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How the Top eCom Brands Are Optimizing Their Product Pages for Higher Conversion Rates and AOV

How are top eCommerce brands optimizing their product pages for higher conversion rates and AOV? Here are a few successful examples.

Lately, I’ve been tearing down quite a few big eCommerce websites to see what they were doing to increase their conversion rates.

We don’t know these work for sure, but since most use A/B testing and reach a certain brand maturity, there’s a decent chance that it is working for them.

On top of that, all of these examples are specifically made to improve usability, increase motivation, and lower friction.

I decided to divide this article into three parts:

10 examples to increase Value and Motivation
14 examples to lower Anxiety and Friction
10 examples to improve Usability and UX

Keep in mind that things working for other websites might not work for you, for different reasons:

Different market
Different needs and desires
Different buying stage
Different awareness stage

Some of the websites you’ll find below are grounded in digital psychology principles, others in best practices. Nonetheless, you should always strive to learn the principles behind why and how things work in a certain way, and then reuse the bricks to build your wall.

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14 ways to Lower Anxiety and Friction on Your Product Page

Friction is hidden on your website, yet it’s the thing that will make or break the sale.

It’s anything that goes against the initial intention of buying and comprehends every doubt and objection the customer might have.

You need to start thinking, like a salesman, about every single page and asset you put out there.

Claude Hopkins once said:

“Advertising is salesmanship in print”

I’d change this to:

“Marketing is salesmanship in print”

Salesmen explain everything about how the ecommerce product works, and can solve objections because they’re there, but you’re not on your website 24/7/365.

Often, people often don’t even have the time to talk to you (even for just a few minutes).

That’s why Casper is showing you the product is ready to ship with a colored text:

“Ready to ship | Free shipping & returns“ is colored in green because that’s the color for reassurance and progress.

In other words, they’re ensuring your package will arrive at home no matter what. Then, they groups all the objection solvers in one section, called Bonuses.

Why’s that?

Because people love free stuff and bonuses. It makes them feel special and unique, so their first thought is: “Bonuses? Let me check this!”

The essential is the sentence below the CTA, which solves the objection of free shipping and returns when it arises.

Then, for any questions you might have, they’re there to help you out.

As you can see, they give you the option both to call them or to book an appointment.

In the meantime, they try to lower their price with an interest-free loan, right below the add-to-cart button.

And this was the simple stuff because the ones below are really powerful.

We know the real estate of the main section of your product page, the Hero, is very limited. So what can you do to add more information, if needed?

You use buttons like Casper’s “Do you need one?” sentence to show you more info:

The visitor needs more information since it’s another sale, so the seller needs to increase user motivation in order for him to buy.

Last, but not least, they reward your behavior with a small sentence “You save $$$!” for every option you choose, as shown below:

Again, it’s in green, because it reassures people they’re making a deal. In psychology, this is known as the self-efficacy effect, when people act more when rewarded.

Now that we’ve slept all night in our comfy mattress, let’s choose the shoes to run. Brooks is solving objections, even down the page, in two ways.

First, they make sure you can find the right size for your shoes:

Then, they subtly solve your objections about the fit of the shoes based on fit, sizing, and width.

This solves people’s doubts right away and helps in lowering friction. You had a 5k run, we came back home, and now it’s time for breakfast. You choose to eat an Apple & Cinnamon Oatmeal from NatureBox.

In the beginning, though, you were not really sure about buying it or not. In fact, the first time you went on the ecommerce websites it wasn’t clear whether the product was with or without gluten.

That’s because the word “without” present in the sentence, “Made without gluten,” is just easier to confuse with “with” in the Ingredients section, as shown below:

I bet the first time you read “with” because that’s what happened to me as well!

We can fix this using the Equivalence Framing: you change the wording of your features in a way that encourages users to take the most wanted action.

In this case, the best sentence to use is “gluten-free,” not “Made without gluten.” In this way, the user is not confused and therefore friction stays low.

Nonetheless, after clicking on a retargeting ad, you read it right and went for an Oatmeal. Now you’re eating this at home after a 5k run, and you’re a bit hungry.

But you remember you bought some of them because the subscription was a no-brainer.

Just by subscribing, you have:

$5 Monthly Credit
Snack Guarantee
Free Shipping
Up to 25% – 40% discount

And this was presented to you in a nice graphic, as shown below:

There are just two benefits that are a bit unusual.

The first one is rational, $60 in-store credit every year. It works because it’s unexpected, therefore it triggers reciprocation.

The second one is the “Snack guarantee.” It’s always the same hassle-free return guarantee, but at least it’s customized and unique. No brand has a snack guarantee, therefore the users feel they are buying something unique and rare.

Going deeper, I noticed they didn’t include a powerful benefit that’s present in the homepage section.

Consider implementing a “Risk-free membership” if it’s paid. Since you “pay the difference,” customers won’t have to worry about money waste anymore.

Now you gotta brush your teeth, and since you hate manual work, you bought an electric toothbrush from Quip.

This product page is the best I’ve seen out there for subscription offers. Bear in mind that I don’t have A/B testing data, but since Quip:

Has a yearly revenue of $45.1M
Has 80k monthly traffic
Has been running this variation for more than one month now
Has been using Optimizely as an A/B testing tool

Here’s an overview of the product page:

First, they leverage the Status quo bias, whereby people tend to choose what you already decided for them, even when it’s not aligned with their personal beliefs.

That’s the same reason why organ donors increased from 15% to 90% in European countries with an opt-out donation, meaning that the status quo is to be an organ donor.

In this case, Quip has already chosen the subscription for us, and it gives us a lot of reasons to stick to it.

If we subscribe, not only do we pay $75 instead of $95, but we get $20 in refills every three months.

On top of that, they leverage the loss aversion principle in the lightbox on the left:

If you go for the one-time purchase, you “will not receive refills.”
If you go for the subscription, you’ll receive a $20 charge every three months.

The word “charge” causes you a dopamine spike as well since it’s commonly associated with any form of energy.

There’s more: If you subscribe, you get free shipping, otherwise you have to pay $10.

Moving a bit above, we can see what we’re going to get, specifically, every three months:

This makes things clear, lowering friction and boosting user motivation even more.

Moving on the right, you can tell why the price has dropped to $75. They apply a $5 discount on each product available in the standard bundle.

That was the last part of the Quip product page. To make sure you remember all the key points, I made these two graphics for you.

Despite this amazing above-the-fold section, you’re undecided. You scroll down and you get to know how the refill plan works:

Automatic, Lifetime, and Free are all powerful words that make the customer feel at ease with his purchase. That’s what made you buy the toothbrush.

You gotta work at your laptop now, so you decide to stay comfortable in your pants. You bought a pair from Iconic because they made it really easy to understand how long it’d take to reach your doorstep, as shown below:

You work all day, but now it’s 7 pm and you get ready to have dinner with your darling. She presents you with a gift, a new product from Glossier to fight acne.

It took her a few seconds to have an idea for the product, thanks to the “review highlights” section, in addition to the product images:

To uplevel your look, you bought a pair of Oxford Shoes from the Italian fashion startup Velasca.

At first you were not sure how to find the exact size with the first shot, but they got you covered, both with a popup CTA in the product page:

And even with an entire page dedicated to find the exact size for your foot:

Now it’s time to showcase your value through an amazing experience. Let’s talk about how to increase it!

10 ways to Increase Value and Motivation on Your Product Page

You (the product) have to demonstrate your value and let her (the customer) know you are the real deal.

First, it’s time for a great sleep experience, and that’s why you got hooked by the product demonstration of Casper.

Soon after the first section of their landing page, they have three GIFs in a slider to showcase their product’s features, as shown below:

You scroll down and you find another one that lets you know exactly what this product is made of:

Both rely on the Emphasis Framing, because they emphasize the positive aspects to promote an healthy interpretation of the product.

Things are clear to you and the value of the product seems to be amazing, but you’re not actually aware of how it could fit in your environment. That’s how Leesa helps with great contextual photos:

Now that you had a wonderful night’s sleep, it’s time for Christmas gifts!

So you take a seat in the new chairs you bought yesterday. They’re Bludot’s, a D2C brand based in Minneapolis, where they strive to build amazingly designed chairs.

But, how did you get convinced to buy? Well, you actually saw how the chair looked before even buying it:

A 3d model leverages the Endowment effect: people think a product it’s already their own if given the opportunity to try it out virtually.

You take a sit with your partner, and since women come first, you show the three gifts you’ve made for her.

The first is pantyhose from Sheertex. You were amazed by how strong they were, thanks to tests like this below:

It was clear they’d handle her legs. The other is a watch from Cluse.

You imagined how it’d look like on her thanks to the “Shop by look” section, at the bottom of the page:

She already has a bracelet and a necklace, like the girl in the photo, so it made sense to complete the Look thanks to the watch. This is grounded on two consumer psychology principles:

The Mirror effect, because you wanted her to imitate the girl in the photo.
The Bandwagon effect, because everyone’s wearing these watches.

Last, but not least, you know she has a problem when she gets her period. That’s why you bought an amazing cleansing wipe from Lola. The others break down easily, but this one seemed tear-proof:

This product demonstration leverages the Mirror effect, because you feel drawn to repeat the same action, therefore increasing the likelihood to buy.

Now, it’s her time to present a gift. She’s so generous that she bought three gifts. as well, even more expensive than yours.

It seemed that she had already in his hands the new Samsung Galaxy Note20, and her motivation was so high that she bought it. Here’s the 3D animation that convinced her:

But let’s see how she got there. Once you’re on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 page, scroll down until you see this section, and click on the highlighted button.

Notice the use of visual cueing in order to let you know you’re heading to another page.

Other than just moving the model around, you can even choose various options to increase your motivation to buy.

When you’re on the 3d model page, you can change the color, which is pretty standard:

Then, on the right, you can access more interactive ways to play with the model.

We’ve already seen zoom in and out, so we won’t focus on that, but what about showing an additional feature like the S-pen? Here it is:

This increases the perceived value of the product. To improve usability, there’s an entire section to show the different product sides, as well as turning the screen off:

Last, but not least, you can get in touch with customer support any time to have your questions answered.

This model is heavily grounded in consumer psychology, in particular the Endowment effect.

It was not the first time you wore Velasca shoes to dine with her, so she decided to buy another pair of then for you.

And, navigating the website, it was clear the product was the real deal. They didn’t hold anything back, and showed any individual part of the shoe:

And she was able to see how they’d look like in real life:

There were no faces to look at, and she was totally focused on the product itself.

This page was rightfully leveraging the right side of the Facial Distraction Bias, meaning they’re not showing any faces when people have to look at the product.

This was the exact opposite of what Harry’s did to convince her to buy the face wash for you.

In fact, here the images on the self-induced feelings of happiness and joy to her:

She wanted the same for you, so that’s why she bought it. That’s called the Affect Heuristic, since our feelings are surely affected by images and videos like the one above.

If you want people to go for the unknown (your product), then leverage feelings of happiness and freedom. Now it’s time to go dining with your family for Christmas Eve!

10 ways to Improve UX and Usability For Your Product Page

Let’s skip the traditions and food and let’s move forward to the gifts. You bought some for your sister.

Since you asked your mother, you knew which was the right size for his underwear, and that’s why you bought a pair on Meundies:

The product was great, but you had some doubts that have been solved thanks to the search bar in the reviews:

Your main objection was solved instantly, and then you got it. This made the reviews much easier to use.

You want her sister to be healthy, and that’s why you headed to Brooks website. Funny enough, you didn’t buy a pair of shoes, but a related item, socks.

This was partly because you were able to see the reviews, some basic information, and even changing the color, all without opening another web page:

Last but not least, you bought an amazing product from Glossier for her skin. Using the custom-filter reviews, you were able to verify it was the right product for her.

Now it’s time for your father!

Your dad loves all things wood, and that’s why you bought a wood dining bench from Home Depot. On a desktop PC, it was so easy to navigate the web page, thanks to the headers in the sticky bar, as shown below:

He wants to look young, and that’s why you bought a pair of chinos on Iconic. Seeing all the product images without having to click any arrow helped you out a little:

Very simple things can make a small difference. You want the best for your parents and since their mattress is not great, you purchased the Casper’s Wave Hybrid mattress, the same you have at home.

The custom word filters at the end of the page let you find the most relevant ones in a matter of seconds:

When you’re ready to buy, you didn’t even have to scroll all the way up, thanks to the handy sticky bar:

And this was the last gift. So let’s do a recap now.

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Conclusions

This article might have been different from many others out there. That’s partly due to the examples and the way it’s been written.

At some point, I started telling a story that leverages the narrative fallacy, lowers your conscious barriers, and lets you remember all this info easily.

That happens because before the writing was born, we were preserving our knowledge through oral stories and parables.

Stories have been hard-wired in your brain for millennia, so leveraging them means opening a gate in your brain and letting things flow faster and better.

Some of the examples, like Samsung and Quip, are part of a bigger project I’ve been working on in the past few weeks.

The Consumer Psychology Handbook covers 100+ examples from 30+ leading brands in 5+ different industries to explain the most important principles in online shopping, including an actionable checklist at the end of each of the 40+ principles.

Since you’re an Omniconvert reader, you’ll be able to get it for the cost of a coffee using this link.

Plus, you can get the Subscription Offer Handbook at pay-what-you-want price for the first 500 copies. In it, I break down everything you need to know to build your own irresistible subscription offer, stealing insights from the big brands in the industry.

You can find it here.

Author bio

Marco is known as the Subscription Offer Man, a consultancy aimed at helping Impact-driven CPG Brands Build Irresistible Subscription Offers Leveraging Consumer Psychology.

You can visit his website, subscribe to his consumer psychology newsletter, or simply drop him a message on LinkedIn.