ECommerce is one of the best ways to increase your sales as a business. By putting together product listings online, you open up your potential customer market; this could be to a broader local audience online or even a worldwide customer market. ECommerce is also incredibly personalizable. It is easy to build a unique aesthetic that reflects your brand online. One of the most important features of an eCommerce business is your product listings. This article will outline some vital elements of a successful product listing to help you improve your online presence
First impressions with Product Listings
Product listings will often be your first impression to potential customers. This is because most buyers find products via the google search tab, and your listings should then hopefully appear within the shopping section. A key aspect to ensuring you maximize your exposure online is SEO. SEO or Search engine optimization is preparing a webpage to reach your desired audience. SEO is crucial because it affects your ranking on google. To rank above your competitors, your webpage needs to be optimized. You can do this by ensuring you incorporate the correct keywords and appropriate metadata. You can use many different plug-ins to check this quickly, especially if you are working with Shopify.
With SEO in mind, you can start building up your product listing and check back once you finish ensuring everything is optimized before posting.
As we said before, first impressions are everything when shopping online. ECommerce is all about efficiency as a customer; this means your potential customers are making split-second decisions based on the first glance of your listings as they scroll through a shopping page.
Professional photography can be make or break when drawing in potential customers to look further into your product. This is why imagery is so important to your product listing. You’ll want to clearly show the product with no background distractions as your primary image; customers often scroll quickly. A busy background filled with props can make an image confusing to look at and often lead to your listing being ignored.
White background photography
Your primary image should be the product on a white background. This is so it can be viewed easily in seconds. You’ll want to consider the angle you position your product at for this image, it should be suitably far from the camera, and your audience should be able to tell what the product is from this first image. The quality of your images is also crucial to making a sale; professional product photography can easily set you apart from the competition.
Did you know that 75% of shoppers online will rely on the quality of the product photography when deciding to purchase from a website?
Additional Images
Always add more than one image to your listing. Additional images are where you can get creative. Once your white background product photo has captured attention, your potential buyer will take their time to look at additional images. You should include close-ups of critical features; this could be wear and tear on used items, small intricate details on clothing or jewellery, or extra elements on practical products. You can also create stunning lifestyle photos to show off the item in its natural habitat or demonstrate how easily it can be used.
Your additional elements do not have to be limited to still imagery; you can utilise short demo videos or even model videos to show how the product moves/works. Video content is great for boosting SEO, too, as they make a webpage more accessible.
Consistency amongst product listings
If you are selling on sites like eBay, this may not be as important, but if you have your website or amazon storefront, it might be a good idea to keep your photos consistent. This means sticking to a preferred angle when shooting similar products so that your storefront appears uniform and professional. Not only does this look more aesthetically pleasing, but it also makes for a much more user-friendly experience for potential customers.
Writing a product description.
Descriptions are key to explaining your imagery. Incorporate those keywords when naturally writing your description to boost SEO! Think about using bullet points to increase readability and accessibility for your customers. You will need to stress those unique selling points engagingly.
The content of your description will rely entirely on what category of product you are selling. To illustrate, clothing descriptions should include measurements, materials, fit, color variety and special features like fastenings and styling advice. At the same time, something like a kitchen appliance should involve a list of features, power usage, dimensions and uses. Another thing to consider is if your item is second hand you should clearly point out imperfections.
Honesty and transparency are crucial to avoiding confusion that can lead to costly returns for you and your customer.
Putting together a product listing can take a long time to perfect. But once you have put together one, you will now have a formula you can swap and change for multiple different listings.
In search of more advice when setting out your eCommerce business? Check out our other blogs right here.
