Hey Eddy, thanks for the thought-provoking post. I actually have a personal connection to Chattanooga in that my girlfriend's sister has lived there for about six years now and her husband owns and operates a local recycling business called Scenic City Recycling. Have you heard of it? Anyways, from the first glance at your website I can tell you are on the right track. The site looks very modern, and the large buttons from the top nav to the signup link are extremely enticing. The fact that you've already created an iPhone app definitely puts you ahead of the game. The slideshow on the homepage is very aesthetically pleasing and makes me want to come back to Chatt-town ASAP. I really don't have too many negative things to say about your website at the moment, but I'll forward your post on to some of our staff and other ChooseWhat members who might be able to give you greater insight by approaching your website from different perspectives.
Hi Eddy, I'm the Search Engine Marketing Manager here at ChooseWhat. I like the concept of your website, but I wasn't exactly sure what the website was offering from the very beginning. I had to dig and look (which many people won't bother to do). Anyway, I've written my feedback below. <strong>Ease of use</strong> The site seems pretty easy to use (although I didn't sign up as either a member or merchant). I wasn't a big fan of the slideshow without any context. I would suggest changing the slideshow up where each slide is a current deal available. That way, people can see from the beginning that you're a local deal site instead of wonder what these random pictures are of. It's confusing what the value proposition is of becoming a member. (e.g. Can you still use deals if you're not a member of the site?) It's also not shown immediately on the homepage that becoming a member is free. I think it's really cool that you're more than just a one-time deal site, but that isn't evident when I look at your website. My first impression was: "great, another Groupon clone". You're so much more than that, and I think you need to showcase that to your visitors, so the merchants know that when they're signing up to use lokewl's service, they can advertise every day deals and have full control when the postings go live and the users of your site know they can get deals from specific businesses more than just one time. (wow, that was a really long, run-on sentence, but I think you get the picture). <strong>Explanation of product</strong> I hit on this a little bit in the Ease of use section, but I think this can be worked on. The deeper pages do a beter job at explaning the product (see: http://www.lokewl.com/Home/MerchantInfo), but the homepage doesn't currently do a very good at describing the product (or how exactly it works). When you view any promotion, there should be text below the promotion about how you go about redeeming the coupon. (e.g. You can print the coupon and show it to the company to redeem it or simply save it to you smartphone (insert: iPhone app link) and show it on your phone to redeem the coupon.) <strong>User interface</strong> I didn't get a chance to check this out at all... I hope that feedback helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi Eddy, I'm a Web Content Writer for ChooseWhat.com, and I've got some tips for you about your site's messaging, organization of site elements and branding. <p class="MsoNormal">In general, your site needs to have better/more obvious messaging that explains what you do, prominently and up front. The navigation and organization of the site could also use work. See the following comments for more. <p class="MsoNormal"> <ul> <li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span></span></span>The slider is pretty big/uses a lot of real estate on your page and doesn’t really tell you anything about your site. You want to make sure that you’re putting the most important aspects of your site (i.e. an explanation of what you do and calls to action) “above the fold,” which means the top part of the screen before you scroll down. Use the slider space as an opportunity to grab the viewer’s attention and inform them about what you do.</li> <li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>An easy thing to do would be to get rid of the slider and move the “Become a Member” and “Become a Merchant” sections to the top of the page.</li> <li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span></span></span>You’ve got the “Deals of the Week” at the bottom of the page, but it really should be the main focus. Other deal sites, such as Groupon, put their deals of the week at the top of the page. You should probably put your deals of the week in the slider at the top of the page.</li> <li><span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span></span></span>Your main page navigation needs work, as far as the wording. Aside from “Home,” I’m not exactly sure what “Mobile,” “Stores” or “Favorites” mean or why I would want to click on them. Instead of Mobile, I would say “Apps” or “Mobile Apps.” Instead of “Stores,” I’d say “All Coupons” or “Coupon List.” “Favorites” should be “My Account.” <span></span></li> </ul> I hope this helps! Jen U.ChooseWhat.com
Eddy: I like where you are going with your site but I feel it is lacking a few things to really make it successful. As owner of a creative marketing firm, we put a premium on web presence, think of it as your billboard to the outside world, located on prime real estate next to a busy interstate. What should it look like? 1: Aesthetics yields results. This my friend you are doing very well. You want to have a website that your users simply enjoy being on, your site looks very good. The colors match, its not too busy, and the navigation format is straight forward. Give yourself a gold star. 2: Clarity of message. This is where you should focus heavily once you have your design hammered out. Your site looks great and operates well, but the overall message is slilghtly ambiguous. If your domain name doesn't immediatley describe your business, (eg. joe's plumbing.com) then you should make sure the images and introdutory statements tell users exactly what you offer them. Your images dont really tell me what you do and when I had to scroll down your home page to determine your scope I began to get lost (I'm being picky right now), it is a good idea to make your site fit as much content onto the top portion of a page. People will often discount a site that is scrolling intensive. 3: Keep it human. Too often companies get sucked into the istockphoto and phtoshop vortex. Their sites look templated and boring, the purpose of your site is to diferentiate you from your competition, so keep it interesting. Include photos of your facility, employees, and things of interest to your firm. Of course the photos should be relevant and non-plageristic but this doesn't mean you shouldn't spice it up and push the limits a bit. If you would like more ideas, feel free to cruise through my site(s). Currently we are going through a major renovation but you'll still get the idea. www.white-associatesinc.com, www.atxeventsystems.com, www.higher-sports.com Loy White <em>President</em> <a title="White+Associates" href="http://www.white-associatesinc.com" target="_blank">White+Associates</a> "<em>Your one-stop marketing shop."</em>
@eddyperu First of all, let me say that your site design is much improved! I think the slider with the coupons is a great size and is in the right location on the page. I also like your attempt to put your value proposition front and center at the top of the page. However, I do have to comment on the content: "We are every day deals not just one day deals!" I'm not a huge fan of this statement, as (again) I have no idea what any of it means. What is an "every day deal?" What is a "one day deal?" How are they different, and why should I care? Try to come up with something that your site users instantly recognize and respond to (something familiar), but also try to differentiate yourself from all of the other coupon sites out there. A helpful exercise would be to look at your competitors' sites and try to come up with messaging that is simliar but slightly different than theirs. Do you have any experienced copywriters on your team? If not, you may want to hire some or outsource the branding message to an agency. Also, you can use Facebook polls or another polling service to ask people what they get out of reading your branding message. Best, Jen UdanChooseWhat.com
