Rachel Lawson | Product Designer

PDP Optimization

Methodology

I conducted a comprehensive audit of the above-the-fold experience to understand why product pages are seeing high bounce rates. The focus was on identifying barriers in the conversion pathway and points where users struggle to make purchase decisions.

Critical Findings

Conversion Path Issues

What I found: The buy box is missing an add-to-cart button—the single most important element for conversion. Essential purchasing details like pricing and availability are hidden below the fold, forcing users to scroll just to find basic information they need to buy.

Why it matters: When users land on a product page ready to purchase, they hit an immediate roadblock. There's no clear way to add the item to cart without hunting for it. This creates unnecessary friction at the exact moment when we have their highest attention and intent, leading to preventable drop-offs.

Information Architecture Problems

What I found: Users have to scroll to access fundamental purchasing information that should be immediately visible. We're making them work too hard to find what they came for.

Why it matters: High-intent users who know what they want are being forced into extra steps. Every additional action increases the likelihood they'll bounce. We're essentially hiding the "buy" pathway from people who are ready to convert.

Missing Trust and Value Signals

What I found: The copy and imagery don't do enough to build confidence or explain why this product is worth buying. Product benefits aren't clearly communicated, and we're not giving users the information they need to feel good about purchasing.

Why it matters: Users can't quickly understand what makes the product valuable or why they should trust it. Without clear benefits and trust signals, we're asking them to make a leap of faith—and most won't. This hesitation at the critical decision point is directly hurting conversions.

Business Impact

We're losing revenue from qualified traffic that's already interested. Users are bouncing before they even engage with the cart, which means we're bleeding potential sales at the top of the funnel.

Recommendations

Fix immediately:

Add a prominent add-to-cart button to the buy box—this is non-negotiable for basic functionality

High priority:

Move key purchasing information (price, availability, shipping) above the fold so users don't have to hunt
Add visible trust signals like reviews, ratings, and guarantees where users can actually see them

Important but secondary:

Rewrite product copy to lead with clear benefits rather than just features—help users understand "what's in it for me"
Improve product imagery to support decision-making and showcase quality

Before & After

PDP optimization before and after comparison

How the Changes Were Implemented

Design & Stakeholder Alignment

Based on the conversion path analysis and bounce rate data, mockups were created in Figma to address the critical above-the-fold issues. These designs focused on restoring the add-to-cart button to the buy box, repositioning essential purchasing information in the primary viewport, and integrating trust signals where users could immediately see them.

The mockups were presented to key stakeholders with supporting evidence from the audit—showing where users were dropping off and how the proposed changes directly addressed those friction points. This data-driven approach helped secure buy-in by demonstrating the direct connection between design decisions and conversion improvement potential.

Engineering Handoff

Once the designs were approved, detailed requirements were documented to translate the conversion optimizations into actionable development work. JIRA tickets were created for the engineering team, prioritizing the critical P0 fix (add-to-cart button) separately from the higher-complexity changes like content restructuring and trust signal integration.

Each ticket included clear acceptance criteria, expected user impact, and priority levels to ensure the engineering team understood both what needed to be built and why it mattered for conversion rates. This structured handoff maintained the strategic intent behind each optimization while giving the team flexibility in implementation.

Note: The visual designs shown in the mockups differ slightly from the final published product.