10 excellent ecommerce product pages

In the varied world of ecommerce no two product pages are exactly the same, though there are a number of features that many sites have in common.

We previously looked in detail at the kind of tools retailers should consider including to help boost their conversion rates, including product videos, large images and user reviews.

And in this post I've tracked down 10 retailers that have excellent product pages for one reason or another. None of them is perfect, however each has several features that make them examples you can learn from.

The criteria

Just to be clear, these are the type of features that I was looking for: 

• User reviews. Studies have shown that user reviews can increase sales by 18% on average.
• Up-selling and cross-selling.
• Large, hi-res images. Bigger images can lead to higher clickthrough rates and conversions.
• 360 degree views.
• Big, bright calls-to-action. CTAs need to jump out at the shopper and leave them in no doubt about the next step they need to take to make a purchase.
• Product videos. A study by retailer Ariat found that visits where a product video had been viewed had a conversion rate that was 160% higher than visits where no video was viewed.
• Prominent delivery/returns information. Hidden shipping costs are known to be a leading cause of basket abandonment.
• Detailed product descriptions. The benefits of writing unique product descriptions are obvious – firstly you avoid getting penalised by Google for having duplicate content on your site, and secondly it's a great sales opportunity.
• Stock information. It's incredibly frustrating if customers add an item to their basket only to find out it's out of stock.

Staples

Customer reviews are a hugely important sales driver and Staples does a great job of presenting them on its product pages.

I'm not sure whether feedback is incentivised, but even something as dull as copy paper somehow has more than 2,000 reviews. 

And Staples doesn't shy away from negative feedback either – each page compares the most helpful positive and negative reviews.

There is also a massive amount of other useful information on the page, including a detailed product description, a Q&A tool, and the pros and cons of each product.

Office Depot

Office Depot's product pages aren't perfect, particularly when it comes to imagery, however it does do a couple of things really well.

The description is excellent and sells the benefits of the product – e.g. "Waterfall seat cushion slopes slightly downward to help reduce stress on your legs" – rather than just listing the details and measurements.

Also, it cross-sells seven different items in its "Best sellers" and "Customers who viewed this item also viewed" recommendation features.

L. L. Bean

Though I'm not a huge fan of the colour scheme, outdoor retailer L. L. Bean does have a number of nice features on its product pages.

The CTAs stand out quite well against the other colours and the product description upsells the benefits rather than sticking to specific details.

The copywriting used for the recommendations – "You might also consider" – fits nicely with the brand and the "Buy together" tool is a good way of up-selling a combination of products.

However the selection of images isn't great and they don't all change when you alter the product color, plus the free shipping offer could be made a bit more prominent.

Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is a great example of how to design a simple product page with plenty of white space.

It keeps clutter down to an absolute minimum so information is easy to digest, and as everything is white the pink CTAs are impossible to miss.

But one of the neatest features is the product recommendations, as customers can actually view additional images, descriptions, choose the size and color, then conveniently add it to their bag.

This means that in effect each page actually features around three to four items, which is a brilliant way of exposing customers to a wider range of your products.

Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks ticks many of the boxes for best practice, including a clear CTA, reviews, unique description and a range of product images.

It's also a great example of how to use videos, as many of the products have a play button underneath that shows the model sashaying down a catwalk.

This gives the customer a much better view of the product and is proven to help increase conversions.

Foot Locker

Foot Locker is another example of a retailer being big on white space, resulting in a simple, uncluttered product page.

The bright, red CTA really stands out against the rest of the page and the fitting advice is a great touch.

Foot Locker also does a great job of displaying a number of different product images, which can be blown up to fill your entire screen.

Estee Lauder

The layout of Estee Lauder's pages is a bit clunky, but its use of product videos is worth flagging up.

For example, on the 'Blush Brush' page it gives advice on how to use the product as well as up-selling another item that's required to get the perfect look.

It's a clever way of providing useful, additional information to the customer while also making the most of the sales opportunity.

Build.com

Build.com's pages pack in a massive amount of information, including reviews, excellent videos, loads of images and extremely detailed product information.

There is also a useful Q&A feature and a tool that allows customers to compare prices with other well-known retailers.

This means they are a bit cluttered, but also means you can find out everything you need in one place.

Net-A-Porter

Net-A-Porter is another clothing retailer with simple product pages that tick a number of boxes for best practice.

The copywriting is excellent and fit perfectly with the brand – descriptions are labelled as "Editor's notes" and feature colourful language with links to other product suggestions.

There are also a number of images, product recommendations and videos for almost every item.

On the down side the pages don't have reviews, however they might not fit with the brand's luxury image. 

Amazon

It's an obvious one, but it would be churlish not to include Amazon on this list.

Amazon's product pages are huge and require lots of scrolling to take everything in, but most consumers are used to the design and many of the innovations are now commonplace on ecommerce sites.

The most obvious of these innovations is user reviews, but the cross-selling options are also clever and use a tone of voice that never comes across as too salesy. The latest example of which is actually recommending you adverts: "Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links."

As with Build.com the pages may be cluttered, but if customers are looking for any information about a product it's almost certain to be on the page somewhere.