Many things contribute to the success (or flop) of an eCommerce website. From web design to product pricing, the choices you make will inevitably enhance or degrade your web visitors’ impression of your brand and cause them to become loyal customers or supporters of your competition.
But the real question isn’t really about whether you’ll make one sale instead of two or three. It’s whether you know how to provide your web visitors with a great user experience that will cause them to become your supporters and encourage them to share their positive experiences with their circle of friends.
You see, according to research, poor UX has a high price. Not only are 88% of internet users unwilling to put up with a subpar website experience, but more than 30% of them are also likely to talk about their bad experiences with their friends. Moreover, it turns out that overall brand perception directly relies on website UX design, with poor user experience causing potential clients to see your brand as unreliable or unworthy of their trust.
So what is it that you can do on your ecommerce product pages to boost user experience? And are there any must-haves to ensure you keep your visitors happy? Let’s find out.
Must-Have Features for Ecommerce Product Pages
The great thing about investing in user experience on product pages is that it doesn’t have to be over the top or complicated. In fact, sometimes, the best results come from simple solutions.
One such example is product photography. Choosing the right photos allows web visitors to get a better understanding of a product. Furthermore, it gives them an experience comparable to that which they get when shopping in-store.
A similar effect is achieved when paying attention to product names and pricing details. For example, if you check out this product page by Hanz de Fuko, you’ll see that it clearly shows the following information about the product:
- Name
- Price
- Quick product description
- Detailed use instructions
- User ratings
- Payment options
- Ingredients
Source: hanzdefuko.com
Alternatively, for a slightly less traditional example of an eCommerce store doing product page UX right, check out SomniFix. This brand has one of the best shopping UI’s out there, yet, behind the scenes, it’s not that much complicated from your standard product page template.
This example allows users to choose their ideal pack, offers them savings through a monthly subscription, includes doctors’ recommendations, a user manual, and a refreshingly honest approach to what potential buyers can expect from the product. To top it all off, the site loads lightning-fast, which is one of the key ingredients of high-converting eCommerce stores.
Source: somnifix.com
UX-Boosting Website Additions
All right, so you’ve made the necessary changes to move your ecommerce product page UX from OK-ish to good. But that’s not where the work stops. To ensure winning results for your business, you have to take a step further.
Sometimes, this will be a modest upgrade. Adding a zoom option to your images (or even including more pictures) can do a lot to contribute to the user experience. Other times, however, you’ll have to think of innovative ways to give potential buyers what they want.
Videos, for example, are a great example of such a feature. Seeing how they give users a better understanding of a product, you can use them to show your products in use or even educate users on how to get the absolute most out of their purchase. This is what Mannequin Mall does with its ghost photography range, which can be confusing to newbies who haven’t worked with such dress forms before.
Source: mannequinmall.com
Or, if you really want to take things to the ultimate level, you can choose features like advanced filters and integrated product reviews. You can even use virtual product customization tools – like the one used by Real Thread – and other fancy functions.
Source: realthread.com
Of course, the point isn’t to do as much as physically possible for the sake of bragging rights. It’s to ensure that the UX features you use work flawlessly and contribute to your customers’ experience.
After all, a person buying a custom t-shirt will want to see how the finished product might look. But they don’t want to see it at the cost of having to spend hours on your website going through tedious steps to see a generic preview that’s only half-true to the expected final version.
UX Mistakes to Avoid when Creating Ecommerce Product Pages
We’ve covered quite a lot of what you should do to provide your web visitors with a great user experience on your website. But while all of those actions are sure to improve your bottom line, it’s equally important for you to pay attention to the things you shouldn’t do on your site.
First and foremost, if you’re making changes to the “add to cart” functionality, make sure that the new process doesn’t present unnecessary obstacles for your clients. Yes, a subscription model can be a great way to meet user needs. And so is offering the chance to pay in installments. But if these features add 3-4 steps to the ordering process, they may be too tedious to benefit your business.
For a great example of how the shopping process should go, try the “add to cart” button on the Norlha website. It isn’t just fast and intuitive, but it instantly moves buyers towards the next step of their shopping journey, doing everything possible to prevent high cart abandonment rates. It even offers an express check-out feature that takes care of the entire process through PayPal.
Source: norlha.com
If you’re not sure whether you’re adding UX features that are too complicated to your website, you can always perform the simple mobile test. If the site (including payments) works equally well on mobile, then it’s good. But, if it doesn’t, it’s staying behind current eCommerce trends and will need further work in the future.
Another way for you to avoid common UX mistakes on your eCommerce site will be to pay attention to how users interact with your pages and products.
If your support team gets tons of questions about particular products, try to find ways to be more proactive about offering information. Perhaps you need to improve your product descriptions, make your sizing charts more visible, or add a FAQ section to your pages?
For all of these, you can look up to brands like Lululemon, whose product pages include all the info a buyer may possibly need without actually being overwhelming.
Source: lululemon.com
Finally, keep in mind that a great user experience cannot exist without consistency, ease of use, and lots and lots of research. So, every time you think of a product page functionality you could add, ask yourself: Will it bring the seamless user experience my customers want to get? Or will it create obstacles that might as well deter them from shopping with me and send them to my competitors?
Yes, flashy features are great. But not when they come at the cost of usability.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, creating eCommerce product pages with a great user experience doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you can achieve amazing results by just sticking to the basics of using sensible design, paying attention to your site’s technical performance, and providing buyers with the information they need.
But, if you decide to take a step further, you can rest assured that you’ll be rewarded for your efforts. That is, as long as you do your research well and implement everything professionally. And, if you’re not a pro developer, you don’t need to worry. Fortunately, some fantastically experienced designers can do the hard work for you.
