Question of the Week: Which product description page would drive more orders? Experiment Nation

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On March 11th, 2021, we asked our LinkedIn community:

We want to know which of these product description pages do YOU think would drive more ORDERS, and why? What would you change? What extra data would you need?

Assume the same customer in both: someone interested in a GPS watch that searched for “GPS watch” on Best Buy with the original intention of ordering online for delivery, with a budget of $500.00, and no preferences for brand or features at this moment.

See the original post here.

The results

Here are some of the best responses:

“There is no product story for me to judge the 2 pages on.

There might not even be enough contrast between the two treatments to register a statistical signal.

But assuming that isn’t an issue I see 2 scenarios:

— For a regular BestBuy shopper who lives near a BestBuy the “Pick Up at Store” in A may have an edge.

— For B, the “30-day return policy” message would help a visitor who is ‘new’ to buying at BestBuy. But this message would not matter as much for someone who is a regular BestBuy shopper because they would know BestBuy’s ubiquitous return policy.

So, those were my 2 cents.

cc Faisal Hourani 🚀 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/faisalhourani) .” – Rishi Rawat. The Shopify product page guy.

“Question: am I giving my opinion based on the screenshot or do you want me to visit the actual product page?” – Rishi Rawat. The Shopify product page guy.

“This is an interesting one. A offers an opportunity for those that want to pick it up at the store but I think that’s a big distraction. users might start to think, is the delivery slow? where is the store? etc. B has less noise, CTA is clear. So my choice is B. B will have better CR

The test is interesting because in my experience, a secondary call to action can boost engagement but this is on prelanders, not product pages. looking forward to seeing the result.
” – Kudakwashe Shamu

“My assumption would be A! Although B seems a quick process for customers within the journey. I believe A has a lot to offer such as reviews and more personalization when it comes to buying options. Which, i think is critical for customers during the decision making process.” – Arjun Sharma

“Neither as they might find it on Amazon for slightly cheaper. That’s probably just me actually.” – Bilal Khan, CSM, SAFe

“Ahh I love these challenges!

For this one, I choose A.

1. It has social proof. 546 people have purchased this particular watch. With 4.5 stars, the majority are clearly pleased with it. Since I didn’t have a brand in mind, I’m definitely looking for signals on what the best ones on the market are. Social proof is what informs my decision.

2. I love how you actually gave me the power of choice with those two CTAs at the bottom. You gave me a choice of whether I want convenience (Add to Cart) or instant gratification (Pick Up at Store). Both those are really speaking to powerful emotions on a deep level. The juxtapositioning of those two options is compelling.

On the flip side, B does something negative for me with that one line at the top “30-day no hassle return policy” It seems to have an adverse effect because it reminds me of the negative experience I could have if I make the wrong choice by purchasing this. And all returns are hassles. That’s the bottom line.” – Kyneret Azizo

“Due to lack of brand preference or awareness of the user I will go with A due to the significant number of positive reviews. Unsure if “Pick up at Store” option will be a positive for those looking to get the item quicker or will it distract from the “Add to Cart” CTA.

Of course, without data it is just my opinion and this is why we test!” – Max Bradley

“Well, it’s easy – A… the reviews win every time, especially over 500 at 4.5!!!
Although you could take the large CTA button from B as well, then it would perform even better.” – Andrew Reynolds

“Very curious. I really love the fact that they fit so much above the fold. Seems like they’re specifically optimizing for the fold!

Specifically, I’m not a huge fan of two primary calls to action. But… I do see what they’re trying to do – push more people into ‘picking up in store’. I wonder if they’ve tested pushing more people into ‘pickup in store’ deeper in the conversion funnel vs. earlier in the process.

Big Brain: Geolocate users who are <5 miles from a store, and use this experience only for those users vs. users >5 miles from a store simply see ‘add to cart’ ” – Shiva Manjunath

“A:

More trust, reliability and credibility to explore before purchase.” – Masood Akbarzai

“My guess is Version A for a couple reasons:
1. The added trust/credibility from the reviews
2. The flexbility to add to cart of pick up at store

However, to be optimal, I’d like to see the image enlargement function included as well as the reassurance about a 30-day return” – Deborah O’Malley

“I like B personally but would test for A as it’s got the “must haves” with reviews. I like the potential of Customer Value going up with the pick up in store CTA.” – Siobhan Solberg

“I would choose A for sure. Because reviews play an important role in motivating the customer to spend his time on the page,know more about the product.

Once he is convinced about the credibility of the product, next he can look for the return policy. But showing the return policy at the very first go, can be a point of friction too. As the user might think that there must be something wrong with the product because of which the marketers are showing it at the very first fold itself.” – Inder Kaur

“Very interesting!
Described target it’s not very accurate (man/woman? Young/Old? Digital or not?…)😅 .

Anyway, A used many psychological tactics like social proof and power of choice. Version A goal is to see customers jump from intent-level to purchase-level of sales funnel. The strategy behind A it’s appropriate for target so I think A perform better for this target.

Instead B give generic information for product, it reassures clients with “return policy info”, give possibility to open image, and show a standard CTA in the bottom.
I think, B is for last-levels-of-sales-funnel”. People who know product, know model, and want to purchase this online.

Congrats Experiment Nation (https://www.linkedin.com/company/experiment-nation) for this post. It’s so useful read other experts opinions!
” – Valerio D.

“Assuming visitor resides in the city of retail shop. Version A would work as 70% of shoppers who wants to purchase a product will proceed to brick and mortar store.” – Muaz Mahmood

“How about reviews on page A? Like social proof, isn’t it? And I have more than one option to make my decision. Probably page A will win. On the other hand, the second has more strong call to action.” – Andrey Andreev

“I stay with option A — but I’m divided 😂

As far as I was able to read through the variants:
– Var A taps on social proof (500+ reviews is quite something) and adds a secondary CTA (which might distract users, especially since we don’t know the entire flow)
– Var B taps into a guarantee with a 30 days money-back promise.

My gut feeling suggests that because this is not a high ticket purchase, a money-back guarantee is not as appealing as the influence of social proof.

Also, lack of reviews is quite of a trigger, at least for me. Stars became such a status-quo design solution for e-commerce, isn’t it?” – John Ostrowski

“I’m leaning towards A but a couple of points here:

1. I adore the social proof just under the product title (500+ 4/5 star reviews is might impressive) but IMHO the “Write your review” is a waste of space… especially as they haven’t bought the watch yet.

2. I *don’t* like the competing CTAs on A (much prefer B with this regard). If someone’s browsing purchases on mobile the buttons need to be big and beautiful to be easy to click. Here, it makes it a little harder to click (might seem insignificant, but to some people, it’s huge).

But as the saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If it’s working for them, great. (But if it’s not… then they could include the “Pick Up At Store” option during the checkout process)

Idea for test: Instead of the “Write your review” link under the social proof in A, add the “30-day no-hassle return policy” from B. That would be awesome to see” – Eden Bidani

“A for the social proof and store pickup. But only if the “pick up at store” CTA displays if someone has a store selected/saved. It’s useless if there aren’t any stores near me.” – Mariclare Cranston, PCM®

“A’ if we geotarget people who live close to a Bestbuy because they have more choices, but ‘B’ for a global audience due to clarity.” – Ivan Davidov

“Come on. A. Just swap out that “write a review” with the “30-day…” Boom. Sold. “Pick Up at Store” tells me I can get it today.

Interesting product choice!” – Collin Tate Crowell

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Rommil Santiago

Rommil is the Founder of Experiment Nation and a Product Lead of Growth Product at Loblaw Digital, overseeing Experimentation, Personalization, Analytics Platform, and SEO.

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