Would love some honesty !

[dan pack]

Hi Guys,

We have just moved from an open cart system over to Shopify so would love some feedback on what we have done. At the moment we have a few concerns around bounce rate and also Google shopping after the old site caused a suspension !.
getmepackaging.co.uk

Anyway anything good or bad will be taken on one of the chins!.

Best Regards

Steve

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

It does the job. It is easy enough to navigate and understand. Let's face it packaging is never going to be an all singing all dancing type website so I think it's fine (my Dad has worked in the packaging industry for over 40 years).

Just a few comments/observations after a quick browse:

1) Can you not get a newer Visa logo?
2) Your logo to me looks like someone doing martial arts - would something more relevant not be better?
3) On the homepage under Specialist Services - the banner on the right doesn't display all text 'ACKAGING MACHINERY' 'ith many years'
4) On some of the products with 'Choose Options' rather than 'Add to Cart' - the 'Choose Options' button doesn't do anything (for example: Optimax® CP316S2i Cardboard Box Shredder 1PH)

Simon

 

[fisicx]

Who are you targeting?

If it's business customers get rid of all the animations. Keep it simple.

Get rid of the hero image it adds no value. Put the categories on the homepage.

Made a test purchase and the checkout is horrible but you are stuck with the shopify model.

In general though it does what it says on the tin. You just need to make it easier to find products (the search isn't very good).

 

[dan pack]

Thanks Simon,

The Logo just came about some how ! to add something to what you said is never going to be a all shouty type of subject, it also allowed us to trade mark from memory but it is something we may look at.

On the product you looked at the option changes from strip to matt cut but we are going through and removing options that historically do not sell to make thing easier.

Thanks for taking time out to look

Steve

 

[dan pack]

Who are you targeting?

If it's business customers get rid of all the animations. Keep it simple.

Get rid of the hero image it adds no value. Put the categories on the homepage.

Made a test purchase and the checkout is horrible but you are stuck with the shopify model.

In general though it does what it says on the tin. You just need to make it easier to find products (the search isn't very good).

Thank you

2 replies both mention Logo so will look at this, What about a simple symbol or just the name as it stands. The search and filtering we are looking at and trying to improve.

All very helpful thank you very much

 

[fisicx]

Didn't; answer the question. Who are you targeting?

B2B or B2C? They have different needs.

Still get rid of all the animations though. They are annoying and unnecessary.

 

[dan pack]

Didn't; answer the question. Who are you targeting?

B2B or B2C? They have different needs.

Still get rid of all the animations though. They are annoying and unnecessary.

Sorry it is 90% B2B, when you refer to animations i am a little unclear what you mean sorry. Thanks for this.

Steve

 

[fisicx]

As an example, when you scroll the header animates.

Simplify everything. Businesses already know what they need so you need to point them in the right direction. 90% of the stuff on your homepage is pointless to a B2B customer. Show them the products and the special offers, bin everything else.

The main menu is OK but the font is too small and grey.

Look at screwfix: https://www.screwfix.com/ Much clearer than yours (and no animations).

Bin the cookie things. It's annoying, in the way and not needed.

B2B may mean regular customers will want an account. How do you set this up in the site?

 

[dan pack]

Hi Guys,

We have just moved from an open cart system over to Shopify so would love some feedback on what we have done. At the moment we have a few concerns around bounce rate and also Google shopping after the old site caused a suspension !.
getmepackaging.co.uk

Anyway anything good or bad will be taken on one of the chins!.

Best Regards

Steve

ok so some little changes made for the better we hope

 

[fisicx]

It's a bit better but you no longer have a sticky header.

The hero image is still there (it is a pointless feature). Get rif of this and the homepage is looking much more focused.

On the product pages you have a redundant third column: https://www.getmepackaging.co.uk/co...ivated-reinforced-gummed-paper-tape-dispenser

Move the 'Add to Cart' to the main content. The 'Ask a Question' opens up a 'Get a Quote' box. They aren't the same thing. In any case, this should be in the main content area as well.

Bin the social sharing - businesses aren't going to do this and it adds no value to anybody.

The related products aren't. I'm looking at a gummed paper dispenser. Not sure how a steel banding kit is related. Spare paper rolls or tamper resistant paper would be related. Even better would be a dispenser + 5 rolls bundled offer.

 

[GraemeL]

I am a packaging user.

Comparing the front page of your site versus Kite. Kite is so much better.

Kite has loads of products and categories immediately, right in my face. Yours has a huge banner that tells me 'Your on line packaging one stop shop." So what?

Your very first menu item is 'packaging products'. That doesnt help me at all, of course you sell packaging products, but that is not sufficiently specific so I will have to make another click. Compare that to Kite that gets down to specifics straight away.

Your site is more like Raja, which I dont like, but even that has more categories on the home page than yours.

As a buyer, I wouldnt bother going into your site. Sorry! Hopefully this helps you.

Graeme

 

[dan pack]

I am a packaging user.

Comparing the front page of your site versus Kite. Kite is so much better.

Kite has loads of products and categories immediately, right in my face. Yours has a huge banner that tells me 'Your on line packaging one stop shop." So what?

Your very first menu item is 'packaging products'. That doesnt help me at all, of course you sell packaging products, but that is not sufficiently specific so I will have to make another click. Compare that to Kite that gets down to specifics straight away.

Your site is more like Raja, which I dont like, but even that has more categories on the home page than yours.

As a buyer, I wouldnt bother going into your site. Sorry! Hopefully this helps you.

Graeme

It does thank you very much just made a change, would this be what you are thinking? we know Kite very well our niche is within the machinery side of things. Headings can be changed i must add.

 

[GraemeL]

Much better, but still a lot of wasted space.

Go from 4 box width grid to 6 box width
Ger rid of wording 'featured collections' and the white space around it.

I clicked on 'packing tape and dispensers' expecting to see ......... packing tape and dispensers. Instead I get this:-

5 pictures that I click on and nothing happens. (Get rid of these)

then under that :-

Packaging Tape And Dispensers
We have a wide range of packaging tapes to suit any application...
Our vast range of packaging tape includes basic carton and box sealing tapes for general packaging use right through to self adhesive kraft and gummed paper tapes that make a great alternative to standard packaging tapes. When it comes to parcel packaging , bag neck sealing , reinforced mono and crossweave we have a tape dispenser that will do the job

Get rid of all of it . Buyers of packaging materials know what they want.
Then:-
The sequencing of products in that category makes no sense - for example why are tape guns all over the place?

It needs a lotta work done on it!

 

[fisicx]

Delete the homepage title (Packaging Ready For Next Day Delivery) - it's not needed.

Reconsider the homepage banner - your don't really need to 4 areas. You can promote the free delivery and the trade discount on the product pages.

On this page: https://www.getmepackaging.co.uk/collections/packaging-tape I have to scroll to even see the products.

Reword the product titles to show the name first then the size. Maybe even change the categorization to group products. That way you can have the 24 and 36 pack of Manuli 809 tapes on one product page.

On this page you have 4 Kraft tapes: https://www.getmepackaging.co.uk/collections/gummed-paper-tape. They are all the same product so put them all on one page

The fewer product types the easier it is for people to find the one they want. They can then use the filters to choose the quantity and size.

Make it as simple as possible for people.

 

[dan pack]

Thanks for that we are working through things as we speak and have adjusted categories etc and spread products about. Our product range is and always will be smaller than what are 65 million turn over businesses (did i spell that right!) which the others are. We differ perhaps in the machinery side through experience gained over many years so perhaps a little more focus on that as well.

 

[fisicx]

So maybe make the machinery the focus of the site and provide the rest as accessories.

 

[Steven001]

Nice looking website. Like the McAfee seal.

Crits
Page load is slow.
Mobile version squeezes images so they lose quality. Need to keep same aspect ratio.
No animation/css effects on the multiple stacked images on the home page.
Too many product images on home page, I would reduce them by 50% leaving your best sellers.
Special offer/hot deal slider at the top of home page would be nice.
Category listing pages example: https://www.getmepackaging.co.uk/collections/packaging-tape-and-dispensers there is a row of images above which are not products, I'd remove them and show products immediately.
Add an option to include a discount code on the shopping cart.

Not much more I can think of.

 

[fisicx]

Too many product images on home page, I would reduce them by 50% leaving your best sellers.

Nope, don't do this. It's a B2B site so needs to be different to the layout of a B2C shop.

 

[Peter Bowen]

Hi Steve.

I mentioned on your other thread that I'd done AdWords for a client in your industry. He sold a lot of packaging machinery through the website but he didn't try and sell it straight off the page.

We set up a lead generation landing page for the more expensive equipment instead of an ecommerce landing page. People would fill in the enquiry form and he'd call and talk with them.

His reasoning was that if someone is going to invest in an expensive machine they need to talk with an expert to make sure they're getting the right machine before buying.

 

[dan pack]

Hi Steve.

I mentioned on your other thread that I'd done AdWords for a client in your industry. He sold a lot of packaging machinery through the website but he didn't try and sell it straight off the page.

We set up a lead generation landing page for the more expensive equipment instead of an ecommerce landing page. People would fill in the enquiry form and he'd call and talk with them.

His reasoning was that if someone is going to invest in an expensive machine they need to talk with an expert to make sure they're getting the right machine before buying.

Hi Peter,

Sorry for the late response been a bit bogged down. We have the dedicated machinery site which was just e commerce with purely machinery on it. What you have said was exactly what we thought about it. So next on the hit list will be that, we had a problem trying to de-eccomerce it (if thats a word).

Now we have be learning about shoppify we may even have a play with it through that, or find good open cart developer who can work with what we have.

I know shoppify has its hatters etc but for a very small business like us it seems to be very easy to use and with a little persistence is easy to use.

As an example we can do what you suggest on shoppify with a few clicks and an app.

 

[fisicx]

As an example we can do what you suggest on shoppify with a few clicks and an app.

You can do the same with wordpress and other modern ecommerce platforms.

I know you like the ease of use of Shopify but if you want your online business to grow as it should it's not the right platform for you.

 

[dan pack]

Back again,

so we have made some changes and little tweaks, I have de americanized! as much as possible, changed the cart and checkout as much as possible. Still struggling with the logo though was thinking of putting a box in between the outstretched arms, it is something we have carried through the business onto the vans etc.

I can create an inquiry form and was thinking of a simple call to action such as request a quote and or more info, this could be applied across all categories and all products as a short line of text with a simple link.

As pointed out a few shortfalls are becoming apparent but we are working with what we have and it has been encouraging, we have sold more of one product than every before and are ranking better for some branded items far better that before.

We may be looking for a good adwords guru not sure yet (cough would be great if they had packaging experience) but bet these people are hard to find.

 

[Steven001]

Looks nice overall, your menu system is sweet I have to say.

The only thing I don't like are these icons below I screen-shotted from your website and put a red border around. They're not clickable and serve no purpose other than making your page taller.

On mobile they are so tiny I can't even make out the images, let alone the text.

To me it would make sense to remove them and show the products straight away, hit them with the actual content.

 

[dan pack]

Thanks for that Steven, when we looked at the tapes we thought that the menu and navigation didn't immediately sort of show what tape we did if that makes sense, so the little pictures are of the best selling ones. The idea was for people to recognise these quicker than looking through the filter, which would then hopefully lead them to look through the filter if that makes sense.

It is very much a work in progress so we will look at it and see how we can improve, it has started to produce now though and is converting orders right through the range.

Many thanks for the constructive feedback.

Best Regards

Steve

 

[Alan]

couple of things - in the header I'd have phone number and email address ( you have a click to contact page I'd replace that with the email) in bold and larger - like you do on the contact page.

I happened to have my browser at 1400px and contact move to tehsecond line on tehleft of the menu - and the pull down above it makes it close to impossible to click on. Not sure how that is best solved but iti s a usability issue.

There is a bit of a visual design issue with the logo and the search bar, the search bar being 12px above the text line of the logo, but aligning them also looks poor. I would suggest getting some designer input into that top line to make it less scrappy. something like.site-header: background-color: #ebebeb; could work as it makes it clear it is a header and helps visually segregate from the nave menu, but your logo will need a transparent background.