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Tortuga is a DTC travel backpack brand. A classic startup “scratch your own itch” case where the founders were fed up with existing products after a backpacking trip from the US to Europe and decided to create a superior solution.
In this teardown, I’ll have a look at their flagship product’s product details page and analyze what they’re doing right, and where there’s still room for optimization.
The hero section makes a good first impression thanks to the large, high-quality images, and sleek design of the right side of the page.
1. You can clearly see by the right side of the page that Tortuga targets travelers and backpackers as their audience. The most relevant details (maximum size travel backpack fitting into the overhead bin) are placed right below the title.
2. It’s not a cheap, impulse purchase, so shoppers can buy the product in four installments using Shop Pay.
3. As it’s pretty hard to visualize how big 35L or 45L is, Tortuga not only uses descriptive size names but also provides a convenient size guide that helps visitors make a decision.
Aside from specifications, there’s a ‘best for’ section with descriptions of which backpack is the best fit for what type of travelers.
And even a sample packing list so users can get a better idea of how much stuff each of the backpacks can load.
Back to the hero section.
4. Below the add to cart button, there are four bullet points and a description with further benefits relevant to their target audience.
5. Also, to remove FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), Tortuga displays three icons related to customer experience (shipping, returns, guarantee).
The image section does a really solid job at giving shoppers an overview of the product. Here’s what makes it so good:
There’s just one thing I’d improve here.
While there is a click-based zoom available, users can’t switch between images using their keyboard or by swiping in the zoom-in mode. They have to close an image, switch to the next one, and then open the zoom-in mode again. Not a perfect experience.
Scrolling down, we arrive at a two-column section where the left side displays the product’s specifications, and the right side showcases its features and benefits.
While at first sight, this looks fine, there are a couple of issues with this layout:
So it seems like this layout was used to save space on the page, which is not the best of ideas.
For most people, the default option is buying a $50 backpack. If you want them to shell out $300 instead, you need to properly justify this price point so that they feel good about their purchase.
For this reason, Tortuga shouldn’t be afraid to make this page longer.
My suggestion is to pick up where they left off in the hero image carousel and give each of the key features enough room (ideally their own full-width section) to properly describe them.
Also, adding high-quality close-up images would make shoppers aware that every detail of the product was taken care of to meet their travel needs. With the current layout, visitors have to use their imagination to picture how each of the features mentioned in the bullet point sections looks like.
Let me repeat it because it’s so important.
The amount of arguments you need to use to convince visitors to buy your product depends on its price point, complexity, and shoppers' level of familiarity with the solution.
And also, keep in mind that the sole amount of content you put on the page has an impact on how credible your brand looks to visitors.
After the two-column section, there’s a video that emphasizes how spacious and easy to organize the backpack is. While the video itself is solid, adding voiceover and subtitles surely wouldn’t hurt.
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The featured reviews section looks just like a copybook featured reviews section.
The reviews mention a specific feature or benefit that customers especially value about the product. Not just “great product, highly recommended.” Also, reviewers’ names and profile pictures are displayed to make the reviews credible.
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The cross-sell section below it is not executed properly though.
Instead of displaying a complementary product (their packing cubes) and explaining how it enhances the value of the products together, Tortuga displays an alternative product making shoppers decision harder. They now have to consider which of the two products is a better choice for them.
Aside from that, an 'add to cart' call to action is too direct considering it's a $225 product. It's not an impulse buy so people won't buy it just after seeing its name.
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Taking the Length Implies Strength idea further, here’s what Tortuga could add to their PDP to make it more compelling:
The highlights of Tortuga’s Outbreaker Backpack’s PDP are the hero image section with descriptions and feature callouts, as well as the comprehansive size guide making it much easier for shoppers to make a decision between the 35L and 45L product versions.
The biggest room for optimization is definitely in the body section, which is unnecessarily condensed, making it hard for Tortuga to properly justify the price point of their product.
And also, they're missing out on a cross sell opportunity by offering the wrong product.
