Standing out on the digital shelf for sports and outdoor brands starts with telling your product story. Brands that use enhanced content, also called rich media, A+ content, or below-the-fold content, on product detail pages (PDPs) can see sales increase by 10% across categories.
Sports and outdoor products are technical — and are often seasonal or lifetime investments. When consumers don’t have a sales associate beside them to answer questions and build confidence, enhanced content features like videos, comparison charts, and image galleries can help convert online sales.
Inadequate product information and unclear details will deter 58% of consumers, according to the Salsify 2020 Consumer Research Report, making engaging content experiences essential.
3 Winning Sports and Outdoor Brands
Here are three winning sports and outdoor brands with outstanding PDP examples that instruct, guide, and help consumers feel more confident in their purchases — which allows these brands to build brand loyalty and drive sales.
1. Rawlings
Rawlings on Amazon uses A+ content to nail an engaging product experience. Even before consumers reach individual product pages, the brand has an aspirational and exciting landing page where consumers can shop by category and collection.
Maximize Your Star Power
Because celebrity athlete endorsements and sports brands go hand-in-hand, leverage your connections to highlight your product’s quality and bring the product’s detail pages to life. A simple image or endorsement quote goes far. You likely already have the creative assets in-house and ready to use on the PDP too.
- Better: Action shots of the product in use
- Best: Boosting the experience with familiar celebrity images and endorsements
Source: Rawlings Amazon
Educate Consumers With Detail Shots and In-Depth Descriptions
Make the consumer feel like they have the products in their hands with up-close, detailed product shots. Filling an image gallery with photos of the leather grain, webbing, and stitching, shows the consumer the thoughtful construction and quality materials that regular product shots can’t always capture.
Adding more thorough descriptions below each image also further informs the consumer.
- Better: Image galleries
- Best: Product shots and descriptions that make the consumer feel like the product is in their hands
Allow Consumers to Shop Your Products by Use
One way to optimize the use of comparison charts is to allow customers to shop by use. Rawlings indicates three main uses in their header on their baseball PDP – recreational, practice, and game use. In their comparison chart further down on the page, a more direct suggestion for use overlays the product’s image.
- Better: Comparison charts
- Best: Including suggestions for end-use that add value to your products
2. Shimano
Shimano uses rich media on Walmart to help shoppers understand the nuances of their products, which appeal to a wide range of skill levels within the fishing and cycling categories.
Get Technical
Sports and outdoor shoppers are looking for the product that will enhance their game and use essential product details to decide what to buy. Tell them about the physics of your product. Use industry terms to explain it. Discuss patented technology. Invite consumers to feel like they are on their way to becoming a pro.
- Better: Thorough product explanations and plentiful feature bullets
- Best: Educational and empowering language that teaches and builds
Highlight Brand Values With Editorial Images
For many shoppers, sports and outdoor products are part of building memories. From family camping and fishing excursions to teaching their children to ride a bike for the first time, brands can use editorial images to help users imagine the products being used in real life.
- Better: Detailed images that highlight the products in use
- Best: Image galleries that highlight scenes that convey brand values and use cases
Source: Shimano Walmart
Reiterate Your Brand Statement
Consumers may have heard of your brand, but may not know what you stand for. Use the PDP to expose and reinforce your brand’s mission or positioning statement. While PDPs are often used to highlight the product and sell its features, marketing your brand will build familiarity and loyalty.
- Better: Including your brand tagline and imagery
- Best: Showcasing your brand’s purpose and mission
3. Dynacraft
Dynacraft’s Amazon landing page smartly shows lifestyle and end-use product shots, and gives shoppers a taste of price points. This combination offers consumers an immediate sense of the brand and its catalog.
Enlist Fit Guides to Help Minimize Returns
Many parents don’t know where to start when buying a bike for their kids. Many may not even know how to measure their kids or prospective bikes to get the best fit. In addition to including a fit or size guide, present instructions on how to take measurements.
- Better: Listing out a product’s various sizes
- Best: Showing buyers how to measure the product and ensure the right fit the first time
Source: Dynacraft Amazon
Tailor and Simplify Language to Meet Your Shopper’s Needs
Parents want ease, especially when it comes to a product for their kids. Use wording and include information that highlight a product’s usability and simplicity. If even the most robust product page or instructions seem complicated, you risk losing the sale.
- Better: Product information that guides
- Best: Details targeted to meet the needs of the buyers and users
Highlight Key Features Multiple Times in Different Places
A lot of skimming happens along the shopping journey. If information is only outlined in the bullets, it might get overlooked. Echo key facts and features in the bullets, product detail description, and throughout the enhanced content.
- Better: Product bullets and a product description
- Best: Product bullets, a product description, and more detailed information in the enhanced content space
Download the 2020 Salsify Consumer Research Report to learn more about what modern shoppers want from your PDPs.
