Turning Questions into Sales: How to Create an Effective FAQ Page For Your Store

Your FAQ page isn’t just there to address common questions about your business. That’s only part of it.

An FAQ section done right can be an effective addition to your website that serves several functions, including: 

• Alleviating purchasing anxieties that your product page copy doesn’t directly address
• Relieving some of the burden on customer support by publicly answering common questions
• Improving SEO and site navigation
• Earning trust by demonstrating product expertise and explaining your business model
• Delighting customers by creatively answering their questions
• Proactively preventing customer complaints and improving customer retention

If you’re not using your FAQ page to its full potential, here are some of the questions you should be asking to get the most out of this often-forgotten section of most websites.

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What is an FAQ page?

An FAQ page, also known as the frequently asked questions section, is a web page in your online store where you address common concerns, questions, and objections customers have. 

Considering

69% of consumers first try to resolve their issues independently before reaching out to support, FAQ pages have become essential for online businesses.

An FAQ page is different from your About Us page, where you tell the broader story behind your brand. An FAQ section is the go-to destination for finding answers to specific questions about your product or business operation, and is essential for building trust with shoppers.

A great FAQ page can also act as the first point of contact for customers looking for answers before they reach out to you directly with their questions.

At Shopify, for example, we have an FAQ page that answers many questions that those initially considering website platforms can use to help them learn more about our tools.

When used right, your FAQ page can benefit customers at different parts of the purchasing journey—whether they’re in the consideration phase looking to understand how you source your product or an existing customer troubleshooting a problem.

In short, an FAQ page reduces the overall anxiety of purchasing online—and that goes a long way in getting on-the-fence customers to buy from you.

Do you need an FAQ page?

An FAQ page can be a distraction or an asset, depending on how you execute it. 

But to ensure that it’s the latter, here are some indications that it’s time to incorporate an FAQ page as part of your website:

• Customers email you with the same questions on an ongoing basis, so it’s better to address them publicly and prominently.
• You have or plan to create content/landing pages that you can link to and continue the journey from question to conversion.
• Your product/service/business raises questions and concerns that are best handled in a straightforward manner.

That last point is especially important as an FAQ page presents a unique opportunity to directly address concerns and remove obstacles on the path to purchase.

Cereal brand Magic Spoon makes it easy for shoppers to find information about shipping, orders, product, or subscription on its FAQ page. 

Research shows that customers prefer knowledge bases over all other self-service channels.

People can scroll and find common questions or click a button at the top of the page that corresponds with their issue. You only need to click on the question you have, then an answer will appear in a dropdown box. It takes all of two minutes to clear up any questions. 

How to create an effective FAQ page

1. Uncover common customer questions

Your inbox and customer support tickets will likely be the first places to look. But you should also anticipate objections that you can turn into questions, especially if the answer will put your customer’s mind at ease.

Consider how to strategically raise the right questions to educate customers about your products and create demand.

When deciding how to choose the questions you’ll include in your FAQ section, focus on relevancy, utility, and opportunities to turn that question into a path to further engagement or conversion.

If you end up with a long list of questions, group your questions under categories like “Shipping” or “Sizing & Fit” to make it easier for visitors to navigate. Pepper has each of its FAQ categories listed out so users can find the answers they need. Shoppers can also type their question into a search bar and receive an answer, rather than scrolling through the page. 

If you don’t have emails or customer support tickets to reference, check out competitors’ FAQs, product reviews for your items or items in your niche, and forums like Reddit or Quora to see what types of new questions people are asking.

2. Write clear answers to questions

How you position your answers is key. Even if the question is about a potential shortcoming in your product or business, put on your PR hat and put a positive spin on your answer.

While you should demonstrate authority through the depth of your answers, be sure you’re not losing your audience by giving them more than they need.

Write your questions from your customer’s perspective (e.g. “How do I …”) and answer from your business’s perspective (e.g., “You should …” or “We provide …”). Tattly does a great job of using its customer voice to phrase questions while still maintaining clarity.

Focus on clear communication first, and then the goal you’re trying to achieve with each question of your FAQ. Are you addressing a concern about purchasing from you? Educating your audience about a part of your business model? Troubleshooting a common problem with your product? Focus on delivering that in your answer and move on.

Use images or videos wherever they can supplement your answer. If it builds your brand, you can even sprinkle in a little personality to delight your customers with a couple of “fun” questions and answers.

An often-missed opportunity with many FAQ pages is ending your answer with a call to action that links to other pages to push visitors back into your funnel.

Consider what the next step would be for someone interested in a specific question and try to incorporate a link to the relevant page or piece of content that moves them forward on their journey as a customer.

3. Create your FAQ page 

Shopify store owners can look to the App store for different ways to present their FAQ section.

FAQ by POWr ⭐ 4.4 (217 reviews)

FAQ by POWr sets up your FAQ page with an accordion layout that users can click to expand or collapse. Customize your FAQ page with icons for questions, interactive hover effects, and colors of your choice.

FAQ pages built with this app are mobile-responsive and can include links, text, images, and videos. Provide search functionality so users can quickly get the answer they need, and leave most-asked questions open to gather more answers. Answer upvoting and downvoting adds another interactive element. Best of all? No coding required.

FAQ by POWr is free for up to five queries, and paid plans range from $4.49/month to $49.99/month.

HelpCenter ⭐ 4.8 (1238 reviews)

Also customizable, the HelpCenter app has several different layouts you can choose from, so you can find the style that matches your site’s look and feel. Create categories and implement search functionality to help users get to where they need to go.

HelpCenter also requires no coding and has a simple setup. Despite being free, reviewers of the app say customer service is responsive and helpful.

HelpCenter is free for all users.

EnormApps FAQ & Accordions ⭐ 4.9 (54 reviews)

EnormApps FAQ & Accordions is another app with common searchability, mobile-responsiveness, and customizability. The accordion-style pages can also be integrated elsewhere on your site, and installation is easy (no coding required!).

EnormApps FAQ & Accordions is $3.99/month for access to all features.

Reamaze Live Chat & Helpdesk ⭐ 4.8 (188 reviews)

Not exclusively for FAQs, Reamaze Live Chat & Helpdesk is one of the best all-around customer support apps. It centralizes customer support from live chat, chatbots, social media, email, SMS, and more, syncing up with customer profiles in Shopify so you can offer personalized support.

When it comes to your FAQ page, this knowledge base is a resource not only for shoppers but also for your support team—human or not. Chatbots will automatically reply to queries with the appropriate FAQ, and associates can use it as a reference library. Embed FAQs elsewhere on your site for a seamless experience across channels.

Reamaze Live Chat & Helpdesk starts at $20/month, with $40 and $60 monthly plans also available.

Browse more FAQ Shopify apps here.

4. Make your FAQ page visible

If customer service is a core part of your business, you might want to create a fully fleshed out support center, or help desk, using HelpDesk or Zendesk, with an FAQ incorporated as part of your customer support flow (i.e., customers check the FAQ before they reach out to a customer service rep).

But if you’re selling products or services that are bound to generate a lot of questions, it might be enough to prominently display a link to a simple FAQ page in your website navigation to focus on reducing purchasing anxieties for visitors. 

WaterAid links to its FAQ page from the main menu on its homepage in the About Us section.

You can also integrate an FAQ directly into your product pages. You can make this part of your product descriptions or post it toward the bottom of the page, near customer reviews. Santa Cruz Bicycles does this with its products, using FAQs that are specific to the product featured.

If your main menu is already cluttered, you can put a link in your footer. This is where Speak Skincare highlights its FAQ page.

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How to optimize your FAQ page for SEO

Many sites treat an FAQ section as a standalone page that uses a question and answer format to communicate information. While this serves the most basic function of an FAQ page—to reduce the friction on the path to purchase—you can also build an FAQ section with dedicated pages for each answer, creating a more search-friendly section of your website.

By hyperlinking each question to a separate page, you can help surface each answer through Google search. Even if your audience isn’t searching for topics related to your brand, they might be searching for answers to questions related to your industry via Google, which can help you get found if you create content or landing pages that are optimized for these specific search queries.

Here’s an example from MVMT Watches of an FAQ page that directs to a separate landing page for top questions with more substantial answers, like its store locator page and its full return policy. There are also tabbed sections dedicated to domestic and international shipping, the same return policy, and how to contact the brand. 

With an FAQ section structured like this, some of the pages can also be found through Google as prospective customers search for this information. You’ll want to optimize the title tag and meta description for your FAQ pages. Incorporating these questions and target keywords on your page increases the chances you’ll own a featured snippet. 

Learn more about optimizing your store by reading SEO Is About Humans First, Search Engines Second. 

FAQ page examples

Skinnydip London

Women’s clothing and accessory brand Skinnydip London has a branded FAQ page on its site, categorized by payment, delivery, orders, refunds, product and stock, and account. Users can click to head to more specific questions, and it’s easy for them to navigate and find extra help if needed.

United By Blue

Sustainable goods retailer United By Blue also categorizes its FAQ page. The difference here is that everything is one page. Answers are thorough and often include links so users can easily take the next step. If you don’t see your question, there’s contact information you can use to reach out to the brand.

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery’s FAQ page has a long list of questions, which are also categorized (notice a theme here?). Each category is summarized so users can understand if it’s the right section to find their answer. The visual representation is also different: questions are in clickable blocks, which creates an interesting aesthetic.

Colorado Crafted

Colorado Crafted keeps things a lot simpler than the National Portrait Gallery. Its list of questions is on the shorter side, so as not to overwhelm users with too much information. The brand also has a bit of fun: “Hey, where’s all the chocolate?” one question asks. It’s a legit question, but written in a conversational and playful tone.

Roody

Roody has a unique product: custom ugly sweaters. As such, Roody has room to get creative with its brand voice, which you can see all over its site. It also incorporates this on its FAQ page, and keeps questions very specifically related to its product and audience. You can tell it has carefully considered which questions to put here—being a unique product, it has not-so-conventional Q&As.

Comprehensive Cranium Care

Comprehensive Cranium Care also uses a fun brand voice to sell its men’s hair care products, which, ironically, are made for men with no hair. The humor is alive and well on its FAQ page, but it also adequately addresses concerns and product promises.

Shwood

Sunglass and accessory brand Shwood has a really beautiful FAQ page. Stunning, on-brand visuals and well-designed graphics for each category elevate its aesthetic. Answers include links that take users where they need to go, which creates a positive and easy user experience.

Factory 43

Short and sweet is the best way to describe Factory 43’s FAQ page. It has curated the most important and common questions in a succinct page. With such little space, it’s important to be true to your brand, which Factory 43 does exceptionally well. For example, rather than listing “What are your shipping policies?” it opts for a more conversational “When will my order ship?” which can help it relate to customers and reinforce its brand identity.

Press

Press has an aesthetically pleasing brand, and its FAQ page is no different. Clean design, simple color palette, and easy-to-read but on-brand font round out the look and feel. Answers to questions are brief but clear and complete, often including links for that seamless user experience.

Taddle Creek 

Taddle Creek is a literary magazine based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It’s FAQ page is clear and to the point and on-brand in terms of tone and style. It’s well organized in question and answer format for readers to scan and grab important information quickly. The brand also links out to different pages for people to explore if they want further details about a topic.

FAQ page template

Just like an About Us page template, there is no universal FAQ template to follow. But there are common questions for each industry. Here are some of the big ones for ecommerce:

• What is the return policy?
• What are the shipping options?
• What are the international taxes, duties, etc., that I have to pay?
• When will I receive my order?
• What do I do if I never received my order?
• What do I do if I received a defective order?
• How do I make changes to an order I’ve already placed?
• Where are you located?
• How is the product made? Where do the materials come from?
• How do I make sure I order the right size?
• How do I contact your company if my question isn’t answered here?

After you have the basics down, dig deeper into your specific business. This is where those insights from email and customer support tickets come into play.

Safety and security

You’ll want to reassure customers that their information is kept private and secure. It’s also important to address any common questions about the safety of using the product itself. Bootea, for example, addresses concerns for its detox products when it comes to pregnancy.

Account management

Offer assistance for new and existing customers alike. Help them understand how to set up an account and access it at a later date. Also address basic account management tasks, such as password resetting and updating payment details.

Product features and brand promises

What’s your brand’s or product’s differentiator, and what questions do customers have about this? You want to use FAQs to reiterate your messaging. Many cosmetics brands, for example, use their FAQ pages to talk about cruelty-free products and the queries customers have around that.

Using the product

You want to use FAQs to not only persuade prospective customers but also to help customers who’ve made a purchase. Answer questions centered around getting started with the product, addressing any issues that customers might have when first using it.

Building your own FAQ page

If you want to get the most out of your FAQ page, you need to make it discoverable where it matters most in the customer journey: when potential customers are considering a purchase and when existing customers are about to reach out to you.

You might see most FAQ pages buried at the bottom of a website’s footer, but they’re better off incorporated into your site as part of your Support or Contact Us page, or your navigation menu, to ensure it gets found. It’s also important to update your FAQ page over time, as new customer concerns come up or as new opportunities arise to link to other pages in your questions and continue the customer journey.

The FAQ page is often an afterthought for many websites. But used strategically, it can add a lot of value in different ways, from reducing the burden on customer support to alleviating purchasing anxieties. So, are you making the most of yours?

Illustration by Woody Harrington

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