A website redesign often starts with colours, fonts and a new homepage. But some of the most useful improvements come from understanding what customers need before they feel comfortable buying.
Research gives us a few surprising clues. A perfect review score might be less convincing than a slightly imperfect one. Your first few reviews could matter more than the next hundred. And a page can perform better without looking any different.
These six findings are worth considering before your next redesign.
1 A perfect five-star rating might not be your best selling point
Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center found that purchase likelihood typically peaked when ratings were between 4.0 and 4.7 stars, then declined as ratings approached five stars.
The researchers suggest that perfect scores can seem too good to be true.
That doesn’t mean you should aim for complaints. It does give you a reason to show honest feedback instead of displaying only glowing testimonials.
A review that mentions a minor drawback can also help someone decide whether a product suits them. A jacket might be well made but heavier than expected. A bag might be ideal for everyday use but too small for a laptop.
Those details help customers make a more informed choice. The rating range is a finding from the products studied, rather than a universal target for every store.
2 The first five reviews can make a substantial difference
The same research programme found that products with five reviews had 270% higher purchase likelihood than products with no reviews.
That particular result came from a high-end gift retailer. It isn’t a promise that collecting five reviews will produce the same increase for your store.
But it suggests a useful priority: give products with no reviews some attention, rather than focusing every review request on your bestsellers.
Ask customers for honest feedback after they have had enough time to use the product. Display it where someone considering a purchase can easily find it.
Source for both review findings:
https://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/how-online-reviews-influence-sales/
3 A page that looked the same converted 33% better
Rakuten 24 tested two versions of a landing page for a month. They looked and worked the same, but one had been improved to load and respond more smoothly.
The improved version loaded 0.4 seconds sooner in a mobile test and had substantially less content movement while loading.
Rakuten reported 33.13% higher conversion and 53.37% higher revenue per visitor for that version.
Several performance improvements were made together, so we can’t attribute the result to that fraction of a second alone.
For a business planning a redesign, this is a good reason to check how the existing site performs on a phone. Heavy images, slow responses and buttons that move while loading deserve attention alongside the visual design.
Source:
https://web.dev/case-studies/rakuten
4 Product images were the first stop for 56% of test users
In Baymard’s usability research, 56% of users began exploring product images as their first action after arriving on a product page.
Your description might explain every feature, but customers may start by inspecting the photos.
Give them something useful to inspect: a clear overall view, close-ups of important details and enough image quality to zoom in properly.
For clothing, that might mean showing the fabric, seams and fit. For furniture, it could mean the finish, joins and upholstery texture.
Source:
https://baymard.com/research-articles/ensure-sufficient-image-resolution-and-zoom
5 42% of test users tried to judge size from the photos
Baymard also found that 42% of users attempted to understand a product’s size through its images.
Written dimensions are useful, but a number can be difficult to picture.
Show a bag being carried, a lamp beside a chair or a pendant being worn. Keep the dimensions available, and give customers a visual reference too.
This is a practical improvement to consider before commissioning an entirely new set of product photos.
Source:
https://baymard.com/research-articles/in-scale-product-images
6 A complicated checkout has cost shoppers their patience
Baymard reported that 17% of US online shoppers said they had abandoned an order in the previous three months because checkout was too long or complicated.
Its usability research also found that the number of fields customers must manage matters more than simply counting checkout pages.
Putting everything on one page won’t necessarily make it easier.
Review every question you ask. Is a phone number necessary? Can an optional business name stay hidden until someone needs it? Are errors explained clearly enough for customers to fix them?
Source:
https://baymard.com/research-articles/checkout-flow-average-form-fields
Try your own store before changing it
Before committing to a redesign, place a test order on your own website using your phone. Inspect the photos, look for reviews and work through checkout.
Use these findings to identify one change worth testing. Then measure whether it helps your customers complete their purchases and improves revenue per visitor. That gives you evidence to guide the next change.
