A product page in a store has a few seconds to answer five customer questions: what is it, how much does it cost with delivery, when will it arrive, is it right for me, and what do I do if it turns out it isn’t. Your product pages get traffic but few add-to-cart clicks? Usually one of these questions goes unanswered. And the customer won’t write to support. They will close the tab and go back to the search results.
Table of contents
What must a product page in an online store include?
A complete product page combines three kinds of information at once: commercial, visual and the kind that builds trust. I recommend keeping this checklist at hand whenever you review a product page:
- product name with the selected variant,
- price and delivery cost,
- availability and shipping time,
- photos from several angles,
- a description built around benefits,
- a specification table,
- buyer reviews,
- return policy,
- a visible add-to-cart button.
Oh, and the way you show the price and the lowest price before a discount is regulated by law. That is a separate topic, and we cover it in our post on the Omnibus Directive.
Price, delivery and availability visible without scrolling
The price, the delivery cost and time, and the stock level should sit next to the cart button, before the customer even starts scrolling. Shipping cost revealed only in the cart? A classic. It is a typical reason why someone drops off already on the product page. Put the variant selector (size, colour) above the button and label it so that there is no room for doubt.
Don’t hide unavailable variants, just mark them as sold out, because an option that suddenly disappears is simply misleading. And then the add-to-cart button. One clear goal for the page. The layout of this section is best planned right away, at the stage where designing an online store begins, rather than patched up later.
Product photos in e-commerce: which ones and how many do you need?
Photos replace touching the product, so they have to show it from several sides, to scale and in use. A set that is usually enough in practice:
- a packshot, meaning a shot of the product on a neutral background,
- close-ups of details and the texture of the material,
- the product in natural use,
- a size comparison with an object everyone knows,
- separate photos of every colour variant.
The gallery itself has to work too. Zoom, fast loading (compression, modern formats) and proper display on a phone are the minimum. Alternative texts that describe the product help people who use screen readers and, along the way, image search. You can read more in our piece on what digital accessibility in practice looks like.
A product description in an online store that answers customer questions
A good description starts with benefits and situations of use. Specifications come only after that. Text copied from the manufacturer also sits on dozens of other stores, so it doesn’t set your offer apart, neither for the customer nor for Google. Move the technical data, meaning dimensions, material, composition, compatibility and what is in the set, to a separate table so that it can be compared quickly.
And in the description itself? Answer what people keep asking about in emails and on chat: how to choose a size, how to wash it, whether the product fits a specific device. With a large product range, writing everything by hand quickly stops adding up, and that is when SEO-focused product descriptions written by people who know this type of copy help.
Reviews, returns and contact: elements that build trust
A customer who is hesitating looks for two things: confirmation from other buyers and the certainty that they can return the goods without trouble. Show reviews right next to the product. The critical ones too, together with the store’s reply (in my opinion a matter-of-fact response to a complaint is more convincing than a wall of praise). Sum up the return and warranty rules in one sentence on the page and link the full terms next to it. Quick contact next to the product is useful too: chat, a phone number or a product question form. Visible payment methods close the list of last doubts before the click.
Product page and SEO: structured data and visibility in Google
Product structured data lets Google show the price, availability, ratings and shipping information right in the search results. A simple rule follows from Google’s product data documentation: the more properties you describe, the more result enhancements the page can get. It is a good idea to add return and shipping policies in the Organization markup.
The rest is standard: a page title and meta description with the product name and what sets it apart, a readable URL, and variants with canonical URLs so that they don’t cannibalise each other. This is covered more broadly in Google’s guidelines for online stores, and we explain the basics in our text on how structured data works on a website. Do you run stores built on WooCommerce? Plugins will generate the markup, but you have to check for yourself whether it is complete.
How to check what is missing on a product page in your store?
The fastest way: take your phone and the checklist, and go through your own product page with a customer’s eyes. The gaps will show up on their own. I recommend this order:
- Open the page on your phone and try to buy the product without scrolling around in search of information.
- Compare the page with the checklist from the beginning of the article.
- Read customer questions and return reasons, because they point to gaps in the description.
- Test the structured data on the page in Google’s Rich Results Test tool.
- Make the fixes and watch the number of add-to-cart actions in your analytics.
Where to start? With the products that have the most traffic and the fewest add-to-cart actions, because that is where fixes will translate into sales the fastest. A good product page in a store answers questions before the customer has time to ask them.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a product description in an online store be?
Long enough to answer questions about use, selection and specifications. A simple product will do fine with a shorter description, a technical one needs a longer one. Artificially padding the text helps neither customers nor rankings in Google.
Can you use descriptions from the manufacturer?
You can. But then the same text sits in many stores at once. It is better to rewrite it and add your own answers to the questions customers ask. Such a description is more useful and sets your offer apart from the competition.
Does structured data guarantee stars and a price in Google?
No. Google itself decides whether the enhancements appear, and correct, complete markup only gives the page that chance. It is still worth implementing, because without it there will be no rich result at all.
