More feedback please - long running store

[ckyshop.co.uk]

Hi all

 

My site has been active for some time now and sales have always been steady. I get many hits from my advertisements but get a very low conversion rate. Can any of you highly experienced and wise forum users offer me any advice? It would be very much appreciated.

 

http://www.rockshopdirect.co.uk

[soregonmale]

Well... I'm a newbie to the oscommerce thing, but the first thing I noticed... it's VERY bland. In otherwords, boring. The black and white thing... it's just doesn't look like someone cares about the look of their store. Just a first impression look.

 

I would suggest looking at other T-shirt sites, and other sites that offer the type of stuff you do, to get ideas from them about descriptions, and site look. But... like I said... I'm a newbie, so you can take it as you want.

[Guest]

The site only uses 2/3 of the screen on my browser. It makes it seem crowded. This is enhanced by the simple two-colour schemes. I agree that for a rock store, it is bland.

 

Have you considered splitting the conditions of use page into several more common pages? For example, I normally won't think to look for shipping info under conditions of use.

[ckyshop.co.uk]

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated.

 

I will try and make the store 100% wide like it was originally - although I changed it so long ago that I may not be able to figure out how!

 

Can anyone suggest what I can do to make the site more aesthetically pleasing?

[Victor Wise]

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated.

 

I will try and make the store 100% wide like it was originally - although I changed it so long ago that I may not be able to figure out how!

 

Can anyone suggest what I can do to make the site more aesthetically pleasing?

 

The red text on black background is really hard on the eyes. In fact, red text on a black background is a design sin, so I have read.

[jello1]

Start over.... thats what i would do.

again.. it's almost a stock install. you wonder why you conversion rate is low?. ask yourself this question. "Would I buy from this store". my response is NO.

 

you have great content, why not go the extra mile and make it look like a 1 of a kind. download STS and go to it. you would be very surprised of what you can do.

 

remember Less is more. also red means stop in the retail world. never never never use red as a base color. NEVER!

Just cause OSC has alot of info boxes and whats hot stuff does not mean you should use them... LESS IS MORE!. ill bet if you tone it down and make a different layout you would see an increase of sales. take a look at what others are doing. most stores that are turning product have a custom layout. remember ther are 10's of thousands stock OSC sites out there, and consumers are not as stupid as we all like to think. my 2 cents please dont take it as an attack.

 

good luck

[Dennis_gull]

You should try to make the store more unique or "comfortable" if you know what I mean. For example theres a contribution that will let you have corners on each box. Maybe change the text or background color would be a good idea, its quite hard to make a good looking site with black background.

[Victor Wise]

also red means stop in the retail world. never never never use red as a base color. NEVER!

 

That is a really good point that is rarely talked about.

 

 

I just realized that you have an option on the lower left hand corner for changing the color scheme. Why not change the default color scheme to something different and see how it affects your sales?

[ckyshop.co.uk]

That is a really good point that is rarely talked about.

I just realized that you have an option on the lower left hand corner for changing the color scheme. Why not change the default color scheme to something different and see how it affects your sales?

 

I did change the default scheme to white and blue but the customers' reactions weren't too promising.

 

Have looked on http://www.sts-templates.co.uk/ but all the links seem to be dead. Is Template Monster OK? What about template 14303 (I think that's the number)? How does using templates affect the use of contributions like Chemo's search engine friendly links and header tags etc.?

[Guest]

First impression was the colour scheme... I would change that before anything else, not very pleasing on the eye I'm afraid. There are loads of websites that will help you choose a colour scheme that goes together, here is one for example ... http://www.steeldolphin.com/color_scheme.html. Personally, I always think that simple, crisp and clear is best.

 

Then I would try and reduce the stock Osc look of the site.

 

Just my thoughts.. I'm no expert but I hope that helps slightly.

[abra123cadabra]

Why are you giving away real estate on your site to google ads? First thing I see, when I finally see something (you need to move the google analytics script to the footer so it doesn't stop loading your content when googles server is slow) is links to other sites. A good way to get your visitors to leave immediately.

 

I got a 17" monitor but your site doesn't fit, even with fullscreen mode (which I usually don't use).

 

Otherwise, the site looks a bit bland. I would like to see bigger images when on the products pages without clicking to enlarge them.

 

You require your customers to create an account, before they can checkout (your google ads and maybe the analytics script break are not pulled from over an encrypted connection thus leaving a broken padlock. This might have customers abandon their carts.

 

In general, I think your site might attract one time customers rather than returning customers. So requiring to create an account also drives your visitors away.

 

abra

[Jon1982]

Aside from the design issues, adding a postal address (and phone number if possible) to your contact page would help instill a bit of confidence in your buyers.