BigCommerce Product Page: 46 Ways to Prevent Drop-offs

According to research, a whopping 69.99% of shoppers don’t make it to checkout. 

If you’re running a business on BigCommerce, this is reason enough for you to sit up and pay attention. 

There are all kinds of reasons behind drop offs: poor site speed, lack of information, unclear next steps, untrustworthy payment methods and the list goes on.

Similarly, there are all kinds of visitors that drop off: those with high interest, those who landed up on the site by mistake, those who’ve already converted and beyond. 

The reason we’re putting a bunch of product page insights in this piece is because we’ve repeatedly observed:

An effective product page doesn’t just prevent drop-offs but can catalyze shoppers to complete a purchase. 

So, here we go. 

46 BigCommerce product page ideas proven to prevent drop-offs

I. Make the micro copy count

1) A brief descriptor right below the product name

Many shoppers land up on your product pages wanting to quickly make sense. 

Most of them might not even have the patience to go through your product description. 

So, it’s a good idea to have micro copy about the effect of using the product or what it does - to prevent shoppers from prematurely dropping off. 

Here’s an example from BigCommerce brand Del Sol:

2) Special offers & sale information against the primary navigation menu 

Since you’d want your shoppers to act on a purchase, citing any current sitewide discount you have going on becomes necessary. 

The one place it can appear as a fineprint is the ticker band above or below the primary navigation. 

Here’s a quick example from Ted Baker. 

3) Installment payment info right beneath the product name

Invariably, you’ll have shoppers who will push off buying a product because they either think the price is too high or they could spend the same money on something more necessary. 

The best way to draw this part of your audience is through some well-placed micro copy about paying in multiple installments. 

Here’s how BigCommerce brand Aquila does it. 

(To add to it, they even offer an option for instant refunds.)

For some brilliant product page-led ideas, read: Top 20 Product Page examples from the UK (eCommerce)

4) Special membership price above the CTA 

While shoppers are looking for a better price, you’re looking to engage them more deeply (so that you can retain them). 

One way to do both is to introduce some micro copy right above the primary CTA for shoppers to know that joining your loyalty program will be financially beneficial. 

Aquila gives us a great cue. 

5) Sizing guide above or below the CTA

For all products except those that are of free size, your brand sizing needs to be absolutely clear for shoppers to convert. 

Placing the sizing guide link beside the primary CTA or above it is relevant. 

Here’s how BigCommerce brand Birdsnest does it:

6) Subscription info above the CTA 

Another piece of micro copy that can come in handy while a shopper is considering a product is that on subscription. 

It’s a way to tell them that they can save more if they opt for subscription instead of one-time purchase. 

Here’s an example from Josie Maran, yet another BigCommerce brand.

7) Free shipping terms below or above the CTA

Free shipping has become so ubiquitous now that shoppers are almost always looking for it. 

Which means that even if you can’t exactly feature free shipping for everything, ensure to talk about the free shipping threshold right above or below the primary CTA. 

Jildor Shoes, a BigCommerce brand, for example, clubs it with the installment micro copy and also highlights it in a different color. 

Here's a quick guide to fall back on: Pillar page: ecommerce product page

8) Urgency nudges below the CTA 

Since the primary CTA is a super high-intent zone, it makes sense to create urgency around it. 

Be it the number of people who’ve already bought the product or the number that’s viewing it alongside a specific shopper – this micro copy can feature subtly right beneath the CTA. 

Here’s a cue from Sugarboo & Co., a BigCommerce brand. 

9) Email subscription message above or within the footer 

Before a macro conversion, comes multiple micro conversions. 

One key micro conversion is when a shopper keys in their email details to subscribe to your brand newsletter. 

The descriptive micro copy for this can appear right above where the footer begins or on the top right of the footer. 

Here’s an example from BigCommerce brand Josie Maran. 

PRO TIP 💡

Don’t make your micro copy too elaborate. 

The idea is to offer clear instructions about next steps or what the shopper can anticipate and leave it at that. 

II. Have your social proof speak louder

10) Feature a reviews link above-the-fold

For all the shoppers who’re looking for quick hooks soon after they land on your product page – that there are product reviews needs to be self-evident. 

So it’s ideal to offer a link to the reviews of a specific product right below the product name. 

Here’s how Oyin Handmade, a BigCommerce brand, does it:

11) Offer a clear snapshot of ratings

There’s a reason why big picture thinking is so important to human beings (in the eCommerce parlance, “human beings” = “shoppers”)

An overview of a context or situation, often also referred to as a high-level construal, allows humans to take distance and come to a fair decision. 

This makes it necessary for your BigCommerce product pages to feature a clear rating snapshot before the reviews section even begins. 

Here’s an example from Sierra Designs. 

Social proof on your mind? Check out: eCommerce social proof: What, why & how (with proven examples)

12) Highlight a favorable customer review

We’ve spoken about shoppers wanting quick takeaways before – and we’ll say it again. 

Whether a visitor has intentions of buying a product or is simply browsing through it, chances are they want the product page to highlight bits and pieces of information that will make a difference to their decision-making. 

This is why highlighting a favorable customer review can make a real difference to your conversions. 

Here’s an example from BigCommerce brand Training Mask. 

13) Feature proof of review authenticity

A 2021 analysis brought to light that 31% of online reviews might actually be fake – even across trusted sites like Amazon and Walmart. 

To ensure your shoppers don’t get the wrong idea, it’s safe to tag your verified reviews with a “verified buyer” label – just like Chapstick does it. 

14) Make image uploads possible alongside reviews

Those visiting your product pages want a peek into how your existing buyers have experienced your products – not just in words but also pictures. 

So enabling images to be uploaded within your reviews is a good idea. 

15) Feature a Q&A section

One of the biggest customer objections on a BigCommerce product page is doubt about the authenticity and effectiveness of the product. 

For shoppers looking for more clarifications before they can decide on a purchase, a Q&A section alongside reviews can be helpful. 

It helps shoppers understand what kind of questions other shoppers have, how quickly the brand responds, how frequently other shoppers interact etc. 

PRO TIP 💡

Layer the social proof with other kinds of information to beat monotony. 

Bring in brand USP, product highlights and even video content to create space between the various pieces of social proof on your BigCommerce product pages. 

III. Target your shoppers’ psychology with the right triggers

16) Communicate all kinds of support for an easy experience

90% of American shoppers decide to transact with a business or not depending upon how satisfactory the customer service is. 

So, if you really want to prevent drop-offs, here’s a list of customer support elements you’d want to get right on your BigCommerce product pages:

- Links or sections dedicated to FAQ & other significant policies on shipping, returns etc. 

- A sticky live chat feature ideally featuring FAQ for shoppers to look up answers quickly

- A distinct contact us section with phone number & email details

- Offer links to the social media handles of your brand

Dr. Sturm, a BigCommerce brand, offers a personalized routine finder to its shoppers. 

Don't miss reading: 20 behavioral targeting ideas for 2023 (+ some inspiration)

17) Offer clear benefits in exchange for a purchase

Incentives leveraged well on the product page send out the message to shoppers – that if they spend something, they’ll get a good deal in return. 

Bring in coupon codes, free shipping thresholds or even donate the sale proceeds to a cause your shoppers are likely to believe in. 

Bliss World, for example, pushes the proceeds of some of their sales towards The Trevor Project, which supports the LGBTQ youth year-round. 

18) Offer product & brand transparency 

Since lack of trust can make shoppers easily drop off, the product page becomes a central point to drive transparency around your brand and the specific product in question. 

Be it to do with what local shopping entails with an international brand, like Gill Marine does. 

Or how a brand like Pilot Coffee Roasters ensures their product detailing is in-depth, revealing how carefully the brand sources, produces and distributes its products. 

PRO TIP 💡

Use analytics to understand which psychological triggers would work best on your target audience. 

For example, if you’re in the luxury space, deep discounts might be doubted more than appreciated. 

Here's something to reflect on: 25 Best Examples of Nudge Marketing in eCommerce

IV. Make your product recommendations work smarter

19) Refine personalized recommendations to leverage familiarity & discovery

Personalized recommendations on a product page can be considered powerful only when it has:

- Established continuity across devices

- Assessed a shopper’s history and preferences to recommend

- Gone beyond a very narrow line of recommendations (to reveal products from other categories etc.)

Design Essentials, a BigCommerce brand, ensures they offer a segment on “customer favorites” to expand a shopper’s view of available products. 

More inspiration right here: eCommerce Product Recommendations: Strategies, Examples, Do's/Don'ts

20) Bring in authority to the recommendations you make 

To prevent shoppers from dropping off, you need to convey the idea that you know what you’re talking about. 

When customers see strong brand-knowhow in the recommendations department, they’re likely to stick around. 

‍Bliss World offers a section called “perfect pairings” to bring an expert view into their product page recommendations. 

21) Give a big picture view of a wholesome experience

Irrespective of how much a shopper can spend, they’re typically on the lookout to still understand how a brand can offer them a full experience. 

So, to prevent drop-offs, ensure your product recommendations cover that interest, even if it’s in the passing. 

BigCommerce brand Solo Stove seems to have perfected it. 

PRO TIP 💡

Limit the number of recommendations to make the available choices more exploration-worthy. 

Too many recommendations, no matter how fine-tuned, can lead to choice paralysis. 

V. Drive better discoverability with inspiring UX

22) Ensure image thumbnails are clickable

Even if a shopper won’t buy a product immediately, having them explore at length is sometimes the first big step. 

This makes it necessary for your image thumbnails to be easily clickable and viewable in the gallery. 

23) Make product information subsections distinguishable 

To prevent shoppers from dropping off, you’ll have to arrest their interest by how self-evident you make your product information sections to be. 

Gill Marine, for example, puts the section names in bold text and features +/- button to suggest they can be expanded and collapsed. 

24) Make all product & payment variants be visually distinct

Sometimes shoppers drop off a product page not because they’re not interested but because they’re unsure of the variant they’re seeing. 

To avoid this, clarify in a section that there are product variants available and offer swatches that are clickable. 

For payment variants, offering color-coding for visual distinction is a good idea – take a cue from how BigCommerce brand The Whole Journey does it. 

it doesn't get better than this: Product page UX: 15 data-backed secrets for high conversions

25) Distinguish between positive & negative reviews very clearly

You might already be featuring a mix of reviews in your BigCommerce storefront. 

However, to prevent drop-offs, you have to visually distinguish your reviews into “positive” and “negative”. 

This can inspire some shoppers to stick around and file through to view the information they really want to cross-check. 

Silk Road Teas, a BigCommerce brand, features the number of star ratings and highlights a word or few to make this distinction. 

26) Bring incentives upfront & offer clear information on them

A price or offer incentive can be an extra push for shoppers to stick around. 

But if they’re lost in the rest of the product page info, this could be tough. 

If there’s a referral discount or time limited offer, bring it up front and make it clickable so that more information on it pops out. 

Pilot Coffee Roasters does this with their referral incentive. 

PRO TIP 💡

Create a UX intervention separately for mobile optimization. 

This can increase cross-device trust in your brand more easily. 

VI. Have your visuals arrest shopper imagination

27) Offer a 360°view of the product

In the absence of an in-shop experience, shoppers rely on your product photo gallery. 

So, it becomes essential for your BigCommerce product pages to contain images from the most relevant angles. 

It makes all the sense that some businesses employ a 360° viewer. 

But even if you don’t, you can organize your images like Aquila does:

28) Make the zoom feature intuitive

Since most shoppers process maximum information visually, you wouldn’t want your zoom function to be a point of friction. 

Instead of forcing shoppers to look for it at the bottom or on the side, making it functional only when they click on it, there’s an alternative:

Activate upon hover. 

Alternatively, make the cursor transform into a zooming magnifying glass when hovering and have it activated with a click. 

29) Feature the context of product use

It is one thing to see great photos of an interesting product. 

It is quite another to see some of them depict the product in use or action. 

The latter typically assists shoppers in getting a more wholesome view into the functioning of a product. 

Wholetones, which hosts its storefront on BigCommerce, not only offers a full view of its products but also brings into the lifestyle context. 

Dive in deeper with: eCommerce image carousels: The good, the bad, and the ugly

30) Focus on texture, material & other important nuances

In-shop experiences help shoppers make sense of not just the contours and build of a product but also its texture, make, layers or weave. 

This is why in the absence of an in-shop experience, you’d have to recreate these details in your image gallery. 

For example, if you sell make-up, display not just what the eyeshadow box looks like but also open it for the colors to be viewed – even drawing out the exact shade against a neutral background if possible. 

Here’s an example from BigCommerce store Oyin Handmade. 

31) Bring in the best UGC images 

Most shoppers are curious about how existing buyers are experiencing a product. 

When you bring in UGC images to your product page visual mix, it helps interested shoppers glance through without necessarily having to leave the page. 

Some BigCommerce brands, like Bulk Nutrients, pick and choose the best UGC images from among shoppers who use a specific #hashtag promoted for marketing.

Here’s an example:

32) Use product swatches for relevant products

While some products are bound to be one-of-a-kind, there are others that can easily be clubbed as variants under the same product. 

It’s ideal to use swatches for the latter scenario as it has a twofold advantage – shoppers find it easier to explore and search engines won’t penalize you for content duplication. 

BigCommerce store Natori uses swatches in a distinctive and neat way – where switching swatches is easy and there’s zero lag between the image switches. 

33) Narrow down on a narrative for video

Like images, videos are a great medium to send across a strong brand or product advantage message. 

But for shoppers to really gain an understanding and also be persuaded enough, a video needs to carry a memorable narrative. 

It can be about gifting, unboxing or even everyday tips that a shopper can benefit from with the product in hand. 

BigCommerce brand Gerard Cosmetics leverages their product page videos by having their founder talk about & use the brand’s products on video. 

34) Layer the video with your main brand narrative

Product page videos aren’t just messengers for products, but also the brand that stands behind them. 

When you’re creating video content for your products, it’s a good opportunity to ask: 

Where in this can I talk about my brand, either over voice or visuals or both?

One BigCommerce brand that offers up practical but brand-driven videos is Kelty Linger. 

The way their videos flow, it becomes clear that their brand stands for the fun-loving outdoor spirit. 

Video on your mind? Explore more with eCommerce product videos: 30 brand examples to learn from

35) Ensure your video length is snackable

Shoppers want quick takeaways without having to break their heads. 

Now this means your video length has to work harder and stay shorter. 

Sprout Social’s 2022 Index Data showed that shoppers find short-form video content 2.5 times more engaging than their long-form counterparts. 

The ideal length for product page videos seem to be under 1 minute, with the most effective ones being around 45 seconds. 

Check out the Kelty Linger video here – it’s just 48 seconds long!

36) Have your product video feature the most relevant benefits

Shoppers look at videos after they’ve looked at images, because of one solid reason:

They want to understand how the product works and what its uses are. 

If you can give them this information within a suitably short duration, they’re a happy lot. 

BigCommerce store Sierra Designs seems to have perfected the art of functional videos – ones that clearly tell the target audience the benefits as well as how-tos. 

PRO TIP 💡

Make your product the center of attention (whether you’re building an image library or video content). 

Have the benefits, features and narrative focus on the product in question. 

VII. Punchy product names – that’s what you need!

37) Keep it short

The shorter and catchier your product names are, the likelier shoppers are to continue their exploration. 

One BigCommerce brand that we love in this department is Molton Brown. 

Here are a couple of examples. 

38) Make it distinguishable

If your product names sound like a competitor’s, then that’s bad news. 

The idea is to make your products stand out by the names you choose for them - this will likely prevent shoppers from dropping off as well. 

One BigCommerce brand that creates distinctive names for its product offerings is SugarBoo & Co. 

Their names are self explanatory and carry an element that’ll help shoppers connect the image they’ve seen with the name they’ve read. 

Here are a couple of examples:

39) Don’t have it sound dull

How a product name sounds has everything to do with how far it can inspire a shopper to buy. 

This is especially true if you’re trying to draw in those who’ve never engaged with your brand or bought from you. 

40) Throw in a USP for memorability 

Every product has something special about it. 

It’s either about what it does, how it’s made or the problems it solves. 

Bringing in a product’s USP into its name can increase its stickiness – inspiring shoppers to stick around for longer. 

One BigCommerce brand that does this to perfection is Chapstick. 

They always bring in a distinctive quality of a product into its name to make it memorable. 

41) Let it evoke an emotion or idea

If the way a product name reads, sparks either an idea or emotion, shoppers are more likely to hang around. 

Here’s an example from BigCommerce brand Birdsnest to elaborate our point:

PRO TIP 💡

Bring in a naming strategy (if you already haven’t). 

We suggest you bring in the brand name, a primary identifier (could be the season in which the product is best used or a sport it’s ideal for), secondary identifier (is it full-size, half-size, reversible, multipurpose etc.) and USP. 

VIII. Help shoppers visualize through product descriptions

42) Answer important questions

Shoppers have various questions when they come exploring or specifically looking for a product. 

Some of them are to the tune of:

- Why should I trust this brand?

- Why this product and not another one?

- How do I use this product?

- When do I use this product?

Ensure your product descriptions answer some of the most fundamental questions shoppers come with – so that the latter find more reasons to hang around and explore. 

Aquila breaks down information in sizeable and meaningful chunks to answer questions that may be on a shopper’s mind:

43) Break it up into relevant sections

Given that 80% of shoppers conduct online research before actually buying a product, your product descriptions need to pack in detail and value. 

This can become overwhelming in terms of product page real estate. 

However, if you break the description up into multiple detailed yet relevant sections, chances are it’ll become more scannable and easier to process – preventing shoppers from dropping off due to cognitive load. 

Carpe Diem Beds, a brand that hosts its site on BigCommerce, shows us how it can be done rather simply:

44) Put key features & specs in a horizontal format

Product page elements that are of foundational importance, such as features & specs, are best represented in a tabular format. 

This enables shoppers to view information keeping their options beside one another – too much scrolling for viewing such info can trigger a drop-off response. 

Homedics keeps all the necessary features & specs within a single content block – where a shopper has to move their gaze horizontally to read. 

Here's something super relevant: How to write product descriptions for mobile: 22 proven ideas (with examples)

45) Frame your messaging around a buyer persona

Not all your products serve the same buyer persona. 

This clearly becomes an advantage when you’re trying to craft the product description for a specific product. 

Focus on what kind of preferences, motivations and triggers the persona at hand has – and use this as a guiding principle to embed your copy with very specific information. 

Fabulous Furs, a BigCommerce brand, ensures its product descriptions address very specific pain points and bring to life the product for a certain persona:

46) Highlight the most important aspects of the product

For your shoppers to continue exploring a product page, they need snatches of super relevant info. 

This makes it important for you to highlight the most important aspects of the product in question. 

Just like BigCommerce brand Yeti Cycles does. 

PRO TIP 💡

Refine your product descriptions around customer objections. 

To do this, get into the shoes of your ideal buyer persona and ask questions like – “what do they want this product to solve?” “why would they use it over something else?” “what features if they knew, they’d be able to use it better?” etc. 

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