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SVreX wrote:Woody wrote:Keep it simple. Don't make me work as I hunt for the item that I plan to give you my money for.
Do you GO to a site PLANNING to spend money (as in, "I need such and such, wonder where I can buy it), or do you value a site which makes you respect their product (as in, "GRM has a great site and a great community. I think I'll start trying to buy from them or their advertisers)?
I go to a site when I'm planning to buy. I don't shop recreationaly.
I can tell you what makes me INSTANTLY decide NOT to buy from someone.
annoying music
that damn near blows out your speakers
that comes back EVERY time you click a tab on the site
look at this site to see what im talking about
http://www.foxlakeracing.com/tons.php (turn your speakers down, your warned)
I was looking at what was possible with my 4.6 and remembered they were messing with stuff a few years back, now i dont want to navigate to their site because its SO highly annoying. Hence they loose me as a potential customer.
I may be odd, but the emails I receive often draw me to, or away, from certain sites. Case in point: I frequently receive emails from Harbor Freight & Pricepoint that draw me to their site, even if I have no intention to buy, mainly because of their steep discounts, always changing closeout specials, and user-friendly navigation. Other sites their emails never draw me to - specifically Morris 4x4, and Moss Motors - because a 10% discount just isn't worth my time. Yet other sites like Flyin Miata & Tire Rack I don't frequent, but if I'm looking for Miata parts or tires I'll go there & often not look anywhere else. Mainly due to the experiences I've had with them in the past, but also due to their expertise, selection, reputation, and even price - to a point.
The only retailer that I frequently purchase from is Amazon. It has decent prices, it has pictures, feedback from other buyers, and just about anything else I could want. It annoys me when I need to set up login information from yet ANOTHER retailer/forum/etc. I can't even count how many sites I have registered for in some way or another.
I like honesty...I have seen a few sites that will compare to their competitors product and its price. If youre willing to tell me "yes, the competitors item is cheaper, but ours is better because..." then I would be more likely to buy. Dont insult my intelligence by trying to make it seem like youre the only game in town.
I also like "buyers who looked at this item also viewed such and such". Just dont make it annoying with items that arent related.
If youre selling make and model specific parts, like parts for a certain year car or replacement lids for tupperware from the 80s...whatever it is, if I can search by a specific year/model, dont list "universal" parts in the results.
Please none of those annoying animated flash credit score/ what year did you graduate/facial cream/weightloss ads that arent related at all to the item(s) you sell...I know they generate some revenue, but youre seriously annoying people, and annoyed people dont spend $$$.
Keep the site professional and neat looking. I hate poorly developed sites...Im less likely to spend my bucks if it looks like you set up your site on a 9 year old IBM in your basement. If your site looks cheesey, I can expect a hassle if there is any problems with the transaction or returning the product.
I like PDF files with technical info/instructions on how to use/install. If I am hesitant because Im not sure if what you sell will work for me or not, having the instructions and necessary info will make me feel more certain I need what youre selling.
+1 on no annoying intro, +1 on no autodownloads, +1 on NO MUSIC AT ALLLLLL
Keep it simple, easy to use, and no redirects.. when i click a link, i want to end up at what that link describes..no i dont want to participate in a survey, no i dont want that "special" deal.. dont ask me to "please wait while X loads.." those things drive me insane. if its an article, i want to go straight to that article, ill read the ads on the sides after i get the info i seek, or come back later. If im taking the time to find something specific, I want instant gratification, i will return to the site that provide it. if its merchandise, i want to go to a page that shows me a picture, has a short summary, and also has detailed specs below if i need more info, and plenty of pictures , front back sides, ect.. if it requires accessories, show me a summary of clickable links about those accessories, and DONT make me click yet another link to find out how much it is... If i have to hunt for info about the subject, product, or whatever, in any way, then im very less likely to go back to that site.
for instance: recently i was looking for a portable DVR , something reasonably small, inexpensive, and with the ability to record an external video source for a few hours while on battery power, preferably with a built in lcd so i could review the recording without an external monitor. it took me weeks to find one, not because their hard to find, but because i had to go to other sites and google each product to get specs and capability info. the sites didnt tell me what the product came with, or what ports the product had, or what the average battery life was, ect, etc... the place that got my business was the one who had all the info i could possibly need available, and coincidentally also had the lowest price.. they did it right.. and that was only an ebay ad...
All these serious answers and I was going to say "boobies".
Seriously, easy to navigate, particularly annoying is when you move forward and back that you have to tap somewhere to scroll. I know that's not clear but the example is myspace, when you back up a page, hit the down arrow. What happens is not the screen scrolling down rather you scroll through the search box at the top... until you tap/click on something outside of that.
SVreX wrote: So after finding that stuff, what makes you a buyer, instead of a surfer?
Something which indicates to me that the company selling online has some clue about what they are selling. This could be details/specifics, actual photos of the product in question, specs, etc. Let's take car parts as an example near and dear to all of us. Some sites list everything under the sun, but the description is verbatim from the manufacturer's pr info, and the photo is of X part, not X part for Y car. The site usually has some way of selecting Y car as your car and then seeing a list of products available, but that alone doesn't get me buy. When a company has a pic of X part for Y car, plus a picture of X part mounted in the company demo Y car, some notes about fitment and quality, etc, then that gets me pulling out my credit card, even it costs a bit more.
Especially for online sales of aftermarket stuff for Japanese cars, it seems that for every several dozen parts sellers that throw up the bulk of the HKS, Tein, Greddy, and Cusco catalog on a site and list everything as "4-6 weeks/special order," there is maybe one specialist that concentrates on particular manufacturer or chassis, and has a side of the business that turns wrenches rather than just fields phone calls. Those are the guys/gals who can tell you how it fits/works, and what the benefits/drawbacks are, or what type of build it is best for. They are also the ones who are likely to have it in stock to ship right out. They aren't usually the cheapest, and they can't usually also sell you an aftermarket cupholder for your sedan and an underglow kit for your pickup truck as well as real tuner parts for your sports car, but they are the ones who get my online buying loyalty.
I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but give me some BIG photos. It's 2009. Digital cameras are cheap. 320x200 doesn't cut it anymore; even 640x480 is pushing it. If you don't want to clutter up the browsing page, link to some big photos that pop up in a new window.
Ebay "stores" seem to be especially bad for this. Nothing irritates me more than clicking "enlarge" on a postage stamp and the "big" photo comes up as... two postage stamps.
J
Keep it clean, simple, and still attractive. Mainly though, I value consistency. If the navigation bar on the left side of the page changes for each page arbitrarily, I get annoyed. Also, keep the links lined up nicely so they are easy to pick from.
If you want examples of what NOT to do, look at any government site. They All suck. The FAA was the worst for a long time. NOTAMS were hard for pilots to find, and their links were all just jumbled into a huge black and blue paragraph. Looking up the status of my student medical was a PITA, especially because it took those shiny happy people over a year to process the berkeleying thing (that is beside the point).
Another thing that's becoming more important to me is how mobile-friendly a site is. Specifically, if it's non-flash so I can view it from my phone.
asskisser
If it weren't for the large photos I would say I like the TireRack best of all.
Nice memory function for shopping and pretty straightforward controls.
petegossett wrote:Another thing that's becoming more important to me is how mobile-friendly a site is. Specifically, if it's non-flash so I can view it from my phone.
Since I have to do my daily web surfing from my iPhone now, I couldn't agree more. I don't necessarily like special mobile versions of sites that are completely different or lack certain features, but the ability to use the damned site is always nice.
Once again, this site is pretty darn good in that respect. Although, these text boxes seem to tax the phone quite heavily. A few updates from apple seem to have fixed it though.
I agree, GRM mobile is great.
The online vendors who sell iPhone accessories who require flash to view their site, not so. 
petegossett wrote:The online vendors who sell iPhone accessories who require flash to view their site, not so.
???? That seems... dumb.
Thanks for the kind words about the GRM mobile site. There's things I'd still like to be better on there, but I'm glad it working pretty well for ya'll
boobs.
... and beer.
If you got me more boobs and beer it would be the bestest site evar.
4cylndrfury wrote:Please none of those annoying animated flash credit score/ what year did you graduate/facial cream/weightloss ads that arent related at all to the item(s) you sell...I know they generate some revenue, but youre seriously annoying people, and annoyed people dont spend $$$.
Congratulations! You've been selected to win a free Apple iPhone!
Man, it really depends on the site, and what I'm doing at the time. Sometimes, simple is defintiely best. Other times, I like color and style. I mean, I don't watch TV to get a series of slow, still frames. The computer is more than a magazine OR TV. Limiting it to less than a magazine seems pointless.
Another +1 for iPhone browsing. I do the bulk of my web stuff on the phone these days. The main reason is that the phone is where I am most of the time.
I never was big on Flash prior to getting a smart phone, but I'm really against it now.
I look for a site that is easy to navigate. That means different things to different people, though. To me, it means being able to find what I'm looking for.
On the other side of things, if you want people to come back, you have to give them engaging and frequently updated content. For an auto parts company, that could be tech articles, or similar. Pelican Parts comes to mind (however, their site isn't my favorite example of easy navigation).
