[kgodinez]

A partner and I launched our site and are putting the finishing touches to it. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Awesome Laundry - Home - Don't Go Naked, Go Awesome!

Things we are still finalizing include:

- Integrating Paypal's Website Payments Pro
- Getting pictures of people in the shirts on the individual product pages.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[splathead]

Very nice, clean site. Like it a lot.

The only suggestion I have is to indicate printing method on your product page. I won't buy shirts without knowing how they are printed.

Also wouldn't hurt to put the fact you use AA on each product page too. You're using one of the better shirts on the market, don't hide that fact in your FAQ.

 

[kgodinez]

Thanks for the input. I thought we had the printing process in the FAQ already, lol. Everything is screen printed by hand. Also the product page has the American Apparel info but you have to scroll down to see it. Given that you didn't see it I think we need to make it more prominent, possibly add a "printed on" image closer to the top of the product page.

Thanks again for the insight!!

 

[splathead]

Also the product page has the American Apparel info but you have to scroll down to see it.

Yeah, I see it now. I stop reading once I get to the sizing/price area of a product. I would move it right below where you have shirt color.

I would also indicate there that they are screen printed by hand.

 

[kgodinez]

We are going to add "Shirt Type: American Apparel Model 2001" right above shirt color, and add the screenprinted by hand blurb to the our shirts section of the FAQ.

 

[cleos]

Great starter website but if you want my true opinion this is my question: Why should I buy Tees from you? you need to convince me through your layout and marketing that you are unique and I can't find anything on your presentation that inspires me. Remember that the initial average time spent on a landing page is no more than 30 secs. So, if I'm not compelled right away I will move on. Yes, you have great designs but so everybody else.

For example, in your rotator you have a promo, buy 4 get 5, but it comes as the second slide, the colours and background are great, work a little more on the slide and make it more attractive and make sure that this is the first thing I will see. Attract my interest with similar stuff such as "Free shipping on orders more than ..." or "Make your own", "X% discount on first orders", etc.

In advertising, stats agree that my eyes will first screen from the top right corner and then go to the left, then down and so on, your moto is "don't ..." this is a big no no in marketing, you need to tell me what to do not what I shouldn't do, re-phrase. People hates when they tell them don't do that or this, who do you think you are, I do what I want! (lol) Besides for some people going naked is awesome!

The art of selling is to re-create an environment where the prospect can identify himself. Technically, you sell a dream and you tee is a conveyor of that dream. Take for example most tv advertisements, there is a story line that often is not directly related to the product itself. Think about it and make your own storyboard.

You obviously have some serious artistic abilities, you came up with a great background pattern, love it, why not using it with opacity on your main wrapper, the blue is absorbing the main content.

Whether we like it or not, the first question shoppers ask is, how much it cost? I want to know right away how much you charge for your tees. You might be scared to tell me the price but the sooner you say it, the sooner I'll get over it. Find a product that you can sell very cheap and use it to develop more interest.

Yeah AA is great but as a common mortal, I have no clue who is AA and quite frankly ... I don't give a dam unless you tell me they are the best, remember make me dream!

Another concept, this website is focused to sell tees, that's cool but you could use it to establish a clientele base, you have a newsletter but again I don't find any reason to subscribe. Put a small contact form on the frontpage and incite me to subscribe, tell me what to do and why. As an idea, you could create a contest like "what's your best funny line?", the winner get a t-shirt ... hey, I'll go for that! you just got a prospect ... go further and use facebook, twitter, etc... to promote the contest ...

Have fun and don't worry it will come!

 

[kgodinez]

A lot of great insight Cleos - Thanks!

I take your point on several things and will talk them over with my partner. All of the feedback is great now that we have the site up and functioning properly.

You raised a lot of issues that we will need to put some serious thought into.

We wrestled with the "free shipping" or "buy x get y free" and decided that "buy x" would be the better way to go because it gave more value to the customer but given the threshold of having to buy 4, the free shipping offer may get more of a response.

On the sites stickiness we are seeing people spend about 3.5 minutes on the site on average, with average page views of 3, and a bounce rate of 23%. I think we could bring the page views up and the bounce rate down with some of your suggestions.

Thanks Again!

 

[TwistedLogik]

Wow! What they said ^^^^^^^^

 

[kgodinez]

Thanks for the input Cleos, you brought up a lot of good points. I will talk them over with my partner and look at how we might alter the look and layout of the site to incorporate some of your suggestions, especially as it relates to the newsletter and giving our brand more of an identity. I also will rethink the tagline and the use of the word "don't". Most of the feedback we received on the tagline was positive but I see your point.

To date our "stickiness" stats are quite good. The average time on the site is 3.5 minutes and our bounce rate is typically around 20%, with an average page views for visit hovering at about 3.5. I can see where we should be able to improve that.

As per contest/marketing we have some ideas on that front which we will be implementing in the next 2-4 weeks.

Thanks again for the insightful review. I appreciate the time you took to give us your impression!

 

[Sub R]

I have to disagree with Gerald. First. I think the site has a nice clean layout that's easy to follow. It's not over the top, but everything is right there and easy to find. One thing I noticed is that the more views for the shirts are pop ups. That would be the only thing that I would recommend changing. You could use something like lightbox2 for an internal pop up. http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/ As long as you promote it well, I think you will do fine. By the way, I really like the company name. Good luck!

 

[TootsieRoll]

I agree with everything Cleos said

Also though, I don't know if you are doing your designs...but you NEVER EVER want to use an idea or work that is NOT your own. Someone will know. Like I did. The idea for the tee below came directly from a threadless designer who has had that tee up for over a year. You never want to start a business on that foot. Real talk.

-Good luck

Your Design:
Awesome Laundry - This is a shirt. - Don't Go Naked, Go Awesome!


Threadless Design:
Abbey Road

 

[kgodinez]

Never realized a version of that was out there. I don't think it is unreasonable to consider that 2 people could have independently thought up the idea of using Beetles vs Beatles in that idea. I saw another varient of this idea months after we designed ours where everything was much more cartoonie. We make a great effort to look at what else is out there before we put up a design.

 

[TootsieRoll]

Never realized a version of that was out there. I don't think it is unreasonable to consider that 2 people could have independently thought up the idea of using Beetles vs Beatles in that idea. I saw another varient of this idea months after we designed ours where everything was much more cartoonie. We make a great effort to look at what else is out there before we put up a design.

You're right

 

[BroJames]

Never realized a version of that was out there. I don't think it is unreasonable to consider that 2 people could have independently thought up the idea of using Beetles vs Beatles in that idea. I saw another varient of this idea months after we designed ours where everything was much more cartoonie. We make a great effort to look at what else is out there before we put up a design.

That is possible. Maybe pure coincidence or maybe some "unconscious thought". Maybe you've seen the design before or maybe you both derived the idea form a common "inspiration". However, people will judge you by your other designs so if the rest are originals then that speaks a lot.