What Is A PDP In Ecommerce? [Explained]

Last updated on November 28th, 2022

Starting an online business can be tough because you are constantly learning new technical features and strategies you may have never heard about before.

I felt the same when first stepping into e-commerce business and I really wish I had access to insightful resources to help me understand what my website needed to boost sales. 

One thing a lot of people ask me about is PDP. Some people say they’ve never heard of it before and are not sure how it can help their business, others are simply unsure how to write one. 

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Here, I am going to go through what a PDP is and share my process of writing one for an e-commerce website.

You can use it as a guide for writing your own PDPs or simply to help you better understand what they are and how they work – whatever works for you! 

What Is A PDP?

PDP stands for Product Detail Page. 

It’s a type of web page found on e-commerce websites that describes a product. This information includes topics such as price, color, features, and anything relevant that the customers will want to know before they make a purchase.

PDPs also include images of the product, shipping information, and a section for reviews from previous customers. 

To access a PDP, a consumer will need to select a product while browsing. This will take them to the web page where they can learn more about the product and also add it to their basket for checkout. 

The Benefits Of PDP

PDP can be a crucial element on whether or not a sale is made. This is because they provide consumers with all the information they need when it comes to deciding whether or not to purchase a product. 

They feature product descriptions which are a type of copywriting. This means that they are persuasive and are written to encourage a consumer to make a purchase. As a result, a product description found on a PDP can increase the chance of a sale. 

These product descriptions are also a great opportunity to include keywords to help boost your website’s SEO optimization (see also, ‘How to Boost Your SEO by Using Schema Markup‘).

SEO optimization helps search engines like Google trust your website and view it as an authority on a topic or area. According to a report from BridgeEdge, SEO drives over 1,000% more traffic compared to social media! 

Keyword research is an important part of SEO as it helps search engines understand what your website offers, and matches them to search terms used by its users.

According to a survey conducted by Search Engine Journal, 49% of marketers believe that organic searches have the best return on investment compared to other marketing channels – and I have to agree!

This shows the impact keyword research has – and why e-commerce businesses should use PDP to fit some in. 

So, e-commerce businesses can use product descriptions for both copywriting and SEO optimization. But these are not the only benefits I have found when using PDPs. 

PDPs can also help e-commerce businesses work out which products underperform.

This is because PDPs have a notoriously high bounce rate compared to other key pages found on websites. While homepages have an average bounce rate of 10-20%, PDP bounce rates are often above 50%.

However, e-commerce businesses can use these rates to see which products are resulting in sales and which ones are being viewed but quickly discarded by consumers.

So, PDPs also offer important statistics for analytics that e-commerce businesses can use to make informed decisions regarding their products. 

If the high bounce rate for your PDPs are something you would rather eliminate entirely, then I have found that recommending other similar products helps redirect visitors to other pages on your website. This helped reduce high bounce rates for some of my PDPs. 

PDP VS PLP

One mistake I always used to make was mixing up PDP and PLP because the initials are so similar. So, here I’ll clarify the differences between them so you avoid mixing them up too! 

PLP stands for Product Listing Page and is a different type of web page which displays all the products available. It quite literally lists the products on a page. Here, customers can use filters to select certain categories they want to browse objects in.

This can include color, price, style, brand, and availability. 

For example, if you went to a popular e-commerce website like Amazon.com and searched for ‘cycling gloves’ – the page that shows you the results of your search would be a PLP.

Alternatively, you can browse by categories from the menu like ‘Best Sellers’ or ‘New Releases’.

By selecting these categories, you will be taken to a PLP and shown a range of different products.Selecting on one of these products will take you to the PDP for that particular product. 

These two are very easy to mix up when you first start out in e-commerce but I found that once I knew what each letter stood for, it was much easier to remember the differences. 

How I Design A PDP

A lot of people have asked me in the past for advice when it comes to structuring and writing a PDP. Common questions include what elements should there be, how many images, do they have to bring up tax and shipping fees, etc. 

To help out, I will be going through how I design my PDPs. 

Disclaimer: this is just my process for writing and structuring a PDP. You don’t have to follow this process step by step or use it at all – this is just me sharing my process so those who want some guidance can use it. 

Title 

Of course, everything needs a title – and it’s important to add one for each PDP so your customers know exactly what they are looking at. 

Understanding what makes a good title for your PDP is very easy. All you have to do is clearly state what the product is and try to keep it simple.

Not only is this for your customer’s sake, but for search engines too as they tend to use the title of a PDP for the SERP title. 

However, I’ve noticed that Google has been relying less on title tags and ‘rewriting’ title tags. Sometimes, it will ignore the PDP’s title altogether and write its own SERP title for the PDP.

According to Ahrefs, Google will use the H1 tag a majority of the time (50.76%) when it ignores the title tag. So, I’ve started using a H1 title in the product description so Google doesn’t mess up the SERP title. 

Product Description/Bullet Points

I went over the importance of product descriptions earlier when talking about the benefits of PDPs.

The facts still stand – they inform the consumer of important product details which influence their decision to purchase, plus they’re great for optimizing your website for search engines and help you include plenty of keywords your target audience are looking for. 

So, every PDP I add to my e-commerce websites has a product description that uses copywriting.

I add a few lines about the price of the product, purpose of the product, the materials it is made from, and mention if there are any varieties available either in size or color. 

Bullet points are great for quickly informing the reader of key points and important information.

So, using them in a quick product description for important features of the product is great for clearly displaying information to the consumer. However, I don’t rely on them too much – I find they can look too unprofessional for some business’ brands. 

I like to try and get a balance between bullet points and a copywritten product description paragraph.

Usually, I include a few bullet points next at the top of the PDP with a more in-depth, paragraph further down beneath other elements like the product image but above any review sections.

This way, customers who are in a rush can quickly read the bullet points, but move onto the more in-depth product description if they are interested in the product. 

Product Images

PDPs also influence a consumer’s likelihood to make a purchase by featuring images.

Featuring product images helps the customer have a better idea of what the product is and what it looks like. In fact, 75% of online consumers use product photos to help them decide on a purchase. 

A survey from Salsify found that 60% of US online consumers needed an average of three or four images of a product. So, I try to reach this average when adding images to a PDP. Any less, and I’m afraid that customers may not want to purchase. 

Reviews

A report from Statista found that 36.4% of online shoppers in 2021 read between 1 and 3 reviews before making a decision regarding their purchase.

This is up from 35.8% in 2019, showing that more consumers are relying on reviews. So, I believe that it’s important to make sure that customers can leave and view reviews on a PDP. 

I like to include a clear star rating towards the top of the PDP, usually underneath the brief product description and bullet points.

Next to it, I include a link to take visitors straight to the review section further down the PDP. This is so visitors specifically looking for the reviews can skip straight to them, while those who are just browsing still have an idea of how other consumers rate the product. 

I also add the option for reviewers to post their own images of their products.

I mentioned above why including images in a PDP is important but a study in 2020 showed that nearly two thirds (62%) of consumers are more likely to buy a product if they view customer photos as well as professional product photos.

Reasons why included that customer photos could highlight something that wasn’t obvious, had more confidence that the photos and reviews were accurate, and that they liked to see the product ‘in action’ prior to purchasing.

So, I give reviewers the ability to add their own photos to help boost sales (see also, ‘What is Funnel Hacking‘). 

Mobile Friendly PDPs

There’s no denying that mobile e-commerce is on the rise. In fact, 82% of internet users in the United States have shopped online by using their mobile device.

In another Google survey, 59% of shoppers said that being able to shop on their mobile device was an important factor in deciding which places to purchase their products from. This means that it’s a good idea to try and make your PDPs as mobile-friendly as possible. 

I always try to make my websites mobile friendly because so many people browse the internet on their phone daily.

According to Statista, there were 4.32 billion unique mobile internet uses in 2021 alone and that number is projected to grow in the future. So, it’s likely that someone who comes across your website is using a mobile device. 

Call To Action (Add To Basket/Wishlist)   

This is another no-brainer feature found in PDPs. 

They all need to give the consumer the ability to actually purchase the product and this comes in the form of a ‘call to action’ (CTA). A very basic CTA used in e-commerce businesses is an ‘add to cart’ button.

However, I also like to add a ‘wishlist’ option – a collection of products a user has saved to view later because they are interested in buying the product but not at that specific moment. 

According to a Google survey, 40% of shoppers believe that their shopping experience would improve if retailers offered a wishlist.

As I want my customers to have the best shopping experience possible on my websites (even if they don’t actually buy anything), a wishlist is a must for me. 

Final Thoughts

So, that’s what a PDP is in e-commerce, and how I personally structure my PDPs. 

I hope you have found this article insightful and helpful. If you have any questions or want more clarity, please feel free to reach out!