A PrestaShop product page that sells: before and after on one product
A PrestaShop product page sells when it answers the customer's questions straight away. What is it, what does it look like from every side, how much does it cost with delivery, when will it arrive and can it be returned. You fix five things: the name, photos with descriptions, the short description by the price, the long description, and delivery and returns under the price.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for PrestaShop store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 5 min read
What does a customer look for on a product page?
Answers to the questions they would ask a sales assistant in a physical shop. The Baymard Institute has been studying online shopping for years. In its review of product pages it points, among other things, to photos that show the product's scale and an estimate of the total order cost near the buy button. It also adds returns information in the main part of the page.
Google says the same thing from the search engine's side. Its guidance on helpful content encourages content written for people, with first-hand knowledge, not for the search engine. A description copied from a wholesaler, identical in ten stores, doesn't meet that.
What does a page look like before and after the fixes?
Let's take one product from the Lanterns category, as it came from the supplier.
| Element | Before | After | Where it is changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | LAMP-NR-40-BLK | Nora lantern, black, 40 cm, metal | product content |
| Short description | empty | two sentences: for the terrace and garden, holds a candle up to 7 cm | product content |
| Long description | a list of specs from the wholesaler | size, material, whether it can take rain, how to clean it | product content |
| Photos | one, on a white background | cover, a photo with a candle, a photo on a terrace for scale | product gallery |
| Image descriptions | empty | name, colour and view for each photo | product content |
| Title and description in Google | same as the name | name with a feature and a short reason to click | product content |
| Delivery and returns | only in the terms | one line under the price | store design |
Most of this table is text you can fix without a developer. Only the last row needs a theme change, because it is a new element on the page. The product data for Google, such as price and availability, is usually generated by the theme itself. It is worth checking that it is correct against Google's guidelines for product data.
What most often spoils a product page in PrestaShop?
Things the owner doesn't see, because they know the product by heart. The first is a description copied from the wholesaler. Ten other stores have the same text. Google has no reason to show yours in particular, and the customer learns nothing new.
The second is combinations. The default combination is sold out or has a surcharge. The price on the category list then doesn't match what the customer sees once they open the page. The third is missing delivery time information. PrestaShop lets you set a separate message for products in stock and products available to order, but many stores leave the fields empty.
The fourth is photos without scale. A lantern on a white background could be 20 cm or a metre. One photo on a terrace or in a hand answers that question better than a table of dimensions. The fifth is a buy button hidden under a long description on a phone. That problem lies in the theme, not the content.
How to improve a product page step by step
On one product, before you touch the whole catalogue.
- Choose a bestseller. The change will reach the largest number of customers.
- Read the page as a customer. Note every question the page doesn't answer.
- Fix the name. The name a customer would type into a search engine, with the most important feature.
- Write the short description by the price. Two or three sentences on what it is for.
- Fill in the long description. Answers to the questions from point 2.
- Add photos and their descriptions. Especially a photo that shows scale. We write about image descriptions in the piece on image alt text in PrestaShop.
- Show delivery and returns under the price. One line instead of sending people to the terms.
Legal requirements are a separate list. Manufacturer details under the GPSR regulation you usually add with a module, such as the GPSR module from X13 (Polish-language page).
How to go through a product page in a conversation with the chat
You pick the ready task Product page that sells, or write the request in your own words. Your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) reads the page, lists what gets in the way of buying and proposes changes as a before and after.
You: Review the Nora lantern page and tell me what stops people buying. Fix the texts.
Your chat: The page has a name with the supplier code, an empty short description and one photo without a description. There is no delivery information by the price. I suggest:
I'll add the delivery line under the price in the theme if you turn on the Theme switch.
You: I approve the texts, the theme later.
Your chat: Saved. You can undo the changes from the change history.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”old version: Name: LAMP-NR-40-BLK
new version: Name: Nora lantern, black, 40 cm, metal
old version: Short description: (empty)
new version: Short description: A metal lantern for the terrace and garden. Holds a candle up to 7 cm across.
old version: Image 1 description: (empty)
new version: Image 1 description: Nora lantern, black, front view
The review and proposals work in TellMyShop Free, without saving. In TellMyShop Pro the chat saves the name, descriptions and image descriptions as soon as the licence is active, with no switch. Theme changes, such as the delivery line under the price, need the Theme switch. You turn it on separately in the module panel for 24 hours, and the chat always changes theme files with a backup copy. The chat won't take photos, but it will add them from your links. Three typical tasks are described in the use cases improving the pages of 20 bestsellers, delivery and returns information under the price and product image descriptions. Details on the pricing page.
Questions and answers
Which products should I start improving first?
The ones that already sell or get many visits. Improving a bestseller's page works straight away on many customers. The page of a product nobody visits can wait. The chat can list your best-selling products from recent months and start with them, one product at a time.
How long should a product description be?
Long enough that the customer doesn't have to ask. The short description by the price is two or three sentences with the main benefit. The long description below answers questions about size, material, use and care. The length comes from the product, not from a word count for Google.
Will the chat change the look of the product page?
Yes, in TellMyShop Pro after you turn on the Theme switch. It is off after installation. You turn it on in the module panel for 24 hours, and it needs a database backup made the same day. A copy is made before every change to a theme file, which you can restore. The page texts, meaning the name, descriptions and image descriptions, the chat changes without a switch, as soon as the licence is active.
What can I do with this in TellMyShop Free?
The whole review. The ready task Product page that sells in TellMyShop Free reads the page, lists the problems and shows each proposed change as a before and after. It saves nothing. Saving those changes, always after a preview and your approval, needs TellMyShop Pro.
Does the product page have to show manufacturer details?
In many cases, yes. The EU General Product Safety Regulation, GPSR for short, requires the details of the manufacturer or responsible person to be given with the offer. In PrestaShop this is usually done with a separate module. Check the requirements for your products, as they depend on the product category.
PrestaShop is a registered trademark of PrestaShop SA. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic PBC. ChatGPT and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. TellMyShop is not affiliated with these companies.