New Business - Website Review Please :)

[wheelerc]

Hi All,

My parter and my self have recently set-up a new business making laser engraved pet tags, sold on-line through our own website. I'm a web developer by day so (hopefully) know what I'm doing from a technical point of view, but being stuck into the code so much it can be easy to overlook usability issues etc.

So if anyone would like to give some feedback from a potential buyers perspective, I'd be very grateful.

The site is at https://www.pettagsuk.com/

Edited by wheelerc on Monday 5th December 17:51

[wheelerc]

Yes, we have a few photos of the finished items on the individual product pages, but will look at getting some better images produced and integrating them the selector on the homepage.

[wheelerc]

Wow, amazing feedback, thank you

chippy348 said:

Just placed an Order, easy to use but would have paid via paypal for ease but no option.

Thank you! Your order is being made now, and will be posted today and arrive with you tomorrow.

Yes, we have a PayPal account setup as we're also testing out selling via eBay, so we will be integrating that with the site shortly. The annoying thing is PayPal take 3.4% + 20p whereas out CC provider take 1.4% + 20p.

dmsims said:

No phone number anywhere ?

No, we're running this part time as I have another full time business and my partner looks after our two young children - so we're not always able to get to a phone and figured it would be better not to list a phone number, rather than have one which doesn't always get answered. We're very responsive via email but so far from 50+ orders have had no returns or queries.

Some Gump said:

That dog if fking ugly! It's also not wearing a tag.

ETA - might want to have front and back both visible or more obvious which one you're on at the time. IMO you should also have some / more "finished article" images, rather than just the design tool.

We thought he was kinda cute ugly rather than ugly ugly - but he's just a stock photo so can be changed. We have a Yorkie who's not very good at posing for photos but I'll try and get a better shot, or get a pro to get one. Very good point about him not wearing a tag! I may be able to photoshop something on, or get a proper photo taken.

thebraketester said:

On navigating to the website... there is nothing to show me instantly what your product looks like.

Your products should be visible without having to dig around etc.

Also the mock ups should look better. Shouldn't be too hard to do.

Yes, we really need to get some photos of the products on the homepage. I'll do that ASAP.

Regarding the mock-ups, they are made using some fairly cutting edge technology and may not look great on all devices. I know iPhones for example can't render the shadow or brushed metal effect correctly. They are SVG files with SVG lighting, shadow and texture filters, with a PNG file of the preview text overlaid which has been generated on the server by the same process which makes the PDF files to be sent to the laser engraving machine. So what you see matches exactly the layout of the tag. AFAIK no other company does this.

[wheelerc]

Some Gump said:

Whatever you do, don't photoshop a tag onto a stock photo of a dog - it'll make you look like charlatans.

Need real photos of real tags on real animals, or just photos of the product

I've had a quick go at photoshopping a tag onto the ugly dog - better or worse than no tag until we get a proper photo?

NorthDave said:

The dog is fugly but the site is great. Simple to navigate and visually appealing. I particularly liked the delivery bit "order before 3pm for a delivery on Saturday 4th June." I havent seen that before and I love it.

Lack of phone number would not bother me on goods of this value. The design tool does all I would want. I guess you could have a gallery bit with tags in action but not necessary for me.

Hope it is a success. Unfortunately I dont have a pet to order one for.

Thanks, we do have galleries for some of the tags if you click through to individual tag pages, but they're a bit hidden so I'll find a way to get photos on the homepage.

surveyor said:

I like it. Just ordered one...

Don't like Stripe on the payments. I know who it is - but many will not, and as it's all backend no need to confuse...

Good point, I've removed the Stripe logo from the payments box. Planning to add PayPal ASAP.

thebraketester said:

See what I mean? (safari browser)

Yes, it looks like Safari does the same thing as iOS - must be an Apple thing. They shuould look more like this:



Which admittedly can still be improved...

dmsims said:

OK one more rather important point:

The legal requirement is for name and address

So on the front you have 1 line (e.g. Pet name)

reverse, 3 lines

e.g. Phone (optional)
e.g. House & Street (optional)
e.g. Post Code (optional)

I would be changing the last 2 to mandatory and validating them
and you need Name

Yes, this is the legal requirement for Dogs, however there is no legal requirement for Cats (or other animals) so I don't think I'll force people to enter everything. I'll try to make the site a bit more intelligent and show a warning on the tag designer, or the basket/checkout page if they've not entered all legally required information so they are aware. It's also explained on our FAQ page.

EnthusiastOwned said:

I like it. Simple and easy.

Love the first thing you see is to enter the pets name, makes it very personable from the start.

Stock photo - The resolution is poor and you really need one showing off your genuine product. But I think the dog is cute, I really like that it's not the standard type of dog you see everywhere. Personally you'd be better off with a carousel with a few different breed types showing off your different tags (so you keep all types of owners happy and you don't exclude any potential customers - i.e. one small and fluffy with a heart, one working dog with a round, one bull type breed with a bone etc etc).

Tag preview - Too artificial so I'm not really sure what I'm getting - It's engraved but black? Love the fact you can get different fonts though.

Payment gateway - For a person who uses PayPal at every opportunity, even if it costs me more because I'm lazy and don't have to grab my wallet out of my pocket for my card details, or enter any further address details; I actually loved it. It's the simplest and quickest gateway I've ever used, it wasn't as painful as I was expecting.

Placed an order!

Thank you for the order! I have emailed you regarding your order earlier today.

I think he's kinda cute too, but we'll get some photos done with a variety of animals wearing our tags...

The tags are 'laser engraved' which is a process where a thin coating is applied to the metal and then bonded to it with a laser. The text is dark black and etched into the surface of the metal, but not 'deep engraved' as you would get with a punch or mechanical engraver for example. We use the same technique as far as I can tell as many online sellers and have had all positive feedback so far.

Thanks for the feedback on the payment gateway. From a developers point of view it's incredibly easy to work with, but it seems a lot of people prefer PayPal so we will get that integrated, even if they take a larger cut and have a reputation for freezing merchants funds

LaurasOtherHalf said:

I'd echo the thoughts on the photo of the dog, not exactly cute.

One other thing that bugs me is the drop down menu for the type of lettering "sans-serif" etc. I have no idea what each type looks like so it would be nice if each type was written in it's own type-does that make sense?

Yeah I know i can just click through each one to see the example but it would be easier if I didn't have to

I feel a bit sorry for the dog now, he's getting a hard time on here!

Yes, good point regarding the fonts, that can be improved. I'll add it to the list!

jammy_basturd said:

wheelerc said:

Regarding the mock-ups, they are made using some fairly cutting edge technology and may not look great on all devices. I know iPhones for example can't render the shadow or brushed metal effect correctly. They are SVG files with SVG lighting, shadow and texture filters, with a PNG file of the preview text overlaid which has been generated on the server by the same process which makes the PDF files to be sent to the laser engraving machine. So what you see matches exactly the layout of the tag. AFAIK no other company does this.

Why so complicated? Surely a PNG background image of the tag overlaid with text would have worked just as well and been much better supported across browsers?

Well, I needed to make the vector files for the laser machine (to cut its own jig for the tags) and the SVGs are very lightweight in terms of bandwidth, look crisp as they are vectors and easy to customise for each colour texture. However, I think you may be right. Layering another PNG behind with a rendered or good quality photo would be better from a users point of view, so that is what i'll do

Dejay1788 said:

I like it, it's simple to use and easy to figure out what you sell. A few things I would look to change however.

- I see you have some testimonials in the footer, but you don't appear to have a dedicated reviews page or tab, this would be nice to see and help build buyer confidence.
- No phone number or business information.
- It would be good to see an example of the finished product without having to search for it - your banner is a perfect place for this.
- No social media links. It's nice to see how active a company are on social media, can also give an idea what customers are saying and how customer service rates.
- The free next day delivery information on the homepage is misleading. You use 1st class which can take up to three days. I know it's a small thing but as it's advertised on the home page I would expect next day delivery. Perhaps change it to express delivery or something similar to save headaches on delayed parcels.
- Just an idea, but people love taking photo's of their pets so maybe you could create an instagram # for people to show off their pets wearing your tags, people would do it and you would be able to integrate this as a sort of gallery - more proof of happy customers.

Overall I really like it and think you've done a great job, I hope some of this helps.

Very helpful!

We have testimonials on the footer from general feedback about the site as a whole, and reviews on the individual product pages for feedback about specific products, but not an overall 'reviews' page - I'll add that to the list and link to it from all testimonials.

We'll add some photos of the product to the homepage as per the suggestions from others.

We have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pettagsuk/ so I'll get that linked to from the site. We're also on Quidco.

Regarding next day delivery - Royal Mail aim to deliver 93% of 1st class mail on the next day and I believe most customers understand this when they see 'next day delivery'. Our FAQ page also says "We post all orders via Royal Mail First Class. Orders placed before 3pm on week days will usually be delivered on the next day (Monday – Saturday).". We've had no complains so far regarding delivery.

Instagram would work great for customer photos. I'm also thinking of adding something to the follow-up feedback email we send out after delivery which would allow customers to upload a photo of their pet to go on the website.

dmsims said:

On the payment side

The payment dialogue is to minimalist

Some people won't know what CVC is (really!)

There is also no reassurance (e.g. card logo, mention of SSL or padlocks)

It actually made me look at the browser bar to check it was https

At the moment the payment dialogue is controlled by Stripe, the payment provider we use. We could build a custom form for it, but I quite like their solution and they feedback we've had so far is all good. We do have card logos on the checkout page (in the 'Payments' box) on the right. They are currently in black so I'll change them for colour versions so they stand out and are more quickly recognisable when browsing.

The browser bar is where you should be looking on every site to check it is secure. The website owner can put any number of padlocks, logos etc on the page, but only the browser can tell you for sure. I'd rather not promote adding our own 'padlock' symbols on-site as it teachers visitors bad security habbits. We do force all connections (even when just browsing) to use a secure connection.

thebraketester said:

On the subject of payment. You really should take paypal too. Some folk will just turn away at the idea of having to go and find their cards to pay.... PP is easy, quick and arguably safer for the buyer.

Yup, agreed, PayPal on the list. Will keep our existing provider too so people have a choice. Some people actively avoid PayPal

Jacobyte said:

My wife bought a couple of bone tags yesterday (from a physical shop) for our cats.

Two things came to mind when she showed them to me, which might be useful feedback for your business rather than specifically the technical/functional aspects of the website:

1. They are for our cats, they should have been fish or mouse shaped. Bones are for dogs.

2. Many pets are stolen, so she put our surname on them, rather than the their names.

Not much more to add.

1. Yes, we have a category for 'Cats' and one for 'Dogs' (partially for SEO purposes). Cats has Heart shaped and round, Dogs has Bone, Round and Heart. We're thinking of adding Star and Fish shapes next. We're also thinking of adding coloured aluminium tags, as well as leather and possibly even Wood if we can make them durable enough.

2. I've heard other people advise against adding the pets name in case they are stolen. I'm not sure exactly what the issue would be. My dog probably come back to me if I called any name, and probably wouldn't go to a stranger if they called his name... or am I missing the point?

DSLiverpool said:

I had to look hard for the address but its at the bottom! ok so no phone number but look at Zopim live help, she can do that from a mobile and reassures people someone is actually behind the site.

Great site, good idea - well done!

I dont need to tell you to join all the Facebook doggy groups do I ;o)

Yes, company details and registered address in the footer. Regarding the live help we'd have a similar problem to the phone in that we couldn't always answer immediately. I think (hope) having regular testimonials from happy customers will re-assure people we are around and actively trading.

You shouldn't have needed to tell me to join dog groups of Facebook, but I'd overlooked that, so will do!

HappyMidget said:

I personally love the dog, happy Staffy grin FTW!

Website seems nice and easy to use and well laid out.

Thank you! Glad someone likes him

[wheelerc]

Good news! I've added PayPal payments, and we're looking into ordering some additional colours using Anodised aluminium tags.

Thanks again for all the great feedback on here - it's all been read even if I've not replied directly, and we have plans to improve the product images, font selection and some other tweaks in the coming weeks.

[wheelerc]

surveyor said:

I'm a bit disappointed that the ink wore off within a week. The engravemrnt is hard to make out without even without the dog going mental.

That's no good. I assume it was a silver tag - we've been having a few issues with them. Let me know your order number and I will send out a replacement in brass, or provide a refund if you prefer.

[wheelerc]

Remster500 said:

Good simple and easy to navigate website. I would like to place an order. Is there a Pistonheads - thanks for the website feedback - Discount Code?

Sure, I've just setup code PISTON for 10% (Expires at the end of July).

As above we've had a few issues with the silver tags, so I'd recommend going for a Brass one until we get the new silver blanks in stock

[wheelerc]

Remster500 said:

Order placed!

Good luck with the business.

Thank you - it's on it's way and will be with you tomorrow.

[wheelerc]

Another little update on this - we had some problems with the original Silver tags whereby the text wasn't adhering very well, so we've now switched to Aluminium tags which end up with white text after the laser removed the anodising. These are much much much more durable.

If anyone from here originally bought a silver tag, and the text has worn off, please send me a PM or reply here and I'll get you a replacement sent out for free. For anyone else I've extended the PISTON discount code (10% off) to end of July 2017.

Thanks again to everyone who has provided feedback. We're still looking to get some other colour aluminium tags (blue, pink and black) but we have to buy in large quantities and we're only just starting to break even so I'm going to wait until the business is making enough money to cover their cost, rather than putting more money into it!

[wheelerc]

arnie12 said:

Can't do a fish can you?

Once we've got the additional colours, we'll be looking at adding new shapes, and fish is top of our list. Not likely to be until mid-2017 however.

[wheelerc]

cluckcluck said:

Nice website, very simple to use. I especialy like the checkout area and can see the web skills you have there.

Few things:
...

Wow - that's some excellent feedback. Thank you. I'll work on incorporating those suggestions.

[wheelerc]

Website updated with previews on all tags, and some other tweaks from feedback

I'm reluctant to start charging for 'extras' such as engraving on the reverse, as that kind of practice really puts me off other sites. Even if it means maybe I lose out on a bit of revenue. I may increase the pricing of the brass tags once we have a larger selection of aluminium colours in stock, as they are a little heavier and require a little more time and effort to produce.

[wheelerc]

Glasgowrob said:

Just seen this thread for the first time,


and ordered


is it just dog name tags you can etch or other stuff as well?

Thanks! It will be sent out Monday and should beneath you Tues.

The machine we have can laser etch anything up to 400x300mm by about 100 depth. It'll cut wood or plastic up to about 6mm and mark most materials.

[wheelerc]

Gemaeden said:

Spell check on the Home Page:

Our 'Gold' tags are made from solid brass, and our 'Silver' tags are made from anodised aluminium. All tags are approximately two millimetres thick – more than twice as thick as many of the cheaper tags avialable on the internet and at local pet shops.

Thanks, fixed

[wheelerc]

Efbe said:

possibly should make an option for it to have "I'm Chipped" on it or something like that.

Good idea, a lot of people (maybe 20% or so) add that to their tag. I could add a little microchip icon too probably. Added to the 'TODO' list

[wheelerc]

HappyMidget said:

Ordered some on Sunday for the new puppy we pick up tomorrow. They were despatched on Monday and we are really happy with how they have turned out and my wife left a glowing review on the follow up email that asked for a review

Excellent, glad you're happy with them Thanks for the kind review.