Why you should use product labels on your Magento site

The idea of ‘product labels’ has been around far before eCommerce. Seeing a banner or tag labeled ‘New’ or ‘Sale’ in a shop is a simple and clear way to help customers make a decision on what to buy.

When done right, executing a successful labeling solution for your Magento website will result in an increased conversion rate.

Physical labels have transitioned perfectly into online retail for two main reasons. 

Firstly, customers are familiar with how labeling works – when they see ‘New’ or ‘Best Seller’ it feels like familiar messaging and creates a level of assurance. They understand what is being sold and that information helps them make a better decision.

The second reason is that customers can now browse even more products than ever before. This causes a natural problem where too many options can risk becoming overbearing so being able to help these customers by making it easier to find the products they’re looking for is going to result in a big win.

Using product labels can also help highlight features that the customer does not want, for example, one of our clients sells new and graded appliances. In this case, highlighting what state the washing machine is will be a key aspect of the customer buying journey.

Being able to creatively inform and educate each user is also key to help increase conversion rates. Using the right wording, highlighting key differences or showing the brands that you offer can all be achieved through labelling solutions.

Over the years we have found there is no specific one-size-fits-all because each client is unique, however, here are 4 principles to focus on when thinking about a product label solution.

1. Maintenance
We ensure that managing the labels is scalable and time-efficient. Using data and attributes is one way to make sure that the right labels are assigned to the right products. This also means that within a short period of time, specific marketing messages can be pushed (for example, Black Friday) based on rules, data or product types.

2. Visual
Icons, colours and fonts can be completely customised as it’s often an image that is uploaded. This gives maximum creative freedom to match the look & feel of your branding. Depending on what the product you’re trying to sell it can be an effective way to draw the eye and easily notice features that are relevant to you as a customer. Keep in mind that not overloading the customer with too many options is important, otherwise they’ll be ignored.

3. Mobile Friendly
The fundamental premise of any work done today is that it has to be mobile and tablet friendly. Any screen size should be able to adapt to the product labels that are being used across devices. Scaling these graphics in proportion with the image will ensure they’re being displayed as desired. They should be possible to show, hide or create variations between category list pages and product pages to suit the page design and content.

4. Upselling
The way in which you use the labels should be based on your business objectives, picking out which products are selling well, which ones you want to sell more, getting new ranges off the ground and so on. Having related products with labels can also be key for up-selling successfully.

By analysing what your customers are looking for and what your business needs are you should be able to prioritise the labels to be used across your eCommerce shop. 

According to Harvard Business Review, using the ‘Good-Better-Best Approach’ is a strategic tactic to pricing, and it’s clear that a similar principal can be used when looking at product labels. Having tiered options that perceives different levels of value can be great to achieve this approach.

If you are looking for innovative solutions and technical support to get this going (as well as many other ideas) then drop us a line and we can discuss how to increase your conversions through these methods.