Product page design – how to create user-friendly websites
Humans are more connected to the internet than ever before. This means that a website is an absolute necessity for anyone hoping to sell their products or services. Luckily, the internet is full of examples that can inspire you to come up with the best product page design that will keep users engaged. In this article, we’re going to answer some of the most common product design questions. We’ll also discuss the best product website practices that will keep users flying in!
Table of contents
7 Product page design questions you should answer
As you begin to build your website, consider these seven crucial product design steps and questions:
1. Who are you building your website for?
This question is essential to guide your product page design concepts. Identify your target audience to know how to build a website that caters to them. For example, a website selling products geared towards the elderly should have bigger fonts and clear images.
2. What is the goal?
Next, identify the goal of your website. What is its purpose? Answering this will make it easier to build a site that obtains concrete results. Here are a few examples of website goals:
- encouraging consumers to test your product,
- persuading them to sign up for a webinar,
- convincing them to download an ebook and by this generate a business lead.
Other, business-oriented goals could be:
- driving traffic,
- increasing awareness,
- generating sales.
3. How will you measure success?
When you set your goals, it is important to decide how you will measure your success. People often set targets such as obtaining a certain number of visitors to their website, getting a percentage of increased sales on their online products, ROI, number of leads or more generally, conversion rates for various actions.
4. Who do you want to involve in the project?
It is essential to identify what kind of budget you’ll have, who will be on your permanent team, and who will only be available to help at certain stages. Consider whether you have sufficient internal talent or if you’ll need to engage external experts in product website design services.
5. What look and feel do you want to convey?
How to create user-friendly websites? Carefully consider the product design concepts that you want to include. This will guide your product designer to create an efficient and unique website. Even if you don’t have a specific idea, define what you do and don’t want your website to convey. This ensures you have a final outcome that you love without going through too many rounds of revisions.
Also, it is good to think about the look and feel that will be attractive to your target audience, and not to ourselves (or various stakeholders). It is also good to research the competition and not to depend only on your personal sense of style.
6. What’s your budget?
It can be hard to determine, but knowing the budget is essential. Without it, you have no idea what things you can or cannot afford to include. For instance, custom graphics or interaction design sound amazing, but cost extra. A limited budget doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to give up on your vision!
If your website brings in revenue after you’ve launched the website’s successful MVP version, you might gradually work towards polishing up the visuals. Speaking of essential functionalities, this leads us to the final question below.
Use our app costs calculator to estimate the budget and time range needed to build an app that would fit your business needs.
7. What features are indispensable?
User-friendly websites can accomplish anything, but they don’t need to do everything. Choose the features you need to include, and get rid of the ones that your particular business does not need. This clears up the product page design and also makes creating the website more affordable. It is good to choose features based on possible customers’ goals and priorities. To better understand these you can use the Value Proposition Canvas for your customer segment.
Product page design – 8 best practices to follow
1. Make responsiveness a top priority
The most essential trait that product page design must follow is to be responsive. Appearance and first impressions are not everything - excellent functioning capabilities are also needed for all devices. Customers prioritize swiftness and quality, so even a simple delay in loading can lead them to exit your site without a second thought. Delays and glitches can also give any product website design an unprofessional or untrustworthy reputation.
In addition to general online responsiveness, keep in mind that the vast majority of people browse the internet through their phones. A design that does not follow the mobile-first approach will not find much success.
2. Use big, high-quality visuals
The popularity of apps like Instagram and Pinterest show that humans are highly visual beings. Product page design (such as in ecommerce sites) relies on quality images to convince consumers to buy. Images can also create a strong, personalized brand statement.
Bear in mind, however, that websites that sell physical items are not the only platforms that benefit from visuals. It’s the same with any other type of product or service. Including a screen that shows how nice your platform interface is will have a positive impact on user engagement. For example, the A/B testing tool VWO helped Hyundai raise test driver sign-ups by 62% (source) thanks in part to their big, hi-fi images.
3. Decide when to replace text with visuals
We’ve already covered the fact that people generally respond well to visuals. At the same time, you can’t become too focused on visuals to the point of neglecting copy. Your site should take advantage of both to effectively communicate the value of your product.
For example, it might be easier to communicate the benefits of a product with an image or video. Text, on the other hand, will more clearly convey specific rules or FAQs to assist your customer. Stick to simple images and avoid walls of text, and your website will flourish!
4. Follow accessibility guidelines
Responsiveness and quality images are great places to start, but accessibility truly sets the bar for product page design. Issues of accessibility are often overlooked or ignored in favor of appearance and function. This is a grave mistake, especially when the point is to bring in as many customers as possible; being highly accessible both promotes equality and widens your audience.
Examples of accessible design include keyboard navigation assistance, image captions, and a sufficient contrast ratio. Guidelines for web content accessibility (source) can help you format a website that combines accessibility with quality.
5. Place CTAs above the fold for better engagement
When it comes to marketing, your “call to action” should be obvious and easy to navigate. A good way to do this is by making your CTAs a unique color that stands out without competing with other interface elements. You should also naturally format the product page design so that the eyes are drawn to your CTA – usually, a “sign up now” or “buy now” button.
It’s good practice to explore various CTAs using A/B testing, to check which button shape or text will bring the best results in terms of conversion. Last but not least - try to keep to one, clear CTA per page or section.
If your site is already up-and-running, consider using session recording software or a usability test to identify the “hottest” areas of your site. With a proper CTA, customers will know exactly what to do next!
6. Use easy to follow navigation
A user-friendly product website that is hard to navigate will lose customers quickly. The best thing you can do is incorporate breadcrumb navigation in order to let users know exactly where they are. This type of navigation also assists users in understanding product hierarchy and areas of interest.
It not only helps users remain aware of their exact location; it has also been proven to reduce bounce rates. This keeps users navigating your site rather than exiting to view something else. Reducing bounce rates and holding attention are essential for product website design, and easy navigation can hold the key.
7. Leave out some space for testimonials
Did you know that 72% of people say that seeing positive testimonials increases their trust in a brand (source)? Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and customers are more likely to trust a product that others have used before. The best way to gather social proof for your website is through customer reviews.
By leaving space in your design for stories from satisfied customers, you can remove the uncertainty that surrounds online shopping. Consumers will be more likely to buy your products when there are obvious testimonials from happy customers.
8. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel
Sometimes, the urge to create something new and unique is really tempting. But using well-known patterns such as positioning of the main navigation or logo, button states, etc. will usually do the job better than some fancy new solution. After all, the product should be easy to use and shouldn’t confuse users.
An example of the best product websites
Sometimes the best way to start is by gathering quality examples. Take this landing page for Boldare Boards, for one, which won an Awwward!
Like many quality websites, it has a unique and bold design that catches the eye without being overwhelming. Also, note the engaging interface, clear CTAs, and interesting cursor symbols and shapes.
That being said, if you’re looking for a less pronounced design example, here’s a website Boldare created for one of our clients, Chartipedia, which also won an Awwward. The website places a strong emphasis on scrollytelling (source) and interactivity, all the while staying on-brand.
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