Rate My Site Please New Ecoomerce idea

[guybrush]

Please have a look at my company's new Ecommerce site - the idea was to have it very clean design, with a special shopping experience.

We had around 5000 unique visits in 2 weeks, and no sells... investigating Google Analytics it appears that most users used a resolution of 1024*768, so on an average 17" screen, they could not see the "products dock" at first glance, did not scroll down, and this might explain the very high bounce rate.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated,

Cheers,

Elad.

www.mycandles.eu

[dasw-knives]

Just my opinion, to me it seems too white. Could the whole site be contained within a black background? I think it would make it look like candles in a dark room, very relaxing and goes with your theme. Also, some of the light green text in the shopping cart pages is pretty hard to read. The site looks very nice though.

[roban]

Very nice site. Kudos to you for using Analytics and for making adjustments.

[skytopdesigns]

very nice site. i like the clean simple layout. but i do agree its too white. mabey a black and white site, or darker colors. im not too keen on the pink and green.

[The Old Sarge]

The overall look is good, but I agree that it's sort of pale. And I've never been a big fan of such wide pages. How about something in the 700 to 900 range?

[JPnyc]

I think it works as it is, but replacing the white with a light beige might work better. Overall the look is very good.

[The Old Sarge]

lol I KNEW JP would chime in ... he likes wide layout.

[guybrush]

I am not happy to hear good feedback :-)

I know the site looks great, but I would really appreciate if you could give feedback :

over the last 3 weeks, almost 6000 unique visits - most using a resolution of 1024*768 which we just realized here that all those people, if thy did not car eto scroll down, they could not see the products dock ! Add to that, average time on site is very low on resolutions under 1200, I wonder about your thoughts as you are in this business - do you think that the dock should go up?

[JPnyc]

Yes Sarge, I do like sites that fill the screen, but at all the resolutions. It's difficult to do, but it is possible. I don't see a problem with the layout, sorry. I'm on 1024 right now and the site fits perfectly. I don't need to scroll at all.

[The Old Sarge]

Average time on site for resolution under 1200 indicates, IMO, that the layout is too wide. But you have to ask yourself, "What proportion of visitors are using less than 1200?"

As for the products dock, you could simply close up some of the whitespace. This should be easier to do if you narrow the layout and resize images.

You tired specifying element widths as a percentage of a specific overall page width?

[programmer4hire]

I agree that the site looks too white. I had trouble finding the "add to cart" button. If I was looking to buy a candle, I probably would have looked for 5 - 7 seconds then hit back to return to google and try someone else. In my opinion:

1.) You need a strong call to action on the landing page. Folks arrived at your site to get a feel for price and / or buy something. Make it easy to get a product into the cart.

2.) Where do the 6000 visits come from? If they are paid ads, then your keywords may be too broad. If they are organic, give me your secret.

3.) Nobody likes to hear this; make sure your ads filter out those who aren't going to buy. (put prices right in the ads, mention shippings costs, etc.) It makes no sense to pay for visitors to click to your site who won't pay for your product. I did this and it reduced the number of visitors dramatically, but now those who visit expect to pay for a product.

4.) Don't make people log in to buy stuff. I rarely buy stuff if the checkout is a hassle. My conversion rate improved when I dispensed with forced log ins.

[opensourceforce]

What shopping cart platform do you use? I like the image mouse effects and displays.

[vbeal]

I agree with programmer4hire. If I am online shopping I need to see immediately that I am on an product web site as soon as it loads. I need to have product images and prices, sale incentive and so on in the top fold. The images on the front page give ideas on how to use the product - but the fade image is quite distracting. On the index page for each category, (like Candles ) I would suggest a sale item product image from each category with a "see more wind lights", and a "see more ultra glow" under each.'

You're really asking me to click and spend too much time fiddling around on your site to get to an actual product with a price. When I did finally get to an actual product page I was impressed though. Excellent!

(What percentage of users are leaving from the index and sub category pages?)

The contact page should have more than a web form if you want to gain consumer trust. Unfortunately, if you are going to ask for my credit card and other information, I would expect you to provide me with your business details and other means to contact you such as your business address, phone number, and so on right on this page.

Love the logo - very elegant and trendy!

Good luck,
Vangie

[gkriv]

Nice site with a good brand identity. Make it easier for the user to buy your products.