How and why you should test your product description pages

For UX design and research teams, the idea of testing an idea with users should be nothing new. But visual elements aren’t the only form of creative work that benefit from testing with real users. Written content—from tone and word choice to value proposition and content structure—is an equally important consideration for the user’s experience. Nowhere is this more important than in product description pages. This is what’s known as content testing. In this article, we’ll help you better understand content testing for product description pages and give you actionable tips for how to implement content testing at your organization.

What is content testing?

Content testing determines whether your target audience can find, understand, and comprehend your written content. Whether for a complex checkout flow, an ad, or a sales page, content testing should start early in the process of building your new experience and recur whenever new content is implemented. The goal of these tests is to pinpoint which words, phrases, and content structures resonate with users, ensuring that your message is clear and engaging.

Why is content testing important?

Testing copy on product description pages ahead of time enables you to create content that resonates with users, speaks directly to their pain points, and inspires them to complete desired tasks. By understanding what works and why, you can refine your content for maximum impact. 

You can then scale these insights to create repeatable best practices for your product description pages. Applying these insights across more digital experiences can provide improvements on important UX and business metrics. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the benefits early content testing on product description pages can have for your organization.

A better user experience

By testing different layouts, designs, and content, you can determine which elements make the page more user-friendly and engaging. This can lead to a smoother and more enjoyable shopping experience for visitors. Visitors with a positive impression are more likely to return.

Enhanced persuasion and conversion rates

Content testing helps ensure that the product description is clear, informative, and persuasive. This reduces customer hesitation and answers potential questions, leading to more confident purchasing decisions. An optimized product description page can lead to higher conversion rates. By identifying and implementing the most effective elements, visitors are more empowered to make a decision then and there.

Improved SEO and engagement

Search engines reward positive user experiences and optimizing content can significantly improve your rankings. This makes your product pages more discoverable for prospective customers. Testing keywords, headers, and descriptions for clarity can help identify the best SEO practices for your pages. 

Once a potential customer reaches your optimized product description page, they’re more likely to stay engaged and explore additional products or information. This leads to lower bounce rates on your website which, in turn, improves SEO further. 

Data-driven decision making

When organizations don’t have a means of validating their strategies, decisions get made based on gut feel. This leads to missed opportunities, wasted time, and lower performance. In the context of a product description page, testing  provides concrete data on what is actually working. That means you don’t have to do endless tweaking and discussion on the best way forward with your team. You can hear straight from users and quickly understand what needs to be tweaked. This informed decision making can be transformative across your organization and result in better experiences that stand out from the competition. 

Personalization for different audiences

Oftentimes, testing your content can reveal different preferences that can lead to useful personalizations for different types of customers. This allows for more tailored content that is more compelling for certain audience segments. If you have a product that is used by a diverse set of customer personas, creating different versions of the description page and content hierarchy can allow you to speak to more relevant value propositions.

How to test your product description pages

1. Choose a starting point

Before any testing begins, you need to ensure that your team understands how your product descriptions are performing. SEO data and UX metrics like clicks, click-through rate, conversion, and cart abandonment need to be crystal clear. 

You’ll then need to choose which product pages must be tested first. It might be a good idea to start with less important, lower-traffic pages to get a feel for testing before moving on to the most highly trafficked pages. You don’t want to overhaul pages already driving business before you know what you’re doing.

2. Create a test plan 

The next step is to create a test plan that outlines clear objectives. Make sure you identify key metrics for success. Implement qualitative and quantitative questions to gather the most comprehensive feedback. 

You’ll also want to clarify which variables of the product description you’ll be testing. Testing variables might include copy, design, navigation, forms, CTAs, reviews, images, and content hierarchy. It’s best to test each of these tweaks individually rather than all at once so that you can understand what’s actually making an impact. 

That means you’ll likely want to set up multiple tests that explore small, individualized variations. Once you start to see which variables are performing best, you can combine these learnings into one final variation that can be tested against your current version to validate the findings. 

3. Choose the right audience

When selecting the audience for your test, you want to make sure you don’t skew results by testing with different subsets of customers. For instance, a paid prospect will likely behave differently than someone who found your product description page organically. You’ll also want to consider where test participants are in their user journey. Are they just researching potential solutions or are they already familiar with your product and looking to make a decision?  

4. Run your test

Use an end-to-end testing solution like UserTesting to make recruitment, test design, and analysis fast and easy. Within UserTesting, you’ll have the option of leveraging pre-made test templates that can be catered to your needs. You can even get help creating a test plan and structuring your tests so you can ensure you get actionable results. 

Real-world examples of content testing

Amazon Seller Central

Amazon Seller Central leveraged UserTesting to gain a deeper understanding of the seller experience on their platform. The insights gained led to the implementation of targeted improvements that significantly enhanced seller satisfaction, reduced time spent on tasks, and contributed to a smoother, more efficient selling experience. This optimization not only increased seller retention but also drove higher engagement and sales on the platform.

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AAA Club Alliance

AAA Club Alliance faced the challenge of effectively communicating the broad value of their membership offerings. By employing UserTesting’s content testing capabilities, they were able to pinpoint which aspects of their experience resonated most with their audience. This led to a 30% increase in organic web conversions and a 39% lift in total revenue, demonstrating the powerful impact of optimized content​​.

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These examples illustrate some of the benefits content testing can create for product description pages. If you'd like to see more, just visit our customer stories page. 

Final thoughts

By leveraging real user insights, you can can create more engaging, persuasive, and effective content that drives conversions and enhances the overall user experience. Start with small tests, and improve your knowledge over time in order to build the perfect product pages that resonate with your audience.