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[markdavison]

Hi,

I am not a designer but I have created a website to sell items from as a new business. I am getting large amount of traffic although it is costing me for google / facebook ads. I am trying to see what I can do from a design perspective to increase conversions.

I have tried to follow all the tips I have read on this site in terms of the checkout process etc.

I think it looks ok and is really simple to use but I am obviously biased. I am hoping some proper designers can advise whether I am missing anything?

theidband. com

Thanks.

Mark

[Andy]

The first reaction I got when I clicked your link was "Woah.. There's too much going on here".

Instead of cramming things into the page as you have done, you should instead simplify it and utilize focus points such as described by the Rule of Thirds to draw attention to what you are trying to sell and thereby increase conversions. Remember, clutter never helped anyone.

[markdavison]

Hi Andy, thanks for the pointer. I aimed the site at 1024x768 which is the resolution most of my visitors have. At this res, the main navigatio and product area is taking up most of the screen which is what I want.

You have helped me realise that the information below this, which is less important, was too big so I am going to reduce the icon size etc. so that it shrinks it down.

[Andy]

I was actually talking about the product area which is crammed with text, banners, images and buttons. Seriously, strip the banners, reduce the text and line things up according to RoT.

Most of the graphics is also of poor quality and should definitely be redone. I see a bunch of artifacts and poor gradients on the page.

As for the icons, as you mentioned, yes they are a bit too big. But the main issue isn't their size, it's the lack of proper margins. The margin around the icons should be consistent. That is, the space between the icon and the left edge of the container, the icon and the text, the text and the right edge of the container should all be equal.

To me, the whole thing comes off as tacky, all because of these small issues. Also, your source code is a mess. Don't use tables for layout...

[markdavison]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for all the advice. I have implemented some of it and I think the site does look a lot better and cleaner for the changes. I am sure there are more changes I could / should make but I will have to run with this for now.

[sam1am]

I'm very interested in conversion design and have followed a lot of the research done by marketing experiments. A few things that come to mind -

The single biggest factor (that you control) on your website that will determine how well it converts is the value proposition. You have to tell your customer what the product is, why they would want it, and why they should buy it from you rather than any of your competitors within 5 seconds of landing on the page.

I actually think your site does this pretty well. I immediately knew what you were selling, the design and imagery inspire confidence, and I can see the product nice and big right there.

I wouldn't mind seeing something that evokes a little bit of emotion - especially if your demographic is mothers with young children. A picture with multiple people in it, including a child wearing the bracelet might be something good to test out.

The call to action could also be a bit stronger. There was an article here on SM about calls to action a while back that was pretty good.

I don't need the little notes like "select a category" and "view your basket." They do a little bit for the look and feel, but they do nothing for functionality and ultimately distract from the main message. People know how to use websites, and what a shopping cart is, and don't need an arrow pointing to different elements of a website telling them what they are. If your design is good, its functionality should be self-explanatory.

You want as little unsupervised thinking as possible. Here's the product, here's why you want it, buy it, done. The information at the bottom of the page is a bit much, nobody is going to read through it. The one that is really good though, is the 100% money back guarantee. I'd have that above the fold - and just the statement without the explanation (which they can click through to if they really need it).

Those are just a few thoughts after looking at the page. I do like the look and feel very much, and you have better "conversion design" than 95% of sites that I see on a daily basis. I'd recommend implementing some of my ideas in multivariate tests to find ones that work best for your site.

Cheers!

[markdavison]

Wow, thank you very much for that feedback. Very constructive and informative. I am working on actioning your ideas to see what happens.

[thepixalape]

The placing of the price location changes very slightly on the medical page and so does the buttons on the bottom of the page.

I think that the price location should be closer to the buy button as if you place all this information together, it allows users to take in the information faster.

I would also add another page for your home page as the first one to appear was to do with children. A main homepage with a section for kids, sports and medical and a description of why the item is so good should be given on the page too.

[markdavison]

thepixalape,

I understand your point about the price but I like the "sticker" style in the top corner. If I was to keep this but also show the price above the buy button would this be acceptable?

I would love to have a main home page in the site but I don't want to distract people from the "buying process". I do need a page where I can hang other information such as promoting the wholesale side etc. but I am worried that if I do this then it is something getting in the way of people coming to the site and buying. It should be noted that my Google ads for sports take you straight to the sports section and the ads for medical take you straight to the medical section.

What is the general opinion, should a site have a front page with a big link to the sections where stuff is being sold?