There are multiple strategies, but adding product sliders is the one we’re looking at here. You might also have seen them referred to as slideshows or carousels – in any case, they showcase your products in an interesting way for website viewers.
Sliders give you the opportunity to maximize space on your website by showing multiple products or messages in one spot. They can be a good way to capture attention and demonstrate to a new website visitor that your website has the products they’re looking for.
Here’s how you can use sliders on your WooCommerce site:
What are sliders?
Sliders are a design element added to a web page to showcase multiple products or messages in one slideshow display. They can come in the classic image slider look that has been around for years, full screen sliders and more.
One thing ecommerce store owners tend to love about sliders is that they’re relatively easy to set up and change around as needed. For example, your slider could be changed out to showcase new seasonal products or your holiday sale deals.
Sliders can also be used to promote multiple aspects of a business in one place on the website. For example, an online grocery store might use sliders to show the categories of products they sell, or talk about key characteristics – “locally sourced,” “organic,” “keto-friendly.”
What are the pros and cons of sliders?
Sliders aren’t for everyone and many businesses spend time debating whether or not to use them on their websites. If you’re not sure if they’re really for you, we’ve put together some pros and cons:
Pros of sliders
Sliders save space on your page. You can add several different pieces of content to the same piece of real estate, freeing up other areas for more important content.
Sliders are a great tool for any sort of “tour” display. For example, you might want to show what the same shirt looks like in every color, or, you might want to showcase a process, or how a product is used.
Sliders capture attention! They are a highly visual element and often one of the first things a visitor notices. You can make an immediate statement about your business.
Sliders do a great job of highlighting anything new or promotional for your website. For example, visitors will often hone in on headings that flash by on a slider, especially with attention-grabbing words like “new,” “sale,” or “win.”
Sliders make it easier to showcase several important products or messages in one place. Let’s say a new visitor is on your site and you really want them to know about the most important things that you do – a slider can do that job without them having to click or scroll around.
Cons of sliders
Website visitors aren’t always fond of sliders, especially if the settings aren’t optimized. For example, it can be frustrating if the image you really wanted to look at more closely flies by.
Sliders might be confused for advertisements. Website users have become accustomed to tuning out ads so may also tune out your slider.
Sliders can be overwhelming. Unless you keep them very simple, they can present too much information at once to the visitor.
Sliders that aren’t optimized (such as with appropriately compressed image files) can slow your page down. Slow pages equals visitors leaving!
How can you use sliders effectively?
There are plenty of people who are adamant you shouldn’t use sliders, no matter what. However, there are also many websites that use sliders effectively and see benefits from doing so. We’re not going to give a preference either way, but will say that sliders are something that you can easily test on your website. Do they make a positive difference? Negative? No difference?
Sliders tend to work best when you have a clear goal for them. Rather than creating confusion among customers, they should be used to highlight the story you need to tell. At the same time, make sure the slider is optimized to be useful for your website visitors. Slides that flash by when they really want to see them are frustrating, as are sliders that don’t work well on mobile.
For ecommerce stores, sliders can help to solve a common problem: how to highlight several key products. Shoppers often don’t scroll very far, and if you’ve got products you especially want to move, you need a way to highlight them that doesn’t take a lot of scrolling.
Sliders can also help shoppers to make quick decisions. An example of this is sliders on product pages that show the different variations of the product. Shoppers often have an idea of what they’d like, so if they’re able to click on the color and view the corresponding slide, it can help with their decision. This is one way you can use sliders very effectively as a customer aid.
A final important aspect of using sliders effectively is monitoring and measuring key data. Keep your eye on your analytics to gauge the impact of any changes you make. Optimization, at least in part, means adapting to the preferences of your customers.
How can you create sliders for WooCommerce?
To create sliders for a WooCommerce store, you’re going to need to choose a slider plugin. There are multiple different options, some of which you can find here in the WooCommerce extension store.
How should you choose? We recommend having a list of must-have features and finding the plugin that is a good match. Some of our top requirements are:
Design flexibility. You should be able to create a slider that fits in well with your store, rather than looking like an element that was stuck onto a page.
Mobile-friendly and responsive. If you’re going to use sliders, you must consider the many shoppers who are browsing on mobile phones. Sliders should enhance their experience, not hinder it.
Supports different layouts. The basic layouts are: Standard – A slideshow that displays several images at one time. Showcase – The main focus is on one image but you can see previews of others. Carousel – This displays two or more images at a time and users can cycle through them. Block – This features one slide with several different elements (such as text, animations, video etc.).
Scheduling features. If your ecommerce store has a need to change out sliders regularly, such as for limited-time sales, scheduling can be a huge help. It means changes can happen automatically, in case you can’t get there on time!
Customizable controls. You want to be able to set the tempo and layout of your sliders.
Thumbnail navigation. We think this is an important one for ecommerce product pages. You want customers to be able to skip ahead to the slide they are most interested in.
Design features. You might want animation, text or other design elements for your sliders.
Final thoughts
Love them or hate them, sliders can be an impactful addition to any WooCommerce store. They’re a great way to save valuable real estate and to showcase products or messages in an eye-catching way.
To use sliders well, you need a good plan, including goals for the sliders and monitoring of analytics. Don’t ever try to “set and forget” because it may be too late when you realize you need to make changes!
