Customers who land on your ecommerce website and decide to explore your products pay attention to every detail. So, if you want them to purchase from you, it’s crucial to convince them that your online store is trustworthy and that you sell quality products.
This can be challenging if you’re not a popular household brand with an established online presence. Having a well-designed product page can help you overcome this barrier and give your conversion rates, sales, and revenue a significant boost.
However, it’s worth mentioning that product page design best practices evolve over time, so it’s essential to stay up to date with the latest trends.
Here are some tips for turning up the volume on your product page design.
1.Use Trust Badges
Trust is one of the most important brand differentiators, particularly in ecommerce.
Customers aren’t very keen on purchasing from online brands they know little about. And you can’t blame them. Purchasing something you can’t see in person, touch, feel, or try on can be tricky.
Plus, with cybercrime on the rise, it’s obvious why consumers are reluctant to share their sensitive information with ecommerce websites. Worrying stats say that in 2020, credit card fraud increased by almost 45%.
All these factors result in a frustratingly high shopping cart abandonment rate, which sits at approximately 70%.
Implementing trust badges across your online store, mainly on the home page and during the checkout process, can instill trust in your customers and let them know they can shop with confidence.
Other places to include trust badges are at the footer of your site and on product pages.
The most common types of trust badges you can use include:
Safe Checkout Badge
This is a seal of approval you get when you sign up for the services of an SSL certificate provider.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protects your internet connection and encrypts the information shared between your site and your customers’ browsers. This means that your checkout process is safe, and your customers’ credit card information won’t be stolen. Safe checkout can be achieved with an SSL certificate but which certificate should be installed on the server? The answer is RapidSSL certificate, GlobalSign SSL certificate, DigiCert SSL certificate. All these SSL certs come with a trusted seal that you can place on the webpage or checkout page to assure customers about data safety.
Free Shipping and Returns Badge
Free shipping is one of the most popular and effective conversion drivers.
According to 9 out of 10 consumers, free shipping is the top incentive. Moreover, it can increase the order value by 30% on average.
Similarly, a “Free Returns” badge eliminates any perceived risks of purchasing from an ecommerce store. Your customers will be more likely to buy something from you when they see that there won’t be additional costs if they decide to return the item.
Accepted Payments Badge
Offering several payment methods is another factor contributing to whether your customers will decide to complete the transaction.
Alternative payment options, such as PayPal or ApplePay, that appeal to younger audiences will result in more purchases.
Plus, the logos of recognizable financial brands like Visa, Mastercard, or American Express will give your customers an increased sense of security when making an online payment.
Suggested reading: Alibaba Payment
Suggested reading: How to pay suppliers on Alibaba via Pay Later?
Third-Party Endorsement Badge
To prove your store is legit, apply for third-party endorsement badges.
These seals provide another layer of credibility since you can’t simply plaster them across your ecommerce store – you have to earn them through an approval process that requires customer reviews.
Examples of third-party endorsement badges are Better Business Bureau and Google Reviews.
Money-Back Guarantee Badges
This kind of guarantee completely dispels customers’ fears and suspicions over making a purchase from your ecommerce store.
If they’re not happy with the product or if it doesn’t fit them, they can return it within a predetermined period, which is usually 30 days, and get a full refund.
Research suggests that websites that offered a 30-day money-back guarantee experienced a 32% increase in orders.
Category-Specific Badges
If you want to emphasize that your product caters to the needs of certain audiences, you can use category-specific badges.
Let’s say your store carries vegan, locally sourced, or cruelty-free products, and you want your potential customers to see that right off the bat. Instead of including this kind of information in product descriptions only, add trust badges saying “100% vegan,” “100% gluten-free,” “Cruelty-free,” or “Locally sourced.”
2.Allow Payment in Installments
The Covid pandemic affected the way people spend and brought about a sharp decline in the use of credit cards.
High-interest rates and job insecurity took a toll on customers’ finances, but things seem to be looking up thanks to the latest ecommerce trend – Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL).
This payment system has become increasingly popular among a new generation of consumers, mainly because it offers an interest-free and convenient payment plan.
According to surveys, 85% of customers prefer payment in installments when purchasing from online stores.
If we bear in mind that younger audiences are trending away from credit cards due to high maintenance expenses and fees, it’s evident that they need an alternative when purchasing large-ticket items. The BNPL system splits the cost into more digestible installments and is, therefore, much easier on the budget.
But you and your customers can benefit from this approach even if you’re selling mid-range products, as almost 50% of people say they used BNLP for such purchases.
So, to gain a competitive edge, boost your ecommerce sales, and even grow your average order value, think about implementing a BNLP system in your online store. You can choose among different apps providing this service, and Shopify, for example, integrates with Affirm, Afterpay, Quadpay, and Splitit, to name just a few.
Impossible, a performance gear company, is a good example of how the payment in installments tactic works. As you can see on the Impossible Energy product page below, it encourages customers to make purchases over $50 and qualify for four interest-free installment payments.
3.Implement Incentivized Cross-Selling
Cross-selling is a standard strategy for driving repeat sales, generating more ROI, and increasing average customer lifetime value.
It’s much easier to convince a customer who has already decided to purchase from you to add at least one more complementary product to their cart. You’ve already managed to interest them enough and offer proof that your store is trustworthy, so why not capitalize on the momentum?
But, cross-selling is often not incentivized, although the combination of these two tactics can result in more sales and a larger average order value.
Here are some tips on how to tap into the power of incentivized cross-selling.
Special, Time-Sensitive Promotions
To get your customers to purchase additional items, offer them special time-limited promotions and discounts.
This will trigger a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out (FOMO) in your customers, thus pushing them to act immediately. A small financial incentive will make all the difference and make your cross-selling attempt more appealing.
Product Bundles
Product bundling is a great way to offer more related items for a lower price.
This kind of incentivized cross-selling adds value to your customers, while you’ll benefit from increased revenue resulting from every individual order.
Transparent Labs, a sports supplements company, features a Bundle and Save section as you can see on the bulk pre-workout page below. Their customers get relevant suggestions for additional products so that they can bundle everything up and save. This section’s UX is also excellent, as it allows the shopper to easily add products without leaving the page.
Suggested reading: Alibaba Private Label
Suggested reading: Top 50 Trending Products To Sell Online
4.Include Elements That Create Urgency
Sometimes customers need a little nudge that will speed up their decision-making process.
One of the most effective ways to deal with customers on the fence to click the Add to Cart button is by creating urgency.
This tactic works well because it shows potential customers that the product they’re considering is selling fast and that others want it too. Such a high demand, naturally, creates scarcity and if they don’t act fast, they risk getting the “Out of Stock” message once they make up their mind.
There are various methods you can use to create urgency, and some of them are:
- Display low stock availability. Nothing says hurry up and add to cart like the “Only 2 left in stock” sign next to the product you think about buying. This is how you can subtly warn your customers that the longer they mull things over, the greater the odds that the item will be unavailable.
- Show a countdown timer. A timer counting down hours, minutes, and seconds until the end of your offer will create a sensation of pressure in your hesitant customers. Their natural impulse will be to grab the discounted product while they can.
- Offer early-bird incentives. Giving out freebies is a popular marketing tactic, but you can additionally enhance it by offering gifts or discounts to the first 10/50/100 customers. The prospect of winning a free or discounted item will prompt your potential customers to make a purchasing decision in a snap.
5.Take Advantage of Frequently Asked Questions
Providing your customers with as much product-related information as possible will help them make an informed purchasing decision.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) can be a great vehicle for providing relevant details and offering additional resources your customers can use during their buyer’s journey.
Many ecommerce websites have a FAQ page that addresses all the questions and concerns your customers might have. But, if you create a dedicated FAQ section on your product pages, customers won’t have to navigate away from the product page they’re on in search of, say, a shipping or refund policy.
KURU Footwear specializes in footwear for all kinds of purposes and foot conditions. To help their customers identify the best model for their needs, the brand offers a detailed FAQ section as you can see on the plantar fasciitis page below. This is an excellent method for educating their target audience and assisting them with choosing the footwear that will meet their particular requirements.
6.Leverage Customer Reviews and UGC
More than 90% of consumers read online customer reviews before making a purchase.
This helps them resolve trust issues they might have regarding the quality of products and customer service. So, if you want to build trust with your customers and improve the credibility of your ecommerce store, customer reviews are the way to go.
This type of social proof is particularly effective when paired with user-generated content. To add authenticity to your customers’ reviews, allow them to upload images and videos of your products being used.
By letting your existing customers have their say, you’re putting them in the driver’s seat and allowing them to share their impressions about your product. And this is a powerful marketing tactic since customers trust other customers more than brands.
Fire Pit Surplus features customer reviews and photos on their product pages as you can see on the Elementi Hampton Fire Pit page below. This allows potential customers to access valuable and honest feedback from shoppers just like themselves.
Conclusion
Focusing on the design of your product pages and fine-tuning every single element is critical for the success of your ecommerce store. With many available options at their disposal, customers will opt for online stores that are user-friendly and oozing with credibility. These simple product page design best practices will keep your customers engaged and increase your conversions.
