Present a given product and group related information into chunks. Optionally provide links to other relevant products.

On all investigated product pages four design elements were present:

• Product title
• Main picture of product
• Price
• “Add to cart”, “Place order” or “Buy” button

Furthermore, the following elements were used when they made sense:

• Sales price (often in red and with original price crossed out)
• Detail images
• Product variants (size, color, etc.)
• Product variant pictures (especially regarding color or different patterns)
• Availability (amount in stock)
• Delivery time
• Quantity input form
• “Add to wishlist”/“Favorite” button
• Zoom function
• Short description
• Longer description
• Product specifications/details
• Label (“Bestseller”, “Only few left”, “Recycled materials”, etc.)
• SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) or other form of product id.
• Special offers (Buy this product + another for $xxx,buy 2 for less, etc.)
• Support info – often with phone number or support email address
• “Custumize” button
• Share on social media buttons (Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.)

Converting interested visitors into paying customers is your biggest aim. Design your product pages with the purpose of persuading users to make the decision to buy one or more of the products you are selling.

There are several factors you can tweak to increase conversion. The following are techniques and patterns observed in use:

• Use quality product photos. Photos serve two functions: (1) to set the tone (the web shop knows what it’s doing and it’s a quality place to shop) and (2) customers should be able to see products from every angle and get a feeling of how the quality “feels”.

• Use video. Video can help make up for not being able to “try the product on” and give the user a feel of how the product performs, sounds, looks in function, etc.. One of the things that made ASOS (As Seen On Screen) big was the ability to see catwalk videos of most products.

• User reviews. Allow users to post reviews of products in order to assist customers in their decision process. User contributed product reviews can provide valuable information on which users can base their purchase decisions on. They are especially popular among retailers and travel companies. User reviews help provide social proof of the product.

• Expert opinions. Export opinions about the product can help persuade the user into buying that exact product. However, there is a considerable possibility that the user will feel like it’s a paid sales pitch. Use expert opinions with caution – they most often work with product gurus or when the opinion was published in an independent and credible publication.

• Present related products. Amazon’s popular “Users who bought this also bought” function is the most known. Other web shops rely on building up relations between products manually or simply fall back to listing products from the same category.

• Reinforce customer trust. Use trust indicators like badges of secure payment gateways that everybody knows. Brands like PayPal or VeriSign convey a sense of security and put most doubts about data theft and security to rest. Credit card icons also provide a great a sense of comfort. A credit card form without credit card icons feels wrong. Other trust indicators are the brand names (and their logos) you sell, money back guarantees, industry standards or ratings.

• Prioritize important information and avoid hide-and-seek. Don’t make it hard for people to find what they’re looking for. There is no salesperson to answer questions online, so don’t make it hard for people to find the answer themselves.

¹ Product Page design pattern at welie.com by Martin van Welie

² 10 tips on ‘product page’ design in time for Christmas’ at econsultancy.com

³ Design for trust by Anders Toxboe on UI-patterns.com

⁴ What people see before they buy from cxpartners.co.uk