In one of my previous posts titled Most Important Pages on an Ecommerce Site I uncovered for you the most important parts of any ecommerce website.

After that post I thought it would be a good idea to develop a series providing more detail on each page within that original post.

Below is a list (in no particular order) of what are the most important elements all good product pages possess.

Shipping Information
All internet consumers want to know “how much does shipping cost” and “how soon can I get it”?

Naturally, many begin to first ask this question at the product page. Providing them with the answer to that question at the precise point during their buying cycle is critical toward moving them closer to conversion. Giving them easy access to the shipping rates and shipping options will improve the customer experience and set you up for success.

Product Availability
Even if a product is in stock, don’t assume the customer knows that. Don’t make them think. A customer that see a product listed as “in stock ready to ship” is more likely to put that item in their cart and proceed forward.

Add to cart button
No matter how good a product page may seem it’s certainly no good if the customer can’t figure out how to add the item to their cart. Making the add to cart button larger and more visible is an essential element toward increasing conversion.

Presence of payment methods accepted
Ok, the customer has decided that the product they are viewing is one they want. The next question many ask is “what payment options do I have for buying this”? Indicating the types of payments accepted will answer this question.

You can do this in a variety of unobtrusive ways. A good test is to try adding small icons of the payment methods you accept just under the add to cart button. Again, it’s at the moment that a customer is ready to add an item to their cart that they ask what methods of payment are accepted. Reinforcing it here is a good idea.

Payment Icons Example

Product photo
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. On the internet the product’s picture is just about the only element that can show clearly what an item really looks like. Make sure your photos are clear, crisp, show detail and are large enough to provide plenty of visual appeal yet are optimized for fast internet download times.

Using tools such as lightbox effects for showing larger photos and even zoom type effects (often with jQuery / Ajax) can provide a very nice professional touch.

JQuery Zoom Example

Photo Lightbox Effect

Customer assurances
Building trust and confidence with customers is at the forefront of any strong ecommerce site. Although customer assurance elements should be present sitewide, you should really make sure they are obvious on the product page.

Numerous questions are asked and decisions made by the customer on the product page. Committing to adding an item in their cart requires reinforcing trust and confidence.

If you offer warranties, guarantees etc… you should make sure these are in plain site on the product page. Letting the customer know that you have a 90 day guarantee (as an example) will help move them toward placing the item in their cart.

Product Price
It’s pretty obvious to most that customers want to know the price of a product before they commit to moving forward, yet I’ve seen sites stating “add the item to your cart to see the price”. I personally see no reason for this and in fact can point out two reasons I feel this would hurt your conversion.

1. You are adding another step to the customer’s buying process and the more steps you add the greater your chance of losing them.
2. You are taking away the customers choice by forcing them to add an item to the cart in order to get information which should be in plain view from the start.

Both hinder the customer experience and will likely cause a decrease in conversion. If you are selling products on the internet do you and your customers a favor by including the full price of the product on the product page.

Customer Reviews
With the recent growth of social media use, it should be no surprise customers are indicating in surveys that the presence of peer reviews is playing a bigger role in their decision to buy products.

Whereas store issued product reviews can appear biased at times, consumers feel that peer ratings provide a real picture of the likability of a given product. These should be included on every product page and the ability for a customer to write a review should be in plain site.

Now go back and review your site for the inclusion of these elements. If you have them in place congratulations, if you don’t you should really think about adding them.

To your success!