This same principle also applies to product category pages. You don\u2019t want to make a customer click on a product to be able to see it from several angles. You want to provide a \u201cwindow shopping\u201d effect, i.e., let the customer get to know the product and see as much of it as possible without having to navigate away from the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s look at a category page example from Gili Sports. Their inflatable paddle boards category page<\/a> shows you what each paddle board kit looks like when you hover over the various color options available. You get to see the product from various angles, and you also get to see the logo that will be emblazoned on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best thing about this effect is how quick it is. There is no reloading of the page and no need to open a small, quick-view window. The shopper is instantly shown what the product is expected to look like, so they can factor appearance into their choice instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n H&M does something similar with their category pages. Take a look at their dresses<\/a>, for example. You are first shown a photo of a model wearing the item, and when you hover over the photo, you can see what the dress looks like against a white background.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is an amazing way to show the item \u201cin use\u201d and strip all the extra layers away and just show the product. Shoppers want to see both of these images, so showing them on the product category page is an excellent tactic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another element you should feature on your product category pages is a bit of context. You want to tell customers what the products are, how they solve a particular pain point, how they\u2019ve been made, and what\u2019s so special about them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding some helpful, well-written, and well-optimized content<\/a> to these pages is beneficial because it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trick is not to overwhelm your customers with too much information. Start by showing the product, and place the copy at the bottom of the page. Don\u2019t show too many items on one product category page: you want visitors to scroll to the bottom and see page 2 so that they can also see your text.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aim to be as helpful and as relevant as you can. Choose relevant keywords, but don\u2019t overoptimize. Write specifically for your shoppers, and help them choose a product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dress Forms USA did a great job with their category description. Take a look at their professional dress forms page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n They then explain what a dress form is, how it can be used, and what the benefits of owning one are. They talk about their own products only at the very end, having first focused on promoting their usefulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoppers will come to you with numerous conversion obstacles<\/a> on their minds. They will be wondering about the price, shipping rates, returns policy, the quality of the product, whether or not it will solve their specific need, etc. If you make them overcome these hurdles on their own, you will significantly reduce your conversion rates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t wait for customers to land on a product page before addressing these issues. The sooner you can assuage their fears, the better. You want them in the right frame of mind: a trusting, generous frame of mind that is ready to find the product they have been looking for.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The product category page design elements you should consider for this task are social proof and FAQs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social proof will speak to your trustworthiness and the quality of your product and service. FAQs are the most straightforward way to directly answer the questions probably on the minds of most of your shoppers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a great category page example that features both. Bay Alarm Medical nailed the FAQ section on their medical alerts collections page<\/a>, where they provide clear answers to the most relevant customer questions: Are there hidden fees, is the service covered by insurance, how can it be set up, what if you want to return your alarm system?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also have a Google ratings carousel that proves they provide quality service and that they\u2019re constantly seeing an influx of customers, as some of their reviews are only a day old.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n How you organize your eCommerce category pages will also directly impact both user experience and SEO<\/a>. Ideally, you want to create several logical sub-categories that will allow visitors to sift through precisely what they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s look at an example to illustrate this point. Gear4Music sells, among other things, a large variety of guitars. They have one main guitar category page<\/a>, where you can see their most famous guitars and amps. This is also where you\u2019ll get a general idea of the brands they stock and the prices they charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also have a brilliant breakdown of sub-categories at the top of the page. You can choose to look at electric, acoustic, or bass guitars, and they even have a folk guitar section. If you then choose to look at acoustic guitars<\/a>, for example, you are shown the brand you can explore. You\u2019ll see a very comprehensive filtering system that will help you find exactly the kind of guitar you need for your skill level and preferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the kind of categorization you\u2019re looking for. Pour a lot of effort into all levels of category pages and make them all helpful and easy to navigate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of making category pages easy to navigate and intuitive, make sure the products in each category can be filtered in numerous ways. Don\u2019t just offer the \u201csort by price\u201d and \u201cbrand name\u201d filters. Go into the nitty gritty details and help customers locate precisely the item they want in as little time as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to tick two boxes here. First, you want to cater to the casual browser, who just wants to see everything that is available in a certain product category. These are the shoppers who are still high up in the sales funnel and who would like to see and compare a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, you also want to cater to those who know exactly what they want and aim to spend as little time finding it as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Category page filters help you do both. Look at the Sohomod coffee tables category page<\/a>. They have 627 items in total, and you can slice and dice them with 15 different filters. Looking for a square brown glass coffee table? You can find three of them in a matter of seconds. Looking for a rustic coffee table but not sure about the specifics? Not a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This kind of attention to detail takes user experience to completely new levels and ensures your customers see you as a brand they can rely on, a brand that has their interests at heart. It\u2019s a very simple (albeit time-consuming) category page design element to add, but it\u2019s well worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Product category pages should also feature essential information about each product. Sometimes this will be a simple matter of \u201cavailable in sizes XXS to XXL,\u201d but more complex products will demand more extensive product descriptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your goal here is to help shoppers choose a limited number of products they want to compare. You don\u2019t want to make them click on dozens of pages, open all of them in new tabs, and then have to do the work manually.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want them to have access to all the relevant information at a glance, right from the product category page. This saves them time and directly impacts conversion rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n HP has done a brilliant job on its category pages. For example, their ready-to-ship category<\/a> shows you all the important components a laptop has. You can see the processor; you can see what kind of RAM memory you will be working with as well as the storage capacities and the quality of the screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also select four models to compare, and you\u2019ll be taken to a new page where all the features of each model are broken down in a table, ready for you to dissect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When writing product descriptions for category pages, focus on the key information about each: what differentiates them from each other, and what does a customer need to make a purchasing decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you choose not to go down the product description on the category page route, make sure to include a quick view option. It serves the same purpose as some of the tactics we\u2019ve mentioned above: it helps visitors stay on one page and gather relevant information about various products.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of the quick view as a mini version of the actual product page. You want a description; you also want to feature as many images as you can and show any similar products of different colors available.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The quick view is a bridge between the category and the product page.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nordstrom has done a great job applying this tactic. Look at their men\u2019s dress shirts category page<\/a> as an example. The quick view gives you access to a brief description of the shirt, which then tells you what it\u2019s made of, which colors it\u2019s available in, and what the fit is like. It also shows you 5-6 new images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can add the item to your cart or wishlist from the quick view and go right back to browsing without ever having to navigate away from the category page: effective and efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEducate Your Shoppers on the Category<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Address Common Conversion Obstacles Early<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Offer Multiple Sub-Categories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Provide Advanced Filtering Options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Provide Key Product Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Offer a Quick View Option<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Designing](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/i8ZGtOCjzXFXnPDIEwF0rghY-Qq_8tum_f4l8IGj6aDuEa04Fy5sFfmx0OypG9gYtZJMWPCMs3hVQyFoxjxwbCZbeBE3GfFDd0AMt88o2ePh8mYVsAlAcUm1LUXPvqtMwibn7D30Tjvw6xqzKWPUkSk\")
![\"Designing](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/8xdvH7U55Qzz8lrDQT0RVGefxyZjnYjZcltdQZgs1FsmZsTkKZtfeL_ShmBmEvM0zKUKvgWkFLh0LGegHiSplvsKVW4ZL8paROquldd0XntSkdc3pQiU-qMnBr-nxuZ8geg2SHA2PRxTMKVaIyFlIDo\")
![\"Product](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/J6ft4EM5bIbkVPlGz9wCOrzLB7PyrwXrG8FWthUjhX4gltWbEDXibTaXwgaL5G_sbol1pH_YMYF02HiZ85JaLGi3qQ5bRXeZ_4bQz65AU0IzNtEyB8Keg9iwn5-cAdc2_G-HJS8kWFY75_mJNqL_758\")
![\"Product](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/ICYgaBStJ_VxZz4ScWiaMwExN9mBRfa0wHLPqiItkx1OkcBIrZWY7CfVlHi0W4F9XVOwiXcpQIOvWyJr-jHG2PO0tI9j3Zbc_n7N7CAiChR_K0Aq-VOEFsNR0M4t08eSybdQrC-4mXQW7Ms9sxOWJYE\")
![\"product](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/R0MUT-JkEpQZgCPKM8rRIxe0ER9y3p6xz8puV-oWF5G1HB8fl-71wv0KTrOTNkxLzLk7DerctknQWe9ZRE_Daq3TAI8ZZydihKLNYlhDJyxNHIpTYyoWCv1SjArNML2qeRtOQclsYEBF_bo-RkUXUM4\")
![\"product](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/nSpjyNvYkn6ZI-Aa97J5vWSRuLkW6X2_tnOoDmHmb4WRQkJhiplaFqtnzAgDjjmYAkTqX-XdE3ezAONZNnPM80590db_ENvzENd9UfkTfMw7tJvBfY72T4Ts7pTr1ayXOCpwgHv_4GW9PlM1oaf3tTQ\")
![\"product](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/7m5CV_zPBTmtxAG8rx06GwjZNEdz76F51nRwZCyoe9lbz-NzrDQSeu9IGZS7mfPGTAYS7U_2KHX2d2siJrMF7xK31UIZcY1XM6Xz7iNa8Ykf1quGexusEcQ7P6lx4TAEgKLHoKNTkLoK9oSMGXwY_4Q\")