The Anatomy of a Great Product Page: 8 Must-Have Elements and How to Use Them

Continually optimizing your website — and product pages, in particular — is one of the only ways to ensure success at converting new customers. 

After all, investing resources into attracting your target audience won’t amount to much if you can’t engage them on your website and encourage them to continue interacting with your brand. And the outlook becomes even worse if you spend time and money nurturing leads only to have them opt for your competitors’ solutions once they reach the bottom stage of the sales funnel.

So, if you want all your hard work in attracting web visitors in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey to pay off, you must do your best to design outstanding product pages. Ideally, ones that will make your prospects feel excited about the idea of buying from your brand.

There are many ways to use web design to drive product page conversions. From ensuring a seamless user experience to displaying social proof and utilizing conversion-oriented language, you can employ multiple strategies to build next-level product pages. 

However, to maximize your chances of converting new clients, it’s a good idea to employ the following eight must-have product page elements. These features are not just tools that will help you drive sales. Perhaps even more importantly, they can allow you to get your target audience to fall in love with your brand, which is the key to building a thriving business with loyal customers and great exit potential down the line.

Video

If you only do one thing to upgrade your product pages in a way that will boost your site’s conversion rates, it needs to be embracing video.

Over the past few years, this format has rapidly risen to the top of the list of highest-performing types of content. According to Semrush, 45% of marketers said that video was the format that delivered the best results in 2022. It outperformed both blog posts and various instances of social proof in attracting high-quality leads. Plus, thanks to the way it can combine images, sounds, and text in a single format, video does a tremendous job of driving product understanding, boosting brand recall, and encouraging emotional connections between consumers and brands.

However, its effectiveness at attracting and engaging buyers is not the only reason to use video on your product pages. If you look at its performance from a user point-of-view, you’ll find that it’s a super powerful tool for getting people to convert.

According to Wyzowl’s Video Marketing Statistics 2023 report, 97% of consumers choose to watch explainer videos to learn about products and services (over text). Furthermore, 89% of people have been convinced to buy a product after watching a video. And most importantly, 91% want brands to use even more of the format in their online presence.

With this in mind, it’s only natural that you should explore ways to include videos on your product pages.

One way to utilize video is to aid product understanding, for example, by using explainers to help your target audience understand the unique benefits offered by your solutions. 

If you check out the Medical Alert System product page on Bay Alarm Medical, you’ll see several instances of this content format used throughout the page. The most prominent one is that in the How It Works section. But you’ll also see a video used to give real-life examples of the service in action, as well as a way to introduce the brand’s support team to build credibility and authenticity for the business.

Source: bayalarmmedical.com

Alternatively, you could also use videos on ecommerce product pages to aid web visitors in gauging whether your products meet their needs. 

An excellent example of how this strategy works comes from the Ralph Lauren Water-Repellent Down Jacket page, with the fashion brand using images and videos to represent garments. This approach ensures web visitors see how each item of clothing behaves while moving, giving them a 360° view of each clothing article and guaranteeing that buyers know what to expect from their purchases.

Source: ralphlauren.com

Customer-Generated Content

When working to improve the conversion potential of product pages, one element to consider adding to your site is customer-generated content, which is gaining in popularity year by year.

According to a recent report from Stackla, user-generated content is an impressive 8.7 times more effective at affecting consumer purchase decisions than influencer content. And it is 6.6 times more persuasive than branded content. It’s also worth noting that almost all online buyers (92% according to Nielsen IQ) trust earned media over traditional advertising, showing just how much you can gain from adding this element to your product pages.

There are multiple ways you can use UGC on your site. However, no matter what you do, the content must be genuinely authentic, as employing staged user-submitted content harms your brand’s credibility instead of aiding it, according to research from TINT.

The safest (and easiest) way to get UGC to work in your favor is to allow satisfied customers to include photos and videos in their product reviews. 

If you check out the Reviews section on the ATH PRE product page, you’ll find it’s chock-full of UGC. The user-submitted reviews include a variety of media, from photos of what the powder looks like to videos of happy users doing their workouts after consuming the supplement.

Source: athsport.co

Alternatively, you can also source user-submitted images and videos from social media. This can be done by automatically displaying all posts that use specified hashtags, as is beautifully done on the Tentree homepage. However, if you choose to go this route, make sure that the photos that end up on your site don’t look too professional, as this might significantly decrease their authenticity and purchase-influencing powers.

Source: tentree.com

Product Recommendations

When designing outstanding product pages, one of the most important UX design elements to include on them are product recommendations. They help you achieve a higher average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value (CLV). Product recommendations also work in your audience’s favor, ensuring buyers get everything they need to have a superb customer experience.

Now, there are three categories of product recommendations that you can include on your website.

On the one hand, there are standard “You may also like” product suggestions — like the ones on the Vivion Xylitol product page. These are simple product recommendations meant to encourage web visitors to check out more than a single product on your site and help buyers get everything they need from your website.

Source: vivion.com

On the other hand, you can employ cross-selling techniques, as done on the EG4 LifePower 4 Lithium Battery product page on Shop Solar. With cross-selling, the idea is to present shoppers with related, supplementary products to ensure their purchase fully solves their pain points while also ensuring that they get the most value for their investment.

Source: shopsolarkits.com

Finally, you can implement the upselling technique to boost your site’s earning potential. As a strategy that encourages consumers to upgrade to more advanced product options — as done by Canva with the “Try Canva Pro” message below — upselling is a superb tactic for increasing AOV or encouraging users to upgrade from free to paid versions of your SaaS solutions.

Source: canva.com

Price Anchors

Although the primary objective of designing high-performing product pages is to convert as many new customers as possible, it’s worth noting that driving sales is not the only reason to optimize this part of your website. In fact, if you do a great job of creating product pages that appeal to your audience, you can also ensure that web visitors opt for your preferred solutions when choosing what to buy, which is essential if you’re trying to encourage customer loyalty or guarantee your business has a healthy cash flow to continue developing new products and features.

The one strategy that can help you achieve both of the above mentioned goals is to include price anchors on product pages, which are a must-have element for several reasons.

For one, price anchors alter cost perception. Depending on the anchor price you display, you can encourage web visitors to perceive your solutions as cheap or expensive. And even more importantly, by adjusting the price buyers pay, you can ensure that consumers see your offer as delivering more value than what they’re actually paying. 

For a great example, check out the Female Professional Dress Form product page on Dress Forms USA. You’ll notice that the original price is crossed out and replaced with a discounted cost (displayed in a bright red color for an added attention-grabbing effect, followed by the amount saved). This is an amazing way for Dress Forms USA to establish the product’s value and influence web visitors’ purchasing decisions by making them feel like they’re getting a more expensive item at a fraction of the price if they shop while the sale lasts.

Source: dressformsusa.com

But there’s another upside to employing price-anchoring elements on your product pages. Namely, if you want to convince web visitors that your solutions are worth investing in.

According to scientific research, anchoring boosts consumers’ willingness to pay for products. So, by doing something similar to Microsoft’s Compare OneDrive Plans page and following expensive price points (which establish product value) with more affordable ones, you can significantly boost product page conversions. Additionally, this pricing strategy can make your customers feel like they’re making significant savings by opting for a mid-tier plan instead of a top-tier one. And even though they may not need all the features from the top-tier option, they’ll still walk away with a positive buying experience while you’ll have converted another customer who chose a mid-tier option instead of a free or basic one.

Source: microsoft.com

Social Proof

Adding social proof to your product pages is a no-brainer. Especially knowing that 99.75% of online shoppers read product reviews at least sometimes, 98% say reviews are an essential resource for informing their purchase decisions, and 45% of people won’t purchase a product that doesn’t have any reviews.

But here’s the thing. There’s more to genuinely impactful social proof than just reviews. In addition to this widely-used format of user-submitted content, explore opportunities to enrich your product pages with trust-building elements based on customer feedback or credibility data.

For example, meaningful testimonials — like the ones on the Flamingo Pricing page, which mention specific useful product features — can be a great way to highlight user value, inspire your target audience to associate your solutions with solving their pain points, and encourage conversions.

Source: flamingoapp.com

Or, knowing that 85% of consumers rely on third-party certifications to verify product claims, find ways to add trust badges to your website to position your solutions as the most trustworthy option on the market. 

This is what Pact does on the Thermal Waffle Jogger page, where three badges communicate the product’s three main ESG features, while a clickable “Learn More” button allows customers to see an overview of the item’s carbon offset supported by a GreenStory pop-up element.

Source: wearepact.com

Lastly, as you explore ways to use more social proof elements on your product pages, don’t underestimate the power of well-chosen brand ambassadors. 

In 2022, Edelman discovered that approximately 60% of young consumers think scientists and brand experts are the most trustworthy brand spokespeople. So, don’t hesitate to amp up these voices on your product pages, as done on the Scar Gel page in the Feel Confident ecommerce store, which includes a video from a doctor licensed in the US.

Source: feelconfident.com

A Diverse Product Gallery

Product photos have a tremendous impact on consumers’ purchase intention. In fact, surveys have found that 83% of US smartphone users decide what products to invest in based on images.

With this in mind, one of the top must-have elements to use on your product pages is breathtaking product photography. 

However, to achieve higher-than-average conversion rates (which range from 0.6% to 3.1%, depending on your industry), make sure that you create diverse product galleries that showcase your product in many different uses and situations.

For example, you can do this by adding context. This is what MAC does on its Locked In Kiss lip color page, where it uses the product gallery to show how different lipstick shades look on different skin tones.

Source: maccosmetics.com

Or, to guarantee your product photos achieve maximum impact, you can do something similar to Whoop’s Membership page. In this product gallery, the brand displays its solution used in multiple situations, demonstrating its versatility and ensuring potential buyers understand all the benefits they’ll unlock by investing in the wearable device and software subscription.

Source: whoop.com

Urgency Triggers

Using psychology to appeal to your audience’s fear of missing out is a tried and tested sales technique for encouraging buying intention. And it’s no surprise. Brands have used the scarcity principle to create demand and assign value for decades.

So, if you’re trying to elevate your product pages with elements that will drive conversions, do your best to include at least a few urgency triggers throughout the page.

The simplest solution is to use a variety of design elements to advertise limited offers. These can be flash sales, countdown timers, or even simple banners like the one inviting buyers to “Get $60 Off With Our Autumn Sale” used throughout Soundcore.

Source: soundcore.com

However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can only use urgency triggers on ecommerce sites. In fact, they can be equally, if not more, effective for digital products and software solutions. 

You’ll see that brands like Levels use the scarcity principle to encourage app downloads. Instead of inviting web visitors to buy a product, Levels asks them to join a waitlist. And although the buying journey doesn’t necessarily become any longer with this modification, the semantic change automatically causes consumers to experience FOMO. This helps the brand convert more leads who now really want to get their hands on a Levels subscription.

Source: levelshealth.com

Shipping Information

Lastly, as you study the anatomy of a great product page, don’t forget about shipping information.

Research into consumer behavior shows that shipping is highly important to people making buying decisions. According to Shopify, 75% of consumers say free shipping significantly impacts what products they buy. 60% consider shipping speed before opting for an item. And 53% want brands to offer flexible shipping options.

With this in mind, it’s super important that you go above and beyond regarding shipping info on your product pages.

For one, you must include estimated shipping dates based on the buyer’s location and chosen shipping method, as done in the Nordstrom ecommerce store.

Source: nordstrom.com

However, knowing that consumers want more versatile shipping options, it’s not a bad idea to take inspiration from brands like Sephora. This business lets shoppers choose one of four options. These include standard shipping, auto-replenish (automatically delivered to a chosen address every four months), same-day delivery, and in-store pickup. What’s great about the last option is that clicking the button triggers an interactive pop-up element, which lets buyers enter their ZIP code, resulting in a list of stores where they can pick up their order, along with information about the store’s address, opening hours, distance from the shopper’s location, curbside pickup availability, and even stock info.

Source: sephora.com

In Closing

Investing in the correct design elements to upgrade your product pages is always an excellent investment — especially if you choose page features based on customer needs and preferences. And not just because they’ll boost your conversion rates and help you build a more robust cash flow. Remember, if you’re aiming for a successful exit, optimizing your business website is essential, as it can be the key to selling your brand for more once the time comes for you to move on to your next project.