New Website - Feedback wanted

elainee40

Hi Folks,

I have a new website, ive been working on it, ive asked for feedback from the community i have my site with but id like fresh eyes.

Could you help please

Site is

www.sweetstreatsgalore.com

Axwell

There is a thread on another forum specifically for website reviews.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1382

My 2c from a quick look

Navigation menu is too small and cluttered, text is too hard to read.

Most images on the site are shrunk to fit an area and are out of proportion, either they height or width has been changed to fit but not both so they images are all messed up.

The about page, the white background doesnt extend down the page with the content.

Text on newsletter fields and contact form is too light, can barely see the text or fields.

Im already on the website, you dont need to have the url in the logo on the site.

Lantus

the logo and navigation is not great. Images are distorted, text hard to read. There are multiple text styles and sizes around the site.

Any one bad image does more harm than good. every image must be clear, perfectly sized or cropped and communicate the message well.

site navigation needs much more work. The side menu for a quarter of section disappears after another mouse click which makes it hard to go back or change my search. If your customer cant get what they want in seconds and have to 'think' about where they need to go in your site they will leave.

More permanent side navigation for sub choices and to allow for filtering and returning to a base point.

If you don't look 100% pro you will have a hard time getting people to enter their credit card details and making a purchase. Maybe look at some florist sites as this seems to be where you are trying to go/copy?

I want a website to sell me the dream of the chocolate/sweet experience. Where does your site do that?

http://thedesigned.com/2010/02/07/24-delicious-chocolate-website-designs/

not advocating any of these designs but consider the overall simplicity, the focus on stunning images that make your mouth water and the high quality finish. I'm actually struggling to say no!

that said your box of 48 cream eggs for 25 quid was quite good!

terryhobdell

Just looked on android only it is very clean and functional but appears to assume that I know what and who you are. There is a long shopping list but no info about you your unique points where you are and what the concept of the business is! Sell yourself at the top of the page put the lists below the first screen view or start them just at the bottom.there is no photo visible on screen when you open site.

skimpydoo

Why do you 2 different twitter and facebook links on your home page. Some of the text is hard to read. You don't convey your USP so why should people use you.

terryhobdell

The site is much better on a desktop you can see what it is you do. It is a bit to cluttered around the top and I hate all the changing images it is about 30 secs before the this months bargain reappears so if as they say you have 10 seconds to make the customer stay on your site they will never see your bargain or 4 out of 5 of the images you have revolving and the navigation is too small I would have one or two great photos and a clear statement of what you offer and enlarge the navigation. Once you get into the site it comes across well as someone who knows what they are at its catching them on the front page which isn't quite there yet.

Reedsie

I think some of the images are letting you down.

Lynda.com has a number of product photography courses which would be worth doing. $25 gives you a months access, or you can take a week's free trial.


A .ie domain would probably be worth the small expense.

A landline number might be more professional looking than a mobile number. Goldfish.ie do landline numbers for €3.99 a month.



Best of luck with it.

Sam Mac

The image at the top of the site is messy. I cannot see any returns or refund policy on the site whatsoever.

The facebook page description spells 'tables' wrong also. In fact, spelling and grammar on the page needs to be better - it looks very unprofessional.

Not being mean, just some constructive criticism! Good luck with the business.

Sam Mac

Also, when I go to the cart to buy something, the options for delivery method are mixed up. Theres an option for Gift Card by Post and Gift Card by Email when I'm just buying sweets!

Also, you state on the site that Ireland delivery is next day, yet on other pages it says 2-3 days, and 2-6 days in the cart!

MagicMarker

Get rid of the mobile number, it looks unprofessional, use a landline.

The pictures are really bad, and there's not enough product information. How do I know which creme egg tree to buy when I don't know how many eggs are included in each size?

Your "a quarter of..." page has a sub-menu on the right that I didn't notice on my first visit to that particular page. It's different than the "bulk buy" section which doesn't have any sub-menu. You should try and be consistent across each page. But personally, I wouldn't separate out the "quarter of" and "bulk buy" section at all. You're an online sweet store, anything I buy will be in bulk, I'm not going to order a single 1/4lb bag of cola bottles am I? Besides, there are products in the quarter of section that shouldn't be there, or am I to assume that this wonka bar is a 1/4lb? Again, it has zero product information.

I would combine the quarter of, bulk buy and sweet bag/choco bars to a single section of the site and implement some kind of filtering functionality for the user.

The wedding page is made redundant by the awful pictures, don't tell me how gorgeous your sweet tables are, show me!!

Oh, and I know it's not website related, but the prices! 40 Ferrero Rocher tree for €30??? I can currently get 48 pieces in Tesco for €16. Not to mention that I wouldn't feel at all confident that one of those sweet trees would be delivered to me in one piece.

bdo

some more advice ...

I would love to know more about you. Are you a shop? trading from home? Tell me a story please that makes me wants to buy from you ...

Too many tabs in navigation (I've no clue which one to pick; you do because you know what products you are selling but visitors won't)

You are in need of SEO advice (e.g. page titles).

Key is delivery / returns / cost of delivery / time to takes ... but I don't see these at first glance.

devildriver

Hi Elaine,

Well done for getting your business up and running and fair play for opening yourself up to criticism. It’s not easy and negative criticism can be painful but hopefully you can use it in a positive way to improve your site and the success of your business.

There are quite a few things that can be improved so here goes:

Business
This is quite a competitive sector to be involved in so you will really need a USP. As you are selling branded FMCG price is always going to be the main comparison factor between you and your competitors. And when your competitors include Amazon then you really need to think about your offering.

I think you will need some creative offers or bundles to make your offering attractive because on price alone you will struggle to beat the likes of Amazon.

Branding
Again differentiation is important when competing against the big boys and this is where a good brand can help. Unfortunately you don’t have a brand. The logo is very poor and unprofessional looking. A brand is more than a logo though, it’s the entire experience from the first look at the website to the final packaged product that arrives on the customer’s doorstep.

Site Content
The photography on the site is very very poor and this is a potential business killer. You will need to invest some time and or money on reshooting all of your own custom product bundles.

The copy on the site also needs to be improved. Consider hiring a professional copywriter. If you are selling nostalgia products then you need to evoke some memories for your customers

You’ve done it to some extent here:
http://www.sweetstreatsgalore.com/a-personalised-1980s-decade-box-ace-sweets-from-the-80s-225-p.asp

You need to ramp up that aspect of your site. Where you’ve got gluten free products make sure that the health aspects of the product are well explained.

“Our gorgeously arranged tables are arranged to take the wow factor of your event to the next level.” This is simply not good enough.



Packaging
Doing personalised branded packs is a great idea for competitive differentiation but it needs to be executed well.

Bunging a pile of sweets in a sandwich box is not the way to do it:
http://www.sweetstreatsgalore.com/snack-boxes-mix-ups-467-p.asp

Consider selling mixed assortments in attractive branded paper bags, consider it a large part of your advertising costs. These will do well for children’s parties and mums and dads that like the look of the party bags can contact you directly.


Website
This is obviously a stock commerce template / site that has been customised (very badly) for your store. Yes custom websites can be expensive but for an online-only business it really needs to be well designed and inspire confidence so that people can trust it.

The header image on your site shows all the major credit card and the words “Checkout Securely” with a padlock icon. However there is no SSL used in the checkout process.

Having a mobile number as the main contact number just sends the wrong message. Put your landline number on there even if it is a home address.

I would simply abandon this one and look at building your store on a hosted platform like Shopify or Big Commerce.

Whatever platform you use please remove all of the redundant default features. A Rewards points scheme will work for a big retailer but is fairly pointless for this size and type of business.

Remove international shipping options and concentrate on the Irish market, realistically nobody is going to buy a 13 euro generic product from Ireland with a 16 euro shipping charge.


Hopefully you can take some of the advice in this thread on board and make positive changes for your business.

Best of luck.

terryhobdell

What an exceptional response from devildriver. An absolute professional analysis which would cost thousands to get from a consultant. It together with the other totally supportive and helpful comments shows the huge resource this forum is.

Reedsie

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on all the feedback elainee40.

Cream Eggs trees. WOW! All pixelated images are instantly forgiven!

david147

some pics look a bit funky

DubTony

I just looked at the photos and closed the window. So my critique isn't necessarily of the site itself. It's of how you present your business. I haven't read any of the previous comments, so apologies if this has been covered already.

You need photos taken professionally, or at least in a way that your back garden doesn't distract from the product itself. It looks amateurish and unprofessional, and while I may have an interest in the products (seriously, who wouldn't ), I wouldn't buy from your site.

If you can't get somebody to photoshop the background out of the images, an option (better in my opinion) would be to get some professional shots taken. If you can't afford a pro have a go yourself. Take a look here

http://www.wix.com/blog/2013/06/effective-product-photography-for-websites/

I don't mean to be overly critical, and as I said I didn't look further than the front page. But I'd suggest you're not presenting yourself or your business in the best light. Fair play to you for getting up and running. Best of luck