Essential Elements of a Highly Converting Shopify Product Page

There's no one formula for a highly-converting Shopify Product Page, but those with high conversion rates share some things in common. In this post, we're going to attempt to create a checklist for you that offers a relatively comprehensive list of things for you to go over.

The Copy

"The copy" is the text that will show up on your Product Page. It should be easy to understand, helpful, and persuasive.

If the copy on your Product Page is neither of those things, you should change it. If it's not helping you, it's hurting you. That's the guiding principle when thinking about copy.

Product Title

The Product Page's Title should reflect what the product is offering. It's weird even to say this, but the title should be readable. Yes, that's an extremely low bar to set; the thing is, merchants normally want to use many keywords as possible, so they end up being unintelligible strings of words, and that's not good.

Featuring keywords in the title might help position a product in search results, but it won't do if you sacrifice readability and clarity. Even search engines favor readability, by the way. As a rule of thumb, remember to prioritize user experience.

Product Information

Some people favor information-heavy Product Pages, while others take a minimalist approach. Both are fine as long as you're conscious of your decision and try to fit that into a strategy that justifies it.

That means, for example, you may want to opt for a minimalist approach if the whole aesthetic of the Product Page is minimalist. Keep in mind that minimalism favors relevance and functionality.

Regardless of what you choose to go with, there are several sections to consider. Some are optional, and others are not. We'll make sure to mention which ones are and leave it up to you to decide whether or not to include them on your Product Page.

Product Description

A descriptive section helps users better understand what they're looking at, and search engines understand the page's content, so it's an essential part of a Product Page.

However, keep in mind that things should be clear and readable. You shouldn't try to pack it with as many keywords as possible. You should look at the best-performing keywords for similar products and make sure that you're using them.

Describing your product in the same language that your audience is looking for is very important because that's one way they'll find you.

That doesn't mean well-performing keywords will dictate how you're going to draft the Product Description, but they should certainly inform it.

For example, if you're selling shoes and the style of the shoe is considered "casual", for example, then you should probably include that in the description.

Product Highlights

You'll usually find this section further down the Product Page. This section is optional but highly encouraged.

And while some product highlights might be included as part of the product descriptions, it doesn't feel repetitive as long as you're adding more information about that feature. So the idea is that you can go into a bit more detail.

For example, let's think of a jacket with a beeswax coating. You have the highlight "water-resistant", when users hover or click on that feature, some text expands and explains the all-natural beeswax coating that keeps you relatively dry.

We differentiate it from the description section because, while it is descriptive, it's a different way to showcase the product.

Story

This is optional but keep in mind that storytelling is a powerful tool.

So there are different ways of using a story to help you sell a product. We'll cover three main ways of doing that here because they are more commonly used.

Why this product exists - telling the story of why a product creator had to make it because it makes their life easier, and now they want to share it with everyone. It's effective because you're not telling them "this product will change your life," but you're implying it.

How a product changed someone's life - when the person selling the product didn't create it, they tell the product's story that changed someone's life. It could be the life of the person selling the product, sometimes the life of a close friend they sold it to. The idea is the same; its implication is that this product can do the same for you.

The product making process - talking about the process that adds value to a particular product. It can be sustainable materials, well-paying employees, cruelty free products, or any way that makes customers feel better and more relevant to them.

Call To Action

A Call-To-Action can be as simple as a "Buy Now" button, but it is essential to drive customers to the desired action.

Alternatively, you can create a link to your subscription program, so that's another thing to keep in mind.

Technical Information / Product Details

Regardless of choosing a minimalist approach or not, it's essential that you include detailed information about the product on Product Page.

This doesn't mean you have to show it all the time, but it should be available when your customers click on it.

Visual Aid

So we've talked about the copy, now it's time to talk about all the images and videos that will help you sell your product.

Images

You need great pictures if you want to have a high conversion rate. And then you need to compress them so that your Product Page loads fast. Users don't like waiting. You should include several pictures that show the product from different angles, some close-ups, some further away.

For some products, it may be relevant to see them next to something else for size reference, but that's usually not necessary. Check this ultimate guide: How to optimize Shopify Image Sizes.

Video

Not all Product Pages have a video, but if you have one or you can produce one then by all means. Consider that the quality of the video should be comparable to the quality of the overall page. Include a low-quality video that can detract from your hard work. Don't add a video for the sake of adding a video is what we're saying. But do add one if you've got a good one.

360º Visualization

If you can add a way for users to interact with your product and view it in a 360º way, that would help. It's usually not necessary, our brains are pretty good at forming a mental image of something if we have enough pictures from different angles, but it doesn't hurt.

If you don't have that available, don't lose sleep over it.

But if that's something you'd be interested in, check out Arqspin, which allows you to use your phone's camera (or DSLR if you've got one) to capture and create 360° "spins" of your products and upload them to your site in minutes.

Related Products

Showing your potential customers related products can help them find what they're looking for. Remember, there are different ways they might have gotten to a particular Product Page and maybe that's not exactly what they're looking for... and you do sell what they're looking for.

Helping them find it is just good common sense.

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs offer users a secondary way to navigate your site. They're unnecessary, especially if you don't offer that many products, but if you do, then using breadcrumbs is a great way to let users navigate your shop.

The easiest example I can think of is location-based breadcrumbs, which show users where they are in the website's hierarchy. Let's imagine a clothing store, for example:

Footwear > Shoes > Running > Product Page

In that example, a user might be looking at a pair of running shoes but maybe wants to consider more casual footwear and decides to click on the more general category of "Shoes" to see what you've got. And it just takes one click.

For more info on breadcrumbs and how they work, check out Smashing Magazine's Breadcrumbs In Web Design: Examples And Best Practices.

Up-selling

Up-selling refers to showing a customer a higher-end product than the one they're looking at in the hopes that they'll be more interested in it instead. It's a good way to increase the average order value, so definitely something to think about.

Cross-selling

Cross-selling is more about showing a customer other products they may be interested in. Sometimes it may have to do with showing products that are frequently bought together or simply other products they may be interested in based on what they're looking at.

It's a common practice for something. Showing customers other products get them shopping. Shopping gets them buying.

For more information on Up-selling and Cross-selling, check out our post on 10 Tips To Increase Your Average Order Value On Shopify.

Page Layout

Your product's page layout is something you should pay a lot of attention to while making changes to it. All of the changes that we've talked about should be viewed and considered with regard to how they work on your Product Page, so don't forget about that. Take a step back and look at the thing as a whole: does it look good? Is it working? And most importantly, where is it directing your attention to?

Directing Attention

Figuring out where your product's page layout is making you look will tell you all you need to know about where to put the most important information.

Usually, a page that wants you to scroll will direct your attention towards the bottom of the page, but there are exceptions so... look at your Product Page and think about that experience, figure out where it wants you to look, and figure out if that's what you want.

If it's not directing attention to where you want, there might be a theme that works better for you. If you can't find one, it's best to work with what you've got and place the information in a way that works well with the layout.

User Generated Content

Including user-generated content on your Product Page can help you communicate the quality of the product by offering insight into the experiences other customers have had with your product.

Customer Reviews

Reviews are the most common type of user-generated content. They can help you achieve higher conversion rates as potential customers can trust what previous customers are saying about your product instead of relying on what you're saying about it. It's called social proof.

If you're providing a quality product or service and your customers are happy with it, letting them show that to others can be extremely persuasive.

If you'd like to add product reviews to your Product Pages, check out Opinew today. It's fast and easy, and we've got more features than anyone else in our price range, so check out our plans and pricing.

Further Optimization

When talking about your Product Pages, we have to make clear that there's always something that can be improved, so in that sense, the work never stops.

If you've gone over all of these things and have taken the time to think about them and are sure that you've covered all these bases, then perhaps it's time to think about improving each of these things, one at a time.

And how to do that?

Tracking & Data Gathering

First, you need data. To drive traffic to that Product Page and measure its performance. And track how your users interact with your Product Page to gain insight into what's working and what's not.

One tool you may want to use for this is called Mouseflow. It helps you track the way the mouse (or fingertips) of the users that visit your Product Page interact with it.

Developing Theories

Once you've got data and you've looked at it and tried to make sense of it, it's time to form a theory and put it to the test.

Did you identify something that wasn't working as well as you'd like?

Think of why that may be, and once you come up with a potential solution, it's time to test it.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is the simplest way to test your ideas. The trick is to make just one change and test the previous version and the new one: by only making one change at a time it's easy to identify if that one particular change has the effect that you thought it would have.

When you introduce more than one change at a time, it's hard to figure out what's working and what's not.

You want data that you can rely on to build on it gradually. So be methodical and go one thing at a time.

We hope we have answered most of your questions. If you've got any remaining questions, don't hesitate to contact us, and we'd love to hear from you.