What makes a product page sell? A 9-point checklist

Measure your product pages first

Start with your weakest pages. For each product, compare how often its page is viewed with how often it’s added to the cart. If your store sends ecommerce events (records of actions such as product views and cart additions) to Google Analytics 4, its Ecommerce purchases report shows both, product by product.

Products with many views but few cart additions come first: the interest is there, but the page may not convince. Then open that page on your phone like a first-time visitor and note every question it leaves open.

1. Photos that answer questions

Shoppers can’t touch the product, so photos must do that job. In testing by Baymard Institute, which studies e-commerce usability, 42% of users tried to judge a product’s size from its images. Yet 37% of leading US and European e-commerce sites offer no image that shows how big the product is.

• Show the front, back, details and the product in use.
• Show scale in at least one photo: in a hand, in a room or next to an object of known size.
• For anything worn, such as clothing, bags or jewelry, add a photo on a model.
• Balance sharpness and speed. Shopify suggests 2048 × 2048 px for square product photos; compress the files, since heavy images slow pages down (Why is your site slow?).

2. Name, price and button at a glance

On a phone, three things should be visible before any scrolling: what the product is, what it costs and the “Add to cart” button. Make the button stand out from everything else.

• On Shopify, accelerated checkout buttons such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay or Google Pay can sit next to “Add to cart” and take shoppers straight to checkout.
• If you sell the same product in different amounts, show the price per unit (per 100 ml, for example). Baymard found that 81% of sites don’t.

3. Options shoppers can’t miss

When sizes hide in a drop-down menu, shoppers learn their size is sold out only after opening it. In Baymard’s testing, that meant wasted effort and disappointment; still, 57% of sites don’t use buttons for size selection.

• Show sizes and colors as buttons or swatches.
• Make sold-out options obvious before anyone selects them.
• Change the photo with the selected color. On Shopify, you can assign an image to each variant (an option such as a color or size).
• Put the size guide right next to the sizes.

4. A description that answers the next question

The description should answer the shopper’s next question. Say in the first sentence what the product is and who it’s for. Then list the details so they’re easy to scan:

• dimensions and weight
• materials and care
• what’s in the box
• compatibility or conditions of use, if any

The questions customers email or message you about most belong here too. If the same question comes in twice, add the answer to the page.

5. The total cost before the cart

Shoppers who see the shipping cost only at checkout may walk away. In Baymard’s survey of US online shoppers, excluding those “just browsing”, 40% of people who abandoned an order named extra costs such as shipping, tax and fees. Yet 67% of sites give no total-cost estimate near the buy button.

Next to the price, show the lowest shipping cost or your free-shipping threshold. If you sell abroad, say whether taxes and duties are included. For the obstacles that come later, see 8 ways to reduce cart abandonment.

6. A delivery date, not a speed

“3–5 business days” makes shoppers do calendar math: do weekends count, does today? Baymard’s checkout research found that 48% of sites still show a speed, not a date, in their shipping options.

Show an estimated delivery date on the product page, close to the price: “Arrives November 4–6”, for example. If there’s a cutoff time for same-day dispatch, show that too.

7. The return policy next to the button

Unsure shoppers check the return policy before they buy. In a Baymard survey of 1,032 people, 60% said they look for return information on the product page, yet 44% of sites don’t show or link to their policy there.

Write a one-line summary near the button: how many days, who pays for return shipping and how returns work, with a link to the full policy. Shopify links your store policies in the checkout footer automatically; the summary on the product page is up to you.

8. Reviews that earn trust

Reviews tell shoppers what photos and descriptions can’t: what the product is really like. In Baymard’s testing, many participants made a point of reading negative reviews, yet 89% of sites don’t respond to them.

• Reply to negative reviews briefly and helpfully, and style your replies so they stand apart.
• Let shoppers browse all customer photos in one gallery; 63% of sites don’t.
• On WooCommerce, turn on the “verified owner” label to show that a review comes from a buyer.
• To collect reviews, send a short email after each order.

9. Product data Google can read

Your product page also works in search results. Structured data is a small block of code, invisible to visitors, that describes the product to Google; with it, price, availability, shipping and ratings can appear in results.

For pages where people can buy, Google defines “merchant listing” markup. It requires the product name, an image and a price with its currency; availability, shipping, returns and reviews are recommended. On Shopify, this markup lives in your theme’s code; WooCommerce adds the basics itself. Test a product page in Google’s Rich Results Test and fill in what’s missing.

Where to start

Open your best-selling product page on your phone and check the nine points one by one. Product pages usually share a template, so a gap fixed in the template is often fixed for every product.

If you’d like an outside view of what’s missing, our free inspection covers product pages, trust signals, and pricing and shipping clarity among its 48 checks, and ranks which fixes come first.