Complete product pages: what information customers need before buying

An incomplete product page doesn't just cost you the sale: it generates an email, a phone call, and sometimes a return. The questions that come in before purchase are the exact list of information missing from the page, and that's where it's worth starting, instead of from some template downloaded off the internet.

Someone buying online decides without touching the product and without being able to ask a salesperson. They need to be able to answer three questions on their own: is this for me, does it work with what I already have, and what exactly arrives in the box. A page that answers all three is complete even if it's short; one that leaves even one uncovered is incomplete even if it's very long.

Describing the product: function, dimensions, limits

The descriptive part is what catalogs copy from the vendor, and it almost never answers the first question: is this for me?

• Who it's for and what intended use. A product designed for continuous professional use and one designed for occasional use can look identical in a photo.
• The function in one sentence, before the technical specs. A list of specifications doesn't say what the product is for.
• Dimensions, weight, and footprint with units, and tolerances where they matter. Write them even when they seem obvious: whoever has to install it measures first.
• Requirements: power supply, space needed, connections, compatible versions, skills required for assembly.
• Stated limits: what it doesn't do, where it shouldn't be used, what it's not compatible with.

Stating the limits doesn't reduce sales: it reduces returns, negative reviews, and calls to support. It also shifts the type of customer who arrives, and generally improves it.

Photos: the variant you see is the one you get

The images on a product page have an informational job, not a decorative one. Every photo should answer a specific question.

• One photo for each variant that's actually purchasable. If the selected color doesn't change the image, the variant isn't documented.
• The whole product on a neutral background, with no cropping or creative framing.
• A photo in use, with a recognizable scale reference: misjudging size is the most common cause of returns.
• The package contents laid out and visible, piece by piece.
• The details that matter for compatibility: connections, connectors, labels, threads, materials.
• If accessories not included appear in a photo, the caption says so. Always, not only when someone complains.

Package contents, documentation, and terms

The third question — what arrives — is the easiest to satisfy and the one most often left implicit.

• The list of what's included, and, when needed, of what isn't included but is necessary to use the product.
• Documentation downloadable from the page: instructions, technical data sheet, declarations, and certifications where they exist.
• Availability expressed in an understandable way, with its meaning stated: a product in stock and one ordered from the vendor aren't the same thing for someone in a hurry.
• The terms relevant to that product: shipping for bulky goods, returns for customized products, a warranty different from the rest of the catalog.

Only the piece of the terms that applies to that specific product belongs on the page. Linking to the general terms is formally correct and practically useless: no one opens it at the moment they're deciding.

Recurring questions, taken from real requests

The questions to put at the bottom of the page aren't invented: they're collected. It's the only part of the page that can be built on data you already have.

1. For a few weeks, collect the questions that come in before purchase, by email, phone, and chat.
2. Group them by product and by product family, and count them.
3. Answer the most frequent ones on the page, with verifiable information rather than marketing phrases.
4. If a question applies to a whole family, put it in the template instead of repeating it by hand for each product.

A question that keeps coming up is a flaw in the page, not a distraction on the customer's part. The reverse is also true: if an answer is already written well in the description and the question still comes in, that part of the page isn't being read or isn't being found.

A template for a technical product page

The template serves two purposes: not forgetting anything, and making all pages read the same way. This is a draft to adapt to your catalog.

A field you don't have data for should be left visibly empty on the internal page, not filled with a generic sentence. An empty field is a to-do; a generic sentence is an empty field you can no longer see.

When the problem isn't the page

Improving product pages makes sense if that's where the problem is. There are situations where rewriting them changes nothing, and it's better to know that beforehand.

• If the source information in the business management system is wrong or incomplete, the page just propagates it: fix the source first, otherwise the work has to be redone at every import.
• If the catalog isn't browsable or filterable, no one reaches the page: the problem is upstream.
• If the vendor only gives you a generic marketing description, you need your own measurements and testing, and that's time to budget for.
• If the requests you receive are about price and delivery times rather than the product, the weak point is somewhere else.

When the catalog is large, it's better to start with the products that generate the most questions and returns, not the first ones alphabetically. They're few, and they account for almost all the support workload.

What this guide doesn't cover

This guide covers the quality of a single product page: what it needs to contain and how to organize it. How the customer gets to that page — categories, filters, search criteria within the catalog — is covered in a dedicated guide. Preparing data, images, and categories for importing a catalog also has its own guide.