Very interested in your thoughts

[puravida]

Hi All,
My site has been up and running for about two years now in it's present form. We get about 20k unique visitors a month generating just over 1,000,000 hits per month.

For that amount of visitors I don't think the website generates as many sales as it could.

We do get plenty of compliments from customers on how easy our site is to use but I still think improvements could be made.

We're having a bit of a redesign shortly and any feedback you can offer as to making it more user friendly, get better web rankings etc etc woudl be very, very gratefully received!

Website is http://www.loose-fit.co.uk

Please ignore the centre image advertising our sale - that spot is usually reserved for a really sexy image of a new surfboard in stock!!!!

Thanks!

Jonny

[DuaneJackson]

Do you have the answer to the following:

Where does your traffic come from?

What are they searching for?

What are your main bounce pages (pages people leave from)?

How do your prices compare to your competitors?

Do you have many abandoned baskets?

[vdeep.com]

It would be good to read your answers to duane jacksons question, particularly what advertising methods you are using to achieve your 20k a month visitors.

On your site, the first thing I notice is the lack of images on the front page, if I was a consumer I wouldn’t want to read all that text. You should be using images to grab people’s attention and the tiles short and sharpe.

Another thing is I would possibly suspect you are getting a number of curiosity clicks because fundamentally spending £500+ on a board is a considerable purchase.

I would consider looking around at other OSC sites and get some ideas on what can be achived.

[www.t6c.co.uk]

Hi,

My company offers free e business reviews to help you resolve this exact type of problem.

It costs nothing to see if we can help you and anything we try and sell you is guaranteed to be profitable, or your money back.

Regards.
Russell
020 7362 0106

[Copyqueen]

Hi Jonny,

Would you be interested in a copy review? Looks like you've optimised the homepage with loads and loads of keywords which is great for traffic but less fun for readers - perhaps it needs an edit?

If your traffic is coming from people who are carrying out appropriate searches, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to make more sales with just a little bit more copy, particularly on the product pages.

If you'd like more on this, just get in touch,

best,
Anna

[Claire B]

I think more images on your home page are crucial.

Your domain name 'loose-fit' confused me a little as I was half expecting to be directed to a site which dealt in clothing for plus-size gentlemen :D :D :D (I know, I am completly untrendy and don't know the first thing about surfing - so just ignore me)

Anyway, maybe more images would make the site more sticky :lol:

[puravida]

I think more images on your home page are crucial.

Your domain name 'loose-fit' confused me a little as I was half expecting to be directed to a site which dealt in clothing for plus-size gentlemen :D :D :D (I know, I am completly untrendy and don't know the first thing about surfing - so just ignore me)

Anyway, maybe more images would make the site more sticky :lol:

Haha - quality!! LD
You just put a smile on my face!! :D :D

Thanks to everyone who responded on this - I think the main advice is to get more images up on the home page and get rid of the text - makes sense to me completely.

I know where most of my traffic comes and how we compare competitively but I've never thought to investigate what they search for or where they bounce from. That's a really interesting couple of points and I shall be looking into it this week I think.

Thanks again!!!

J

[puravida]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I have taken it on board and redesigned the front page of my website.

What do you think to the changes??

Are we getting closer?

Jonny

[welshnoonoo]

It looks good to me at a glance - nice and friendly too.

I have to say that I think it is probably down to the psychology of how people buy on the web rather than the lack of interest as you have already said you get a high flow of traffic though it would be interesting to see what phrases these people are using to find you and whether they are as targetted as they could be.

Your goods are not cheap and therefore it is a big decision for someone to part with that kind of cash over the internet and they do say that it takes someone 3 visits before they finally take the plunge.

it may be worth adding an live online help operator to the site to see whether people have questions that they do want to ask you and whether that helps to build up the trust. You can trial some for free such as www.providesupport.com which is just one, there are many more.

how are you currently marketing your site? With it being such a niche market, I assume you are well known within your niche? if so, the trust issue may not be so great as it is for those sites that have no human contact at all.

I'd be interested to know if you do start to see any improvements in sales. Keep us posted!

[c2webdesign]

With 20k uniques per month, with sales not as expected, when I first ready your post I wasn't expecting much of the website. To my delighted surprise the website does visually look good.

I think a possible reason for the lack of sales may be down to the fact I'm not sure whether this actually looks like a shop.

I know you have a shopping cart (top right), product images (left) and a big 'The Shop' in the middle, but I couldn't help but think it more looks like an information portal.

There seems to be too much in front of the visitor taking them away from the items you are selling. Maybe this was your intention but by using the site I felt I was on an information portal selling a few items.

[ewo]

it may be worth adding an live online help operator to the site to see whether people have questions that they do want to ask you and whether that helps to build up the trust. You can trial some for free such as www.providesupport.com which is just one, there are many more.If you're looking for a UK-based, similar offering, try http://www.live2chat.co.uk

[Barny]

Hi Jonny

Had a quick glance :shock: at your site. Very nice on the surface, but you do have one major problem. You are not talking to your customers - you are talking at them!

Your site looks clinical because you have not got a Mission Statement. You probably haven't written one or throught about it. Your pre-occupation has been with the attractiveness of the layout and not the selling features of your delightful stock.

Sell the sizzle and not the sausage! Use wonderful, expressive words to describe the qualities that set you aside from your competitors. Think about the warm days to come - summer is here and so are all those advantages of owning a surf board. Don't be shy talking about them. How sexy they are, how easy to use and the huge selection you have.

Text not pictures get people to your site. But in your case pictures are very meaningful. But are there no exciting drawings of surfers cutting through the waves? Have you asked the manufacturers to help you with these? I am sure they will be only too pleased.

Final offer - Put yourself in your customer's shoes and answer those all important questions on price, quality, delivery and guarantees.

Best of luck to you :shock:

[cjd]

I didn't get to look at your site until you changed it but my comments probably still stand; I think the internet it a bad place to sell clothing. Everything is wrong for it.

1 You can't see what the item really looks like
2. You can't try it on
3. If you make a mistake it's difficult to send it back
4. People (ok - women!) enjoy shopping, it's a hobby; buying on the internet is just work.

Having said that it must be possible but I suspect to pull it off successfully your prices need to be a LOT lower - £100 for a pair of jeans you can't see is a hard sell.

Do you find you sell one particular set of products much more than any other? Without knowing the stats of your business it's hard to analyse.