13 Conversion-Centered Tips for Category (Product Listing) Page
Category pages are an essential part of any ecommerce site. A well-designed category page will build engagement and drive conversions, encouraging visitors to click through to individual product pages and buy.
But at Growcode, we often find that category landing pages are underperforming on our clients’ sites.
Retailers tend to focus on optimizing checkout funnels, marginalizing their category pages in the process.
And this is a big mistake. Category pages are major contributors to your overall conversion rate.
The average US ecommerce conversion rate hovers at around 2.6%.
The average US ecommerce conversion rate hovers at around 2.6%. #ecommerce #EcommerceTips #EcommerceStats Click To TweetIf you’re eager to boost the conversion rate for your ecommerce store, then I recommend you pay close attention to your category pages!
Conversion rates for this year hovered around 2.6%. Source.
In this article, we’re going to outline some simple optimization tips to get the most out of them, along with an array of practical category page examples.
A product listing page or category page is a page that lists multiple products within a category, with each product represented by a photo, a price, and product name. These pages are usually linked to from the category navigation bar and include filter options.
An example of a category page from ASOS.
In terms of ecommerce site pages, category pages are among the most important. Customers with general buyer intent – who know they want a product but are unsure of the exact type or brand – use them to browse and evaluate items.
In terms of #ecommerce site pages, category pages are among the most important. Customers who know they want a product but are unsure of the exact type or brand - use them to browse and evaluate items. #EcommerceTips Click To TweetThey also often act as important ecommerce landing pages. If, for example, you’re promoting “new arrivals” in an email, visitors will land on a category landing page. Many search engine results – such as for general queries like “buy bikes” or “buy handbags” – are focused on category pages.
Here’s a quick list of the questions you should ask to create the best experience on category pages so you can jump straight to your most urgent issue:
Ready to optimize? Let’s dive in.
Draw attention to discounts by striking through the old price and including it next to the new one. Also include the percentage of the discount, so that price reductions appear sizeable.
Alongside the struck-through original one, REI includes the difference between the previous price and the discounted one as a percentage, re-emphasizing the offer twice.
Category pages can appear cluttered, so ensure that discounts stand out. Use eye-catching colors that aren’t overwhelmed by other elements on the page.
Kohl’s highlight sale prices with a red font.
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Visitors use category pages to browse, so provide information that confirms they’re in the right place, like a category header. Also, make sure that products are already visible above the fold without the need to scroll down. You may try including best-selling products above the fold to reduce the bounce rate.
Sephora includes a category headline and showcases top-performing products above the fold. This might help reduce bounce rate and thus get you better positions in Google’s search results.
Category pages are all about images. Ideally, you should provide the maximum number of images per row without sacrificing on quality and size. Are features clearly visible? Three to four images per row is a good category page best practice to follow (on mobile it’s two – find out how to design the best mobile product detail page).
Category pages are all about images. Ideally, you should provide the maximum number of images per row without sacrificing on quality and size. #ecommerce #optimization Click To Tweet
Urban Outfitters shows large, detailed pictures of products. Product listing design is neat, not cluttered and four products per row are presented in a great way.
Reduce friction by showing alternative product shots whenever a visitor hovers over an image. A potential customer may engage with a second image if they are not convinced by the first.
Asos shows a different silhouette of one product. So a potential customer may engage with a second image if they are not convinced by the first.
Amazon includes this feature on all of their listing pages, whether it’s a category page or a search results page. It helps visitors that are browsing to narrow down their search.
In this example, while looking for pillows we get more than 800.000 results! Such detailed categories help visitors that are browsing to narrow down their search.
Many visitors will go to category pages to browse but with requirements for certain features like size, color, price, brand etc. Include these filters at the top of the page or in the sidebar.
ASOS includes an array of filters on its category landing pages.
Along with filters, it’s important to allow visitors to rank products by a number of variables, like price, relevance, new arrivals etc. Doing so builds engagement by adding variety to the browsing experience, while also catering to visitors that have feature requirements in mind but for whom filters are too specific.
Crutchfield has an option to sort by a number of options, such as “Price: Low to High”.
There are five pieces of information it’s absolutely essential to include on your listing page. At Growcode, we’ve found the conversion consequences of not including just one can be significant.
These pieces of information are:
Gap provides multiple pieces of information without cluttering the page.
Telling visitors that a product is out-of-stock on the product page as opposed to the category page can result in them leaving the site without considering other options. If possible, include stock information beneath category page images.
Zalando shows available sizes just right on the product page listing so a user can check immediately if it’s possible for him to buy a particular product.
When including information about colors, or providing filter options, on the category page, ensure that you’re only showing images (small blocks of color) rather than text.
Adidas is spot on with its color options, showing small color squares. It adds to the overall ease of the category page experience.
Generally speaking, less is more. You want the focus to be on the products themselves rather than other promotions, offers, related products etc.
Zappos wants you to buy shoes…nothing else. The product listing page layout is purely product-focused. Hint: take a look at how they listed selected (and popular) filters just above product list.
There’s little point showcasing unavailable products at the top of the page. It is likely to ruin the product listing page user experience (UX) for many visitors and negatively impact conversions. Show unavailable or discontinued products near the bottom of the page, if at all.
Nordstrom shows only available products of particular sizes.
At its heart, category page optimization is a simple process. It involves adding and tweaking small elements of your category page design and testing to see if the changes positively impact overall conversions.
The real key is to commit to consistent and long-term testing. This checklist is a fantastic starting point. It will help you overcome many of the common issues faced by online retailers in regards to product listing pages and boost your conversions. But ultimately, it’s up to you to drive improvements over the long-term.
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