Feedback for store BattleBalm.com

Hi all. We have been redesigning our topical pain relief website and looking for some feedback.

The brand voice is cheeky, witty, and brash. We know we will offend some people. That’s fine.

I am looking for feedback on the website homepage and the extra strength product page as these have been combed through fairly thoroughly. I’d love to hear thoughts on the look & feel.

Some of the things that we still need to do:
Add product images with people in them
Add product images with features & benefits
Add subscription option to pages

Thanks!

Hi @Dylan_Jawahir

First, a good job on making your store unique. It is noticeable that a lot of work have been put into it. It does have cheeky voice but that can work. Content is good, right sections, a lot of text. SEO should be good. And those kind of balms are known to work, but under all content I have not seen some 3rd party reviews or analysis.

You have “As seen in” section but no links so that is not much of proof. Balms do not need FDA approval but there could be some lab results to confirm ingredients at least. Not my area but you get what I mean.

But in general, for me, colors are off. Dark websites are tricky, that yellow and especially red do not feel good. Check footer text for example, red, 12px, dark background, a bit hard to read. For homepage I feel there is not enough space in sections, a bit cramped and those 4 background colors do not make smooth transition from sections. Black, dark gray, light gray, dark gray, too much focus on background so text is not that dominant. Also think there are some AI generated images, and those to me are not good choice.

On product page you have ”Trusted by” but again that could be just marketing, no real proof. You have below that a reviews “Customers with a Lot of Free Time: :slight_smile: nice but you could put there anything you want. It is not 3rd part review app. And there “read more” link do not work.

So you get my look and feel, a lot of content done right, sections and content you do need, a lot of text to explain to customer. But for me colors and lack of real proof are a bit off putting. Maybe it is just me. For example, now there is a rise of AI generated user video product reviews. That looks good, attracts customers, better then text, but still for me, not a real proof.

Anyway, I do wish you a lot of sales, and to grow you business.

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback! Right now, I’m trying to get the content on the page. I will hand it off to a designer to fix the colors and fonts, so that they look more aesthetic! It looks like you do this type of work. I would like to discuss this with you.
Our reviews are verified by Yotpo. You can see all of them by clicking the little yellow tab on the right of the homepage.

Thanks again!

1 Like

@Dylan_Jawahir Overall, this is a very good store. Just sharing a few personal thoughts:

  1. I would really like to see a real user video applying the balm and honestly sharing their experience. That would feel more authentic.

  2. The site seems to use four or five different fonts. It feels a bit messy. I’m not a professional designer, but this could be improved.

  3. No need to be too picky about other details. It’s probably time to focus on driving traffic.

Hi @Dylan_Jawahir

I spent some time experiencing your website on homepage and product page you attached in the question. Some feelings and feedback have been collected on my end and to help you better understand what I said here, I collect what I encountered below for your reference:

Let’s say the good points at first:

  1. Fast page speed. No matter where I click on your website to explore more, either from homepage or from product pages, they all have a very efficient response, and it leaves me a very good impression that you have put so many efforts and taken some measures to optimize this store with sincere heart. Good work!
  2. Clear and vivid product description. This expresses mostly on product pages. It displays what you sell and highlights of product details very clearly and vividly. I love the way you express here sincerely!

Here I share some places which may need further improvements:

  1. On the Homepage: Too much information appearing on your homepage, this is the first impression I have when visiting. This is good in some way actually, as you have lots of things to say, but I feel hard to identify and get a very close sign of what really interests me and attracts me. I feel a little dizzy when exploring on the homepage and feel struggling whether it is a suitable place for me to further explore, if I have other ideas except pain relief cream. Unite the color patterns on the homepage and move some descriptions or less important introductions to specific product collection pages, which may reduce the pressure of reading. My personal opinion here only, you can optimize based on the real situation.
  2. On extra strength product page: Most contents are great and very attractive. A very small tip here for your reference here is to move the animation parts to the empty place below your product images, as it looks a bit odd when scrolling down to realize that the empty part contains on a very detailed page. And another thing here is to unite the color of main page and footer part, as they look like a bit contradicted.

One more reminder here concerning SEO aspect for your website: Pay attention to the length of meta title and meta description, because some of them cannot display completely when I intend to see the appearance on Google when searching. I can feel how hard you worked on SEO as well, but it is better to keep the length of meta title and meta description between 50–70 characters and 100–170 characters with your best to provide a better view for customers. SEOAnt here can do some help for your store, as it has a method to test if meet the length displaying on Google and refers to Content Optimization feature. You can have a try anytime via here when you feel free. Anyway, keep up the good work on your store further optimization and you can make it I believe!

Hii @Dylan_Jawahir , I have conducted a thorough analysis of your store from a performance perspective by using the Google Page Insights Report ( For the Home Page ) and the Insights Report ( For the Product Page). Both results are below the standards, and you really need to fix that immediately. Below are the strategies you can adopt to fix it -

  • Create snippets/critical-css.liquid and paste only the above-the-fold CSS for your most-visited template
<style>
  {% render 'critical-css' %}
</style>
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://cdn.shopify.com" crossorigin>
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://shopifycdn.net" crossorigin>
{%- comment -%} If you still load remote fonts, keep only what you use:
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
{%- endcomment -%}

<link rel="preload" href="{{ 'theme.css' | asset_url }}" as="style">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ 'theme.css' | asset_url }}" media="print" onload="this.media='all'">
<noscript><link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ 'theme.css' | asset_url }}"></noscript>
<link rel="preload" href="{{ 'product.css' | asset_url }}" as="style" importance="low">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ 'product.css' | asset_url }}" media="print" onload="this.media='all'">
<noscript><link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ 'product.css' | asset_url }}"></noscript>
{%- comment -%} === FONT PRELOADS (self-hosted WOFF2 in assets) === {%- endcomment -%}
<link rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href="{{ 'YourFont-Regular.woff2' | asset_url }}" crossorigin>
<link rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href="{{ 'YourFont-Bold.woff2' | asset_url }}" crossorigin>
<style>
  @font-face{
    font-family:'YourFont';
    src:url('{{ "YourFont-Regular.woff2" | asset_url }}') format('woff2');
    font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-display:swap;
  }
  @font-face{
    font-family:'YourFont';
    src:url('{{ "YourFont-Bold.woff2" | asset_url }}') format('woff2');
    font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-display:swap;
  }
</style>
  • Still in layout/theme.liquid, move JS to just before and mark as defer. Replace your current script tags with
<script src="{{ 'theme.js' | asset_url }}" defer></script>
<script src="{{ 'product.js' | asset_url }}" defer></script>
<script src="{{ 'collection.js' | asset_url }}" defer></script>
<script>
  /* Example: feature flags or config used by deferred scripts */
  window.ShopConfig = { currency: {{ shop.currency | json }} };
</script>

<script>
  (function scheduleNonCritical(){
    var load = function(){ 
      // Example: lazy-load a third-party widget only after first paint
      var s = document.createElement('script');
      s.src = 'https://example-cdn.com/widget.js';
      s.defer = true;
      document.body.appendChild(s);
    };
    if ('requestIdleCallback' in window) { requestIdleCallback(load, {timeout:2000}); }
    else { window.addEventListener('load', load); }
  }());
</script>
  • Image Compressing - Your Image delivery also needs to be improved by compressing the image size further. There are online compression tools available in the market that you can use to do the compression.

  • Network dependency tree- Avoid chaining critical requests by reducing the length of chains, reducing the download size of resources, or deferring the download of unnecessary resources to improve page load.

Alternatively, if you do not want to invest your precious time in optimizing and want a quicker and reliable solution, I recommend trying the Website Speedy optimization app, which will perform the optimization automatically by handling image delivery, deferring JS, and other important resources. It comes with a 14-day free trial.

(Disclaimer: We are the developers of this app and are eager to serve you in every problem you may face.)

When I add to cart, it takes me straight to basket page. Instead it should just notify me it has been added to cart to allow me to continue shopping from the same page to increase the basket volume allowing you to earn more money.

Hi @Dylan_Jawahir ,

First off, great job on making your store stand out! It’s clear a lot of effort has gone into it. The cheeky tone is noticeable, and while it may not appeal to everyone, it can definitely work. The content is strong, and I see you’ve covered all the key sections, with plenty of text to explain the products. From an SEO perspective, it looks like you’re on the right track.

However, I think adding some third-party reviews or customer testimonials would really strengthen your credibility. You have the “As seen in” section, but without links, it doesn’t quite provide proof. For a product like this, lab results or ingredient analysis would also help back up the claims, even though balms don’t require FDA approval.

In terms of design, the color scheme might be a bit intense for some. Dark websites are tricky, and the combination of yellow and especially red doesn’t feel balanced. For example, the footer text in red (12px) on a dark background is a bit hard to read. I also feel that the homepage sections are a bit cramped—there’s not enough breathing room, and the transitions between background colors (black, dark gray, light gray) don’t flow as smoothly as they could. The focus on the background makes the text less prominent.

As for the images, I noticed some that seem to be AI-generated. While they may serve their purpose, they’re not always the best choice for establishing trust with customers.

On the product page, the “Trusted by” section is a good start, but without real proof or links, it feels more like marketing fluff. The “Customers with a Lot of Free Time” review is cute but lacks credibility since it’s not connected to a third-party review app. Also, the “read more” link isn’t working, which can be frustrating.

Overall, I think you’ve got a solid foundation with your content, but the design and proof aspects need some refinement. Adding real customer reviews, lab tests, and perhaps a few user-generated videos could go a long way in building trust and encouraging conversions.

Wishing you lots of success and growth with your business!

Best,

Felix