Looking For your Feedback

Marty McNurly · #1 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 12:25 PM

I was wondering if you all would be kind enough to provide me feedback on Drapery, Curtains, Valances. We have a high ranking for most targetted keywords, but are concerned with our conversion rate and the ease of use of the site. We sell custom made drapery and curtains online.

Would you purchase from this site?
What improvement do you think we can make in the order process and product presentation?
Do you you think there is enough information to enable anyone who has never ordered drapery before to do so?
Is the site too busy - do you think a cleaner more modern look might help?
We have implemented a Flash Virtual Room Designer to help people visualize what the different products might look like in their own home. Do you think this helps?
Anything else . . . .

Any feedback you can provide is gladly appreciated.

Dcrux · #2 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 01:44 PM

The site looks good. The only thing a more "modern" layout is going to do is draw attention to itself. You don't want to sell web design layout services, you're providing a neutral backdrop to sell drapes and curtains.

Visual merchandising is Not graphic art. What might offend the designer's sensibilities can often have no effect on actual measured customer results. And in fact quite a lot that looks pretty or trendy hurts response.

The RIA -- Virtual Room Designer -- seems well designed. I was able to figure most everything out. However the only way to know is to test ...with real users ...in actual use ...from start to checkout.

For example, I was impressed by the upsell section "Other Customers Have Ordered." Then you went over the top. Rather than "Checkout Now" clicking that button takes the user to another page of additional product suggestions. I think the first thing to test is if you aren't trying too hard there.

The RIA is enough like a software interface that casual forum opinions are not going to help you improve. Sure you'll get comments on the logo, and why everyone's favorite color should now be your site's color scheme. What you won't get is actionable information. And that's what a real user test is designed to provide.

Related: Why Your Website Doesn't Need To Be Pretty. Looks matter -- a lot. Just not in the way graphic artists want them to. Visual merchandising is everything graphic art is not.

FreeDesignQuote · #3 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 02:08 PM

For the most part I like the site. It is a little busy overall. It has the cheap discount feel to it with the banner on top and the star bursts at the bottom. On the store side, the text is larger then the images of the product. I would reverse that to let the product pictures catch the eye of the user.

I do like the Virtual Drape program. I played with it for a while.

You have 2 navagation styles on the left site. Some are buttons and some are text links. I think, looks wise, they should all be one or the other. If you are using the text links for SE purposes, put those along the bottom of the site, out of the way. I think you can have a nice site with a few updates.

How are you doing with the SE’s? Just my 2-cents!

davebarnes · #4 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 02:09 PM

Put your physical address below the copyright notice.
Small font size will be OK.
It might help to increase the trust level.

weslinda · #5 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 02:46 PM

Just way too much going on in my opinion. So many links, so many areas so much content. I feel the overall design is very cluttered.

I would remove the links:
Add To Favorites
Blog

And that is a minimum, and if you can combine the FAQ and How To Measure and so forth that would be good as well. If you can't remove any of the stuff, then expand the size of the site from a width standpoint so things don't look so cluttered.

Also I really don't get a feeling of "home decor" from the very techy type of graphics on the site. Softer, cleaner, more home based of a feel. That is where I would start as a base and there is certainly a bit of work to be done from a validation and accessibility point of view.

I do have to agree the room layout tool is a nice way to see some of the products, but I don't think it's highlighted appropriately throughout the site.

A survey of visitors on the site could also offer you some insight on why you're losing traffic and having issues on conversions.

dwrightcwf · #6 (**permalink**) 06-06-2007, 03:46 PM

I took a look at your site and have to agree with most of the things stated above. We are in a very similar industry as you and your site just doesn't do much for someone thinking of doing so "home decorating” You really need to clean things up. You home page looks like one of those silly Sunday newspaper ads (we were told the same once). You have happening on the page that I didn't know where to start, what you sell or how to begin shopping. If you work on your navigation, really clean it up and make it simple to get to the products you will see some better conversion rates. Not sure what your conversion rate is, but I think if you follow some of the suggestions from the posts you will see them ramp up. We were in the same boat as you, made a few changes and our conversions went up about 1%. What do you use to track your page views, bounce rates, conversions, ect...?

Dave