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Key Elements of Above the Fold Content to Boost Product Page Conversions

For any eCommerce business, conversions are the backbone of success. Boosting conversions involves minor tweaks to major overhauls, to get your customers pouring in through the gates. 

When a visitor lands on your website, they wander about the various category pages, and then finally land on a product page. This touchpoint could become the WOW moment on your website! If you have a well-designed product page, there are high chances that a visitor will stick along. In order to design such high-converting product pages, it is first crucial to understand which part of the page is more important, what is the page’s primary focus, and what are those elements that can be added to make the user experience better. 

In this blog, we will talk about some of those pivotal ‘above-the-fold’ elements on your product page, and a host of best practices associated with them, to help you master conversions:

1. Product Title (Headline):

Your product title must be created to catch the buyer’s attention swiftly and validate their search for the exact product that they were looking for. 

  • Crisp: A good title is concise, easy to read, and highlights stand-out features.
  • Key Attributes: It must contain descriptive details such as age, size, material, gender, etc., so that the user gets a snapshot of the product from the title itself.
  • Industry-specific information: The industry of your business will affect your title’s structure. For instance, shoppers looking for sports wear might be very focused on the brand, while those looking at tools or supplies might focus on Manufacturer Part Number and technical specs.
  • SEO-friendly: It should contain highly searched for, and relevant keywords. If you’re unsure of how to word your title, you can try searching for your item on Google Shopping to better understand the search term perspective of your shoppers.
  • Promotional Information: Specific promotion-related details can also be included. For instance, phrases like “Christmas Sale”, “Back-to-School Offer”, etc. can be added to the title to persuade visitors.
  • Title templates: You can also define default templates for your title structure, with scope of minor tweaks, depending on the product and category. 

2. Images & Videos:

The images either ‘Make or Break’ a purchase decision. An effective product page must be designed to give the customer the perfect look, feel, and features of the product. Goes without saying that the images should be noise-free, and of high resolution. But what else can be done to ensure images help conversions?

  • Optimal Image Size: 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if the images take too long to load. Hence, it’s crucial to steer clear of large image sizes and keep them below 70kb. 
  • Zoom-in functionality: As a general reference, keeping the zoomed-in image size between 1200px and 1600px on its longest side is recommended. A zoom-in button pop-up should appear as the user hovers over the image.
  • Responsive Images: Ensure that you serve images that are resized to match the user’s viewing device. For instance, a 1290px wide image banner would look really good on your website when viewed on desktop, but the same image becomes too big to be used on a mobile device.
  • Alt Tags: An alt tag appears when a visitor hovers over your product image, or when the product image fails to load. So if you’re using relevant keywords in your alt-tag for product pictures, it will enhance your SEO efforts.
  • Product Views: You can also provide options for consumers to explore the products through 3D view, close-up views, and multiple angles. When showing zoomed-in or close up pictures, use high resolution images. 
  • Product Variations: Often, swatches or tiles are used to show product variations such as sizes, colors, materials, and design. Ensure that the images shown for each of these variations are in line with what the customer has selected. Many times, the color swatches provided for the product do not match the exact color of the actual product. 
  • Videos: Adding the right videos about your product will help increase the interest in the product. Videos should also portray how the product would fit into the life of the customer helping them visualize the product’s utility.

3. Price:

Pricing is one of the most crucial factors for a buyer’s purchase decision.

  • Placement: It should be displayed clearly in high visibility areas and optimized for prominent placements across all devices. Mostly, the price is displayed either right below the product title, or near the add-to-cart button. 
  • Price Comparison: Always give a comparison between prices, when offering discounts or reductions. Different customers may get induced by different kinds of messaging.                                                                              For instance, if you are offering a sale price, you must show the original struck-through price right next to the new price. In case you are not offering a huge reduction in price, still show the customers how much they will end up saving. Even when offering discounts, show both the percentage saving and the actual savings made on the purchase. 

4. Volume Discounting:

Offering tiered pricing to the customers based on quantity purchased is a very common strategy to increase average order cart value and boost conversions.

  • Discounting Banner/Table: You can show the different pricing bands, and discount percentages associated with each of these bands, through a banner or table.
  • Placement: A good idea is to place this below the product price or next to the quantity selection drop-down menu. Upon increasing the number of units/ quantity to be purchased, the correct discount band should get applied automatically. 

5. CTA ‘Buttons/Boxes’:

A product page must have a prominent Call to Action to encourage the customers to complete their purchase. 

  • Prominent Buttons: Your CTA button should color-contrast the background, and be easily recognizable. A ‘buy now’ button is an obvious option here for quick checkouts, but you must also include the ‘Add to Cart’ button. 
  • Placement: A good idea is to include one ‘Add-to-cart’ button above the fold, and one right at the bottom of your page for easy access. You can also add sticky CTA buttons.
  • CTA Text: When deciding on the text to be used in the CTA, keep in mind that certain words may mean different things in different countries. For example, for the US, an apt CTA could be ‘Add-to-cart’; however, the same CTA should read as ‘Add-to-basket’ for the UK. 
  • Out of Stock Badge: If your product is running low on stock, do not wait for the user to reach the checkout page and then break this news. Your product page should clearly mention “Out of stock” or “Sold Out”, right next to the product price, so that users can move on and look for alternatives. 
  • Notify Me Button: In case a product is out of stock, you can add a CTA button that reads “Notify Me”. This should automatically send alerts to the user, once the item is back in stock.

6. Urgency-driving elements:

Creating a sense of urgency helps to fasten up the purchasing process and increase chances of impulse buys.

  • Stock Levels: You can showcase low stock levels on the product page to create extra impact. For instance, you can use text badges like “Only 4 items left”, “Limited Version”, or “Special Edition”, right below the Buy Now button to fortify the message.
  • Inform about Other Buyers: You can also tell your customers how many other buyers are also browsing the same product. For example: “5 other people are viewing this”, or “10 people bought this in the last 24 hours”.

7. Stars & Rating:

It goes without saying that ratings are surely one of the top consideration factors for buyers when making a purchase, if not the top-most. 

  • Placement: Star ratings should ideally be placed right below the title.
  • Rating thresholds: Do not show average ratings if you do not have enough ratings. As a good practice, you can pick a threshold and ensure that you do not display averages until you reach that threshold
  • No ratings: For products that do not have any ratings, you can add a “Be the first to review” tag, or a callout to indicate that the product is new. This will ensure that users do not wonder why certain products have no stars.

8. Wishlist/Favorites:

An ‘add to wishlist’ or a ‘favorites’ feature could help in creating a list of products for later purchase. This is especially useful when customers want to compare products or when they are browsing options for gifting. 

  • Placement: You can add it as a link that reads ‘Add to Wishlist’, or even as a ‘heart icon’ that is popularly recognized. It can be placed either on top of the image tiles, or right below the ‘Add-to-cart’ button. But the attention of this should be low compared to that of our main ‘Add-to-Cart’ CTA.
  • Personalization: You can allow users to personalize their wish lists by naming it or changing themes, or even by giving them an option to share it with their friends.

9. Product Variation Swatches:

  • Clear Labels: Use crisp and easy-to-understand labels for the different attributes or variations. 
  • Easy to Preview: Ensure that the visitors are able to see all of your variation themes easily, in one go. You can use swatches or photo thumbnails for this. In cases where there are too many variations, you may use drop downs. Your product images should also also change automatically when a user hovers/clicks over the tiles or swatches.

10. Size Selector & Charts:

When offering multiple size variations, you need to add either tile swatches, or size selector drop downs for buyers.

For people across the globe, the definition of small, large, extra large varies. Hence, along with a size selector, you must also give them a size guide that will tell them the measurements in inches and centimeters. 

  • Brand-specific sizes: Consider providing information that’s brand-specific when you create your size chart templates
  • Other size information: Include customer reviews concerning size. Use “Fits as expected” ratings to help visitors decide whether to order the next size up/down or not.
  • Gender-based sizing charts: Remember to include gender-based sizing distinctions as well, to not miss out on any section of your audience.

11. Shipping Information:

You must display your shipping policy on the product page prominently.

  • Shipping Time: You should communicate the shipping duration clearly to the customers, so that they do not have to scout your website. 
  • Fast or Free Shipping Claim: Ensure that wherever applicable, you are clearly highlighting a ‘Free Shipping’ badge or other such claims, somewhere close to the product price for the customer to see.
  • Additional Delivery & Shipping Options: You can also add other options like ‘In-Store Pickup’, ‘Express Delivery’, ‘Free 2-Day Delivery’, etc. These can be included below the ‘Add-to-cart’ button.

12. Pin-Code (or Zip-Code) Check Bar:

To give more accurate estimates of shipping duration to buyers, you can add a pin-code bar. Users can enter their destination pincode here, and your product page can then tell them what the estimated days of delivery are.

All in all, you must design your product page, by keeping in mind the afore-mentioned best practices. These offer an exhaustive list of the various above-the-fold elements that can be included on your page. But in order to understand what makes customers stick for more, we recommend using A/B testing on your website’s elements. 

Subsequently, you must also select between which features work for your customer base and your particular industry; and accordingly decide what to keep and what to eliminate. These can make a significant difference in the overall buying process, user experience, and level of customer’s involvement, ultimately resulting in higher conversions for the website. 

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