Content on ecommerce categories - good or bad?

[Inevo]

We have a case with a client where they previously had content on top of their most important ecommerce categories. The content was well integrated and should in my opinion enhance the category experience, but after doing some A/B testing they proved to only decrease the conversion rates when sending traffic directly to those categories.

Around that topic I have two questions:

1. Is it a bad thing to put the content BELOW the categories?
2. I need examples of categories where content and products are very well integrated and enhances the category experience - any tips?

[Maayboli]

Nothing beats A/B testing.  You may have a great idea but ultimately A/B testing will prove if that works for particular site and customer flow.

1. It is not bad at all. But it depends on what you call content. Some content can make wonders and some may not. Reviews or Testimonials would work best. Do not do just for pure SEO but add value to user experience. I would not add just a keyword heavy text.

2. See the Best buy example below. They have content which helps to choose right cellphone and support plans. Also there is list of Top sellers. It is both merchandising and content simultaneously as helps to show user what is more popular.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/electronics/mobile-cell-phones/abcat0800000.c?id=abcat0800000

3. Keep in mind mobile shoppers. If your content is text heavy can turn off some customer depending on how it is showing up on mobile device.

Here is another example from newegg.com. They have added customer reviews at bottom. which very clever. This can help you decide at the same time adds keywords for SEO.

http://www.newegg.com/Gaming-Desktop/PromotionStore/ID-2125620?name=Gaming-Desktop

[Ray-pp]

Content that adds value to the user experience is never bad - more content, more reasons to rank, better information for the user to take action.

Ecommerce websites are more difficult to handle though - the goal is usually to convert to a sale and sometimes content can get in the way of that happening. If you've A/B tested and found that conversions are greater without it, then good for you! You've identified a barrier to your visitors and eliminated it for better conversions.

What needs to be weighed is the amount of conversions - does the content bring in more, new traffic and eventually converts? I.e. is the conversion volume greater with the content than without it. If no, then stick with the A/B test results.

Putting content down the page may help you rank, but is it helping your visitors? You don't want to shove content onto a page just because you think it belongs there - is it beneficial to the user? If no, can you put that content somewhere else where it is beneficial to the user?

Amazon is common SERP to beat, let's take a look at one of their category pages: http://www.amazon.com/Outlet/b/ref=sv_gb_3?ie=UTF8&node=517808

We see that they do include a small snippet of text at the top, to describe the category. Then they give the user what is expected, a lot of products to view; and at the bottom they have a longer category description (sometimes reviews and related category information). This is a common way to structure category pages. But, your market may be different so it may be worthwhile to brainstorm how your page structure would most benefit your users.