What do you think

[Tanya]

I have decided to put my categories back to how they used to be on my old site and I can't decide if it's better like this or not. It's one of those things that keeps bugging me.

Will you help me to make up my mind!

Please let me know if you think it's easier to navigate around the site like or not


I've started on the Boys Category atm, so start there

[Chell]

I prefer it the way the other ones are, not the boys as I make less clicks. I maybe looking for trousers but soemthing else could catch my eye and I would buy both.

[Tanya]

so you think I shouldn't add tops, trousers etc as sub categories

[Chell]

I don't think so, I think I am more inclined to impulse buy with less categories but last time you asked everyone had different opinions on what would make them buy.

[Tanya]

I don't think so, I think I am more inclined to impulse buy with less categories but last time you asked everyone had different opinions on what would make them buy.

I know, I can never make up my mind

I think I will leave as is and when I have hundreds of products I might add more sub categories lol

I've had a look round some of the bigger stores like Next, Debehams etc to see how they have done it and they are all different so I don't think there is any right or wrong way to do it.

[Tanya]

just ignore me I'm bored lol

[Chell]

Is it posible to do it both ways? I have copied everything into 'All products', could you copy them so it is displayed as 'All boys' and then 'boy trousers' etc?

[Tanya]

Is it posible to do it both ways? I have copied everything into 'All products', could you copy them so it is displayed as 'All boys' and then 'boy trousers' etc?

it might work like that, will look into it

[feistygal]

The way you have the boys categories now, is the industry standard - it is what customers expect to see.

Next and Debenhams aren't "proper" online shopping sites - Debenhams site is really just a brochure site and Next is the way it is because they expect most people to have their catalogue or go to their stores - you need to look at M&S and Boden etc to get the best ideas.

When most customers go to a childrens clothes site they know that their child needs new trousers, tops, skirts whatever so being able to click on what they need is a more fluid and natural way to shop. Customers (i.e people that will actually convert into a sale rather than people "just having a look") are those you need to target and they will buy more from a site that they are used to.

When I went to buy Charlie shoes and wellies today I would have been really peed off to have to look through all the tops, trousers and coats in the shop until I got to the shoes and wellies - that is an example of what it would be like for someone to go onto your site looking for a pair of trousers and having to first click on the right size and then have to scroll down the page looking past tops, coats etc to get to the trousers.

I've babbled on a bit but basically the way you have done the boys cats is the way that makes the most sense, the accepted way for the big players and I think it makes shopping on your site much, much easier.

[Tanya]

The way you have the boys categories now, is the industry standard - it is what customers expect to see.

Next and Debenhams aren't "proper" online shopping sites - Debenhams site is really just a brochure site and Next is the way it is because they expect most people to have their catalogue or go to their stores - you need to look at M&S and Boden etc to get the best ideas.

When most customers go to a childrens clothes site they know that their child needs new trousers, tops, skirts whatever so being able to click on what they need is a more fluid and natural way to shop. Customers (i.e people that will actually convert into a sale rather than people "just having a look") are those you need to target and they will buy more from a site that they are used to.

When I went to buy Charlie shoes and wellies today I would have been really peed off to have to look through all the tops, trousers and coats in the shop until I got to the shoes and wellies - that is an example of what it would be like for someone to go onto your site looking for a pair of trousers and having to first click on the right size and then have to scroll down the page looking past tops, coats etc to get to the trousers.

I've babbled on a bit but basically the way you have done the boys cats is the way that makes the most sense, the accepted way for the big players and I think it makes shopping on your site much, much easier.

good point about having to scroll past everything to get to what you want.

you don't think having the way the boys is set up now is too many clicks to get to where you want to go

[Chell]

Is there not a search faciltiy to narrow it down if you want a certain item?

[feistygal]

good point about having to scroll past everything to get to what you want.

you don't think having the way the boys is set up now is too many clicks to get to where you want to go

Nope I honestly don't - I think I said all this to Lemon when she posted a similar query and it really is best to try and mirror the bigger players. It used to be that a "2 click" rule was thought to be the most clicks to buy but that isn't so strongly suggested now.

Think about a childs granny who decides she wants to buy her grandson a coat/nice shirt/whatever. She is going to want to log on, click on boys, click on coats then find the size/age relevant. She isn't going to want to scroll through a list of tops etc to get to what she wants. That is going to confuse her.

M&S (http://www.marksandspencer.com/IWCatSectionView.process?IWAction=Load&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=61&Page_Count=1&RestartFlow=t) have it absolutely right - after all they sell more childrens clothes online than anyone else



hth

Claire

[Tanya]

Is there not a search faciltiy to narrow it down if you want a certain item?

there is a search box in the right hand column

[Tanya]

Nope I honestly don't - I think I said all this to Lemon when she posted a similar query and it really is best to try and mirror the bigger players. It used to be that a "2 click" rule was thought to be the most clicks to buy but that isn't so strongly suggested now.

Think about a childs granny who decides she wants to buy her grandson a coat/nice shirt/whatever. She is going to want to log on, click on boys, click on coats then find the size/age relevant. She isn't going to want to scroll through a list of tops etc to get to what she wants. That is going to confuse her.

M&S (http://www.marksandspencer.com/IWCatSectionView.process?IWAction=Load&Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=61&Page_Count=1&RestartFlow=t) have it absolutely right - after all they sell more childrens clothes online than anyone else



hth

Claire

poor granny I don't want to confuse her lol

I looked at the M&S site but they don't have age categories but obviously this doesn't matter if they sell more clothes than anyone else.

I must have missed Lemons post about this, I might try and find it

[babybiz]

Rule of thumb - always think like your customer. Don't try to work out the best way to do something or what your customer would like, you need to understand how they shop (watching on something like statcounter is a good idea for that) and then tailor the website to help them. I both agree and disagree with claire on this one, she's right that helping them find what they want without having to search pages adn pages is very important, they want a clear and logical way to find what they are looking for. However it's not the clicks rule but the time it takes, for instance clicking through to one item is fine but if they then decide to browse you only have so long before the original buy impulse gives way and they get bored. I can always tell on my site when a customer will or will not buy by watching how they go through the categories after adding something to their cart, if they dawdle then they won't end up buying (although they may come back again).

Also you have to think about the impression your site gives out, a site with just 10 products can look very tempting if it's set up just right to sell those products where as a site with a hundred can feel really empty. People instinctively look for certain elements to trust a site and if you look like you've only got a couple of things they question why and who are you. I wouldn't not shop with a site that looked big but only had a bunch of spaced out items. I would shop with a site that only had a few items but looked as if it specialised and looked reliable.

I would rethink how to best get people to find what they want and it's not easy. Claire is spot on you need to have a good look at what the bigger players are doing and not mirror but take inspiration. Your and my sites are NOT huge corporate things and customers will not be tricked into thinking so however there are certain traits that are well worth using or including in your design.

That's my rambling anyway! This is one of those debates that is always going amongst the biggest web designers so don't let yourself get too frazzled hon just do what you think is best by remembering the rule of thumb. i'm forever changing mine it's a nightmare!!

Tashxx

[Lemon]

I changed my catergories last night too :laugh:

I based my first choice on how many products I had. Rather than having empty catergories I did them on the basis of what I had to sell, then changed as I got more stock in. HTH xx

[Tanya]

I changed my catergories last night too :laugh:

I based my first choice on how many products I had. Rather than having empty catergories I did them on the basis of what I had to sell, then changed as I got more stock in. HTH xx

:laugh:

As I am slowly restocking my site I understand at the moment that there will be empty categories

I am going a have a serious think about this today as I have a few new products to put on and want to get it sorted before I do

[Tanya]

Rule of thumb - always think like your customer. Don't try to work out the best way to do something or what your customer would like, you need to understand how they shop (watching on something like statcounter is a good idea for that) and then tailor the website to help them. I both agree and disagree with claire on this one, she's right that helping them find what they want without having to search pages adn pages is very important, they want a clear and logical way to find what they are looking for. However it's not the clicks rule but the time it takes, for instance clicking through to one item is fine but if they then decide to browse you only have so long before the original buy impulse gives way and they get bored. I can always tell on my site when a customer will or will not buy by watching how they go through the categories after adding something to their cart, if they dawdle then they won't end up buying (although they may come back again).

Also you have to think about the impression your site gives out, a site with just 10 products can look very tempting if it's set up just right to sell those products where as a site with a hundred can feel really empty. People instinctively look for certain elements to trust a site and if you look like you've only got a couple of things they question why and who are you. I wouldn't not shop with a site that looked big but only had a bunch of spaced out items. I would shop with a site that only had a few items but looked as if it specialised and looked reliable.

I would rethink how to best get people to find what they want and it's not easy. Claire is spot on you need to have a good look at what the bigger players are doing and not mirror but take inspiration. Your and my sites are NOT huge corporate things and customers will not be tricked into thinking so however there are certain traits that are well worth using or including in your design.

That's my rambling anyway! This is one of those debates that is always going amongst the biggest web designers so don't let yourself get too frazzled hon just do what you think is best by remembering the rule of thumb. i'm forever changing mine it's a nightmare!!

Tashxx

I will look at my statcounter and see if I figure it all out!

I will get there in the end

[Lemon]

Are you putting fireman sam on today ? Let me know when you do, and I can buy them from you. Thanks TJ.

[Tanya]

Are you putting fireman sam on today ? Let me know when you do, and I can buy them from you. Thanks TJ.

Fireman Sam didn't show up cryingsmil , I am hoping he will turn up tomorrow

I will let you know when he does :happy72:

[MerrilyMe]

Only thing to add is that having your really big images as your thumbnails made the site take absolutely AGES to load for me, and i have quite decent broadband.

There was something recently on the bbc about people waiting either 3 or 5 seconds for a shop to load or they click away and i think that is right really; if every page of a shop loads slowly, people get frustrated, and your pics are your chance to catch peoples eye, gieven you aren't banking on brand recognition to any huge extent.

I have a thumbnailing contrib on BM which works quite well and means my pics appear pretty fast, might be worth looking into?

Don't think i should contribute on categories; BM is category happy and i seem to change my mind on them weekly!

[Tanya]

Only thing to add is that having your really big images as your thumbnails made the site take absolutely AGES to load for me, and i have quite decent broadband.

There was something recently on the bbc about people waiting either 3 or 5 seconds for a shop to load or they click away and i think that is right really; if every page of a shop loads slowly, people get frustrated, and your pics are your chance to catch peoples eye, gieven you aren't banking on brand recognition to any huge extent.

I have a thumbnailing contrib on BM which works quite well and means my pics appear pretty fast, might be worth looking into?

Don't think i should contribute on categories; BM is category happy and i seem to change my mind on them weekly!

another thing to add to my todo list.

[Tanya]

I think I know what I want my site to look like eventually it's just knowing how to do it

I was thinking about either getting rid of the category list on the left altogether and just having them as boxes on the main page with images and links into the categories but don't know if that would cause problems.

I might get rid of the new products on the main page as you can get to these from the what's new box in the left hand column anyway, and maybe just have a few products on the homepage as specials or something

[Tanya]

Only thing to add is that having your really big images as your thumbnails made the site take absolutely AGES to load for me, and i have quite decent broadband.

There was something recently on the bbc about people waiting either 3 or 5 seconds for a shop to load or they click away and i think that is right really; if every page of a shop loads slowly, people get frustrated, and your pics are your chance to catch peoples eye, gieven you aren't banking on brand recognition to any huge extent.

I have a thumbnailing contrib on BM which works quite well and means my pics appear pretty fast, might be worth looking into?

Don't think i should contribute on categories; BM is category happy and i seem to change my mind on them weekly!


do you know which thumbnail contribution you are using because I installed one yesterday and it didn't work. I just got red crosses where my images should have been.