Visual merchandising efforts are crucial to enabling profitable growth for e-commerce businesses. Especially important and often forgotten when talking about profitability is optimizing product pages. The other marketing efforts usually get almost all the attention but could all be in vain if the product pages are poorly optimized. Think about it - does it matter how good your ads, newsletters, and discounts are when the customers eventually land on product pages with shitty content? Have you invested your time and money in the best way possible? Isn't it evident as an online shopper that the product pages are often overlooked and not optimized or incorrectly?
How to prioritize what product pages to improve
Writing content for product pages is generally done for SEO and increasing conversion rate, i.e., sales. There is nothing wrong with that. But if you want to up your game, add a third, equally important reason: the product's Net Gross Profit 2 contribution.
Typically, prioritizing which product pages to improve is done by balancing product views, product conversion rate, inventory, and profitability. In the Dema platform, this is only a report one click away. You can easily follow the changes daily/weekly/monthly.
How to improve your product pages for profitability
Returns are the safest way to diminish product profitability, i.e., Net Gross Margin 2. Returns are also in your circle of influence when working with product page content. So, let's think about the most common reasons why you would return a product:
- Wrong size
- It does not have the same "look and feel" in real life as you thought when you put it in your cart.
How can you minimize the risk of these two return drivers?
There are numerous tactics to mitigate returns when it comes to product pages, and every e-commerce company, with its mind on profitability, should do whatever it can to optimize its product pages to decrease returns.
The three most common tactics that should be considered as a baseline
- If using a model, let it be as representative as you dare to your actual customer base, be transparent with the weight, length, and measurements of that model, and tell what size the model wears. This makes it much easier for everyone looking at it to determine which size to choose.
- Spend time on your size guide and nudge visitors to click it. Yes, that's right—if you want to lower your return rate, make people check your size guide. You would be amazed by how many of your visitors could use it, but for some reason, they don't click it. Make it visible!
- Be as authentic and detailed as possible with images and text about the look and feel. How soft is it? Describe it with something people understand. Flexible? Describe it more. And don't lie to increase sales.
Conclusion
Profitability in e-commerce is closely tied to effective visual merchandising, particularly concerning product page optimization. A comprehensive approach considering product views, conversion rates, inventory, and profitability can significantly enhance your Net Gross Profit 3. Minimizing returns by tackling common issues, such as inaccurate sizing or product misrepresentation, is critical to this strategy. Tactics such as detailed size guides, representative models, and accurate text and image descriptions can help reduce return rates and boost profitability. Remember - optimizing product pages is not just for enhancing SEO or increasing sales but also a strategic move to improve overall business profitability.