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Adequate optimization of product pages in an online store is a guarantee of higher traffic and, most importantly, sales. Analyzing e-commerce sites, one can often come across similar and recurring errors that result in low conversion rates, even despite the high visibility of the site.
How to improve product pages to attract consumer attention and how to increase sales?
For what purpose optimize product pages?
Every website needs to be customized in terms of content, design and functionality. They are the ones who generate traffic and are potential customers. If the product page meets their expectations, the likelihood of sales will increase significantly, which will translate into higher revenues for your store.
Why is the conversion rate low despite high traffic?
A very high percentage of users abandon adding a product to their shopping cart or completing the purchase process due to a poorly optimized product page.
Frequently, the information provided in the description is not sufficient and does not answer basic questions about the product.
Similarly with graphics, which are not always optimized for SEO. The images are of poor quality, do not always depict a specific product, and do not have the appropriate attributes (e.g. alt) specified.
The conversion path is also an important issue. If it is too long and complicated, it effectively discourages users from completing the transaction, causing them to look for the product in another store or abandon the online purchase altogether.
The conversion path is also important.
How to optimize a product sub-page?
Create a good product description
Good description, that is, what kind of description?
First and foremost, a unique one. If you are the owner of a store that offers products from different brands you have certainly encountered the phenomenon duplicate content Often, a product description posted on a manufacturer’s website is duplicated in several online stores, which, when detected by Google’s robots, results in lowering the page’s position in the search engine.
Creating a description that is original, contains keywords relevant to the product and includes all relevant product information is half the battle on the way to good product card optimization.
Optimize graphics
More than 65% of the population is visual, which means that well-optimized and interesting graphics are an important element not only technically, but also visually. Product images should show the product from different angles and have the option to zoom in so that potential customers can see the details accurately.
In addition to aesthetic aspects, care should be taken to ensure that the graphics are of the right quality and format, the alt attribute is set and the file sizes are optimal. We wrote more about how to adjust images for SEO and what benefits it brings in the article about Optimizing graphics
Verify Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals officially swept the SEO world in August 2021. Since then, the emphasis on technical optimization of a website and its alignment with the audience’s experience has become something of a priority.
Google provides free tools that allow you to see how your site compares in terms of loading speed, both on desktop devices and on mobile. In addition, you can easily generate a report that takes into account areas of your site that are blocking loading and need to be optimized or removed.
Optimizing Core Web Vitals is extremely important, especially in the age of smartphones, which are used heavily for product card browsing and online shopping.
Use structured data
If you want your website to display well and effectively in search results you should implement structured data In addition to basic schemas like Breadcrumbs, which make your site easier to navigate, it’s worth using data like Product or Rich Snippets.
This will allow users to learn more information about a product from the search results. Among those that can positively influence a purchase decision are certainly product ratings, product reviews, stock status and shipping time information.
Remember the meta data
Nearly every topic related to SEO mentions optimization of basic SEO elements. And for good reason.
Seemingly small but of great importance meta data like Title or Description needs to be properly optimized regardless of the type of sub-page.
We wrote about the importance of these elements in an article about meta data
When optimizing meta data on product pages, don’t forget to include the product name and brand in the Title. Keeping in mind that we are limited by the number of pixels for this data, if possible, it is advisable to include the name of the store as well.
Description is where you can put information about the product in one or two sentences, not forgetting to add a call to action message to encourage users to buy.
Remember stock shortages
If a product is temporarily out of stock or no longer available in your store, and you don’t want to lose traffic from a particular product subpage, you need to consider what solution will be most optimal for you.
There are several ways out of this situation.
First of all, – redirects. This is the easiest solution, especially with CMSs that offer plug-ins dedicated to redirects. All you need to do is redirect the page with the missing item to a product with similar parameters or to a page with a suggested replacement. However, this does not guarantee that the original page will remain in the index.
If the stock shortage is temporary, it’s a good idea to put information on the page about the date when the product will be back on sale and to add an option „Notify about availability”. If the user cares about buying a particular product, certainly the possibility of information about its return to sale offer will be an incentive to return to your store’s website.
Additional elements on product card
The product page is where you can put some additional elements that influence users’ purchasing decisions.
Reports and reviews
As consumers ourselves, we often base our purchasing choices on the opinions of others. By putting reviews and opinions about a particular product on the product card, we give users a chance to be sure of their decision and learn about the actual pros and cons of the product.
’Add to cart’
Buttons like 'Add to Cart’ or 'Buy Now’ are CTA messages designed to encourage users to make a purchase. The important thing is their design and placement so that they attract the attention of the audience.
Cross selling and Up selling
These marketing methods should be familiar to every e-commerce store owner.
Cross selling suggests products to users that match the one on the subpage they are browsing.
The cross selling technique is designed to suggest to the viewer what products he or she might need additionally. In this way, consumers often decide to supplement their shopping cart with additional products which increases its value.
The main task of Up selling is to offer users more expensive but better-performing products. Potential customers often visit an online store’s website without knowing exactly what product they are looking for. Suggesting additional options with more features or better parameters will allow them to make a better decision and often increase the value of their order.
Additionally, both of these techniques support internal linking within the store. By placing suggestions for other products, you make it easier for both users and search engine robots to navigate to subsequent pages of the site.
These techniques can also be used to improve the user experience.
Shipping and returns data
An additional element designed to maximize the site’s relevance to the user and facilitate the shopping process. Information about shipping options and costs, as well as rules for possible returns of goods, is essential information from the consumer’s point of view.
It definitely affects the customer’s trust in a particular store, by clearly defined and visible, relevant purchase information.
Summary
Product pages and their proper optimization is a major factor affecting the conversion rate. If you are the owner of an online store and you have products in your offer that, despite the traffic, do not bring the expected revenue, check whether the subpages on which they are located meet the above-mentioned conditions and are easy to be seen by your potential customers.
