A lot has changed behind the scenes since the launch of our mattress shop, this time we also made more effort to please customers visually. I hope it paid off in your opinion as well (I love it). We tried to get the company name more out there, in their face. That for branding; this is now our 5th shop. Instead of just remembering the shop we want to get them to remember the company easier as well. Completely developed in FF and we're totally guilty of not checking IE so when I checked this this morning I found some CSS issues where links change font size etc. So they are known. Another known buggy behaviour is the little images in the product listing, we're working on that. Please let me know what you think, and any issues you come across. Also keep a look out for SEOed URLS, that tends to have a mind of its own as well. If you get the cookie notification, let me know what your cookie settings are. Please let me know if you come across these and other anomalies and report which browser software you use. Thanks! Site: http://www.watches-and-monitors.co.uk/ We're expanding the range with loads more so the categories will be filled out nicely as well. PS There's a thread of mine in General Chat asking for Polar HRM reviews. Have a look there if you own one/know them.
Just a small detail, when testing 800x600 and proceeding to checkout after adding an item the page creates a horizontal scroll, no biggy though. Nice looking shop. Edit: The text on the left nav - i.e. Shopping Tip, could do with bringing that up a few shades as its very faint on a laptop.
Admittedly I don't know much about Heart Rate Monitors so it took me longer to actually reach the products, but I do have a few suggestions. Off the main page when you click on "Heart Rate Monitors" on the top left menu it takes you to a nice description page. However at the bottom it says "Polar" twice. The text for the link is the same size as everything else and it took me a minute to realize it was the link to the "Polar" products. Again since I don't know myuch about Heart Rate Monitors I didn't know that Polar was a manufacturer of them. If the link on the "Heart Rate Monitors" page was a little larger than the other text it would help stand out more. Also if you could change the text on one of the lines so it doesn't just say Polar twice would help it stand out as well. The other thing I noticed is that when I get to a product's actual page it is very descriptive, but when I wanted to "buy" one I couldn't find any buttons to push. After searching the page I discovered the "Add to Cart" button at the very bottom of the page... under all the "accessories" & "you might also like to buy" sections. I kept stopping after the "might also like to buy" section figuring nothing but copyright stuff would be further... I'd really move the add to cart button up higher on the page. The reviews button would also be nice higher up. Hope this helps.
Should have put that under 'known issues'. The first instance is ALT text for a missing image. Need to tweak the on the fly thumbnailer. Thanks for reminding me though. With the image it will stand out more. And when we add more manufacturers later this month it will be balanced with the text. Very good point. The suggestions are hard-coded at the moment but will be dynamic later this week. This will move them below the buy buttons. But still you're probably right in saying they don't stand out enough. The paper-clip doesn;t make too much sense either IMO. Will get a new flashy button done for that. I was also thinking of adding the button to the top somewhere for thos who know what they want. It most certainly does, thanks a bunch. Bag of green is yours .
Is it just white-space or is the page actually off the screen? Will investigate, I hate it when horizontal bars appear. Thanks! Yeah that's true. Will do thanks. It doesn't have much to say yet but when I put some real ones in I'll spice up the contrast. Gracias senior!
You seemed to have the rest of the site resizing fine just that section, no its not space, the returning customer login and create a new account in the middle are pushing the right hand nav out of 800 res.
I found it now. It's where it says "Proceed Directly to Checkout". I also note how the stylesheet colours are still the one of the previous shop. Well spotted, thanks. Will see if I can find space, otherwise I'll remove the right hand column on that page I think.
I feel you need something to spice up the page. Even a picture in the center. Looks too much like many OScommerce sites at this point. A colliage (sp?) of people doing exercises like running, biking, etc.. but I think product related would be best - center column towards top.
You're talking homepage I guess? Yeah I see how it could be viewed as being a bit bulky in text and not graphical. I could dig out a special launch promo and put it on the front page I guess. Or indeed as you say, a collage of lifestyle pics, or perhaps from the range. Thanks for the tip, will implement.
Added a special to the front page (Will get someone on Friday to make a more offery type image). Deleted right column from the login/type your address page. Deleted a bunch of strange countries to make the drop-down less wide. Now need to fix some colours.
Can I be harsh? I dont want to offend..it is good overall. But i can see lots of little details I would pick on..
List them all please. I didn't post it for nice words. When you're prgramming away you can easily forget how real people look at it and yes, an awful lot of shite could potentially creep in without you knowing it. So fire away. I might not bother about the smallest of things. I've learned that a coding/design job is never done, there can always be improvements made. Though you have to get to a point where you say "Right, let's put the sucker live, I want to start earning cash instead of twiddeling about for another 3 months.". Then at a later stage, when you have gathered more feedback and have dealt with your money making priorities, you can come back. Nonetheless, I'm interested to hear...
Ok here goes This is all my opinion. 1. 'Just buy' should NOT be before the Page title. 2. Page title should be Watches and Monitors - NOT watches-and-monitors.co.uk - welcoem to 2005 (I Know you are trying to impact the hard-to-remember domain name. Make it MUCH smaller with more impact - if they read the name "watches and monitors" and see a small, but clear address (on right maybe) - it will stick better. You really think Im gonna tell my girl/mum/dad I bought them a watch from a shop called something.co.uk - as mentioned Watches and monitor on left - with impact, address on right small with impact. 3. "JUST buy online" listed TWICE in the title! (i know you are promoting the brand - I feel you are Demoting it) - double branding, not good in this form. You always need a dominant brand. for example http://www.alexa.com/ - NOTE the amazon gets your attention JUST as well but CLEARLY shows the 'order' of things. 4.Grey title - bye bye - thats not a brand its a title - try using a UNIQUE font or design 5. Get it out of that cheap rounded corner rectangle - your brand looks like a banner not a title. 6. do NOT use that 'bold capitalising effect "A nother J ust B uy O nline Shop" or Q uality Products - it is cheap + unprofessional, use bolding, letterspacing, character height and colour. or use the Just buy logo shrunk down. 7. There is no obvious contact button - almost every email enquiry I get turns to a sale.(above fold maybe - a contact page) 8.Put coop below the very bottom horizontal grey bar. 9.Action Gear ads dont mean alot - add "buy Action clothing from..." 10. First line is rubbish - 'our 5th shop - who cares? I want a watch first and know how sucessful your are second" "this one is dedicated to.. "our ego" IMO - the opening line should be check out our range of monitors and watches something along those lines. Perhaps " we have the latest greatest cheapest watches etc" NOT we're a bog company and have lots of websites. 11. Using the "safari brushed steel looks a little cheap" I DO like the light grey shadowing around the boxes. 12.The content in the middle looks more like computer code "the website is packed with information" - so much of it that im not going to finish reading it! its a shop. Do you see H Samuel with posters in their widows full of text?? A picture says a thousand words I would have 5-20 product pictures on the home. Maybe some prices maybe some COLOUR (Orange is all the rage at the moment!http://www.amazon.com - actually take a look at their site- Im sure they have someone who works there with the job title of "Colour influence coordinator" or something as far out. 13. It seems you are targeting those that are not web savvy - "heres how you navigate our site" - then DIRECT them (using above the fold) - www.apple.com - big pics to laptops, to G5s to software etc.. 14. Still looks 100% like OScommerce to me. 15. Polar etc Logos rather than text. 16. The site only uses 1 colour - Black, Grey IS black, White is the lack of black, black is the lack of white. Use another colour - maybe blue, green or a colour that sells well and gives an impression you want - bright red tends not to but rich reds imply quality, value and legacy. I bet 10% of ipods are sold because of the white headphones. Would you buy a pink ferrari ? No you would probably accept a black audi over the pink Ferrari. 17.It seems the site was built by a coder for a coder to impress a coder if you get my meaning. Nice SEO, rich content. - NO consideration for the visitor - show me what on the homepage (I havent really gone past that much) - is appealing Aesthetically to the Normal visitor? - try stepping away from the site entirely, give it to someone that can just about use email and watch them. they will understand how to use it. Try looking at competitors xxx.walker swarehouse.com/store/merchant.mvc?Product_Code=MW-5010&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=002 - first one I found has more sales impact instantly IMO. - still not great though. 18 Lots of the other tips given also are very useful Especially the 'people/ collage - I wouldnt use one sitewide, but on the home, def, people react to people - hence designers put their clothes on people not hangers. That will have to do for a start. Its not intended to offend and is just the opinions of 1 guy..
Thanks for the effort, I'll go through them one by one. That's only in a few pages that aren't the priority for ranking. The software uses a rather complicated way of generating titles because the osCommerce folk forgot about SEOing it in the first place. I'll double check I implemented it correctly though. Apart from the co and uk wasting a tad bit of space, I don't agree. As far as I'm aware a '-' = ' ' so I stick with the URL. Or are you talking about the Image? I can see your point about the image but I don't agree. Because in this instance (unlike some of our other shops) the shop doesn't have a real name, I'd rather stick with the URL. Which reads like the name anyway. And why wouldn't you want people to refer to the site with the URL? Our previous shop uses the same format and has a high direct hit ratio (plus many searching the entire URL in google which is silly, but gets us a direct hit as oppose to those searching the kws so it has an advantage even). You're talking HTML title here? That's bad, I'll try and find it and get rid of it, thanks. The brand is in the company, not the shop. I think the looks match the audience. I did notice how the rounded edges aren't in line with the squared info boxes. I'll get the design person to try a few options and I'll see if there are improvements to be made. I can't see why it would be 'cheap' and 'unprofessional' but what do I know. I'll see if something can be done. We have plenty of experience with this and have decided to put it one tier away. It will go down the Amazon route but we will always anwer phones unlike them. Eventually they'll have to go via the FAQ and Knowledge Base prior to being able to contact us. If you have a killer site with all info that can possibly be asked (I don't care I lose Mr Whinge's 3 pound order, those people are the most likely returns anyway). I will put the 'Customer Services' or 'Help' link top right once we've redesigned the support channels. So it will be better recognizable. It won't get Co-op. They're rotating buttons for now, simply showing our other shops. One day I'll code a proper cross selling feature that allows top selling products to be advertised automatically with more of a spiel. People do care. You know how many Mickey Mouse bedroom/garage price slashing crap shops are out there. Unlike us. We're a serial e-tailer who do answer their phones and promptly reply e-mails. We use reputable courier services and have quality sites. It's our 5th so there's no doubt about our professionalism. And we want people to go 'Hold on, they have more. I like this one, let's check those out!'. I don't think they want to hear about our great range, they can see for themselves one click away. Continued... (text was too long LOL )
I don't agree. Anyway, compared to our older shops, which are on limited functionality e-commerce systems, this is a huge improvement. We've got to leave room for improvement for the next we're already building. Looks are subjective anyway. If I compare this to the competition, there isn't the smallest of doubt which one looks best. When it comes to the actual product listings, it's all clear enough without much text. Someone experienced in non-waffle to the point sales text will tweak the pages soon, so I give you that, it's not 100%. But like I said, you have to launch at some point. EasyJet uses orange and grey, will look into the possibilities of using that somewhere, thanks for the idea. I have been looking at better graphical representation of the catalogue. A good solution doesn't exist yet for osCom so I'll have to (get someone to) code that. Do agree with you though. It is osCommerce. I have no reason to hide it. It works fine. Why re-invent the wheel and spend months on re-designing it? See earlier post, it's a known issue. I agree it could do with a splash of colour. And as said earlier, I will get better buttons. Recently I say Argos' shock horror monotone site here http://www.argos-sports.co.uk/mall/departmentpage.cfm/Argos/26584/1/1 I don't want this to be anywhere near that. Colour is top of my improvements list as far as the design is concerned. What kind of bull is that? How can you judge about the code? The beauty is in the back end facilities which the punter will never get to see. The front end works fine though yes, improvements can always be made. That link you gave i don't like at all. The only thing I'd copy is horizontal added navigation, the rest is crap IMO. And their catalogue can't even be indexed so end of their ranking story (almost). I understand your points about selling the stuff more though. Colour will be a good start to attract the eye to the right places. If so many of the 'guru's' do it, it must have something for it. Will check out the possibilities. Agree with the most important ones, disagree with others. Appreciate the comments though. Would never feel offended, I can always blame it on the osCommerce folk haha. I coded it together with another guy, he did all of the design (which is a lot better than my design 'skills'!) though being a student and myself being young too I guess there's always stuff to learn. Denying all of your comments would be silly and implying it's perfect which it obviously isn't and will almost never be since you can't cater for the wide range of people out there. So thanks again, I'll get cracking on making it (even) better. So would you agree on this todo list? - Colour to aid sales and navigation. - Graphics to aid navigation and create more of a warm atmosphere where the punter can relate to the products (lifestyle images etc.) better. - Directory type of homepage And as I said, I already planned on the improved customer service section, which will be prominently available top right like all the big ones have. Thanks! Got to run, back tomorrow. (Feel bad for still not having time for your PM sorry).
I meant the items inside the rectangle (visual stuff I am referring to pretty much throughout the site) The actual image. Yes, I understand why you use it, I just dont think it looks right, I had it on mysite until recently. Dmoz even has my sites listed that way NO, once again Actual logo (I am not considering the html at all in most of this review) I wasnt criticizing the overall brand I meant make the shop name with a distinct text. Looks fine in safari - I just meant it looks a bit like a banner ad rather than a site logo etc. Maybe I am just trying to hard (find me a major site that uses it) You know what you are doing in that respect. I bow in this one Sorry, assumed those links were coop. maybe add what it is on the button. I have 40 sites but Im an amateur I didnt mean it so harshly, what I really mean is just rephrase it. 5 shops - 50 shops - walmart dont advertise on their front doors that they have xxxxx number of stores.
OK For those who've kindly been checking the site out for me: we took (most of) your advise and made the improvements. Still some to go and introduced some new small bugs but check it out.
Dig the new changes Tops. I especially like the homepage and the highlighting of the "Start Shopping Here..." button. Where you still going to move the "Add to Cart" button up higher on the product page? It's still so far down there...
I really like it. Nice clean, easy to navigate design. What stuck out for me was the pictures on the right...i just liked how they were placed. Well done
Bazkaz, yeah I will add a second 'add to cart' button higher up. When you stick something in the cart, the checkout gets highlighted as well to make it easy for them to find their way out. Couple more things and it's pretty killer! Thanks everyone for your input.