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Around 16 years ago a pioneering graphic designer decided that this was a good layout for a product page:
The idea took hold and we’ve been following it ever since. But why is the product page laid out this way?
— Is it because this is the best layout from a conversion perspective?
— Is it because this is the layout that’s most familiar to shoppers?
If we had a good scientific reason for why product pages all look the same I’d be fine with it. But my hunch is there is a little bit of “the others are doing it this way, let’s not rock the boat” going on here.
But product pages don’t have to be the way we’ve been designing them. Have a look at this innovative design on thenueco.com:
Comments 6
There is no such thing as the “right product page design”. Old or new. Each product/customer combination has its own set of needs. One might require a strong emotional hook, another a longer logical explanation. For another, strong third party validation might be critical. Each of these will be best achieved with a different graphic layout. The only way to know is through A/B testing. It is VERY easy to fall in love with a cool new design, only to discover that it doesn’t convert as well.
Author
Hi, Mark. That’s exactly right 🙂
Never thought about this. It’s so common that I never stopped to think, “why are products page this way?” It’s great to get a glimpse into the world of CRO.
SOOOO Many things that could be designed and tested!
I wish I had more traffic to allow for the resources to test this product page design out.
Author
Love seeing your comments come in. Ron, I’m always happy to do a free project for my buddy. Just need enough traffic for an A/B test.
Yeah, gradually it’s going up. According to Yahoo Store Manager, we had 38,000 page views in last 30 days. Yahoo! always shows more than GA does. Maybe since the store is Yahoo! it’s more accurate.