The Perfect PDP, Guide To Building A Business Case For Tech Change & Tech News

Part One - Strategy: The Anatomy of a High-Performing PDP

There are rules everyone can follow to improve the PDP for shoppers and drive better conversions. In this video I break down the steps to achieving nirvana (the place, not the band).

Timings if you want to jump to something specific (and transcript available in the newsletter appendix):

1. [00:40] Define primary and secondary audiences
2. [01:02] Build the customer mental model
3. [01:46] Define your buyer type
4. [02:28] Get the fundamentals right e.g. title, pricing, images, variants etc.
5. [09:50] Build in persuasion tactics
6. [11:20] Add useful information prompts
7. [12:25] Add navigation aids
8. [12:55] Add product associations
9. [13:22] Add contextual browse abandonment
10. [14:28] Review, adjust and finesse

Here's the Rachael Jones article I reference on the M&S PDP.

DM me if you want an objective view on your PDP.

Part Two - A Useful Downloadable Guide ??

Your guide to building a compelling business case for technology change.

More than 50 years' combined ecommerce experience, for free. Really.

Why?

There is a lot of noise in the market about which tech offers the best cost model and why you should choose platform X or Y.

From experience, projects get blocked for avoidable reasons e.g. not having defined potential investment objections and having a plan to tackle each of them.

In this collaboration with Vervaunt and Rotate° , we share real-world examples and a 5-point checklist for getting leadership buy-in.

Part Three - Interesting Tech News

Flare - Scheduled Delivery

Scheduled delivery app for Shopify, aimed at securing conversions from shoppers who want the product but don’t need it now, to minimise funnel leakage. It suits more considered purchases like furniture and maternity, rather than impulse buys like fast fashion.

How it works:

• Secure the order now, keep orders in Shopify in held status
• Dynamic pricing enabled to incentivise people to purchase (can build in intelligence based on inventory levels)
• Deducts from your sellable stock to avoid overselling
• Integration with OMS via an API into e.g. Mintsoft to inform that an order has been placed and stock unit is reserved
• Roadmap item of interest: adding the ability to view and sell off future PO data
• Pro: good for demand forecasting to help with more accurate replenishment, encouraging shoppers to think ahead for new season e.g. winter Ski equipment

As with all vendors, I like it when people are transparent about potential issues and are clear on ICP and who this isn’t right for. We discussed the concern around people using it just to get discounts and the impact on returns from orders held but not yet processed.?

Hit up CTO Alex Hooper for more info. Mark Hammond this might be of interest.

Storyblok

I confess, I’m a fan. I really like the platform because the UI is intuitive and feature packed. Here are the latest product additions:

• Conditional fields to let you create dynamic components so that specific types of content are only shown under certain conditions e.g. show guest speakers for events only when they are available / enforce a sub heading when a headline is set - great for brand and editorial consistency
• Tag favourite content folders & stories for quick access in the admin panel - simplifies content search
• Alerts when a content is being published that’s linked to unpublished assets, to avoid broken links - smart
• Enhanced archive for historical versions, including visual preview of old versions and comparison on past versions - this is great for creative content teams
• Introduced a native Algolia plugin to improve integration of content into the search experience.

They now run spotlight videos to talk through and demo releases, smart move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InI_TKOESQk?

Part Four - Resources

Events:

The Women’s Domain: Driving Profits With Purpose from 5874 Commerce

15th May, Dotdigital offices London Bridge from 6pm

https://5874commerce.com/insights/events/the-womens-domain-driving-profits-with-purpose/

Ecommerce inventory masterclass by Inventory Planner by Sage

https://www.inventory-planner.com/inventory-masterclass-2024/?

Articles - Videos:

Customer journey mapping to drive conversion by Alice Brown

https://www.alicewritescopy.com/blog-archive/designing-customer-journey-mapping-7-steps-to-conversion-booking?

The hidden tools in ecommerce that make you money from PushON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Hf7kqBZJU&themeRefresh=1?

Luxury jewellery ecommerce trends from Skywire

https://skywire.co.uk/post/luxury-jewellery-ecommerce-trends

My 5 To Follow

Helen Walker - posts helpful, useful content

Pete Robertshaw - always gives practical, intelligent advice

Mark Slocock - MD of one of my favourite agencies, goes the extra mile to help clients & runs a great podcast

Andy Richley - posts useful content, shares helpful opinions and insights

Ryan Webb - sharp CRO consultant who shares useful content

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Appendix: video transcript

Anatomy of a high performing PDP

I’ve helped many ecommerce businesses audit & improve PDPs, across a wide range of product types from fashion and beauty, to financial services and mobility aids. The solutions have one thing in common: defining a structure, the anatomy, based on a user mental model. This video summarises how this works

Steps to success:

Define primary & secondary audience: who are they, what are they like? e.g. beauty product targeting women 18-35 who want to look good but care about the quality and ethics of the products they buy.

Build a mental model: what questions do they need you to answer? What barriers are there to purchase? What content will tackle this?

Identify the buyer type: Alice Brown framed this nicely in a recent post where we discussed wording on CTAs: competitive or spontaneous buyers (want it now, good price) vs. humanistic and methodical buyers (benefits, outcomes) >> this helps you tailor the language.

Check the fundamentals are right:

• Breadcrumb trail but on mobile don’t kill space by having it at the top
• Clear, concise product title (SEO optimised - check the character limit)
• Add a subline for useful information to avoid overlong titles e.g. size, weight, best before date, warranty length, product SKU code
• Price is visible on page load ideally, show from or pre-select variant to show a price
• Show alternative payment methods are available e.g. BNPL with Klarna or Clearpay
• If subscription option, value prop is clear in terms of subscription period(s) and subscribe and save offer
• Product summary with bullets (key features / benefits) and quick link to full details
• Image gallery: quality lead image showing the product (varies by type e.g. food show packaged product on plain background, fashion show item on model or plain background)
• Video with thumbnail incorporated into image gallery
• Visually engaging variant selection, avoiding long drop down lists: pills work well on mobile, icons and swatches find but consider accessibility ++ make it sound like a sales assisted interaction e.g. Select your fit / Add pockets
• Well written long description with all info you need to make a purchase decision, pay attention to readability scores?
• Sections for key information, can be tabbed or expandable accordions e.g. electrical with Product Details / Features and benefits / Tech Spec / Reviews
• Clear Delivery & returns info & indicative costs e.g. free delivery on all orders over ￡50, or free mainland UK delivery
• B2B: lead magnets >> book consultation, request callback, submit enquiry
• Expanded storytelling: for those who want the full story, extended content to highlight key features with paragraph copy and images or video (CPG brands do this well on retail partner sites)

Build in persuasion:

• UGC: customer reviews (show review text prominently not just rating snippet)
• FOMO Urgency and scarcity: overlays on main image for “Only 5 left hurry!” or “85 people looking at this now”
• Authority e.g in petcare, recommended by vets?
• Unity: trusted by more than 2,000 other pet owners like you

Add useful info prompts e.g. size guides, info icon for technical selections to provide helpful advice (mobility aid company offering chin protection as add-on to helmets: what’s the difference between options?).

• Live Chat icon can be shown on PDPs where it’s a considered purchase and the sessions to purchase are usually 2 or more, people might need help

Add navigation aids e.g. pinned nav bar when you stop scrolling or scroll back up with price, product title, option selected and main CTA / back to top icon.

Add product associations e.g. Fashion complete the look, beauty from the range or pairs well with, jewellery complete the set, electricals frequently bought together.

• Also can do other items from the range and set upsell options for higher price points

Add contextual browse abandonment e.g. for accounting software, this was speak to a product expert to find out how other companies like yours save hours with our software.

• Persistent feedback options with a simple question: How could we make this page even better for you?

Review: have we answered the questions / tackled reasons not to buy / framed the language consistently to talk to our key buyer type?