Summary of Jam Session:
In this session we did 11 critiques. Eva Mathis – POD Store. Dave Statler – Children’s Books. Karen Wood – Apparel Store. Danielle Malconian – Plus Size Clothing. Courtney Kelly – Women’s Boutique. Rich & Miasha Coleman – Children’s Streetwear. Michael Monahan – Whisky Barrels. Grace Druecke – Minimalistic Towels. Christy L. Winfrey – Apparel Store. Dexter Salon – Dog store. Jacob Molitor – Designer Clothing.
Housekeeping:
0:02:10 – New and Revised Ecommerce Evolved Book!
0:03:15 – New BGS POD Store
Critiques:
Critique 1
0:07:30 – Critique number 1 is for Eva Mathis, https://jollyjadecollection.com/. POD Store.
Homepage: Remove exclusive offer popup, this is not compelling enough. Typically we offer them a discount code for their email. Adding microtext within the Search bar is another best practice that we have tested. Matt talks about the purpose of the homepage (navigation and trust), and to test removing popular products from the homepage.
Collection Page: Remove color swatches to increase site speed, we replace this with a text link such as More Colors Available → Also, improving the filters will enable your customers to navigate through your products easier.
Cart: Remove the big Guaranteed Safe Checkout logo below the CTA button. It takes the focus off the main CTA and looks scammy. Remove any sort of popups in cart, you do not want to interrupt the purchase process.
Checkout: Add contact details next to the logo in Checkout.
Critique 2
0:24:00 – Critique number 2 is for Dave Statler, https://maxrhymes.com/. Children’s Book Series.
Homepage: Team suggest changing the base font as it is not prototypical and hurts readability. Tanner suggests a button at the bottom of the homepage to take them to a collection page for better navigation.
Product Page: Team suggest better product images and replacing the value propositions under the ATC, they are not compelling enough. The base font is making the product page very messy. If you do not have any product reviews, don’t put reviews on that page. Nobody wants to be the first person to buy your product. Remove any reviews under 3 stars.
Cart: Ensure there are no popups on Cart.
Checkout: If your store is created before January 2019, install CB app for Checkout optimizations.
Critique 3
0:40:25 – Critique number 3 is for Karen Wood, https://neunomads.com/. Apparel Store.
Homepage: Change email collector popup from instant to exit-intent. Remove slider images, these are extremely distracting. Replace it with a static image and a strong value proposition. The team discuss talk about rewording certain categories and sorting navigation to provide clarity. Enlarging the search feature, we know how valuable customers are who use this feature, make this prominent.
Product Page: Matt advises against having the product thumbnails on the left-hand side of mobile, it shrinks the size of the image which is what your customers want to see. Move the thumbnail images under the main product image. ATC experience appeared broken and was a disconnect for the team.
Cart: Features on the cart were not optimized. If a customer adds a product to the cart, a slideout cart should appear and give the customer the option to proceed to checkout or continue shopping. There is also multiple features that do not work when the team were going through them.
Critique 4
1:05:10 – Critique number 4 is for Danielle Malconian, https://www.plusbydesign.com/. Plus Size Clothing
Homepage: The team discuss talk about the benefits and challenges of the Account feature. The value prop banner has some great parts but the images need to be enlarged or less photos features to keep the focus on the text.
Collection Page: Great filters on the collection page. Team discuss removing Sort By feature to encourage more visitors to use the filters.
Product Page: Increase the size of the breadcrumbs. Remove SKU number, it does not benefit your customer. Matt talks about adding a testimonial on the product page as a test. Ensure you do not have any pop-ups when a customer adds a product to cart. Do not interrupt buying process.
Critique 5
1:24:25 – Critique number 5 is for Courtney Kelly, https://twistedpineappleboutique.com/. Women’s Clothing Boutique.
Homepage: Logo very hard to read. Add microtext in the search bar to help customers. False bottom on the homepage banner. Increase the size of UVP’s and Menu on the homepage to help readability.
Category Page: Especially for Apparel stores, filters are very important.
Product Page: Product Page lacks visual hierarchy. Your main CTA should not share the same color as anything else on the page. It needs to stand out above everything. Needs to add size chart link, customers won’t make a purchase if they aren’t sure if it will fit.
Cart: How important is special instructions for your customers? If it isn’t used it is wasted real estate.
Checkout: Ensure your CTA buttons are congruent throughout product page, cart and checkout. Add support details next to your logo, phone number and email address.
Critique 6
1:39:10 – Critique number 6 is for Rich & Miasha Coleman, https://www.shoprichboys.com/. Clothing store.
Homepage: The banner has zero value proposition. Go through Aleks’ value proposition training in the members area to learn how to better execute this. Team discuss how Rich & Miasha can better convey their brand.
Collection Page: Needs to have filters so customers can sort through relevant features.
Critique 7
1:49:50 – Critique number 7 is for Michael Monahan, https://mysticbarrels.com/. Used Whisky Barrels.
First, the team discuss the complications that come with this business model, which is shipping. We brainstorm and advise how Michael can make the shipping rates easier to understand and not make his business problems, his customers problem.
Critique 8
2:02:40 – Critique number 8 is for Grace Druecke, https://thebalimarket.us/. Towels.
We speak about brand clarity, whether you are speaking to the 30% of returning customers or the 70% of new buyers. The business name doesn’t have any correlation to the product sold which can be a disconnect for potential buyers.
Collection: Matt gives his advice on how to improve filters and making it prototypical.
Product Page: Move ATC above the fold. Change review colors to Amazon yellow. Removing product images that don’t mean anything to your customers, show relevant images only. Less is more.
Critique 9
2:20:15 – Critique number 9 is for Christy L. Winfrey, https://upbeattees.com/. Clothing line.
Homepage: Team discuss unisex, mens, womens clothing and how you should title them without watering down your message.
Product Page: With a unique illustrated product image, add text on the image itself to clarify what makes your product unique. Replace payment icons under ATC with 3 value propositions.
Critique 10
2:36:00 – Critique number 10 is for Dexter Salon, https://gabbyswinkshop.com/. Dog Store.
Homepage: Never show a customer a popup before they even browse your sight.
Product Page: It is important not to have too many value propositions. No more than 3 clear value props that are clearly presented.
Critique 11
2:46:30 – Critique number 11 is for Jacob Molitor, https://www.comelysupply.com/. Womens Designer Clothing.
Homepage: Multiple popups right away is very distracting. The team then talk about how Jacob can provide brand legitimacy and let his customers know he is licensed to sell these goods.
Noteworthy Topics:
0:07:30 – Search Bar Microtext
0:24:00 – Font Readability
1:05:10 – Accounts Feature (to keep or remove)
1:49:50 – Shipping Large Items (brainstorm)
2:46:30 – Improving Brand Legitimacy