Know-How Exchange : Website Critique

Consider adding an Order Assistance phone number for questions. Yes - you have a contact phone number, but is it available in the shopping cart pages?

(Sorry for tipping he scales) LOL

Call me if you wish to discuss further. See my profile.

Dear Anna,

Here's my warts and all view of your process (not your site, because your overall SITE design is OK—it might need a few minor tweaks here and there, but generally, it's pretty good).

But your SALES process? Well, Anna—it sucks. Here's why:

The critical thing on your site is that it's not clear HOW people work with you. It might be BLINDINGLY obvious to YOU, but Anna, you ain't buying! Joe Schmoe and Jane Doe are buying and you're confusing the bejesus out of them.

Google Analytics are all well and good but you've got to TELEGRAPH to people what they have to DO in order to get their photographs into the final form as supplied by you.

Your copy line "Ordering your custom artwork is as easy as ..." needs a 1,2,3 AFTER it, separate from the 1,2,3, PICTURE element below it, and your main image (with the current 1, 2, 3, on it) is one big JPEG, so there are no INDIVIDUAL steps to go through, NOTHING to click on that indicates "First, you do this. Then you do that", and any click on the 1, 2, 3 element leads to your "Click on the images to make style selections!" page.

This is a MAJOR turn off. If I'm buying, for God's sake TELL me what to DO! As much as people INSIST that they don't need directions, they need 'em—trust me on this, and your sales process must clearly ENGAGE people, it must state in ultra simple terms what people are to do and in what order it's to be done.

You must engage people by allowing them to click links, dig deeper, and learn about your process. Even if this means having little banners that tell people: to achieve result "A", push button "B" now.

You cannot expect your customers to know what to do, you must TELL THEM. This means it is your responsibility to EDUCATE your customers because educated customers feel EMPOWERED while uneducated customers just feel forlorn and let down: by not showing people EXACTLY what to do, you're telling them, in effect, that it's OK to do nothing—which is exactly what they do: nothing.

Educated customers TAKE ACTION!

Your home page needs to be restructured so that it CLEARLY tells people: first, you do this. Then you do that. Next, you do this.

Likewise your "How To ..." page. This needs to be reworked so that it's phrased as if the customer were asking the questions: "How do I place an order?" is FAR more engaging than telling someone how they do something.

If you're going to use video on your home page this movie MUST tell people what to do, it MUST walk people through your process, step-by-step, and it must INVITE them to participate, otherwise people will continue to do nothing.

A clear online sales process has markers along the way that tell people where they've been and what they'll do next.

Have you ever been in a department store and been totally UNABLE to find a register, or a rest room? Same thing.

Way finding for any online store is CRITICAL and a sales process WITHOUT a way finding system fails to engage and educate the customer, and uneducated, uniformed customers who actually WANT to buy GIVE UP!

The merchant to shopper dynamic MUST clearly explain the process because the lasting impression you want to leave people with is one of TOTAL FULFILLMENT, not frustration.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

I'm not sure I have the total answer, but I did notice that there's nothing on your home page to excite your prospective customers. No shots of people admiring the final product in their home. No testimonials. No emotional payoff.

Instead you describe the product and the process and tell people what needs to happen if they want some unnamed benefit.

There's also a lot of copy on a background that makes it difficult to read. I'd scrap the fancy background -- especially when it's behind copy.

From a communications perspective, I'd try to depict (mostly visually) the emotional end-end benefit for a customer. That's much more important than the steps required to purchase or your opinion that this is an "artistic revolution."