Ok. Here is my review of Klaus Kobec. I have gone through all the elements on the homepage individually, and then I've put down a few more thoughts, and then finally I have included a reworked version of your front page.
It's not a total redesign - it's just a tweak. There is a case for a redesign, but I'm not here to put you down - the proposal at the bottom works with what you already have and is achievable by spending just a couple of hours tweaking your template.
Most changes are header, footer and menu changes, so they'd affect/improve all intermediate pages too. Take most of my comments as applying to all pages as well.
First and foremost
While it is useful good for test purposes, accepting any credit card details without validation is just plain naughty and unsafe. Generally 4444 4444 4444 4444 passes credit card validation, so you can still have a test facility without leaving the site wide open.
Items such as yours have a positive resale value and are ideal for fraudsters and launderers to purchase and resell on. It's certainly against the sprit of the two imrg accreditations (isis) you display, and probably against their rules too, though it seems to be quite an unmoderated scheme and there are many worse offenders out there.
Since you are selling in the UK you should be using 3DSecure for credit card transactions by now.
Design-wise.
Page header
The header is fine. Nice classy logo, and a good complementary, unoffensive colour combination.
Shopping cart in top header
Don't really like it. It's too high up and the font is not a very good one - at elast on my machine it looks blocky and unappealing. Since that bit of text represents a spend of several hundred pounds it should be as easy to read as possible. Kudos for having the information easily available on every page though - it just needs to be made a bit more user friendly.
Testimonials in the top menu bar
Lovely. Not sure about the
SEO practicalities of having it there, but please keep them. The only thing I would say is that some of the actual sentences aren't particularly strong, and if they actually mentioned Klaus kobec or the word watch it might be a bit more useful too. Quirky stuff like that is what seperates the true brands from the dross.
Top menu bar
Does what it says on the tin. The background colour is a good choice and it is a nice height, with a good gap above and below the text.
The mouse over colour for the links do not stand out enough - the darker shade of grey is hard to read and will be causing people of a certain age problems. (or men - 10% of all males are colour-blind to some extent). The background colour is dark enough that you could use white for the mouse over, which would certainly stand out..
left and right borders
A silly little thing. There are narrow lines on either side of the design. Lovely - I put them on my sites as well, but they aren't consistent when the header and footer elements meet the main content. Fixing it is just a matter of tweaking the template.
Offer of the week image
Love it. the use of red on the bluey purple background makes it stand out and it has a definite call to action (click here).
On some browsers it has a white line all around it, which rather ruins the effect.
in my redesign I have made it a more integral part of the page.
Welcome text
The welcome text is a bit weak. The actual content of it is up to you of course, but I'd want to read a bit more emotive text about the actual watches, perhaps describing them as timepieces or works of art etc.
the "to make beautiful watches, beautifully simple to buy" phrase is nice though. I'd keep that bit, but have " we make beautiful watches beautifully simple to buy".
Warranty and Testimonial buttons
Lovely, except... for those big red borders around them. A bit of red never hurt anybody, but they're too thick and bold. The two images are also not big enough to full the space they are in and end up looking a bit lost.
All of the buttons in the right hand navigation
They all match and the moving light effect should be a classy touch, but... they look cheaper than the rest of the site.
I see where you were going with them, but I just don't think they go.
Right hand navigation bar
This is the main navigation of the site for pretty much every page, so I can't stress how much those buttons let it down.
The related items function is a triumph. Well implemented and the borders around the little images make them look uniform, despite the backround od th eimages being different.
For pages which are not the home page it would be nice to see some way of skipping between categories, and if you really wanted to stand out you could customise some links depending on the current location - so in the Gents section you could have a message prompting them to get a christmas prezzy for the Mrs.
The green and red Christmas logo...
I see what you were trying to do, but, um, YUK!
Shopping is safe buttons
great that you have them, but they don't need to be that big. The most striking imagery on the site should be the products you sell. They also introduce completely different colours to the site, so separating them will make the site more cohesive.
Browser compatibility
Internet Explorer 6
The background images on the category buttons don't work, which is pretty unforgivable really - it is the main navigation for the site after all.
EDIT: they do now - I assume it has been fixed. Looks much better in IE6 now.
There is obviously the potential for some browser compatibility problems here so I have set up an analysis of all the site in all popular browsers here:
BrowserCam : Public Project
It shows a ssl confirmation message in Firefox with the Google analytics tracking code. I couldn't recreate the error, but my browser has been set to accept that particular service long ago so it wouldn't show up. I wouldn't worry about it too much - it is almost certainly because this particular testing service replicates a fresh installation of each browser, and the service is probably restricted from accessing external sites too, so just ignore all the Google analytics errors as something which will only be seen by someone using their computer for the very first time.
Those flipping Google errors have obscured a few of the pages, but as you dig through you will see that the worst affected part of the site is the main navigation element on the homepage. It's a nice enough design, and it should be possible to make it work for all browsers - it just needs a bit more tweaking.
The shopping assistant
Great. It's nice how you have made a feature out of it, because it is a good selling point.
As witht he rest of the site it hasn't really been designed - it just presents the information in an efficient manner, but there's nothing wrong with that really.
I notice it didn't pick up any Gents ceramic watches, when there is alt least one which could be considered ceramic.
There would be nothing to stop you including the shopping assistant form on every page of the site (obviously without the ajax functionality), and when the go button is clicked the user would be sent to the current assistant page.
I know you don't actually have to click it in modern browsers and it's only there for backward compatibility, but the word "go" in the search box is the wrong one in my opinion - ideally id would be more descriptive and involve the visitor a bit more.
The checkout process
You know what? I think you have got the process spot on... to a point.
It is lightning fast to use and doesn't ask for silly information.
However, from my experience with high value, fraud susceptible products I'm sure you are a target for dodgy Nigerians with stolen credit cards. Because you don't validate the credit card before accepting the order you're making yourself a more attractive target for fraudsters. Offering to ship to an address other than the card holder is just as attractive to fraudsters. Yes it's a nice thing oto offer, but you could be forgiven if you didn't offer that (especially if you cited your reasons).
Obviously only the people at Klaus Kobec can decide how much all this affects them, but the online climate (and the law) is changing to a point where they'll need to change the policy soon anyway.
The other thing is, there is no log-in or order tracking information. Is it possible? how can I check the status of my order? I've touched on it below (step 2), but if you don't have that function then your checkout process needs to take that into account and take as much user and contact information as possible. It'll help in diagnosing fraud as well.
Basically the thing feels like a customised shopping cart installation with attention paid to ease and speed of use, but you are coping without a few desirable pieces of information because they don't come with the ecommerce package.
I would also change the title at the top of each checkout page - it's a bit impersonal and could be made to suit the individual page.
STEP 1
- This page needs a title stating what is going on - "Review your shopping cart here".
- How to delete an item is not immediately obvious (the update button is too far away and being in grey, is just a little bit too inconspicuous)
- It's a good page, but being fussy, a statement about how you use SSL, and how visitor shouldn't proceed if they can't see the padlock and https:// in the menu bar might be a good addition.
- The postage text is right aligned, but the postage title is left aligned - a readers eyes jump about a bit when reading it. There's a bit of an subconscious negative effect there - having the elements closer together (all aligned the same way or segmented in a small box) would make the information feel more solid.
- The text about warranties and after sales care package is a bit unclear - is it an additional product or does it come as standard?
I'm not sure why it is on every page of the checkout process, To be honest to have got this far the customer has already made a fairly firm decision to purchase something, so the information should be at a different stage of the site anyhow. I would make it clearer and then just have it on stages 1 and 4.
STEP 2
- This page needs a title stating what is going on - please enter your credit card details.
- I won't harp on about the credit card processing, but it looks to me like you are doing offline processing, while the Barclaycard Business logo implies real-time processing, and users may check their statement immediately after making the payment to check it has gone out.
- Because you don't have a log in function for order tracking it's imperative that you can get in touch with customers. I'm be asking them to confirm their email address, and give them the option of providing multiple phone numbers (at least home and mobile), so that something as silly as a mis-spelling doesn't muck everything up.
- it's not in the screenshot, but you have a little tick box for the newsletter. No problem with that - good customer contact, and having it ticked as default is industry standard nowadays, but the text is smaller than usual. It's not something to be ashamed of - by making the customer work to read it you're increasing the chance of them opting out.
STEP 3
- This page needs a title saying something like "please check and confirm your order".
- It would be nice to see the expected delivery day, based on the postage which has been chosen.
STEP 4
- Is there some sort of printable invoice available? There really should be one available somewhere, though I accept it may only be available after the card details are accepted.
- As a customer I would definitely want some sort of clarification of all the details I had just entered, and the option to create a printable record. being able to email it to another address would be a nice touch.
- The "to continue browsing, click here..." sentence is pretty weak. Since they have just spent a couple of hundred quid I'd be thanking them profusely for their custom, reminding them they can register their warranty online when they receive the watch, and prompting them to buy more stuff. I might even offer them a small discount off future orders, or invite them to enter a competition / prize draw.
Received email
Dear Bob the Builder
This email is to confirm that your order has been received by Klaus Kobec and is awaiting processing.
Your order reference no is 11734
If you have any queries about your order please contact our Customer Services Team on +44 (0)20 8202 7171
Thank you for ordering with Klaus Kobec- No sign of an invoice / receipt yet. Also no mention of how long it might take to process the order. It looks like a standard email from an ecommerce package which hasn't been customised enough.
- Having the phone number on is a good idea. Stating the hours when the phones will be answered would make it even more informative. If you sell abroad much make sure it mentions GMT.
- I know it was sent from a klaus kobec email address, but specifically stating the return email address can't hurt, and some people would struggle to discern the email address from their email client (like my mum).
The page wot I made...
Ok, I know this is what you've been waiting for! I've made this so that no re-coding of site features is needed.
With the exception of the relocation of the checkout info (which should be really easy to do) it's all just changes to your template, and focuses on cleaning it up, making fonts easier to read, being more browser friendly and generally trying to look classier (but still appealing to readers of OK magazine).
I used all of your existing elements. I simplified the right hand toolbar by removing the big buttons, and neatened up the main area.
The menu is now just some smart text - a big link title and a nice little explanation under each one, continuing the classy theme from the rest of the page. it's easier to alter things this way - graphical buttons are all well and good, but they're a ball ache to change at a moments notice, and to be honest they look a bit nineties. A nice css mouse over colour change will make it an obvious link.
The text is just filler - I know I said I don't like yours but I'm not much better at it - I usually find a female to write that sort of thing for me.
The shopping cart display has been moved to the top of the right hand navigation so that it can be presented in easier to read text and on a white background.
The testimonial and warranty buttons have been repositioned slightly, and I have introduced a third, empty button to use the space better. Personally I would put special offers / discount codes in it. Or perhaps links to manuals and tech support?
You're right to be proud of those media mentions, but the logos were very poor quality. I've moved them away from the main navigation area and put them at the foot, so they are still visible on every single page.
The big watch image at the foot of the right hand navigation... Most pages are very tall, so with a bit of css wizardry to make it appear at the foot of the column we can keep the page looking interesting all the way down.
Shopping is safe buttons - like I said before, they're important, but they are not main design elements, and they're not main navigation links, so I've taken them out of the main navigation area and put them at the bottom. They look better there because they have a nice little border to make them match each other (despite being different colours), and they are still legible.
The whole isis scheme isn't that great if you look really really closely at it - it's worth having on your site, but too many other sites either abuse it or make their logos look really bad, so it does have some negative reinforcement in a consumers mind.
Hope this is what you had in mind, and apologies for the spelling, which is probably terrible - I write too much on this forum to spell-check it all!
Steve
Re: Klaus Kobec Watch Giveaway For A4u Affiliates
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