Aren't good photos enough to sell a product?

Photos show what the product looks like. They don't say whether it fits the buyer's space, whether it works with what they already have, or what they will find in the box. Those things need to be written down.

What must a product page say?

Whatever a good salesperson would say if the customer were in the shop: dimensions with something to compare them to, what it works with and what it doesn't, what is in the box, and how the variants differ. And when the product is not suitable.

Won't I lose sales if I say when a product isn't right?

You only lose the sale that would have come back as a return. A buyer who reads that something won't suit them goes looking for the right one. If you have it, they find it with you.

What does the law say about the product description?

Before a distance purchase, the trader must tell the consumer the main characteristics of the goods, to the extent appropriate to the medium and to the goods. In Greece this is set out in Article 3b of Law 2251/1994, and across the EU in Article 6 of Directive 2011/83/EU. For your own case, ask a lawyer.

Why write the information as text and not inside the photo?

Because everyone can read text: the buyer on a phone, the screen reader, Google and the answer engines. A dimension written only on an image often doesn't exist as far as machines are concerned.

Where do I start if I have hundreds of products?

With the products you sell most, and the ones that bring you the most questions or returns. That is where every missing answer costs you most often.

E-shop product pages: what the customer asks that the photo cannot answer

Sunday evening, on the sofa. Someone is looking at a wall shelf in your e-shop. The photo is lovely: wood, good light, three books and a plant on top.

But he isn’t thinking about the light. He is thinking about the wall above his desk. Will it fit? Will it hold the photo albums he wants to put on it? Are the screws included, or does he need a trip to the hardware shop as well?

The page says: “Solid oak wall shelf. A modern design that suits any space.”

None of his three questions has been answered.

Three things happen when the page doesn’t answer

In a shop, he would pick the shelf up, turn it over, ask the salesperson. In an e-shop all he has is the page. When the page doesn’t answer, one of three things happens.

He leaves. He closes the tab and looks for the same shelf elsewhere. If another shop lists the dimensions, he buys there, even at a slightly higher price. You usually don’t find out, because he leaves no trace beyond a visit that ended.

He asks. He sends a message or phones on Monday. That is the good scenario, but it has a cost: someone on your side stops what they are doing to answer something that could have been written down. And the next customer will ask the same question.

He buys the wrong thing. The shelf arrives, it is shallower than he thought, the albums don’t fit. He asks to return it. Someone pays the shipping, the product perhaps comes back scratched, and the customer remembers your shop for the wrong reason. What applies to returns is covered in “Returns: the part nobody designs until it happens to them”.

Of the three, the third usually costs the most. And it is the one a page with the right answers prevents most directly.

What buyers ask when they can’t hold the product

The questions change from product to product, but they usually fall into five groups.

Will it fit? Dimensions in centimetres are necessary, but not enough. Few people can picture what 18 centimetres of depth means in practice. A point of comparison solves it: “holds standard-size books, not photo albums”.

Will it work with what I have? A spare part, printer ink, a phone case, a filter, an accessory. Here buyers don’t want “compatible with most models”. They want to find their own model on a list, or to read that it isn’t there.

What will I find in the box? The screws, the cable, the charger, the instructions in their language. Anything not in the box, if the page didn’t mention it, feels to the customer like something missing from the order.

How do the variants differ? When the same product comes in three sizes or two versions, the page has to say what changes from one to the next, and who each one is for. Otherwise customers pick at random, or pick the cheapest and are disappointed.

When is it not right for me? The question few pages answer. Which is why it deserves its own section.

Say when it isn’t right for them

It sounds odd for a shop to say when someone shouldn’t buy something. In practice, it is one of the most useful things a product page can have.

Let’s look at two examples, before and after.

The shelf. Before: “Solid oak wall shelf. A modern design that suits any space.” After: “Solid oak wall shelf, 80 cm long and 18 cm deep. Holds standard-size books, not photo albums or large art books. Screws and wall plugs for brick or concrete walls are in the box. Plasterboard needs special plasterboard plugs, which are not included.”

The ink. Before: “High-yield ink, compatible with printers in the series.” After: “Fits only the printers on the list below. If your model isn’t on the list, it won’t work, even if the name looks similar. You’ll find the model on the label at the back of the printer.”

In both examples the second version rules some buyers out. Exactly the ones who would have sent it back. Customers who read that something won’t suit them don’t leave angry. They look for the right one, and if you have it, they find it with you. And when a page admits its limits, people find it easier to believe the rest of what it says.

The law already asks for it

The product description is not only a matter of sales. Under Article 3b of the Greek consumer protection law (Law 2251/1994), before a consumer is bound by a distance contract, the trader must inform them of the main characteristics of the goods, to the extent appropriate to the medium and to the goods themselves. The provision comes from Article 6 of Directive 2011/83/EU, so a corresponding obligation applies across the European Union.

A photo and two vague phrases are unlikely to cover the main characteristics of a product the buyer cannot see up close. For exactly what your own case requires, ask a lawyer.

Written as text, not inside the photo

Many shops have the information, but put it on an image: a table of dimensions, a photo of the back of the packaging. A buyer with good eyesight, on a large screen, might read it.

The customer on a phone, though, has to zoom in to make out the numbers, and often doesn’t bother. Someone using a screen reader doesn’t get it at all, because for them an image without alt text is a blank, as we explain in the article on accessibility. And Google and answer engines such as ChatGPT don’t reliably read it either. When someone asks “which ink fits my printer”, they usually answer from pages that write the answer as text, and tend to recommend whoever writes it clearly. More on how they choose in the guide to answer engines.

The same information, written as text, works for all of them at once.

You already have the questions

You don’t need to guess what is missing from your pages. Your customers tell you every day.

Every message asking “will it fit…”, every call asking “does it work with…”, every return marked “not what I expected”, is an answer the page didn’t give. If you note these questions down somewhere, even in a notebook, within a month you will have the list of what needs to be written, and in what order.

Start with the products you sell most, and the ones that bring the most questions or returns. That is where every missing answer costs you most often.

The page is your salesperson

In a shop, a good salesperson knows what customers will ask before they ask it. In an e-shop, that role belongs to the product page. The photo brings the customer this far. The text decides whether they buy, and whether they keep what they bought.

If you would like a second look at your pages, send us through the form the address of your e-shop and the question you hear most often from your customers. We will look at the pages of the products that matter most, tell you which answers are missing, and how to write them so that customers, search engines and answer engines all read them correctly. This work is part of website development and improvement.

The whole picture: this article covers one part of a larger subject. If you are after the whole of it, from the platform to returns, it is in the guide to your e-shop.

The photo doesn't tell them if it fits