ProStores Creative Content and Conversion Best Practices
Here is a bit more background on why we are collecting this information from you. And some best practices that can help you improve your store conversion rate. 
 

Store URL 
 
Be sure to have a store url that is short and easy to remember.
 
If you recently signed up for ProStores you may still qualify to receive a new domain name free of charge for the first year – or for a transfer of one you already own – Contact technical support to learn more.  You can also “point” a url you already own at your ProStores store – learn more.
 
Store Logo
 
Make sure you have a store logo that isn't too big. The logo size should not be so big as to push important information below the fold.

Store Slogan
 
Since you know your business best, please take a little time to come up with a three line description for your store that ideally captures what is unique about your product offering or business.

If you are doing pay-per-click campaigns, follow these simple rules to improve the effectiveness or use of your advertisements:
  • Never use an exclamation mark in the Headline
  • Use no more than one exclamation mark in Line 1 and Line 2
  • Do not use the words “The Best” or “#1”
  • Do not capitalize all the letters in your advertisements

Conversion Best Practices
 
Your product list page - the page that displays lists of products when some one clicks a category or searches on your storefront - as well as your single product detail page within your store are just as important to optimize for content and design in order to improve conversion.

Once product information is optimized then spend time on your cart and checkout flow and then the overall design and navigation of your store. No doubt, it is important to optimize your entire store with both eyes on conversion – however, we would suggest following the flow of the shopper to give you guidance on where to spend your time first.
 
Product List Layout and Information

·         Make sure all products have appropriately sized thumbnail and product detail images. All thumbnails should be the same size across the store. Do not use the same size image for both thumbnail and large image. Make sure image quality is good (not washed out, poorly cropped, unprofessional, etc).
 
·         Use a product list layout that flows with the rest of your site design and navigation. In most instances image on right with the brief description and price/add to cart on left in a single column list is the best option.
 
This option allows you to take full advantage of the product brief description to potentially give buyers enough information on this page to make a purchase decision.
 
Sometimes two-column or three-column product list layouts are appropriate – and can give you a very appealing design that allows the buyer to scan over more products on a single page with less scrolling. The trade-off is that including a brief description that is too long on these layouts often yields a cluttered page.
 
If you are using a multi-column layout, try to limit the brief description to no more than 100 characters.
 
In all cases, do not vary the font type, color and size across description fields or products/categories – stay consistent with your overall design. Finally, as pointed out above, ensure ALL of your thumbnail images are the same size and small enough to fit within your design perimeters.
 
·         Use a product detail page layout that ensures the Buy and Add to Cart buttons are above the fold (shopper doesn’t need to scroll down or left/right to view it). A safe choice is the layout with the Buy/Add to Cart button in the upper right with the product image is on left and the description below both



 
 
·         If importing your products from eBay (as listings) try to go through them and remove the various links, counters, selling tools, and other elements that are specific to sales on eBay but do not apply to sales on your ProStores web store.
 
It’s a good idea to move your shipping, return, payment and other policies to a single Customer Service or Policies page on your ProStores web store.
 
We also highly recommend that you update your text typeface, colors, and sizes in your product description that might have been carried over from importing your eBay listings to be consistent with your overall ProStores store design.
 
·         Practice constraint when creating your top level categories as well as subcategories. In most instances 20-30 top level categories is the max you will want to use with most designs. If the shopper must scroll up/down extensively to view the full list of categories and the footer (information at the bottom of your store) then you likely have too many categories in your store.
 
Consider using a design theme with collapsible sub-categories – all of the newer “Contemporary” themes have this built in. 

Product images

Use appropriately and uniformly sized images that present your product in a professional manner. 

Product thumbnail images
Product thumbnail images appear on the product list or search result pages.  A product list page may look disorganized and unprofessional if it includes images of multiple sizes.  Additionally, depending on your layout they could push content off the right side of your store requiring buyers to scroll to see all of the page content if they are too wide.  A good rule of thumb is to make all of your thumbs the same size - or at least the same width.   ProStores can automatically generate uniformly sized thumbnails from your product images based on your preferences when the images are uploaded through the Upload Images options.  Check or modify your settings by go to Store Administration > Product > List > Product Preferences.

A maximum width of 200 pixels is a good guideline for thumbnail images if you are using a single column or 2-column layout. If you are using a 3-column layout on your Product List page, then shoot for 100 to 150 pixels max.

Product detail images
Product detail images appear on the product detail page.  This is usually the page where a buyer makes the "buy" or "pass" decision.  The quality of the product image may have a significant impact on that decision.   Images that are blurry, dark, washed, cluttered, too small, too large, or unprofessional in any other manner may negatively influence the buyer’s decision.

A maximum width of 400 pixels is a good guideline for product detail images.  This size provides enough detail without overpowering the page and possibly affecting the page layout for the buyer.

ProStores can automatically generate uniformly sized product detail images based on your preferences when the images are uploaded through the Upload Images options.  This process also provides an option to create uniform sized thumbnails at the same time. Check or modify your settings by going to Store Administration > Product > List > Product Preferences. 

Image quality
Use images that are clear, sharp, with proper lighting and a clean background.

Review these photography tips and tutorials for additional information.

Additional Tip: Avoid using special characters ("-" and "_" are ok) or blank spaces in your image file names.
 
Shopping Cart and Checkout
 
·         Review your checkout flow and ensure there are NO BROWSER SECURITY WARNINGS. Practice caution when loading third party code and images to your header and footer pages – these pages are used both in your store and in your cart/checkout flow. Loading unsecure images and code causes browsers to throw security warnings to shoppers and to display the security lock icon as unlocked or with a red explanation point. A good way to avoid security warnings caused by unsecure images is to host any images you want to include on your store with ProStores instead of a third party host – and be sure to use SSML tags to display the images. Learn more. 
 
·         Enable estimated shipping to be displayed on your cart. Most internet shoppers are savvy and expect to be presented their shipping charges before they checkout. If you are using product level shipping this is enabled automatically. If you are using common (storewide) shipping then you must enable this display (found on the Shipping Preferences page in store admin).
 
·         Verify SSL security is enabled on your checkout pages - “Enable SSL on order process” should be checked (Store Settings > Payment Prefs > Storewide Preferences > Security)
 
Every ProStores account includes SSL secured checkout pages by default.  ProStores provides a shared SSL certificate for use on checkout pages.  Merchants also have the option to purchase a dedicated SSL certificate if they do not want to use the ProStores shared SSL certificate.  In either case, you must have this option enabled to protect your buyers. 
 
·         Provide buyers the option to checkout without creating an account.  Enable the anonymous checkout option.  Select the “Provide customers the option to sign in” option as the “Checkout Options:’ setting.  (Store Settings > General > Shopping Cart and Checkout Options > Checkout Options)
 
·         Practice caution when loading images, text and other items at the top of the cart that could cause the contents of the cart and/or the ‘Checkout’ button to appear below fold.
 
·         Evaluate from the shoppers perspective whether it is a better experience to be taken to the cart directly when adding an item or to stay on the same page with a message confirming the Add to Cart action.
 
If the Add to Cart confirmation icon in the Design Theme or Page Layouts you’re using is hidden or at the bottom of the page it might confuse the shopper such that they don’t know for sure if the item was added to the cart or not.
 
To be safe, select the “send buyer to cart” option so that they know for sure they were successful in adding the item to their shopping cart. (Store Settings > General > Shopping Cart and Checkout Options > Add to Cart Button)
 
·         Evaluate the display of cross sell/up-sell in your cart but ensure all of your products have thumbnail images and that those images are the same size and small enough so as not to break design of your store.
 
Be sure to test and review this – enabling this feature with inappropriately sized images could actually harm your conversion rate.
 
·         Determine if having a purchase minimum is appropriate given the products you sell and their price points. If you sell a number of products at $10 each but have a checkout threshold set of $40 will that cause shoppers to leave your store never to return?

Store Design
 
·         Review your entire store with your screen/monitor resolution set at 1024x768, the most common screen resolution used. Look for any pages, design elements or content that cause you to scroll left/right – edit whatever you find to eliminate the need to scroll left/right. A common cause is that your images are too big.
 
·         Review your store logo and make sure it isn’t too big/small and that the design theme and colors you’re using are coordinated with the colors of your logo.
 
·         Chose a theme that has a collapsible category/subcategory navigation if you have more than 15 or so categories or reduce/condense the number of top-level categories you display in order to improve store design and navigation. All of the new “Contemporary” Design Themes have this built in.
 
·         Chose a font style and stick with it throughout your store – don’t use too many font sizes or different colors, stay consistent with the overall theme of your store.
 
·         Chose a theme that has a search box and displays a shoppers cart contents and checkout links prominently in the header (top or left nav). Again, all of the new “Contemporary” themes have this built in.
 
·         Practice restraint when loading images onto your storefront or theme – too many and shoppers will leave, too few and they’ll leave.
 
When adding these images make sure they are appropriately sized so as not to break your design – make sure you review EVERY page of your store for this.
 
General/Other
 
·         Ensure you have a reasonable amount of information on your About US, Policies, FAQ, Location, etc pages if you have these turned on. Turn these pages on if they are not already on. (Store Design > Design Settings > Page Text > Change)  Shoppers who have never purchased from you before need information on who you are and how you do business. Providing a phone number and physical location or mailing address can help build shopper confidence. 
 
Additional Resources

·         Store Design and Conversion Tips
·         Offer Anonymous Checkout Option
·         Eliminate Browser-generated Security Warnings
·         ProStores Template Store Holiday Promotion
·         Verify PayPal Standard Payments Account Settings
·         Webinar - 16 Steps to Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment
·         Photography Tips and Tutorials