Why Static Product Pages Are Killing Your Conversion Rates

The days when a static product page consisting of a selection of professionally posed, shot, and edited photos alongside expertly crafted copy were optimal are long gone. Those types of product pages are simply no longer converting as well as they used to.

Instead, shoppers are looking for better insight into your products. They want more relatable and interactive content in a range of formats.

While product photos and descriptions are still required, you must make your product pages more dynamic to not only get ahead but keep up with the competition.

Social media and the rise of the short-form video format have changed the way customers engage online. Many eCommerce store owners have so far failed to embrace the dynamism and interactivity that customers now expect. If you fall into that category, now is the time to change course.

In this guide, we’ll cover how to make your product pages more dynamic so that they connect better with your target audience and ultimately boost your conversion rates. You’ll also find examples of some eCommerce stores that have successfully made their product pages more dynamic.

The Evolution of the eCommerce Product Page

For many years, eCommerce product page design best practice stated that professional photos, expert copy, and clean and sleek designs were required for the highest conversion rates.

While that was optimal until recently, the trends are now pointing towards more interactive content, as well as content produced more informally, that resonates better with audiences.

Highly polished, clinical content is out. Shoppers now prefer more organic, relatable content.

Shoppers want to see themselves reflected in promotional content. While content should still be aspirational, shoppers want to see people like them using your products and getting positive results.

This new style of dynamic content also acts as essential social proof for your eCommerce store. If shoppers can see your products being used successfully to help people like them achieve their goals, whether that’s healthier skin, a more flattering fit, or improved sleep, your pages will convert better.

As shoppers come in all shapes and sizes, your content also needs to be more diverse to reflect this. Playing it safe and appealing to the majority isn’t enough, at least not if you want to make your brand and its products attractive to a broader and more diverse audience.

Furthermore, attention spans are arguably shorter, especially when people are interacting with content through their smartphones. Due to this, shoppers are no longer prepared to read through detailed product descriptions, browse galleries of static visual content, or watch long-form video.

Instead, they want to see products in action, being used in the wild, presented similarly to the type of shortform video content they’re used to consuming on their favorite social media networks, such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat Spotlight.

One significant downside of shopping online compared to in-person shopping is that shoppers can’t touch, try, or interact with products in real life. However, dynamic content does an excellent job of bridging this gap by showing products in use, from the perspective of relatable people.

The best type of dynamic video content also answers questions shoppers might have about the product. This gives you a welcome opportunity to remove the doubt and objections that would otherwise prevent someone from buying the item.

How to Make Your Product Pages More Dynamic and Interactive

When it comes to solving the problem of static product pages killing your conversion rates, your focus should be on making your eCommerce content more dynamic and interactive.

The most effective way to achieve this is to add video content to your pages. You’ll get the best results from this by combining this type of content with shoppable video players. This approach lets shoppers watch someone use the product and then buy directly from the video player, or at least reach the checkout page with the item in their cart in just a few clicks.

When producing your dynamic content, don’t fall into the old ways of content creation. This means avoiding overly polished, sanitized videos that feel inauthentic, as well as professional-looking videos that are often shot using professional equipment, optimized lighting, aspirational settings, and professional performers.

Instead, think user-generated content (UGC) similar to what you’d find on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. Content that’s shot on a smartphone in selfie-style using a vertical format with captions and minimal, rough editing.

Thankfully, this content is much easier to produce than content with high production values you might have already added to your product pages.

When it comes to generating this type of content for your store, connecting with your customers and target audience is key. You can, of course, create this content yourself, but leveraging your community will help you acquire the diverse and relatable videos this approach needs to succeed.

While in an ideal world, your customers would spontaneously generate this content for you, you’ll most likely need to incentivize them.

There are many ways to encourage users to generate content around your brand. However, providing rewards and other incentives in exchange for video reviews of your products will reap the best results. Connecting with your customers on social media, using appropriate tags, and asking if you can repurpose their content featuring your products is also effective.

Tips for adding dynamic content to your product pages

To help you get started with this type of dynamic content, make sure it:

• Shows your products in use, demonstrating how they work and what they can do.
• Has an amateur aesthetic rather than high production values.
• Is short and snappy, conveying the core message in under 60 seconds.
• Includes a diverse cast of customers.
• Displays content in shoppable video players for increased conversions.

If you’re already feeling overwhelmed by this new approach to content creation and effective product page design, just start by replacing one static image on a single page with a more dynamic alternative.

Examples of Dynamic eCommerce Product Pages

Now you know why you should upgrade your static product pages and fix the declining conversion rates they’re responsible for, these examples of dynamic eCommerce product pages will provide you with plenty of inspiration and actionable insights for your store.

Loop Earplugs

On the product pages at the Loop Earplugs site, you’ll find a range of dynamic content.

Firstly, the product images are interspersed with videos that show the products being used and how the items have been constructed. These videos provide much more information than a static image ever could. They also effectively convey the quality of the product in a format that’s easier to digest than a block of text — something modern audiences definitely prefer.

Further down the page, you’ll find a small carousel panel that includes UGC-style content. These short videos, produced by experts and real users, provide valuable insights into the products’ capabilities and the experience of using them.

This UGC video content wouldn’t look out of place on TikTok and other short-form vertical video platforms. The videos feature the creator talking into the camera with captions highlighting the key points. Their unpolished aesthetic, with natural lighting and everyday settings, is typical of this type of content. This all helps to make it feel more genuine and relatable to potential customers.

Towards the end of the product page, you’ll also find a larger video player. This time, there’s content from a sleep expert, who provides extra information on why the products are beneficial and how they work. This content is more polished with professional lighting and a more formal setting, which is well-suited to the topics being covered, such as the science behind why the product is necessary.

The Loop Earplugs product pages are very well designed. They include not only dynamic content but all of the other ingredients of a successful product page.

The only way to improve this product page would be to make the video players shoppable so that visitors could add products to their cart directly from the video player.

Craft Club

Craft Club provides another excellent example of how to move beyond the static product pages that kill conversion rates.

A bold full-width section on the individual product page displays a video of the product in use, doing an impressive job of explaining how the item works.

The Craft Club product page also features a carousel of UGC-style content showing real customers using the products and some of the items they’ve created with them. Rather than just showcasing their products’ capabilities, the videos highlight the enjoyment and satisfaction customers get from using the product, and not just the final results.

If you want to show potential customers how anyone can enjoy your products and get great results, this type of content is highly effective.

To help boost conversions, some of the videos are shoppable. This allows visitors to add items to their cart directly from the video player, reducing distractions and streamlining the checkout experience by eliminating the need to navigate away or search for a button.

Bed Intentions

Bed Intentions takes a subtle approach to adding dynamic content to their product pages.

Shoppers have to click on a thumbnail to launch a piece of dynamic content rather than it autoplaying on the page. But once they do, the shoppable video player showcases the product in the familiar vertical shortform format that’s so popular on modern social media.

If you want to slowly experiment with overhauling your conversion-killing static product pages, emulating Bed Intentions’ approach and adding dynamic content in more subtle ways is highly recommended.

Rainier Watch

Rainier Watch has fully embraced dynamic content on its product pages. The “See it in action” panel of UGC is displayed just below the fold and above the text-based product description, making it hard to miss.

When a video is displayed, it’s presented using a shoppable player in a pop-up window. Adding the featured item to the cart only takes a few clicks, with no need to leave the player.

Further dynamic content has been added to the product page in the reviews area. There you’ll find a section of more UGC displayed in another shoppable video player.

Adding the item covered in the UGC to the cart only takes one click from the shoppable video player, removing as much friction from the shopping experience as possible.

If you want to reduce the risk of customers getting distracted on their way to adding an item to their cart, shoppable video players are a must.

Kosas

As soon as the customer lands on a Kosas product page, dynamic video content is displayed in a small floating window in the corner of the screen.

If a customer clicks on the video, it opens in a larger shoppable player. This feature minimizes the risk of distraction and reduces the number of clicks required to add the product to the cart and start the checkout process.

The Kosas product pages also feature a panel of embedded videos that autoplay when the page is loaded, adding more dynamic elements to the store.

As the dynamic content comes in the form of UGC videos, mainly from TikTok, Kosas is able to show its products in use by a range of creators. This approach effectively makes their products more relatable to a wider audience.

Not only do the UGC videos let customers see what impact the products have, but they can also get tips on how to use them successfully.

Ready to Embrace Dynamic Product Pages?

Static product pages are no longer enough. The internet has changed, and shortform, dynamic, relatable content is now what customers expect.

If your target audience is active on social media, failing to update your product pages to include the types of dynamic content they enjoy will create a disconnect between your store and the customers you’re trying to attract.

The good news is that creating this type of dynamic content is straightforward. The homemade, DIY aesthetic, combined with their short duration, means you can get started right away.

So why not grab your phone, pick up one of your best-selling products, and start shooting some short unboxing, walkthrough, tutorial, or review videos for your eCommerce store and social media profiles?

Next, start encouraging your customers to create video reviews, tag you on social media, and offer incentives for submitting UGC.

You don’t have to overhaul your entire online product catalog today. Start small by focusing on a few product pages and see what impact your new dynamic content has.