Project Insights
Designing for trust and confidence: A UX-led product page redesign
19 Feb 2025
UI Design | Research | Ecommerce | CRO
When designing online shopping experiences, building trust and confidence are key to turning visitors into customers. This is particularly important on the product page, where most of the purchase decisions on an eCommerce site happen.
In this article I talk about a product page redesign I carried out for a global fashion eCommerce brand, how user research helped us uncover key trust barriers and gaps in brand communication, and how a UX-led redesign improved clarity, credibility, and conversions.
The research: Uncovering the barriers to purchase
To understand why users hesitated to buy, we analysed customer behaviour, attitudes and feedback through mixed methods:
• Literature review
• Customer service interviews
• Analytics review
• Expert review
Our research surfaced three key trust barriers that were preventing conversions:
Finding #1: Users didn’t see the brand’s value
Our literature review of focus group reports and survey data revealed a major gap: while loyal customers valued the brand’s craftsmanship and natural materials, new visitors had no clear reason to trust or invest. The product pages weren’t communicating the brand’s unique value, or the company's excellent customer service reputation, making pricing feel unjustified.
Finding #2: Incomplete and inconsistent product details created uncertainty
Through our analytics review, we identified high drop-off rates at key decision points – such as high bounce-rates on product pages, users viewing a product but not adding it to their cart, and users abandoning their cart before initiating checkout. Customer service interviews confirmed why – shoppers were confused by missing or conflicting product details, leading to an increase in inquiries and product returns.
Finding #3: Trust signals weren’t visible enough
Our expert review highlighted another issue: essential trust signals – such as customer service scores and service guarantees – weren’t positioned prominently. Users were looking for reassurance but weren’t finding it at critical moments.
The UX Strategy: Building trust and clarity
The insights from the research gave us clear guidance on what actions we needed to take to improve the product page.
Actions to improve product page UX:
#1: Strengthen brand value communication
#2: Improve product information clarity and consistency to support decision-making
#3: Make trust signals more prominent to provide reassurance
To achieve this, we implemented a multi-layered approach:
Refined product storytelling
We improved the visual hierarchy the layout to ensure new visitors immediately understood what made this brand unique – its craftsmanship and premium, natural, materials. We also collaborated with the copywriter team, transforming product descriptions into brand narratives that better communicated the value.
Enhanced product information architecture
We standardised product details and added more information for easier decision-making. We also worked with the photography team and included photos of close ups, showcasing the high quality of the material and design.
Strengthened trust signals
We strategically placed trust signals – reviews, guarantees, and policies – where users needed them most, turning hesitation into confidence.
Testing and refinement
Finally, we ran A/B tests on layout variations and messaging before launch to refine the design.
Trust Signals: Showcased the high TrustPilot score.
Brand value: Communicated British-made quality early on.
Product clarity + Brand value: Increased the number of photos, including close-ups of the high-quality material and key product details, such as buttons and seams.
Trust Signals: Highlighted the free returns and exchanges; added phone number to customer service; included information about delivery – all to provide reassurance.
Brand Value: Highlighted the key selling points of the product early on.
Product Clarity + Brand Value: Summarised key product features in bullet points – easy to scan and read.
Product Clarity + Brand Value: Updated product details with a stronger story and brand narrative.
Product Clarity: The existing layout hid information about the product in an accordion design – a navigation pattern that performs poorly and is easily overlooked. We replaced this with an open layout to ensure users wouldn’t miss important details, such as sizing information, which was a common topic in customer service calls.
Product Clarity: Added information about the model, to give users a better idea of the sizing.
Brand Value: Added a banner to highlight information about the high-quality materials.
Trust Signals: Highlighted the company's excellent services and reputation, providing additional reassurance.
The outcome: Increased user confidence, improved brand messaging, and more sales
Following the implementation of our new design, we observed:
✔ Higher conversion rates, especially among first-time visitors.
✔ Lower bounce-rates on product pages.
✔ Fewer customer service inquiries related to product details.
The power of UX: Building brand trust and driving conversions
To give users a good online shopping experience and encourage them to buy, the product page need to provide them with the right info at the right time. Through research-driven design we fixed trust barriers, told a stronger brand story, communicated brand value, and empowered users with the information and reassurances they needed to make confident purchase decisions.