Commerce Strategy How to increase conversion with an effective Product Detail Page (PDP) Last updated on June 12th, 2024 It’s one of, if not the most, influential page on your entire website. But with great power comes great responsibility, and many e-commerce brands struggle to effectively prioritise the information architecture of their product detail page (PDP). In this article, Suzie Perrott, Ecommerce Solution Specialist at GENE, shares her insights and tactics to help you develop effective PDPs that drive higher conversion rates. Why is your PDP so important? The product detail page (PDP) has long been one of the most important pages on your site. However, it’s only recently that it’s become the number one. In 2019, an average 36% of traffic would have started on the homepage with 27% on the PDP. The homepage was seen as the most important page on your website, with a key role to play in the introduction of your brand and products. In 2024, the homepage landings have dropped to 21% of total, while the PDP has risen to 36% and taken the top spot. This jump has meant that the PDP has taken on a multi-purpose role. It’s no longer just about selling your product, the PDP also needs to sell your brand. In one page you have to inform, but also give the customer confidence in their buying decision. How do users engage with a PDP? IMRG, one of the leading ecommerce insight providers, have published research that gives us valuable insight into user behaviour on a PDP, in particular the depth of scroll. With such an emphasis on the PDP to do a branding job it’s tempting to add more and more information – but are users going to engage with it if you’ve got a never ending page? The data suggests not… On average 40% of sessions view the top 50% of the entire PDP Only 25% of sessions go on to view the next 25% And a tiny 16% actually scroll to the bottom viewing the last 25% of the page. How do you make your PDP engaging, while also answering customer questions and introducing your brand ethos and USPs? And of course sell your product with engaging imagery, video content, description, specification, delivery and returns information and customer reviews etc – all in the top 50% of the page?! This makes the information architecture of your PDP – and in particular prioritisation – absolutely vital. The information architecture of a perfect PDP The key to a successful PDP is to make sure all those questions are answered, all the content is there but that you prioritise and ensure the most important elements are above the fold and in the top 50%. In terms of priority, our experience (and the data) suggests that these 5 elements should be your primary focus. And of course, think about this MOBILE FIRST! Tell your story with imagery Images are your first and most important visual cue that reassures the customer that they are in the right place. But beyond just function, high quality images also have the power to evoke emotions and sell the brand, convincing the customer that they need this product. Lifestyle images are a great way to do this, helping the customer envisage themselves with the product or inspire them to create the same setting. Likewise dimension or scale images play a really important role in sectors like furniture and homeware. If you can, add in video or 360° images in your image gallery to further enhance customer confidence. And it should go without saying that the images need to be optimised so that they load as quickly as possible without compromising on quality. An optimised product title Vital, but often overlooked, the product title is as important for UX as it is for search. The product title should be an H1 and should be fairly descriptive without being too long, for example, you don’t want a product title that runs onto 3+ lines on mobile and creates more scrolling. Create a product title that ticks the box for keywords that search engines will love and customers will instantly know what you are selling. Position wise this could easily be above or below the images but it does need to be high on the page. Don’t make a customer search for price The end goal of your PDP is to encourage your customers to add the item to their basket. It’s simple, but don’t make them search for this PDP staple. It needs to be clear, with any price reduction or value-add highlighted. Note: If you offer payment options like BNPL then this is an appropriate time to show them including the breakdown of payments the customer can make. This can be reassuring if the outright price is a little daunting to the customer. Make the add to basket button sticky We’ve tested this so you don’t have to, and it works. In fact we’ve seen a sticky ATB improve conversion by as much as 5%. On mobile, your ATB button should be fixed and sticky on the PDP. Once you’ve shown the customer the product and told them the price, give them the add to basket button. If a user continues to scroll, ensure that it sticks – as per the SkateHut example below – so that at that point the customer is ready, so is the ATB button. 5. Signposting and navigation As a landing page with a dual purpose of product + brand, onward navigation and signposting on a PDP is crucial to ensure that landing becomes an engaged session. Breadcrumbs are a simple but effective way to do this (Home > Category > Product is ideal) but you should also consider how your primary and secondary navigation appears to PDP users, and include as much internal linking as possible. From there, you should also be looking to incorporate these key features, as high up the page as possible without compromising on the overall UX:Trust Signals This is another important feature that covers both the product and brand requirements. Customer reviews are an obvious – not to mention tried and tested – way of increasing customer confidence. But don’t underestimate the importance of delivery, returns and exchange information. Our client OKA do a really good job of incorporating a number of these features on their PDP: Product Recommendations Particularly important as a landing page, but product recommendations – either related products, recently viewed or other customers bought – are a PDP staple and ecom 101. Adobe Commerce / Magento customers can utilise the ‘out of the box’ functionality to achieve this, or for more complex requirements look towards a third party integration like Klevu or Advanced Commerce. Detailed Specifications While there’s a brand job to do, don’t forget that the PDP still needs to do its fundamental job of selling the product. Detailed specifications or further product information are still important and should be a big feature in the overall page design. This feature isn’t necessarily a priority for the top half of the page though, and can be signposted, as per the OKA example above. If you would like our advice on how to improve your PDP, email [email protected] for a FREE PDP audit.
