Opinions On Our Website..

[That Guy]

Hello Fellow UKBF Members,

Our website has now been running for around 2 months and orders have been higher than expected which is good.

Just looking for Opinions on the site. Anything from Design, Colour, Layout, Products, Problems etc... anyting you do/dont like we would like to know about.

Thanks in Advance

www.trough-lights.co.uk (http://www.trough-lights.co.uk)

[PointandStare]

At those prices I wouldn't pay via paypal/ google checkout.
"you will not be able to make a purchase without registering first" = big turn off.

Damn fine products though.

[That Guy]

Thank You for your reply :)

We are currently in talks with a payment gateway provider. We hope to have this all intergrated within the next month or so. Customers can still enter their card details on the paypal gateway without signing up.

As for registering, I thought it was the same with most sites? You add you products to cart as normal then simply login to your account (if you have one) or create a new account (free) I also thought this would help with security on the site?

Ideas and suggestions welcome :)

[MH1]

I would recommend you show your address, if it is shown I am struggling to find it.

Most people will not buy from a site which doesn't show it's address.

[YODspica]

could do with better Text formatting, perhaps descriptive images higher up the page, and an animation with light effects.

[AndyP]

Hi

OK.... all just my opinion of course. Overall I like the site but I would tweak:
1. As mentioned previusly I would look at payment methods
2. Reduce the size/depth of the toolbar - its massive and wastes huge amounts of real estate on your page (especially if viewing on a laptop)
3. Text formatting could do with some time spent on its - your homepage list of USP's, for example, are seriously boring to read and visually quite dull to look at.
4. Your menu bar links to the Good Shop and Good Web Guides link incorrectly - you currently have them linking to an internal coding page (you are supposed to insert that code onto your page, not link to it! :)
5. Its quite difficult (or impossible?) to find a physical address for you... this is a legal DSR requirement.
6. Personally I would extend your returns period. What you currently have is the bare minimum. Many retailers double this and there is a serious trend to extend this again to 28 days. Research has shown that the improved return opportunity greatly enhances the customer feelgood factor but the reality is that physical returns do not particularly increase as any returns that you do get generally happen immediately after the item is received anyway. Proleno has been working on a 28 day return policy for probably three years and I can confirm that our returns ratio has not increased by even 1% since we upped it from 14 days.

I hope that helps!

[murdoch]

1) our trough lights are...
our trough lights are..
our trough lights are..
repeat 10x more
yep, long lists like this make me sick, cant you bullet point them and stop all the repitition!!?

2) ok, i worked out what trough lightw were by the end of it. But it could have been more clear exactly what they are 'trough lighting is the most exciting/best/whatever form of whatever lighting for the thingy category' for the non-converted who may then take an interest

3) site looks ok but the text and layout put me off, just minor changes could hugely improve it, more artistic or thought out use of images/text

good luck! 9/10!

[chalkie99]

Same thoughts as already mentioned.

The repetition of "Trough Lights" listing on the Homepage is irritating.

You do need your address details by law and it would certainly deter me from ordering if all I could see was a non-geographic phone number. It is almost as though you don't want people to know who you are and it doesn't engender trust.

Payments - yes people will probably expect you to be able to order over the phone with their cards for this sort of value purchase so if you are getting enquiries maybe bite the bullet and sign up - speak to your bank and see what they can offer if you are not a member of the FSB. Our bank charges a flat fee of £20 a month on a1 year contract so it is not a huge expense and does make you look a bit more professional.

Good Luck!

[AndyP]

Reference my previous post (I thought that I couild edit but apparently not)....not a major point but I said that we have a28 day return policy...that should have said 30 days.... (note to self - pay more attention when typing!!). However, the point that I was making still stands :)

[That Guy]

I would recommend you show your address, if it is shown I am struggling to find it.

Most people will not buy from a site which doesn't show it's address.

Adding Address to Contact Page within the hour :)


Hi

4. Your menu bar links to the Good Shop and Good Web Guides link incorrectly - you currently have them linking to an internal coding page (you are supposed to insert that code onto your page, not link to it! :)


That is the correct code they tell you to use. I can see it does look a little confusing when it says "This site was approved on...." then they put the code to paste on your site below it.

1) our trough lights are...
our trough lights are..
our trough lights are..
repeat 10x more
yep, long lists like this make me sick, cant you bullet point them and stop all the repitition!!?

2) ok, i worked out what trough lightw were by the end of it. But it could have been more clear exactly what they are 'trough lighting is the most exciting/best/whatever form of whatever lighting for the thingy category' for the non-converted who may then take an interest

3) site looks ok but the text and layout put me off, just minor changes could hugely improve it, more artistic or thought out use of images/text

good luck! 9/10!

I wil be adding more images and having a re-think about the text. This will be done within the next week.



Thank You averyone for your advice so far :)

[AndyP]

Originally Posted by AndyP http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=762163#post762163)
Hi

4. Your menu bar links to the Good Shop and Good Web Guides link incorrectly - you currently have them linking to an internal coding page (you are supposed to insert that code onto your page, not link to it! :)
That is the correct code they tell you to use. I can see it does look a little confusing when it says "This site was approved on...." then they put the code to paste on your site below it.

Hi

I would suggest that you get on to them to clarify as it is clearly incorrect. I wouldn't mind betting that they aren't even aware of it. There is no way that linking to a page that displays code for you to insert on your website should be viewed by your visitors. Many won't have a clue what it is and at beat be confused by it and those that do will know that its wrong - honestly :)

[osicsophie]

Blue and orange looks great!
But on your homepage, the image of "Shopping Basket" has covered a little bit of the edge of "view basket" .

[bmvproperty.biz]

I think I would keep everything "above the fold" ie: widen it out a bit and then bring up the bottom so you don't have to scroll down. Hope that is usefull

[That Guy]

Thanks everyone I have a huge list to of changes/improvements to make. Will keep you all updated on whats done.

The main thing is we are getting a great number of orders on a daily basis but we know we can do better :)

[That Guy]

Have made a few changes (far from finished)

What are peoples thoughts: www.trough-lights.co.uk (http://www.trough-lights.co.uk)