Testing complete and product launched...next steps?

[lock-itz]

So a couple of months ago I posted a message on this forum asking for some site feedback and greatly appreciate the feedback I received.

We have officially launched our product: http://www.lock-itz.com.

Custom Engraved Padlocks. These can be given as wedding or anniversary gifts. I came up with the idea of offering these from a love padlock craze that seems to be sweeping across Europe at the moment, but hasn't taken off yet in the US, but is gaining steam.

We "sold" roughly 12 padlocks during our 10 days testing period and have already sold 10 since launch, some of those were original orders that we ended up fulfilling.

We been using Adwords with some decent traffic but not the greatest conversion rate. We also starting pooling Facebook traffic, which has also brought a reasonable amount of traffic, but not a ton of conversions.

If there are any additional thoughts on how we might be able to improve our approach, it would be greatly appreciated.

One thing we did recently do is re-vamp the order page so that you are able to "preview" the padlock, but this has only been in place a few days.

I suspect we are missing something here...

[cnajohnson]

I've not launched a product so my feedback here is strictly from the consumer standpoint. But my thoughts:

If you are directing people to the http://www.lock-itz.com/ page then it seems pretty bland. I looked at it and was like, ok why would I want to order a padlock with somebodys name on it. I just dont understand the rationale and there is no way I'd buy.

Then I read the whole history page which are really cool, after reading that I now "get it" as to why somebody would buy one. Theres emotion there, history, tradition.....MEANING. But I would never know that if I was a casual surfer.

So my suggestion as a consumer would be to integrate that history and the pictures onto the main page where people place the order --- without the history and pictures it just is a lock with engraving. With the history and pictures its like a wedding ring --- it is a symbol that MEANS something.

Also, on the main page you lead with a headline about custom engraved padlocks --- most copywriting experts would say not to lead with your product but to instead describe the benefits. For example, again from the history page, you say "symbolize the locking of ones life together. All across the world people are placing their locks in special places to symbolize and pronounce their love." I'd think you could play with that and come up with a powerful headline about "a unique twist on a centuries old tradition that symbolizes the locking of your life and love." In other words people dont want a padlock ---they want what it stands for, they want the emotion of it, what it represents. So lead with that...

I'd also put the buy now button on every page.

Regarding the frontpage....find a way to make it more emotional, cause we all know emotion sells. Maybe a paragraph like "for centuries, at some of the most exotic and romantic places in the world, people in love have demonstrated their commitment with a locked padlock to symbolize blaa blaa blaa. If you're looking for blaa blaa blaa, now you have the chance to blaa blaa blass. (sorry I'm writing this with the kids screaming in the background so I'm sure you could come up with something more powerful)

Then, right next to the first paragraph rather than having your company name on a lock picture I'd use the pics from those exotic places. Your pictures from around the world are great....but I'd definitely put them in color because it will more easily invoke the readers emotion if they can "feel" like they are in Italy or France when they see the water and tress in the background....it will give your site life.

The grey scheme didn't work for me, again because I think you're trying to sell emotion here and grey is as far from emotional as you can pretty much get. I know from a direct mail perspective we would NEVER use a black and white pictures with a grey background and gray text....its going to feel "lifeless" most of time and your product is about (again) emotion, love, celebration, happiness, etc.

Sorry I cant offer any ideas on the rest...but I feel like overall it's a cool concept and you've got a good story to tell which is a great start. Good luck with it!

[lock-itz]

Wow, thanks for the great feedback. Critical, but constructive, many thanks.

I think that I may have fallen into the "i know what its about and everyone else should too" syndrome.

I have spent most of the day thinking about how to re-tool the layout and design to include some customer product photos along with the testimonials as well as the general "message" on the home page.

Over the next week or so I plan to implement these ideas into the sites layout/design and see how it goes.

Thanks again.

[cnajohnson]

Good luck with it, its really a unique thing that I've never heard of before. I hope I didnt sound too critical, like anything any of us do theres always a 100 opinions on how to do it differently!

[lock-itz]

No, no. You were spot on. I appreciate the candor and help. I've started to re-design the site and make some of the changes that you have suggested already.

Thanks again.

[aricia]

I had a bit of the same idea about the locks... I did not understand why I should buy this! the pictures are so much clearer!
Put the pictures on the first page because buying a lock for a wedding??? Sorry not understandable for me ;-) (without the explication)

To create more (free) traffic you should write some articles about really original gifts (and off course your lock is one of the best ;-))
Try with titles like "original wedding gifts" ...
Put a link to your site. Write as much original articles as you can (or let somebody write them for you) Look up at Google keyword tool which words people search for and use this as your title.

Find blogs who talk about gifts, ask them to revise the product (for a free product),...

Just one last thing, I find the police a lit small on the website and all the text is in the same size, nothing springs out, try to put more relief in the text with bold parts, bigger polices,...

Good luck!!

[lock-itz]

I appreciate the feedback that has been provided.

I have made some adjustments to the site design and think the results are what I was looking for.

If anyone has a moment to review the changes and provide additional feedback.

http://www.lock-itz.com

[Marru]

I haven't commented on your site before, but I've seen the previous site and I must say Whoa! You've revamped the entire site from the ground up it seems.

While wandering through it though, one thing did kinda cross my mind.

On your front page there was a section that said that there is a volume discount available for bulk orders of the locks, but I was unsure on where the discount came into play.

Played around with the ordering a little bit (hope it didn't mess up any analytics), but when playing around with the quantity amount in the shopping cart, a discount was never given or calculated into the final purchase price when more than one was chosen.

I'd maybe suggest enabling a discount code, or maybe a rebate offer after ordering the locks in a variety of quantities.

But I think that's all that was noticeable.

Keep up all of the great work!

~Marru

[martijne]

The first thing I noticed about the homepage is how long it took to load the slider. It took several seconds (5-10 I guess) to load. That's way too long! Normally I would've scrolled down the page or even left before I saw the first image. Can you at least load a static image (just the first) while the slider is loading.

Put some photos with your testimonials, that makes it look like they are real people. I'm assuming they are, but it helps to 'see' that.

I wouldn't split up the FAQ. It's not *that* many questions and I'd rather like a general overview.

All in all, you're doing pretty well, but there are still some points you can do even better. ;)

[cnajohnson]

I like the front page look a whole lot better, nice job. I'd still suggest putting in pictures of the places from Italy and New York to tie in the historic element of your product that you talk about.

I had the same issue with the loading - it took 10+ seconds to load the slider, but the rest of the page loaded quickly. But since that is the main part of the page you'll definitely want to find a way to make it load faster.

I tried clicking to the history page and get a message that the page may be moved or temporarily down so definitely troubleshoot that.