Usability Review: Product Image Rich Media
Many good ecommerce Web sites know that the product details page can have a material say in whether customers stick around — and even whether they come back. Customers like to learn as much as possible about a product before buying, and product details pages can allow customer to explore a product.
One of my favorite examples is the product details page for the Amazon Kindle. As you can see below, this page includes zoom features for the images, as well as a video about the Kindle.

On top of that, the Amazon Kindle product details page offers additional rich media that allows you to spin the Kindle 360 degrees in a pop-out window.
Another example I like is this product details page from Blue Nile. The zoom feature comes up where the original picture was, rather than as a pop-up. I think I like this better. It’s great for a jewelry ecommerce Web site, since it includes a small ruler to the right of the zoom image so that you can see actual size.


Another good example of the different views feature is this, from Gap. You can choose different views to see how the clothing would fit. For a clothing ecommerce Web site, this is an excellent feature, since it gives the customer an idea of how the clothing might look when actually worn.


One product details page that I was disappointed in is this one from FYE. All this product detail page offers is a zoom option to look at the video game cover closer. A video game is an excellent opportunity to include rich media, such as a brief video. Even different stills from game play would be an improvement. While it is important to include sections on requirements and features, and it was good of FYE to do so, I was hoping for a little bit more to give me a better idea of what the game looks like.

Here are some more examples of product detail pages. Which are obviously interactive? Which are patently boring? Which ecommerce Web site would you be more likely to purchase products from?
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Posted by Miranda | February 13, 2008 | 9 Comments


