Product page

Audit a product page against peer-reviewed findings and return prioritized changes with expected effects. Layout, counts, and choice structure make a product feel wanted and worth the price before the copy does.

When to use

• A user shares a product page (URL, screenshot, or description) and asks what to change
• Designing a new product page template, or deciding how to show variants, stock, social proof, CTAs, or price

When not to use

• A cart, checkout, or payment form → checkout-ux
• Writing the description → product-copy; briefing photos/video → product-visuals
• Discount framing → discounts; setting the price → pricing

Inputs

Collect, or state your assumption:

• The page: URL (fetch it), screenshot, or element-by-element description
• Product and price; whether it is naturally bought in multiple units (consumables, cans, candles)
• Number of options and how many are sold out
• View and purchase counts and the views-to-purchase rate, if tracked
• Company size

Classify the product first. Hedonic = bought for enjoyment, pleasure, or the experience (chocolate, fashion, decor, travel, spa, perfume). Utilitarian = bought to do a job, judged on function and value (detergent, appliances, insect repellent, tools, accounting software). If it's mixed, decide by what the buyer is optimizing for at the moment of purchase.

Procedure

1. Social proof numbers. Show a view or purchase count (purchase intent up to ~58% higher). Views while the numbers are small; once views run into the thousands (e.g. 15,600), switch to the purchase count, because large view counts are hard to process. If views→purchases ≥ 5%, show both. Change what the badge counts; don't remove it.
2. Sold-out options. Visible and marked sold out (sales up to 31% higher — measured among shoppers who hadn't settled on a specific option). Keep the sold-out share at 10–30%; above that, hide some or restock.
3. Quantity CTAs. Multi-unit product → Buy 1 / Buy 2 / Buy 5 buttons instead of "Add to cart" (+14% conversion average, sales up to +28%). Start with three; test quantities.
4. Choice partitioning. More than a handful of options → steps of 2–5 similar options, technical before aesthetic, big decisions first. If one attribute alone has more than 5 values (8 colors), group them by similarity (warm / cool / neutral) and let people pick the group first. Never one grid of every combination.
5. Add-on pricing. Rounded prices with the same ending as the base ($22 → $32), or a flat rate.
6. Price position. Below the product image (reads ~9% lower; store sales +35.2%).
7. Copy (depth in product-copy). Three claims max; best features only; intuitive units; plain language; science wording only if utilitarian. †
8. Visuals (depth in product-visuals). Hedonic → video; models look away; first-person hand touching the product; a shine; graspable product toward the right; products spaced apart; complementary props.
9. Trust. Small business → say so (unless high-tech). Extraordinary warranty when the category is known but the brand isn't.

Rank by expected effect × distance from the rule. Cart and payment-step issues are out of scope here; Depth: checkout-ux.

Output

Close with what the page already does right.

Common mistakes

• Deleting a large view count because it "looks fake" — switch it to purchases.
• Greying out sold-out options only for email capture — the point is the quality signal; watch the 30% ceiling.
• Splitting a variant grid but leaving 8+ options in one step — 2–5 per step.
• Ranking price position last as cosmetic — it moves perceived price and sales.

Quick reference

† No primary citation on file for this rule — a practitioner tip, not a measured finding.

Evidence and effect sizes: see reference.md.