A product page that sells answers every question a shopper would ask in person: clear photos from every angle, a searchable name, a GST-inclusive price, shipping cost and timing before the cart, specs, genuine reviews and a plain returns policy. A shopper standing in your store can pick the product up, turn it over, ask you a question and see the price on the tag. On a product page, they can’t do any of that. Every question they’d have asked in person needs an answer on the page, or they leave to find it somewhere else, and they often buy it there.
This is what we put on a product page, roughly in the order it appears on a phone screen.
1. Photos that answer questions
The main image sells the click. The rest of the images close the sale. A good product gallery usually has:
- A clean main shot on a plain background, consistent across the whole range so category pages look tidy.
- Every angle that matters: back, side, underneath, inside, the label.
- A scale shot, in a hand or next to something familiar, so people can judge size.
- A shot in use, on a person, in a kitchen, on a shelf.
- Close-ups of texture, stitching, finish or anything that shows quality.
- Each colour option photographed, not just one with a swatch.
Phone photos can work for some products if the light is good, but for most shops this is where professional product photography pays for itself. Consistent lighting and backgrounds make a small shop look established.
Compress the images properly. A gallery of eight 5MB photos will make the page crawl on mobile data.
2. A name and price that make sense
Name the product the way someone would search for it. “The Maya” means nothing to a stranger. “Maya linen shirt, short sleeve” tells them what it is, and it’s the wording people type, which is the starting point for SEO on a shop.
Show the price including GST. Under Australian Consumer Law, if you show a price to consumers you generally need to show the total (single) price, including GST and any other compulsory charges, as prominently as any part-price. The ACCC has guidance on displaying prices. Most Australian shoppers expect GST-inclusive prices anyway, and a price that jumps at checkout is one of the quickest ways to lose a sale.
If you offer buy now, pay later, a small line under the price showing the instalment amount is fine. Don’t let it overpower the actual price.
3. Shipping costs and times, before the cart
This is the one most small shops get wrong. Shoppers want to know two things before they add anything to the cart: how much will delivery cost, and when will it arrive?
Don’t make them go to checkout to find out. Put a short line right under the add to cart button:
Free shipping over $100. Otherwise $12 flat rate Australia-wide.
Dispatched from Ballina within 2 business days. Usually 3 to 7 days to metro areas.
If you have a shipping policy page, link to it from here as well. If you offer local pickup or local delivery, say so. For a regional business it’s often a real selling point.
4. The add to cart button, and the options
Size, colour and quantity options sit directly above the button. Make them easy to tap on a phone. If an option is out of stock, show it as unavailable rather than letting someone select it and get an error.
One clear button. “Add to cart” is fine. You don’t need to be creative here.
5. A description that gets to the point
Start with two or three sentences on what it is and who it’s for. Then the details, in a format that’s easy to scan.
Before:
Our beautiful handcrafted bowls are lovingly made with passion and attention to detail, bringing a touch of coastal charm to any home.
After:
A wheel-thrown stoneware bowl, about 16cm across, sized for soup, salad or a big serve of pasta. Glazed in our matte sea-salt white. Dishwasher and microwave safe. Each one is made by hand in our Lennox Head studio, so size and glaze vary slightly.
The second one answers four questions the first one didn’t.
6. Sizing and specs
Put the facts in a simple table or list: dimensions, weight, materials, capacity, compatibility, what’s in the box, care instructions. For clothing, a size guide with actual measurements in centimetres, and a note on fit (“runs small, size up if you’re between sizes”) does more than any size chart.
If you have a large range with the same spec fields on every product, this is where your web developer should set things up so the specs pull from product data automatically. We cover how that works in dynamic content in Elementor Pro.
7. Reviews
Reviews on the product page help people decide, particularly for anything over about $50 or anything they can’t try on. Show them close to the description, with the star rating near the price.
Keep them genuine. The ACCC treats fake reviews, reviews written by staff or family, and hiding negative reviews as misleading conduct. A few honest four-star reviews mentioning a small downside are more believable than a wall of perfect fives anyway.
If you’ve only just launched and have no reviews, leave the section off rather than showing “0 reviews”. Ask your first customers with a follow-up email a week or two after delivery.
8. Returns, plainly
Shoppers want to know what happens if it doesn’t fit or arrives broken. A short line near the button (“Change of mind returns within 30 days. See our returns policy.”) and a clear, readable returns page do the job.
Be careful with wording. Under the consumer guarantees, customers are entitled to a remedy if a product is faulty, not as described, or not fit for purpose, regardless of your store policy. Signs like “no refunds” are not allowed. You don’t have to offer change-of-mind returns, but if you do, say clearly what the conditions are.
None of this is legal advice. For your own situation, check the detail on the ACCC website.
9. Answers to the questions shoppers ask
Look at your emails, Instagram DMs and the questions people ask at markets. Each of them belongs on the product page or in a short FAQ under the description. The common ones:
- Will it arrive by a certain date (Christmas, a birthday, an event)?
- What’s it made of, and where is it made?
- How do I care for it or clean it?
- Does it come gift wrapped, or can I add a note?
- What’s the difference between this and the similar one?
- Is it in stock, or made to order?
- Can I pick it up?
If you answer the same question by email more than twice a month, it should be on the page.
What to leave off
Popups that appear before the page has loaded. Auto-playing video. “Customers also bought” carousels above the description. Social share buttons nobody uses. Countdown timers that reset every time the page reloads. All of them push the important information further down and make the page slower.
Before you launch your next product
Open one of your product pages on your phone and pretend you’re a stranger who found it on Google. Could you buy it confidently without sending a single message? If not, the gaps are your to-do list.
If you’re still choosing a platform, our WooCommerce vs Shopify comparison is the place to start. And product page templates that cover all of this are a big part of the stores we build through our Shopify and e-commerce service.