Website critique

[Junior Bianno]

Another website critique request I'm afraid! Seen some useful (and brutal ) website critiques on here so thought I would throw our site out there.

The idea is upload your photo, we'll print it and frame it, and deliver it through the letterbox. There are options to get signed for next delivery, gift wrapping and printed messages. It's essentially a gift site, so you can send a framed photo of the family to Gran etc. We're purposely keeping the range limited at the moment to make stock control a little easier.

The site is www.framedphotos.co.uk

By the way, we are a print and design company already so the production isn't an issue.

Thanks in advance!

[Junior Bianno]

loafer123 said:

Very simple, and none the worse for that.

The only thing I am not a fan of is that the frame pictures have CGI backgrounds, so I am a bit unsure whether I will get what I see, or whether it is an idealised representation of the product.

Yeah - we did that on purpose to make life easier and keep the style consistent. They are actual photographs of the frame, cut out and placed on to the graphic. Maybe we should take some proper pics in situ.

[Junior Bianno]

akirk said:

generally nice - but some issues:

Info menu shows with drop down, but:
- can't get anywhere by clicking on Info
- drop down gives me account / shop

If I want to know more before buying / signing up I have no need for either of those, but want info on the process etc. and there is no info...

Yep - this is literally just launched and not promoted yet, so we are still adding stuff. We're going to add an FAQ page to answer all the usual question

akirk said:

When I click to add a photo:
- upload limit of 10mb modern cameras and phones may well be above that - do I need to know how to process the image myself first?
- then I get problems with the size, I get the message that it doesn't conform to dimensions:
Minimum Width: 1000 pixels
Minimum Height: 1000 pixels
Maximum Width: 5000 pixels
Maximum Height: 5000 pixels
But it doesn't tell me which one is wrong...

You're right - we should change the upper limit.

We are using an off-the-shelf editor so we're limited to what we can change, but definitely need to change that.

akirk said:

I think with a website like this I would expect the photo to be uploaded and then give me the ability to do basic editing online e.g. move it around in the frame / scale it - even add filters etc. - this is I think now the expectation of the consumer - it is what they can do on their phone / in Instagram etc.
Your undo arrows - for me as a punter, I would expect them to rotate the image left and right...

It does let you scale, rotate and move around the frame. If that's not clear that's a problem in itself for sure.

akirk said:

So, I uploaded an image which had sufficient height / width - but your system scaled it down to fit leaving black borders - I would prefer to see you scale down until the smaller size fitted, then crop off equally from the longer side - very simple logic - we do it on all our image uploading code - it would look better... currently get this... maybe default to my orientation - or crop correctly to fit

Again that is a limitation of the editor. We're trying to adjust it now.

akirk said:

Also, consider an app - for me, the ideal would be an app with access to my phone camera / photo roll - and then I could take a photo to fit the frame (you could even overlay the frame so that I could compose the photo in the frame), or select from the photo roll and simply upload and go...

even in the web browser (where it does offer access to the camera) it is a) a bit fiddly and b) didn't seem to work each time I tried it - 50% success rate!

It's definitely on the roadmap. Need to prove the concept first though. Apps have their own limitations though - lots of people prefer a using a website to downloading and using an app.

akirk said:

concept is good - think through the flow for the punter - I would want to upload a photo, and then change frames to see which one works best - currently I would need to go to each frame in turn and upload the photo again each time - I simply won't bother, so flow should be:
- upload photo
- choose frame
- choose size
- choose orientation (default based on photo orientation), but allow ability to swap
- choose gift wrap
- buy

i.e. you need the flow to follow the customer's logic, not your business logic!

so principle is good, but too much putting me off there, so wouldn't use it as is...

Yep - it's a consideration. It's more complex so we wanted to start with something we could implement quickly and then iterate.

Thanks for that - very helpful, much appreciated

[Junior Bianno]

Mr Overheads said:

On my screen at 100% the 3 step process is only half showing, i.e. I need to scroll to see the 3 steps. Perhaps put the text for the 3 images above the images rather than below.

Think Features and Benefits
Feature "through the letterbox" Benefit: "No need to be in to sign for delivery" - though this does leave you open to claims that items weren't delivered from unscrupulous sorts.

Picture of the back of the frame showing the stand and wall hanging fitting would be good and at a 45 degree angle so you get a feel for frame thickness.

Overall I like it, nice and simple, sells the service well.

Thanks for that - we're changing the flow just now to make it fit smaller screens better. Apologies if anyone is trying it and it doesn't work, but we making changes to improve the experience (hopefully!)

[Junior Bianno]

Mr Overheads said:

On my screen at 100% the 3 step process is only half showing, i.e. I need to scroll to see the 3 steps. Perhaps put the text for the 3 images above the images rather than below.

Think Features and Benefits
Feature "through the letterbox" Benefit: "No need to be in to sign for delivery" - though this does leave you open to claims that items weren't delivered from unscrupulous sorts.

Picture of the back of the frame showing the stand and wall hanging fitting would be good and at a 45 degree angle so you get a feel for frame thickness.

Overall I like it, nice and simple, sells the service well.

Thanks for that - we're changing the flow just now to make it fit smaller screens better. Apologies if anyone is trying it and it doesn't work, but we making changes to improve the experience (hopefully!)

[Junior Bianno]

MitchT said:

This.

Plus,

Images look like they're Photoshopped into the frames. Print some properly, frame them, then photograph them on a plain white background. The CGI backgrounds look really naff.

Also, apart from your address in the footer there's no immediately obvious way to contact you. No phone number, no email address / contact form. Okay, there's a live chat thingy at the side which isn't immediately obvious but I'd stay away from that unless you can guarantee that someone's always going to be there to answer it in a timely manner, 24/7. At least with the phone you expect people to only pick up during trading hours and with email you accept that if you send a message outside trading hours you won't get a response until the next working day.

We don't really want people to phone, but we'll add a number in the FAQs. We'll add a contact form

Definitely mixed feedback on the CGI backgrounds. Had positive feedback on them but they are a bit marmite. Think we'll definitely get some proper pics up.

Thanks for the feedback

[Junior Bianno]

Doofus said:

Are you entirely happy with the cock and balls "Upload a Photo" image? I'd go for something a bit more cloudlike if it were me.

Not now that you mention that! Changing it now

[Junior Bianno]

akirk said:

Your website is currently sitting on wordpress - if you want to make serious money out of this then you need to invest in the platform - for me:
- upload photo and then choose frames
- manipulate image

are two absolute business critical essentials for this business model - neither are particularly complicated to implement - for the first you simply need the frame as an attribute of the item being sold - and then code it to show the change of frame / for the second, you probably do need more bespoke work - but it needs to be simple and intuitive and obvious...

with any consumer site - you must remove all blocks in the way of adoption, and these are in my view huge blocks...

I would be expecting a site doing this to perhaps sit on a standard e-commerce system, but with some bespoke work around those elements - graphics libraries today are pretty good, so it is all doable, but I wouldn't be putting the website live until those two things were resolved...

It's WordPress & Woocommerce. It's absolutely fine - we have loads of Woocommerce sites out there doing good numbers.

We can implement the flow you suggest, but it's not a given that that is definitely going to be the way people would prefer it. People may be put off by having to upload a pic before seeing the frame options.

If you're buying artwork then you probably would want the upload first method. These are intended to be an inexpensive gift - "will Granny like a gold frame or silver frame - pick frame, upload pic, bosh". We will implement the alternative flow, but will likely leave both options in place.

I'm a big fan of launch and iterate. Not launching until everything is 100% leads to delays and you don't get the instant feedback on problems you may not have thought of

Appreciate all the feedback - very useful

[Junior Bianno]

dmsims said:

Good domain name

I find the home page has too many competitive elements: the header, the slider (not sure that adds value with different pictures) and the 3 steps underneath, the latter 2 just say the same thing essentially

I want to click on the 3 steps e.g. Choose a frame but it does nothing

"We’ll print your message on an A7 card" - How many people will know what size A7 is ?

Click on "Live" chat - it says "We typically reply within a few minutes." - is that live ?

Why 3 steps to add a photo ?

When you upload a photo there is no view of it in the frame (Dark walnut) it just overlays the stock product image - looks bizarre

Missing Terms and conditions

Good points thanks. T&Cs just getting finished. Think that is the live chat fixed

Regarding the 3 steps, we need to know the size and orientation to get the correct template and with the gift wrapping it just seemed a good idea to address all three prior to upload

That's a worry that the when you upload the photo the preview doesn't work. Could you tell which browser and OS you're using? It could be that we were making changes when that happened

[Junior Bianno]

dmsims said:

Sorry I mean it takes 3 clicks to actually get to the point where you can actually upload a photo

Click "Upload photo", then click "Click to add photo", then click "Click or drop images here"

I was using Win10 and Firefox 59.0.2 (it did not happen on another frame but was reproducible on Dark Walnut)

Yeah - the 3 clicks isn't ideal. We'll keep revising to make it simpler.

Can't recreate this problem on dark walnut, although that's 2 people reported it now. Trying to get to the bottom of it...

Thanks again for the feedback

[Junior Bianno]

menguin said:

I'm getting the same with dark walnut - Chrome 65.0.3325.181.

Upload photo, adjust/resize, click done. The first image shows the photo but when I mouseover to zoom it uses the stock photo. When I select the other images (frame without background, upper left corner of frame, frame at angle) it shows the default photo - framedphotos.co.uk.

Also I uploaded the photo before selecting size etc. I selected size. Fine. Orientation - selected but the preview image did not change orientation? Then finally selected gift wrap = no, then the uploaded photo changed back to the stock photo.

Switching between gift wrap yes/no always changes back to the stock photo.

Is there any point to minimum allowed characters for the message option?

Ok I understand the problem now - trying to fix it.

Maximum number of characters is just in case they copy and paste an essay and it won't be fit on a small card. We're going to upgrade this feature shortly to add a personalised greeting card. You'll be able to pick from a variety of greetings cards, and put in Granny's name etc. So you can send a present and a card in one go.

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated

[Junior Bianno]

akirk said:

You can still show the frames - and allow them entry via any frame - but once the photo is uploaded, you can give them the option to change it...
I don't think the consumer thinks let's buy Granny a brown frame - now what photo can we put in it
they think, let's give Granny this fab photo of her grandchild looking cute - now what frame suits that...

Always in business, start from the punter and how they think - your business thinks frames and printing because that is what you do, the punter thinks photo, because that is their end goal...

I would also look at how it flows on the page - I think that eCommerce as this is delivered is the norm now, but selecting non visually / from drop downs while perfect for e.g. clothing sizes, is not ideal for something like this - if you can move it forwards a few steps then that could be very beneficial - I would flow down the page several steps:
1 - upload your photo - and tweak it if you need to...
2 - then uses that photo and presents all frames (correctly orientated) showing with that photo in them so that they can see what it looks like - pick a frame
3 - then give them sizing option with several visuals showing the actual size next to a vase of flowers / some books / a known quantifiable size...
4 then give them gift wrapping options with a before and after picture showing their frame (with chosen photo in it) on the left and the wrapper item on the right
5 - then a big button saying add to cart (then options to buy / add another / etc.)

the concept is really good - but you are making the punter work to get there - the more you can remove any difficulty in the process, the more people will spend...


- on a separate note, do you provide picture matts?
I was looking the other day for a company which would let me add bespoke sizes for matts (internal and external measurements) and buy one-offs as I have a set of 11 prints to re-matt, but all different sizes... there was a US company, but I couldn't find a British company that offered an easy solution...

Yep - don't disagree with any of that. There will be plenty of revisions to come and we'll start to make it a bit more intuitive/sensible. As I say I'm a big fan of getting something up there and revising. We only started this project a couple of weeks ago so we know there is a lot of fixing required.

Afraid we can't help with the matts. We're more of a printer than a framer really. Sorry!

Appreciate the time taken to feed back - useful stuff

[Junior Bianno]

garythesign said:

This thread is PH at it’s best.

Lots of helpful advice for the OP and not one snide comment.

I think the amount of effort put in by certain posters is exceptional, particularly in the middle of the working day.

OP, good luck with this venture.

Completely agree with this - really appreciate the time and effort people have put in and have tried to act on the advice where possible.

Thanks again to all

[Junior Bianno]

bigandclever said:

Desperately pedantic I know, but, there are many grammatical errors in the FAQ boxes.

Mea culpa - I wrote that yesterday very quickly and banged it through Grammarly hoping it would all be well! Have been back through it and hopefully fixed it all.

Thanks

[Junior Bianno]

Frimley111R said:

The HP image looks odd, like a multitude of images next to each other, keep it simpler and clearer.

I have not read the rest of the thread but by the look of it your site has been properly tested!

Good luck

Thanks

Could you clarify you mean by the HP image?

[Junior Bianno]

warnerj said:

One thing I may add would be Printed, Framed & Delivered from £x - ultimately it draws attention in as currently all the prices are below the fold.

Good point - that's going in! Thanks

[Junior Bianno]

dmsims said:

On the Checkout is there a way of creating a delivery address?

You could consider this to the functions.php of your theme (removes Company name from checkout)

add_filter( 'woocommerce_checkout_fields' , 'custom_override_checkout_fields' );

function custom_override_checkout_fields( $fields ) {
unset($fields['billing']['billing_company']);
unset($fields['shipping']['shipping_company']);
return $fields;
}

Hmmm - I'll need to check. Isn't the problem with editing functions.php that it will written over with theme updates. I'm not a web designer so I might be wrong there.

Will check on the delivery address - that could be important!

[Junior Bianno]

Frimley111R said:

The number of frames you offer seems small. I'd expect a site like this to give me a bigger range.

This is just for the rollout. There are obviously going to be a lot of changes to the site over the next few weeks, and we want to get everything a little bit more nailed down before we extend the range.

[Junior Bianno]

yayitsadiesel said:

Nice website! your frame descriptions seem to be missing the type of moulding material you are using for your oak/walnut frames are they wood or are they Polcore/Emafyl/MDF etc.

We had it in and took it out because we thought people might not care for a low-value gift type item. I'll have a look at it. Thanks