How to Create a Long-Form Product Landing Page that Converts
A trend over the last few years is a move towards long-form product landing pages. Instead of just listing the product, the price and a buy now button, these long, scrolling product pages include detailed product information, video, multiple product shots, points of differentiation, testimonials and reviews. They give prospective customers all the information they need about your product in one place, create a solid sales funnel and let you group your SEO terms together, which boosts your search engine visibility.
Here are some guidelines for creating an effective product landing page that educates and engages your customers.
When should you use a long-form landing page?
The long-form landing page is really for brands that want to differentiate themselves and their product. If you're offering a basic commodity and selling based on price, it probably won’t take hundreds of words to convince people to buy from you.
However if you have a niche or specialty brand, a long product page gives you the space to emphasize what makes you unique, setting your brand apart from your competitors and building trust with your customers.
Informative, well-designed landing pages also convey your brand’s helpfulness and expertise. Visitors linger longer on your pages and send Google the signal that you are a reputable website. If you currently have your product information strewn about your website, start looking for ways you can consolidate it onto your product pages — your bottom line will thank you.
Landing page principles
Most people skim web pages instead of reading them, so your product landing pages should beeasy to scan. Focus on breaking up the body of your page with clear, informative sub-headings, short paragraphs, lists, and charts. Presenting information in different formats will keep your audience interested.
Make sure your copy reflects your brand’s image. Speak to your target audience, and focus on how your product can solve their problems. Be clear and direct, not salesy – using too many superlatives or exclamation points can damage your credibility. Generally we got with a ”content is king" approach and write first, design after. Obviously you can always edit later.
The anatomy of a long-form landing page
One of the great things about landing pages is that they are flexible. There’s no one-size- fits-all formula that works for every product. Often we create a modular template for the landing page where the brand can fill in or remove modules as necessary. For instance, you might not have videos for every product so that can be displayed as needed. However, there are some best practices and rules of thumb which can be applied to most websites.
1. Product Name as Title
A common problem we see is brands that have gotten so embedded in their own terminology, they forget that the average visitor doesn't understand their great, trademarked product name. It's great to have your own naming conventions but make sure they're understandable to the outside world. Also, in some niches such as automotive or tech, long strings of numbers are common ways to identify products, whereas naming conventions in beauty or fashion tend to be imaginative and quirky. Make sure your naming matches to your brand's style.
2. Sub-header to Clarify
A sub-headline adds information — use it to add important details or selling points that the product name doesn’t touch on. Search engines tend to give extra weight to the words in headers so be sure to use any keywords.
3. Big, Beautiful Images
With beauty and lifestyle brands, great photography is more important than ever. Plan to include at least one large hero shot above the fold. Your image should let viewers get as good a look as possible at your product without being able to hold it in their hands. Use a simple, non-distracting background and let them zoom in to see details. Include the product at additional angles and make sure any color swatches are true to life.
4. Lots of Consistent Call to Actions
A long-form landing page should give readers multiple opportunities to buy your product. Place your first call to action button above the fold, so return or resolved visitors who already know they want to make a purchase don’t have to scroll all the way through the page.
Keep the verbiage simple and to the point, such as "Buy Now" or "Add to Cart." CTA buttons should be visually strong with high-contrast colors and a lot of white space surrounding them.
Be sure to include a final CTA at the bottom of the page for the detailed readers.
5. Video
Not every product page has to include a video, but it’s a good way to increase visitor trust and show your product in action. Plus YouTube is the world's second largest search engine so they can be a great way to get organic search traffic to your website.
6. Brief Product Copy
Include a nutshell version of your product description at the top of the page alongside the hero shot. It should explain the basics of your product – what it does, why it’s unique, and how it benefits the user in one to two paragraphs. This is useful for orienting visitors to the product without getting them bogged down in a lot of reading.
7. Authority-Builders
Build customer trust by displaying the logos of media mentions your product has gotten, the awards it has received, or endorsements from an industry expert. These can be key in getting visitors to slow down and take your site seriously.
8. Detailed description of your product
Use this section to talk about your product in detail and answer FAQs. Explain your product’s features and corresponding benefits in-depth. Include bulleted lists, comparison charts, clinical studies, statistics, infographics and any other interesting information you have on hand.
9. Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials and customer reviews are powerful tools for converting visitors who are still on the fence about buying your product. You can increase the trust factor of your testimonials by using videos (considered the highest value testimonials), or including photos of the customers alongside their quote (secondary value).
It’s okay to cherry-pick your testimonials, but don’t censor the user-generated reviews on your product page. Having a few negative reviews will actually increase prospective buyers’ trust in your business, especially if you respond professionally to your critics.
Encourage customers to contribute their own feedback on your product by embedding a review form on the page. Most likely you'll need to kickstart the reviews by offering past customers discounts or special promotions in exchange for their reviews.
10. Risk Reversal
For those buyers who are nearing the end of the page and still aren't sure, reminders of any risk-reversal you offer can be timely. For instance, do you offer free return shipping? No questions asked refunds? Money back guarantees? All these can help tip the scales as they near the last CTA.
11. Cross-selling / Upselling
Maybe this particular item wasn’t what your visitor was looking for, but they’re intrigued by your brand anyway. Add thumbnails of related products at the bottom of your landing page. If your products are similar, include a chart that distinguishes between them and makes it easier for buyers to narrow in on what they specifically need.
Are there add ons to the product they're looking at or are there products commonly purchased together (shampoo + conditioner, for example)? Include all these at the bottom of the page.
12. Mailing List
Even if they don't end up buying something this visit, don't let the conversation end there. Offering an attractive email lead magnet or a discount can get you their email address so you can continue the conversation and get them to return to the site.
I hope these tips help you understand the elements necessary to build more effective product pages. They should boost your organic traffic to your product pages, build trust once visitors are on the page, and boost conversions. Of course, if you need help with your product landing page design, reach out — we'd love to hear from you!