Kind Critique?

[kahliachase]

I recently re-launched my website about a month ago.

Some changes I have seen happen are

1. People are getting to the homepage and navigating away

2. Less add to carts from a month ago

If there is something I am missing, please tell me. I did notice that the person that redid my website added a lot to the homepage and I am wondering if there is too much information to look at and maybe I should simplify. I am open to making changes. I'm more of a creator and not much of a marketer so I don't really understand what my website needs. I have a hunch that since my analytics stops mostly at the home page that that is where I need improvements.

Thank you!

www.mettaweaving.com

[LuckyDanny]

Hey there, @kahliachase!  

Before we dive in, you need to give yourself a pat on the back. E-commerce isn’t easy, and you’re getting traffic! Even though you aren’t seeing the sales rolling in, that too will come.

There’s good news! There’s always room for improvement.

First, the easy things to fix:

• Add a favicon! 
• Make sure your social media links open in a new tab
• Your Facebook link isn’t working right now
• You’ve linked your banner, which is fantastic! It’s a step many merchants forget. However, make sure it stands out and shows across all pages. 

Now, let’s move on to the homepage

• Hero image: I like that your images aren’t auto-rotating. That’s very helpful in making the most of your prime homepage real estate here. I would use a click heatmap to see if people are scrolling between them and which one is most popular. I would assume that your first hero image is likely the most popular.
• “Welcome to my studio blurb” - This is where I think learning more about your audience will play a crucial role. You have a lot going on in this text - it’s jewelry with healing properties that’s hand-crafted with free shipping and 20 trees are planted with every purchase. My concern is that this is prime space for your visitors, and most are going to either 1) skim over the text or 2) go back up to your main navigation. Instead, I would remove the text and jump right into your collections. You could dedicate a page to your FAQs that would help promote these values of your jewelry. A poll may also help you identify what your visitors want the most.
• The reason I mentioned bringing your collections up is that it’s buried near the bottom of your page. While you have great products and a fun vibe, most people aren’t going to buy from you because it’s handmade. If you show them your product collections, they may be more inclined to jump into them to learn more.
• Promote those reviews! If you revise the homepage a bit, you can highlight some of your reviews. That will be more impactful than a picture of your studio. As great as your studio is, people are more interested in your reviews. 

Footer

• You’re missing some crucial pages here. Your blog, policies, reviews, about and contact pages need to be in the footer. There’s no way around it.
• I like that you have a currency conversion option! The only hiccup is that you don’t have any information on international shipping.  I would revise that so if you do get international guests, you’ll be able to provide them with the correct shipping policies and expectations. 

Main navigation

• Your main navigation is really heavy, as in there are too many options here. Use a click heatmap to see which ones your visitors show interest in and move the less popular items to the footer. 
• Revise how you’re ordering this. For example, Meet Kahlia, The Metta Story, Conscious Partnership and Our Skootlie are great at building your brand. But when it comes to selling your product, it may not be as popular with your visitors. They aren’t buying this amazing jewelry because they learned about how you are or your story; they fell in love with your products. Again, the click heatmap will help you evaluate how you order these. Shop, however, needs to be at the top. That’s your main priority.
• Watch session recordings, which act like a DVR of your website, of people moving around your site. How are they moving from homepage to product pages? If most of the visitors aren’t moving past your homepage, filter your session recordings by source to identify where they are coming from. 

Collection Pages

For reference, I’m on your All Collections page.

• I would revise the text at the top of the page. Is the sentiment great? Yes. Is it too long? Yes. Instead, if you want to have text, highlight two things: 1) Free domestic shipping and 2) Planting 20 trees with each order. The rest of it isn’t necessary.
• You need to have a filter here. Especially for your All Collections page, add in filters for collections, stone, size, cost, etc. Help people find that product.

Product Pages

For reference, I’m on the Rose Quartz Pendant page.

• Reiterate free shipping. Since the announcement bar isn’t shown on all pages, it’s going to be an out of sight/out of mind issue.
• The rest of it is fine to me. I would maybe consider different colors for your CTA buttons, but that’s about it. Typically I like to encourage reviews, but you can’t have a product review as much as you can have a business review. Since you have limited quantities of hand-crafted products, product-specific reviews aren’t going to work here. Again, highlight those awesome reviews on the homepage! 

You have a great foundation here, and I can’t wait to see how your business grows. Visitor behavior is going to help you spot what’s stopping visitors from converting and find ways to improve your site. Lucky Orange has heatmaps, session recordings, polls and more with a free trial (no credit card needed) and plans that start at US $10/month.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!

Cheers - Danny

[ConveyLego0612]

Hi @kahliachase, 

Have seen your store and have your praises for you:

- Your store is clean and fresh. I love it. 

- Your products are great. If you have a good site and an amazing marketing strategy, I believe you will succeed. 

And here are my suggestions:

- The banners is quite big and you can try to redesign like this example. 

- The Welcome section is quite long. Can you try to make it like a paragraph? 

- You can add some sections that showing your products like featured sections or a gallery. 

An Instagram gallery could be a good option because I see you're building Instagram account. 

Check out this app: Shoppable Instagram Gallery. Not just a normal gallery, this app will help you make a shoppable gallery. 

- On product pages, you need to add product sliders on it. Don't let your customers scroll too much to see all the photos. 

- I see your product prices are quite high. Do you try to have any discount events? I think a discount event would increase your sales faster. 

Hope this helps!

Happy selling, 

[kahliachase]

WOW! Thank you so much for all the feedback! Super helpful!

[Growave]

Hi @kahliachase !

Clear CTAs - help to show what to do next. Hero banner on your homepage is a key to make a connection with every visitor. You should clearly communicate what your website is about.

Homepage designs guides your visitors around your website. To engage visitors you need to work on homepage layout design.  Include trust indicators on the homepage. Homepage content should be strategically decided.

90% of people read reviews before purchasing an item. I personally do not read the description too much, I go straight on to the reviews section because that is social proof. In my opinion that is essential for every site. I highly recommend (almost insist) and adding that feature on your site. You can use Growave for that, it offers automated emails within the Reviews feature as well.

Use a referral program that will encourage your existing customers to share your products with their friends by giving discounts if the latter have purchased something from your store. With referral programs it is important to carefully set up so that you are not giving huge discounts and not getting anything back. [I recommend using one by Growave., because it is safe and it is integrated with 6 other marketing features (Reviews, Wishlist, Rewards, Social Login, Instagram, Discounts, Referral, VIP tiers) for better performance. 

Hopefully, I managed to help you. If so, please let me know by liking this post.