Are You Doing Collection Pages Right?

On the surface, a collection page seems straightforward.

Put a bunch of items in a grid, the user picks the one that is right for them.

So why does performance vary so wildly?

Some PLPs advance users to a product page 70% of the time, others 35%, all on the same site.

That difference can result in hundreds of thousands of extra page views each month for larger ecom stores. The knock on effects to revenue per visitor are potentially massive.

What to consider with your collection pages

Having good collection page performance is a bit more complex than throwing up a template that looks good on a desktop device.

Here are a few questions we ask when crafting PLP strategy:

1) Are users "landing on" PLPs or "passing through"?

Are you actively driving traffic to collection pages?

Or, are users primarily landing elsewhere, then navigating through?

If it’s the former, we want to focus on orientation and trust more than if it were the latter.

2) How big or small are most collections?

If you primarily have broad collections with lots of SKUs (20+) it may be easier to implement quick filtering to guide users in the right direction.

If your collections tend to be single digits it is much easier to lean into badges (e.g., Top Pick, Best Seller, etc.) or featured product cards.

Fewer SKUs allows for more flexibility.

3) Does performance differ by device type?

If the same collections perform very differently on desktop vs. mobile (especially if we are looking at the same traffic source) there are likely responsiveness issues. Something that is clear on larger screens simply isn’t on a 390x844 resolution.

Let’s figure out what is most important to progression and find ways to seamlessly incorporate it on mobile devices.

What does that look like design wise?

We would be lying if we said there was a single path to success. Each store and catalog demands different things. However there are a few key patterns that tend to emerge:

→ Orientation upon landing is helpful

A clean title and a line or two of a subheading should leave no doubt about what users will find in the collection.

→ Simple above the fold experiences

Keeping the product grid visible above the fold on mobile induces scrolling, when the hero takes up the entire viewport you lose people immediately.

→ Safe choices are better than more choices

Providing the safety of review stars, number of reviews, badges, etc. all help to reinforce the safety of the crowd to an anxious user.

→ One goal per page

There are edge cases for “quick add” functionality. For most stores we see far better results simply driving users to a PDP for the full sales pitch versus attempting to shortcut that process.

The Product Discovery Payoff

Each of these elements can find you incremental gains in product discovery. In general, for every 2-3% increase you achieve in product view rate we see a 1% increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

Will it transform your business entirely? No. Can it increase ARPU by 10% in a quarter, absolutely.

Hungry for more deep cuts?

We worked with our friends at KnoCommerce and Stamped to provide next-level insights for Fractures in the Funnel: 2025 Ecommerce CRO Report.

Check out the report for free below ↓

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