website feedback needed
Discussion
Hi Guy's,
After many months working with our webs developers we are on the final leg of snagging before going live.
I have my list of issues with it (non too major), but I would like an honest unbiased view from people on this website.
our old website is www.lockyers.co.uk
our new website is http://secure-57.co.uk/lockyers.co.uk/ssl/
I won't say what I think as I would like your honest opinions
cheers
jon
After many months working with our webs developers we are on the final leg of snagging before going live.
I have my list of issues with it (non too major), but I would like an honest unbiased view from people on this website.
our old website is www.lockyers.co.uk
our new website is http://secure-57.co.uk/lockyers.co.uk/ssl/
I won't say what I think as I would like your honest opinions
cheers
jon
Thoughts in 60 secs (homepage only) –
http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/vans/?rw.cm=GOOGLE,PPC...
I see three things straight away – Get A Quote, Call Back & another Get A Quote
Here –
http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-insurance/?S=k267...
Get a quote, Help me choose
This looks nice - http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/insurance/ - look at the eight boxes from halfway down, illustration, bullet points, call to action – Simples (Sorry).
It’s an improvement – just needs a tweak until it’s ‘just so’.
Best,
Don
- No requirement for the 8 horizontal images beneath (in) the header
- I don’t like the ‘raised’ dividers between your top level links Home ‘|’ About etc.
- The ‘Get A Quote’ icons in the body copy look wrong, but I cannot put my finger on it
- You have 6 key areas Comm, Motor, Skip, Hotel, Shop, Manuf – they don’t seem to jump out at you.
http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/vans/?rw.cm=GOOGLE,PPC...
I see three things straight away – Get A Quote, Call Back & another Get A Quote
Here –
http://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-insurance/?S=k267...
Get a quote, Help me choose
This looks nice - http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/insurance/ - look at the eight boxes from halfway down, illustration, bullet points, call to action – Simples (Sorry).
It’s an improvement – just needs a tweak until it’s ‘just so’.
Best,
Don
insurance_jon said:
After many months working with our webs developers we are on the final leg of snagging before going live.
...I won't say what I think as I would like your honest opinions
Hmmm. OK....I won't say what I think as I would like your honest opinions
To be honest, the front page of your first site is more inviting than the new one. The new site bombards me with so much writing and pictures everywhere I don't know where to look. Very 'Web 1.0'.
The pictures are generic stock photos and add little to the experience, but have the major drawback of moving the eye away from where you want it to be, and just 'filling' the page space. Also the text under the different types of insurance wouldn't be read and I found I just clicked on the headings regardless. Therefore that 'real estate' could be taken back to give space and clarity to the page.
Compare that to say the Hiscox site. Never more than one picture on each page, and each heading or button has room to 'breathe' and stand out. When I do click on types of insurance I am met with very short paragraphs and easy to read bullet points.
I agree with Donny and Justin
One thing not mentioned yet is the font, I prefer any of the fonts on Hiscox, Adrian Flux or Simply. Something about your new font says "old website" to me.
The shop insurance picture is portrait but the rest are landscape.
Your old website had 3 simple pictures one for each category, which you then click for more info. Now you have 6 categories but webistie is much more complex. Why not just have six pictures and names arranged in a simple pattern (2 lines 3 per line would be my suggestion) like the old one - probably SEO reasons I'm guessing for all the text.
Various typo's etc and sentences that don't flow but I'm sure your snagging list has those. Not that most people read websites anyway with insurance it will be just "how do I get a quote" then once quote is reasonably comeptitive then they might go back and see if they like the feel of the company enough to place the business with you.
One thing not mentioned yet is the font, I prefer any of the fonts on Hiscox, Adrian Flux or Simply. Something about your new font says "old website" to me.
The shop insurance picture is portrait but the rest are landscape.
Your old website had 3 simple pictures one for each category, which you then click for more info. Now you have 6 categories but webistie is much more complex. Why not just have six pictures and names arranged in a simple pattern (2 lines 3 per line would be my suggestion) like the old one - probably SEO reasons I'm guessing for all the text.
Various typo's etc and sentences that don't flow but I'm sure your snagging list has those. Not that most people read websites anyway with insurance it will be just "how do I get a quote" then once quote is reasonably comeptitive then they might go back and see if they like the feel of the company enough to place the business with you.
It took be a moment to realise what the page was for. The company 'logo/call for a quote' heading is the same size as an advert and I have become acustomed to ignoring them. It is further seperated from the content of the page by the row of photos, which I agree with DonnyMac are unecessary.
From the logo, the yellow 'Insurance' doesn't contrast very strongly with the white background. If the white is part of the logo not much you can do. Otherwise try and get another colour behind it.
Bolder fonts needed for the buttons and headings.
Possibly raise the buttons rather than the dividers?.
From the old site, 3 clear options. Each had Insurance in a large font making it clear what your business does. On the new site, with all the additional information, it doesn't stand out as strongly. Possibly consider adding a line in, or under, the heading in faily large font 'Commercial and Personal Insurance Brokers'.
For each of the 6 main headings, A brief description could be fine, but I really don't like the sentance being too long to fit in the box and ending with '...'.
The menu on the left repeats 'Insurance' too many times and looks cluttered. Clicking 'Commercial Property' or 'Motor Fleet' from under the heading 'Business Insurance' should make it clear enough.
Would be good if you could fit the whole menu structure into the height of one (full screen) window. I need to scroll down to see the bottom of it. Leading to my next point...
My scroll mouse doesn't work on your new page.
I'm not sure about having the whole application form on the 'Sales' page. Maybe use more than one page for the longer forms? (Also see point about mouse scrolling.)
Contact Us - Link to google maps or similar for your location.
And on to the plus points
I do like how it all stays in place when adjusting the window size. (Pics, text not becoming mis-aligned.) And which part of the site you're on shown in bold on the side menu.
Hope this helps, good luck with getting it all working.
From the logo, the yellow 'Insurance' doesn't contrast very strongly with the white background. If the white is part of the logo not much you can do. Otherwise try and get another colour behind it.
Bolder fonts needed for the buttons and headings.
Possibly raise the buttons rather than the dividers?.
From the old site, 3 clear options. Each had Insurance in a large font making it clear what your business does. On the new site, with all the additional information, it doesn't stand out as strongly. Possibly consider adding a line in, or under, the heading in faily large font 'Commercial and Personal Insurance Brokers'.
For each of the 6 main headings, A brief description could be fine, but I really don't like the sentance being too long to fit in the box and ending with '...'.
The menu on the left repeats 'Insurance' too many times and looks cluttered. Clicking 'Commercial Property' or 'Motor Fleet' from under the heading 'Business Insurance' should make it clear enough.
Would be good if you could fit the whole menu structure into the height of one (full screen) window. I need to scroll down to see the bottom of it. Leading to my next point...
My scroll mouse doesn't work on your new page.
I'm not sure about having the whole application form on the 'Sales' page. Maybe use more than one page for the longer forms? (Also see point about mouse scrolling.)
Contact Us - Link to google maps or similar for your location.
And on to the plus points
I do like how it all stays in place when adjusting the window size. (Pics, text not becoming mis-aligned.) And which part of the site you're on shown in bold on the side menu. Hope this helps, good luck with getting it all working.
A website re-design should ideally make a site more user friendly or bring it up to date in terms of design. I don't feel this achieves either.
There is a clear call to action on the home page "call now for a quote", but apart from that I wouldn't have a clue where to go. To me, a homepage should simply say what you do, and make it easy for the user to decide what to click next.
The font is very old fashioned and there is no clear distinction between headers, titles and body text. It's all in the same weight and style. The spacing on the text is very poor, looks like single line spacing which makes it much harder to read, it's hard to read in word, never mind online.
The left hand menu being fully expanded to give all the options under each of your three main categories just gives the user several more decision points. The arrows on the menu items just scream of someone who has found the bullet point function in word for the first time.
The header menu is ok-ish, but there is no need for the images across the top of it, they don't add anything, make it look confused and are poor quality old fashioned images (adding to the old school feel of the site).
The footer is not centred.
Scrolling - am huge usability thing, if you have to scroll and scroll just to read the page you're going to give up after the first few paragraphs. Try to keep the text and forms to what can be seen on the screen without scrolling. It keeps things concise and easier to read.
The forms are huuuuuugges - do people really fill in that much detail on a website? I'd give up and go elsewhere if I was asked for that much info on a website.
The wifie in the corner from the stock photo's looks like she doubles in the 'text now' adverts at 3:00 am on a Friday morning
There is a clear call to action on the home page "call now for a quote", but apart from that I wouldn't have a clue where to go. To me, a homepage should simply say what you do, and make it easy for the user to decide what to click next.
The font is very old fashioned and there is no clear distinction between headers, titles and body text. It's all in the same weight and style. The spacing on the text is very poor, looks like single line spacing which makes it much harder to read, it's hard to read in word, never mind online.
The left hand menu being fully expanded to give all the options under each of your three main categories just gives the user several more decision points. The arrows on the menu items just scream of someone who has found the bullet point function in word for the first time.
The header menu is ok-ish, but there is no need for the images across the top of it, they don't add anything, make it look confused and are poor quality old fashioned images (adding to the old school feel of the site).
The footer is not centred.
Scrolling - am huge usability thing, if you have to scroll and scroll just to read the page you're going to give up after the first few paragraphs. Try to keep the text and forms to what can be seen on the screen without scrolling. It keeps things concise and easier to read.
The forms are huuuuuugges - do people really fill in that much detail on a website? I'd give up and go elsewhere if I was asked for that much info on a website.
The wifie in the corner from the stock photo's looks like she doubles in the 'text now' adverts at 3:00 am on a Friday morning
Agree about removing pictures
Running at a 1024x768 resolution the personal insurance stuff falls off the bottom and the first impression is it is a commercial only insurance. Removing the pictures should bump some of the info up
Terms of business goes directly to a PDF which is interesting from a navigation point of view . Someones assuming everyone has adobe reader installed (which they probably do...)
Running at a 1024x768 resolution the personal insurance stuff falls off the bottom and the first impression is it is a commercial only insurance. Removing the pictures should bump some of the info up
Terms of business goes directly to a PDF which is interesting from a navigation point of view . Someones assuming everyone has adobe reader installed (which they probably do...)
From a technical point of view, I'm afraid your homepage doesn't pass W3C validation either, which will make it hard for those using screen readers etc.
From looking at the code, it is also really not set up to be particularly search engine friendly, in several key areas.
More than happy to have a chat with you about this, offline if you'd prefer - email through profile.
From looking at the code, it is also really not set up to be particularly search engine friendly, in several key areas.
More than happy to have a chat with you about this, offline if you'd prefer - email through profile.
lestag said:
Agree about removing pictures
Running at a 1024x768 resolution the personal insurance stuff falls off the bottom and the first impression is it is a commercial only insurance. Removing the pictures should bump some of the info up
Terms of business goes directly to a PDF which is interesting from a navigation point of view . Someones assuming everyone has adobe reader installed (which they probably do...)
Cheers for the comments guys. With regard to personal insurance, thats perfect for us, we do very little of it, mostly accomodating commercial clients. Running at a 1024x768 resolution the personal insurance stuff falls off the bottom and the first impression is it is a commercial only insurance. Removing the pictures should bump some of the info up
Terms of business goes directly to a PDF which is interesting from a navigation point of view . Someones assuming everyone has adobe reader installed (which they probably do...)
Unfortunately, as good as the old site was, we needed one that we can update ourselves to follow marketing campaigns.
The forms/font and useability are being worked on over the weekend and monday.
The forms, they are a massive thorn in my side. Those aren't finsished, but most are quite long. Are we best just having a contact us form? Those are the levels of info needed to get business insurance quotes, but we will be launching online quote and buy within the next 6-9 months.
cheers
jon
Xerstead said:
For each of the 6 main headings, A brief description could be fine, but I really don't like the sentance being too long to fit in the box and ending with '...'.
The menu on the left repeats 'Insurance' too many times and looks cluttered. Clicking 'Commercial Property' or 'Motor Fleet' from under the heading 'Business Insurance' should make it clear enough.
My scroll mouse doesn't work on your new page.
And on to the plus points I do like how it all stays in place when adjusting the window size. (Pics, text not becoming mis-aligned.) And which part of the site you're on shown in bold on the side menu.
Hope this helps, good luck with getting it all working.
All good points. With the word insurance after each link, thats my fault, i presumed it would be better for seo, will it be better to leave them or take them off?The menu on the left repeats 'Insurance' too many times and looks cluttered. Clicking 'Commercial Property' or 'Motor Fleet' from under the heading 'Business Insurance' should make it clear enough.
My scroll mouse doesn't work on your new page.
And on to the plus points
I do like how it all stays in place when adjusting the window size. (Pics, text not becoming mis-aligned.) And which part of the site you're on shown in bold on the side menu. Hope this helps, good luck with getting it all working.
with the scrolling it works for me, but I will raise it.
We are doing the headings and vullet points now similar to the simply business site
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