Home Page Pointers

What works

Let’s start with the arrows:

Red Arrow:  Artistic Sensations deals a lot with parents and grandparents that would rather pick up the phone and have a live person assist them with their purchase.  The prominent toll free number provides a genuine invitation for this customer.

Blue Arrow: Note the Authorize.net badge of security.  Again, with parents and grandparents, as well as other clients purchasing big ticket items online, displaying security provides a big advantage in the battle to gain trust from new customers.

Black Arrow: The simple easy to read on any browser shopping links are a terrific aid to customers; these are heavily used and stand out from item images that provide graphic calls to action.

Purple Arrow: Yeah, the search box gets good use.

Red Box: The two “big” divisions of products, “Kids” and “Teen”, are called out in a very prominent and clear manner.  We are going to further test ways to increase traffic to the store from here as this buyer can be looking for entire room makeovers and is clearly looking for a specific type of product for a specific age.

Purple Box: Image driven calls to action are a big plus for spontaneous and gift shopping.  Putting new, test and top selling products right up-front increases traffic to the store area.

Branding with a strong name and logo element lets the customer know where they are immediately.  Constant testing of  ideas like the Baseball Themed bedrooms, the visibility of sales and promotions and the top of page easy access to shopping cart and account information are all proven.  Grouping, look carefully at the way calls to action are grouped together.  Remember, people scan a site in a blur but really focus in on parts of the page in small parcels.  If you do not group related areas together, (Contact Us and phone proximity as an example) they may not see them.

1. Provide an easy brand identity and 411.  Display a prominent logo, phone number and easy to find contact us for both shopping and customer service.
2. Design for your customer.  For Artistic Sensations, the toll free number and a knowledgeable representative to talk to are real positives to the parents and grandparents making purchases.
3. Badges and Trophy Case items.  Autorize.net, BBB, etc. whatever you possess provides additional measures of security for the customer when they pick you before they pick product.
4. Different options for different visitors. Visually graphic calls to action with images for returning shoppers and those interested in new ideas, buttons indicating big divisions in shopping patterns for those on a mission, same with the easy to shop links on the right (red box), the search box for the “in a hurry” shopper.  Remember, each type of shopper should be considered in designing your entry points to shopping.
5. Keep your site current.  Seasonal products and new information are absolutely expected by the customer.  Make that obvious to your visitor.