasons for shopping cart abandonment.
The visual layer
Good quality photos are the basis for presenting the product in the online store. Up to 93% of e-commerce customers admit that the visual value of an offer is crucial in making a decision to buy. This means that you cannot save on the quality of photos, and you should also provide variants for each different model or different color version of the product. In terms of SEO, you should make sure that each image is completed with the alt attribute, and also properly compressed in terms of size. This will positively affect the loading time of graphics on the website. If possible, do not rely only on static photos. Video content is a great way to encourage you to complete your purchase. They can advertise the product or provide instructions on its use. According to Paraphrase Online research, as many as 69% of customers wanting to learn something about a product, prefer to watch a movie than read a text description. Videos also help extend the time spent on the site. However, do not put them directly on the store server. For the sake of efficiency, it is better to use external hosting, such as Youtube.
What elements to enrich the product subpage with?
CTA clearly visible
The button calling for action is a very important element of the product subpage. It must be well displayed and understandable in the message. Simple messages like “buy now” are most appropriate. Neglecting the CTA often causes unsatisfactory conversion.
Feedback system
As mentioned earlier, the feedback system encourages customers to make purchases. What else is worth knowing? You should not be afraid of unflattering reviews. A diverse scale of ratings makes the service or product more credible in the eyes of customers. We conducted A / B tests on the product pages of one of our clients, placing the widget with customer reviews in a visible place. This resulted in an increase in conversion by 58% compared to subpages without such improvement.
Shipping cost data and return policy
All data on purchasing and shipping costs should be visible to the user at a glance. This eliminates the risk of abandoning the cart as a result of being surprised by the high costs of transport. It is related to the improvement of its User Experience.
>> Dropshipping – what is it? Dropshipping rules <<
Creating a wishlist / saving the contents of baskets for later
Product subpages are characterized by low conversion rates, also due to the fact that customers visit them even when they do not intend to make purchases at the moment. Adding the functionality of saving the product to the wish list and saving it for later significantly improves the user experience and increases the chance of its return and finalization of the transaction.
Cross selling
Cross selling is a standard in online stores. It can take many forms: “customers who were interested in the product also watched” or “buy it bundled with”. This type of procedure is not only intended to increase the value of the basket, but also creates a network of internal links.
Summary
Optimizing your product subpage is a key activity needed to improve the conversion rate for the entire store. For this reason, their importance to the store cannot be ignored. The final strategy of its positioning and improving the user experience also depends on the industry in which the store operates. Therefore, when making changes, you should watch the indicators and pay attention to the reaction of customers.
