What’s the best way to bring your conversion rates up?
Sure, investing in homepage design and optimizing product pages so that they inspire purchases is an effective plan.
But here’s the deal: the buyer’s journey is complex and lengthy. And despite impulsive shopping behavior being widespread, most people don’t just decide to buy something after interacting with a single value proposition or product photo.
With this in mind, you need to pay attention to every asset on your website — including those buyers are likely to interact with between the awareness and purchase stages of the buyer’s journey.
By creating compelling and user-oriented product listing pages (PLPs), you can effectively support your prospects’ product evaluation process. Moreover, you can gently nudge them toward the lower stages of the sales funnel, helping them find the ideal solution to their needs without alienating them with sales pressure.
So, if you want your product collection pages to play a bigger role in your sales strategy, here are the eight must-have design elements for an effective product listing page.
Standardized Thumbnail Galleries
When shopping online, consumers can’t rely on touch, feel, or try out solutions before spending their hard-earned money on them. They have to depend on the information you provide them with.
While product listing names and descriptions say a lot about your offer, they’re nowhere as effective as transmitting crucial info as product photography. So, if you’re looking for methods to elevate your conversion rates, the best thing you can do is invest in high-quality visuals to represent your offer.
But don’t fall into the common trap of thinking these assets only inspire conversions on your homepage or social media feed. Instead, explore ways to incorporate them into every single step of the shopping journey.
For example, once people realize they have a specific pain point your brand can solve, they’ll browse multiple solutions from your offer. And most of their evaluation will take place before even taking a closer look at a few options that show the most promise.
In other words, your potential buyers will spend considerable time and energy interacting with the product listing pages on your website.
By investing in product photography and creating standardized thumbnail galleries, you can help your customers make important visual comparisons without forcing them to delve into each product page individually (and thus potentially wasting their time with solutions that don’t meet their needs).
For inspiration on how to do this, check out Pergola Kits USA. The Patio Covers Collections page shows how effectively you can guide product selection with well-chosen photography that demonstrates key characteristics and differences.
Of course, there’s always room to take this approach and make it even more effective for communicating product information (and inspiring conversions).
For example, providing shoppers with multiple product photos for each listing or even allowing them to switch color swatches without visiting a product page can be a superb way to support the browsing stage of the customer’s journey.
Comparison Features
When optimizing your website to engage and convert visitors, there are a couple of things to keep in mind regarding the typical buyer’s journey:
- Almost all consumers do pre-purchase research, regardless of whether they’re looking for physical products or services.
- Before they decide on a single solution, most people will evaluate and compare multiple options.
That’s why your product listing pages need to allow (and ease) the comparison process to guide web visitors toward the best solution for their needs.
By enriching your site with powerful comparison capabilities, you won’t just help your prospects choose the best fit from your offer. You’ll also empower them with the knowledge necessary to know when your solutions don’t align with their requirements or expectations.
Yes, losing a sale is never a good thing. However, it’s the superior alternative to converting a client whose needs you can’t meet and who will be unsatisfied with the customer experience no matter how hard you try.
What’s interesting about this product collection page design strategy is that you can adapt it to your brand’s unique needs. In fact, it works just as well for services and software solutions as it does for physical products.
Not convinced? Just check out the Brevo Pricing Plans page. It clearly indicates the distinctions between different plans, aiming to help web visitors choose the ideal one for their specific needs.
Social Proof and Trust Signals
Branded content can be a great source of knowledge for shoppers evaluating potential solutions to their pain points. But it’s never the most trustworthy source of shopping information.
After all, consumer trends research suggests that people’s trust in media, institutions, and businesses is declining. You’ll want to explore alternative content formats to establish your organization’s credibility and trustworthiness while nudging your target audience toward a conversion.
User-generated content (in any of its many forms) can be a great option. But, in addition to showcasing it on the more attention-grabbing parts of your brand’s online presence — like your homepage — explore ways to use social proof to elevate the conversion potential of product listing pages.
Sometimes, this can be as simple as showing user ratings for each item in your offer. Alternatively, you could position impactful trust signals — like third-party awards or certifications — in attention-grabbing spots.
Or, you can go much further and embed user-generated content in between product cards to present prospects with a combination of branded and user-generated content to inform their shopping journey.
Extensive Explanatory Information
Although they’re often considered an asset that needs to support the buyer’s journey by inspiring conversions, product listing pages can also play a role in educating your target audience.
In fact, if your business sells complex solutions — technical products, safety and security-related services, or anything in between — you may have to dedicate a section of your PLPs to explanatory information. Especially if you know your target audience doesn’t have previous experience with the type of solutions you sell.
Ultimately, investing in this type of educational content won’t just help your prospects collect important info to help them choose the best option for their needs. Perhaps even more importantly, it will call web visitors’ attention to key product characteristics that may impact their overall experience (and prevent them from buying the wrong item).
For example, the Driveway Mirrors page on National Safety Mirror features an in-depth buyer’s guide at the top of the page. Why? Because the brand understands that these items aren’t something people commonly purchase. By explaining key characteristics and differences (as well as providing some guidelines for novice shoppers), the brand ensures its web visitors understand what they need and prevents them from spending their time and money on solutions that aren’t the right fit for the way they intend to use them.
Self-Service Resources
In the same vein, when looking for must-have design elements for an effective PLP, don’t forget about including handy self-service resources that answer web visitors’ questions about your offer.
Yes, some consumers may enjoy interacting with sales staff during the buyer’s journey. Nonetheless, most people want to go through the process at their own pace. Moreover, they’re more than happy to use and interact with non-human customer support while exploring potential solutions to their pain points.
With this in mind, consider ways to offer pre-purchase support that aligns with your ideal customers’ shopping preferences.
For instance, B2B buyers and older consumers may prefer communicating in person. Present them with convenient contact options throughout your PLPs to get in touch with your sales team.
On the other hand, younger people usually prefer to do independent research. So, explore ways to elevate listing pages with resources that will answer their most common questions.
You can do this with a handy FAQ section at the bottom of a PLP, or you could use an AI-powered chatbot. The latter can be a great tool for supporting shoppers without the perceived commitment and risk of in-person communication.
Engaging Titles and Descriptions
Even though shoppers may base the majority of their purchase decisions on visuals, remember that how you describe your solutions also determines their willingness to convert.
If you can use titles and descriptions to position your solutions as the ideal solutions to your audience’s needs, they’ll have a much higher likelihood of wanting to interact with and learn more about those products/services.
So, when naming and describing your solutions, aim for balance.
On the one hand, you want to keep things objective. Be clear about what each solution does and how it benefits your prospects. And use relevant industry-related terms that provide insights about functionality.
On the other hand, don’t be afraid to get creative. By injecting product card titles and descriptions with personality, you can engage web visitors in a way that will inspire them to continue interacting with your brand.
Business for Sale is a brand that does this beautifully on its Businesses for Sale in Sydney listings page. By carefully selecting keywords for each product card, the brand manages to call web visitors’ attention to conversion-inspiring features such as the fact that some listings are “well-established,” “iconic,” “high revenue,” or that they offer “huge growth opportunities.”
Advanced Filtering Options
Another thing that the brand above does well is enriching its PLPs with advanced filtering options.
Essentially, when browsing potential solutions to invest in, consumers might have a set of pre-determined criteria in mind.
These may include price, product characteristics, or even function. Plus, research shows that most consumers prefer to disregard products and services with an average rating below four stars.
So, if you’re looking for design elements that will boost the effectiveness of your product collection pages, consider adding at least a few key filter types. Ultimately, allowing shoppers to filter out items that don’t match their criteria is an exceptional way to deliver an enjoyable shopping experience.
Quick View and Instant Add-to-Cart Functionality
Lastly, when exploring product listing page design strategies that work, don’t forget to build these assets in a way that supports conversions.
Yes, the sales cycle can get lengthy and complex. But then again, many consumers are capable of moving through the entire buyer’s journey within a single brand interaction.
So, instead of designing a complex sales funnel that requires consumer action at every step of the way, consider using PLP elements that will make buying from your brand easy.
For example, allowing customers to add items to their carts directly from product collection pages can be a great strategy for ecommerce brands that sell low-cost and low-risk items. If you check out the Bags & Gear page on The North Face, you’ll see that shoppers can add products to their carts (and even choose their preferred color) directly from the PLP.
Sure, this sales tactic may not apply to every business. Nonetheless, it can be a great way to shorten the buyer’s journey, encourage your target audience to buy your products or services sooner rather than later, and maximize the ROI of your marketing budget.
Final Thoughts
Although they’re often disregarded as a connecting step between awareness and purchase, product listing pages play a significant role in the buyer’s journey.
They are crucial for helping your prospects discover and evaluate potential solutions to their pain points. They can be a key source of pre-purchase information. And they can even be a powerful asset for boosting conversions and shortening the sales cycle.
The eight must-have design elements described in this article can all help you achieve these goals. By adapting them to your brand’s unique needs and presenting them in a way that genuinely benefits your target audience, you can rest assured that PLPs will stop being a passing stopover and grow into an impactful element of a successful sales tactic.
