Crucial details about your store

Would you buy a car without knowing who made it?

What about eating a meal from an anonymous restaurant?

Or a tattoo from some guy on the side of the street?

Knowing about the product you're about to get is important but so is who you're buying from. Without that you risk getting a dud or even scammed.

The same goes for your store.

It's pretty oblivious you need specific product information on your product pages but information about your store is just as important. Even more so in some cases.

Beyond trust, there is basic functionality that every ecommerce store should have. Most Shopify themes include some but not all.

Business signals

The product page should include signals that this is a legit business. That'd be a name, address or phone number, ways to get help (chat widget, contact form, etc), and an about page.

While we're at it, let's make sure they are easy to find.

What I recommend are:

• Company name and logo in the header.
• Phone number for customer service in the footer.
• Address in the footer.
• Contact Us link in footer menu or header (depending on how much is in your main navigation) that includes phone numbers, emails, and mailing address.
• Link(s) to an About Page or Our Story or similar biography page.

In most cases, these are not something that by default shows up. You have to create the content and make sure it's easy to find.

Transactional signals

Once trust is established you'll need to include information about the potential transaction if the customer orders. Again, some can be directly on the page or clearly linked to.

• Shipping costs and time per product or linked to a central shipping page.
• Return policy per product or linked to returns page. Also any warranty offered and details.
• Clear and prominent Add to Cart button.
• Ability to get to the cart to review what's in there before checkout.
• Let's not forget about Merchant Center's requirements for landing pages.

Anti-bounce signals

Sometimes the product the customer is looking at isn't what they want. For those cases you want to give them options to prevent them from leaving the page.

• Alternative or complementary products. Ideally 3-5 similar products or collections.
• Links to the product's collections so the customer can browse without hitting back.
• When the product is out-of-stock, ability to subscribe to be notified when it comes back.
• If the product is discontinued, links to other product alternatives.

Combine these with plenty of details on your products and your customers will be well-informed when it's time to buy.