E-commerce calls to action: 10 best practice tips
Call to action buttons 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.
Visitors can have low attention spans, and an effective call to action which catches the customer's eye can make it clear what the next step should be.
There is no definitive answer on which buttons work best, so it is important to test different combinations of colour, button size, wording and placement to see what is most effective.
As a general rule though, if it doesn’t stand out clearly on the page, there is room for improvement.
Here are some tips on designing and displaying calls to action...
Five great examples of product page copywriting
While product page design has improved in the past few years, an often neglected area is sales copy.
A common mistake is to simply place the manufacturer’s product descriptions on pages. While this approach is easier, a more personal touch and unique tone of voice can help your product pages stand out and really sell the benefits of products.
I'm going to explain why good sales copy is so important, and look at some examples where retailers are getting this spot on...
How Appliances Online improved its product pages
Appliances Online has been making some improvements to its product pages recently, and has let me in on the process and the results, which includes a 9.5% jump in sales.
With the help of videos showing users interacting with the product pages, the retailer was able to both identify improvements, and check that they had the desired effect.
E-commerce product videos: best practice tips
While more and more retailers are using online video, there are still plenty of sites which could use it to improve their product pages.
I've been looking at some examples of best practice from retailers that use video on their product pages.
Why do consumers abandon online purchases?
From security concerns to annoyances around hidden charges or high delivery costs, there are a number of possible reasons why not make a purchase from an online retailer.
An Econsultancy survey of 2,000 UK consumers, conducted using the TolunaQuick tool, looks at the reasons why customers choose to abandon online purchases.
Of the 2,000 respondents, just 12.8% don't shop online, the other 87.2% shop at least several times per year.
Some highlights from the survey after the jump...
Ten best practices from the new Lakeland website
Homeware retailer Lakeland launched its redesigned website recently, and the result is a good looking and usable site.
I've picked out things that etailers could do better online in the past, but for a change, I've listed ten e-commerce best practices from the new site, as well as a couple of potential improvements...
Toy retailers need to work on usability
Amazon was rated the top online toy retailer in a usability study of 12 toy websites, which found much room for improvement in the sector.
According to the Brandbank study, toy retailers are not doing enough on product pages, and could be using of product images and videos more effectively. Just four retailers are using product videos, while very few are providing multiple images.
Best Buy UK: site review
Having already opened a number of stores, US electronics retailer Best Buy launched its first transactional website in the UK last week.
I've been trying the new site out...
Why online retailers need product videos
There are already plenty of strong arguments for the use of video on e-commerce sites, but here are some more from one retailer who has been using 360 product images and videos.
Gerrard Dennis of The Simply Group, which operates seven online stores, has been looking into the effectiveness of images and video on his websites, and has some interesting insight into how video and product photography has improved his sites' conversion rates...
Ten great e-commerce product pages
To coincide with the release of our Product Pages Best Practice Guide, I've been looking around for examples of excellent pages from e-commerce sites.
Not every page in this list is perfect, but they all contain great examples of features that have been used to showcase and sell products, such as great use of video and imagery, presentation of product features, and user reviews.
