3 Reviews0 Votes0 Favorites1325 Views
Concept Reviews
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Homepage
What works
The blue section in the header of the homepage does a good job of drawing the users attention via color, visual weight and visual hierarchy. The wavy pattern in the background also adds visual intrest. You could possibly use this pattern in gray scale in the footer of the page to add consistency and visual intrest.
Image also help draw the users attention.
Calls to action are very clear (and very orange) these are hard to miss. Consider toning down the orange just a bit (just personal preference...)
What needs improvement
Consider reversing the logo in white out of a darker background. Right now the logo gets lost because there isn't much visual contrast between the two.
Consider simplifying the blue area. Its pretty busy, has a lot of copy and images that could possibly overwhelm & confuse the user. Remember that users scan most of the time instead of reading all the copy - making things brief ensures they get the gist and if they want to learn more they can click into a detail page.
Consider making the secondary headers on your pages blue instead of black - this would soften up the harshness and make the copy feel more on brand with the color scheme.
Interior Pages
What Works
The interior page with no main graphic in the blue area is very visually appealing. The 'page not found' title in the blue area gives the page title visual distinction and separates it from the page. Consider using this model for the rest of your interior pages and including a main image in the white area.
- The design of the interior pages feel very well aligned and the design is obviously based on a grid. The proportionality of the sidebar to the main content feels appropriate as well. Good job!
What needs improvement
The gun image on the interior page feels cramped. Consider making the image smaller and getting rid of the 'breaking outside the box' effect. This effect is much more successful when used with ample whitespace.
Typography feels clear and balanced although this could be pushed a bit more. The second level headers (products and services) could have more of a size difference from the body text. Using secondary colors would also help as well.
Consider adding a 'back to top' link in the footer or the bottom of the page. These pages are rather long in terms of content.
Other Random Items
- Just a thought, but the logo has a barcode in it... I'm wondering what what it would look like if you use this design element in other places. Perhaps small barcode-ish dividers in other areas of the page (between items of the sidebar) or as a pattern in the footer. Might be a good way to reinforce the branding elements. Give it a try... could be cool or could look horrible.
Overall Thoughts
Overall I think this design is great and could be much better with just a few small tweaks to highlight the content and visual hierarchy. Let me know if you have any questions about my critique or need any clarification.
Notes Added to Images View
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1Not enough contrast
Consider reversing the logo in white out of a darker background
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2Simplify
There's a lot going on in this area - consider simplifying.
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3Color Scheme
Consider making headers (h1, h2, h3) blue instead of black to go with the sites color scheme better.
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4Texture
Consider adding the wave texture in the footer, or a barcode texture
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Notes Added to Images View
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1Cramped
This area feels cramped. Perhaps you could make the blue area smaller and include the image in the white main content area. The 'breaking out of the box' effect generally works better in conjunction with ample whitespace.
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2Back to top?
Consider adding a back to top link.
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3Too orange?
I would tone down the orange a bit. It's almost a bit to jarring.
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Notes Added to Images View
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1Nice
This white header reversed out of blue feels nice in terms of white space and visual hierarchy. Consider using this as a template for the interior page headers.
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Niki Brown commented:Agreed Aurimas - Especially with the simplifying the text into bullet points. If there's a lot of keywords for SEO in that text surely they could be translated into bullet points.
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Horizons Inc commented:Niki - thanks for your insight :) Very very helpful. Sometimes you get so close to a project you lose sight of some of the basics... We're trying to balance between SEO recommendations, marketing recommendations, personal preference and corporate momentum - I'm glad we got this close! We're going to try all your recommendations out as we start testing - the site is almost live actually but we're MVT junkies :)
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Niki Brown commented:
Hey no problem! Let me know if you have any other questions. I'd love to get a peek at the design after changes are made!
Niki
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Hi Eric,
I must say this new page will be a great improvement comparing to the old one. Company's credibility will be up and sales should go up. Proper first time user experience should improve conversions.
HOMEPAGE
5 seconds rule is a must nowadays. Try to simplify homepage so new visitor can grasp what you do and offer in 5 seconds or less. It has to be bloody obvious :)
There should be less text or almost No text on the homepage. If after 5 seconds new client understands what you offer and it is within his area of interest he will drill deeper into the site
Searchbox should be more prominent as you offer a lot of products and it's very probable that new user will want to search for a specific type of barcode sticker. Search box also should have no lest than 27 characters.
Nav-rollovers will need a fracture of a second delay so if somebody just moves a mouse across and don't stop over a menu it will not be activated. Instant (no delay) rollovers are very irritating and user experience suffers. Drop down icon is not essential and can be confusing for some users who will think they need to click exactly in this icon.
I took the liberty of making a quick wireframe of a simpler homepage. Just an idea.
CONTENT PAGE
Always write in reverse pyramid style as users do not read on the internet the way they do in printed media. There should be title explaining a lot and than summary of what will you say in the main text below. Also graphics, text bolding and info boxes help users to get the needed info fast without reading all the text. The solid block of text which you have will never be read by the users so make this text easy for scanning. User should be able to quickly scan the page and get all most important info from it without reading it.
Buy UID labels online button looks like a box header not a button. It should be made more prominent as this online design looks like a very good way of getting new users involved and interested in trying your products.
I would really suggest designing content pages with the same style like homepage - horizontal sections with most important information on the top ale less important in below sections.
FOOTER
You should follow us on Twitter (or Facebook). Funny thing but numerous split test proved that this wording tends to increase conversion and more people tend to follow twits :)
newsletter should really be a last option or even removed. People are not so interested in newsletter spamming their inbox nowadays and writing it is a real chore.
MARKETING
Conversions can be increased by huge margin when separate dedicated landing pages for each type of adwords and other advertisements are being used. The biggest mistake and conversion killer is sending new visitors from advert to a generic homepage.
Test and test again as whatever you have can be improved and should be improved. I suggest permanent A/B split tests of every landing page, home page, layouts etc. Only split testing can give reliable data - otherwise it's only guesswork :)
Funnels and data analysis is critical also. You need to know what people do on the website, and where do they drop out from the conversion process.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions or are interested in more in-depth help feel free to drop me a line at m.andre@webcardinals.com
Keep up the good work :)
Michael ANDRE
(user experience designer & strategist)
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Michael + Webcardinals commented:
a lot of in-depth reviews does the trick - it's very time consuming though :)
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Horizons Inc commented:
Wow what a great idea for a competing homepage design :) I'm already writing up a project brief to get this designed and built out for a split traffic test. Any chance I can get the Balsamiq file?
We originally had the search field shown persistently but removed it to try and reduce clutter in the header area. We get so many phone leads from the web in this industry the 800# really needs a very very prominent position and that displaced the search bar.
Great tip on nav dropdowns - any recommendation on delay time? .5 seconds?
Couldnt agree more on conversions and testing - we do a lot of multivariate and a/b testing and already have a huge pool of fantastic ideas thanks to you guys :)
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Michael + Webcardinals commented:
0.5 sec delay both ways (accidental activation & accidental moving mouse away)
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Haider Ali commented:Michael... I believe you have done it a better as it should be.. great work :)
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From a marketing standpoint I think this site has a lot of strengths, as some of the others have pointed out.
The calls to action/desired conversions are very clear and bold. (I agree the orange might be a little lighter, though I also don't particularly mind it the way it is.) I might consider moving e-mail sign-up up, it's buried pretty far below the fold, though that was likely a conscious choice on your part because it's secondary to the other conversions. But I suspect you get a lot of visitors who aren't quite ready to request a quote or get samples for whom you are not capturing contact data.
You've got a ton of content which you appear to have jam-packed with strategic keywords.
Those two things alone go to your primary stated objectives, so, nicely done.
However, there are a few key things I think could be stronger from a strategy/messaging/experience standpoint.
Your logo tells me you sell durable bar code solutions. Your headline on your home page tells me the same thing, and that you make "more than just labels". I'd like to see right upfront:
A clear benefit/position/point of superiority/value proposition: WHY should I request a quote for your solutions instead of the other guys' solutions? I should be able to get that at a glance, not dig through the fine print to find it.
You do have some copy about this at the top of your products pages, but as an industrial buyer, I'm not sure I care that you provide "more permanent and durable label solutions than anyone." I just want to know that you make the best one for MY application, and why it's best.
If lower cost is your point of difference, get me there on the home page, and do it quickly. It's all about focus and prioritizing messages most clearly.
You are very heavy on features copy - which is great for SEO - and very light on clear communication of benefits.
Here are some ways to consider turning your very SEO-friendly brochure-like site into a more engaging experience.
Turning features into stories - pick one great customer in each application area and show me how they successfully applied your solution in a way that pays off what you decide your value proposition is. Use photos or video so it's not just a big wall of text.
Turn benefits into utilities - add value by building a related, useful function into the site for your users. I don't know your market well enough to suggest specific tactics here, just think about your different audience segments and what you might add that would be most useful to them in doing their jobs, not just for buying your products.
- Turn emotional benefits in connecting people - instead of just asking people to friend you on Facebook (really? I doubt you really need a Facebook page) or follow you on Twitter (better choice, especially to support your blog), is there any social experience that could be made a part of your site experience? Product ratings/user reviews, maybe?
It seems like a lot of time in B2B marketing, people don't think they need to tell stories or be engaging. But, business people are human, too. They need to be drawn in to the experience with more than just long product copy.
Is that helpful at all? Let me know if you have questions.
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Horizons Inc commented:
Thank you so much for the feedback Sue - this will definitely require a change in thinking in the company but I agree our copy is too far on the "enough about you, lets talk about me" side of things. I'm going to pass these recommendations along to the team in charge and can't say thanks enough. I STARTED the project thinking along your lines and by the time we got to where we are now things had somehow shifted... Thanks for helping get us back on track.
Good review. I would also like to comment on the homepage design - I believe the blue area up top is really good. It's busy, but I understand the need to pitch your main lines of products. It is well spaced, nice typography, etc. My main concern is with the text below the blue box.
You are telling a story there - from start to finish. Why not illustrate it? Such a large block of text will not be read by people. So unless it's all for SEO value, I'd break it down into bullet points, illustrations, arrows, graphs, and charts. A visual story that is "chunked" into pieces that are easy to visually process is 100% better than just a block of text. And I know companies love to talk about themselves but the web is not where you should be doing this. :)
Since my comments don't warrant a full review and a design review has already been posted I will just do this as a comment. I hope this helps!