As e-commerce websites have matured, the Product Listing Page, or PLP, has become increasingly important. The PLP was once seen as a page to help users find what they were looking for by directing them to an appropriate Product Details Page, or PDP.

Now, the PLP goes beyond this by allowing users to buy what they want straight from the page itself and bypass the PDP altogether, helping simplify the sales process and increase conversions.

This makes optimising the PLP crucial. When doing so, it’s important to understand the role the PLP plays in the optimisation journey. For example, how do visitors use the page and how can you help them accomplish what it is they want to do?

Here are some examples of how we have accomplished this for e-commerce businesses.

Use the Von Restorff Effect to capture users’ attention

It’s common for retail businesses to want to sell certain products faster than others due to seasonality, stock availability, profit margins, etc. A fast fashion retailer wanted to do the same thing with certain garments.

However, they were unable to highlight on their website the specific garments they wanted to sell faster. These key products did not stand out from the other products on the PLP, so visitors were not persuaded to click on them and then go and view the PDP.

The retailer tried using product badges such as ‘Most Popular,’ ‘Trending,’ ‘New In,’ etc., but their target audience had become immune to them and the badges no longer worked.

To establish user behaviour on PLPs, we conducted detailed research including analytics, session recordings, visitor surveys and biometric customer research. We discovered the following:

• The key audience (females aged 15-25) ignored filter, sort and promotional badge functions.
• Users scrolled through pages and gave each product equal viewing time. Nothing stood out to them.
• Users were “waiting for something to catch their attention,” one user told us.

To draw visitors’ attention to the key products the retailer wanted to sell, we needed to find a way to make them noticeable and more prominent. To do this, we relied on the psychological technique of the Von Restorff Effect, which predicts that an item that “stands out from others” is more likely to be remembered.

On the PLP, we replaced images of models wearing the garments with video content of models wearing the garments. This made the products more noticeable and memorable than the static PLP images.

Sales for these ‘video promoted’ products outperformed the same products without videos by over 10%. The success of the experiment demonstrated that it is possible to shift user attention to key products and lift their sales.

Make functions stand out and easy to understand

A function on a website or app is intended to be utilised and interacted with by users in order to make their purchase journey smoother. But what happens when the function is labelled in words that users don’t understand or identify with?

This health and beauty retailer had an ‘Express Buy’ option on the PLP. The objective was to allow the user to buy directly from the PLP rather than having to visit the PDP, following the Simplicity Principle.

However, Google Analytics, heatmaps, session recordings and user lab sessions showed that this function was not being used adequately. The problem was that buyers didn’t notice the Express Buy button — they just glanced over it. The button’s visual hierarchy seemed to have been lost. And when users did see it, they were confused by the terminology ‘Express Buy.’

We changed the term ‘Express Buy’ to ‘Quick View’ and made it more prominent on the PLP. We also added additional elements and information to the Quick View pop-up to help the user make the purchase and go directly to the basket.

Increasing the visibility and comprehension of the button increased sales and resulted in 3.6% more visitors making a purchase using the Quick View option.

Use WYSIATI and Simplicity to make filters more visible

One of the main jobs of the PLP is to help visitors find the product that’s right for them. ‘Sort’ and ‘Filter’ options are two common elements that help users achieve this objective.

This retailer had a filter option on their PLP, but it was not user-friendly. Research showed that engaging with the filter actually annoyed visitors because it was positioned at the top of the page and disappeared when visitors scrolled down.

So every time users wanted to change the filter, they had to scroll back to the top of the page. This glitch was causing friction in their purchase journey.

We relied on the psychological principles of WYSIATI (What You See Is All There Is) and Simplicity to create a new variation for this page by making the filter “stick” to the top of the page. We believed this would make it easier for visitors to use and interact with the filter. This, in turn, would make it easier for them to find the product they wanted and thereby improve their buying experience.

This variation outperformed the control page, lifting Sort and Filter usage and increasing conversion rates.

Don’t underestimate the importance of the PLP

The PLP is a key page in the user buying journey so don’t underestimate its importance. The PLP has two key roles: First, to help users find what they want. And second, if functionality allows, to let users buy what they want straight from the page, simplifying the buying journey and bypassing the PDP altogether.

Optimising the PLP can improve your customers’ search and discovery experience and simplify their purchase process. This can yield significant revenue growth for your business.

Read more details about these three case studies and many others in our eBook, The Experimentation Handbook. Download your free copy here.

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