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**Jan** · 10-Oct-2003, 12:48 PM

The layout looks really good - I like the way you have offered quantities price breaks with the special offer products after each product. The only thing that I would suggest is to try the front page out with two columns rather than one - that gets more pictures shown initially, it might not work but it would be worth a try (if of course you haven't aready).

The content is a bit variable - it is all good but in some places you have included composition details (eg. kcals etc) and others not, if I was buying this as a dieter I would like to know exactly what was in it. Also you do not say which products are suitable for vegetarians.

I wasn't really sure what 'low carb goodies' were for until I saw the reference to the Atkins diet in the about us page so it might be worth adding a 'what are low carb goodies' section into the brochure or catalog.

As a shopper I would be put off by the �5 postage, it seems like quite a lot - having said that it is not that different to the supermarket delivery charges and you are selling products that are reasonably hard to come by in the shops.

Regards,

**pinbrook** · 10-Oct-2003, 01:33 PM

Just a couple of comments

1 I feel the site would look better if you had a well designed logo instead of the title/text at present

2 If you insert this little piece of code immediately after the NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTQUANTITY

<input class="q_dec_button" type=button value="-" onClick="javascript:this.form.elements['Q_NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE'].value--;">
<input class="q_inc_button" type=button value="+" onClick="javascript:this.form.elements['Q_NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREFERENCE'].value++;">

you will get plus and minus buttons beside your quantity box. This will work very well with the add to selection at the bottom of each page

Darren at casupply has this on his site

http://www.casupply.co.uk/acatalog/flooring.html

3 I agree with Jan �5 is alot for postage, it would put me off. It seems way over cost . �2.95 would be acceptable

**jxm28788** · 10-Oct-2003, 01:47 PM

postage costs

I'd also welcome advice on couriers suitable for small businesses such as mine - if I could send packages for �2.95 each I would!

At the moment the cheapest option I can find is Royal Mails 3-4 day standard parcel service which is dependent on weight.

So far postage costs on orders have varied between �3.32 for a tiny package to �6.91 for a small but heavier package... Average so far is �4.27, plus of course the packaging...

Also, �5.00 seems fairly standard for my competition.

I have a logo, which I think is pretty cool, but when I tried to get it in the top bar it didn't work (either the logo looked ok but the bar took up 1/3rd page, or the bar was reasonable height but the logo was so small it looked rubbish. That's why I went for the text heading, with logo just on the home page...

Any ideas on how to get round that?

**pinbrook** · 10-Oct-2003, 03:23 PM

Have you looked at Royal Mail small packet service?

I was just thinking that you have items at 99p, some people might want to to just a couple of these items just to try them out, a weight based postal rate might serve you better!

**pinbrook** · 10-Oct-2003, 03:37 PM

attached doc shows how you could integrate your logo without it looking daft.

Attached Files

lowcarb.jpg (34.3 KB, 286 views)

**jxm28788** · 10-Oct-2003, 04:27 PM

The only thing that I would suggest is to try the front page out with two columns rather than one - that gets more pictures shown initially

Do you mean the main products page (1st page after entering the store)? How do I get two columns?

I'll look into Putting on labels for veggie/kosher/diabetic etc. I've updated the home page to include 'atkins', although most of my customers will know what it means due to the keywords they would have to search on to find my site.

attached doc shows how you could integrate your logo without it looking daft.

that looks ok, what file do I have to edit to get the logo in there? and is there any easy way to move the shopping cart counter to the left as you've shown it?

Barriers to purchase

Appart from the postage costs, what else would prevent you from buying from my shop (assuming you were in the market for low carb stuff)? I seem to be getting a fair few hits, but not a great deal are being converted to customers. (although I don't know what a 'typical' conversion rate is...does anyone else)

Maybe I'll switch to a weight based delivery...

**jxm28788** · 11-Oct-2003, 08:46 AM

yikes

just ran a log analyser and it seems that 20% of my visitors are leaving from the home page, apparently not having viewed the rest of my site - and also 31% left after less than 1 minute and 45% had left by the 2nd minute!!!

Obviously my site is making a poor first impression - any ideas?

**Jan** · 11-Oct-2003, 09:18 AM

Try putting the chocolate bars or sweeties on the front page, or make a nice graphic with lots of the products in it.

Are those %s cumulative, ie have 96% left after the second minute or 45%, if it is the latter then 55% are staying for more than 2 minutes which is not bad.

In answer to an earlier question, you can set the number of section columns in design options | sections, there are settings for the top level section list and settings for all other sections lists.

Regards,

**jxm28788** · 11-Oct-2003, 09:55 AM

ah yes, 2 columns looks better!

no, 45% gone in the 1st 2 minutes, so only 55% spending more than 2 minutes...

Which template do I need to edit to get my logo in the left bar?

**jxm28788** · 11-Oct-2003, 01:09 PM

I've been playing with MS Paint, do you think this is an improvement? a big improvement or a little improvement? worth the time it will take to change it for real?

This is the main products page, but obviously the same layout would apply throughout...

**pinbrook** · 11-Oct-2003, 01:23 PM

new design much better
you will have to edit act-primary and act-brochure primary

**jxm28788** · 11-Oct-2003, 01:55 PM

so, for the boxes on the left, how would I do that?

Would the whole bar including the logo, logo box, and 3 empty boxes just be one big graphic? Won't that be terribly slow to load?

Or does actnic have a 'box' function of some kind?

And how do I change the items/value to be black on white rather than white on black?

**Jan** · 11-Oct-2003, 02:17 PM

I much prefer the new one as well.

Regards,

**elfinp** · 11-Oct-2003, 02:36 PM

Just recommending RM small packets under regular 1st / 2nd class postage rates.. I have my site set up so everything is weight based - it takes a little longer to do (especially as my feasible order weights can be anything from 0.1 kg to 5kg plus) but it worth it to get fair postage - my rates up to 1 kilo weight are total order weight based staggered using 1st class postage and after that I use parcelforce rates. And then theres sets of completely different rates for Europe and the US/Canada

Royal Mail will also collect for a flat charge of �240.00 per year if you spend more than 5k per year on royal mail products (inc postage), and its free if you're over 15K/annum. Only trouble is you need seperate collection contracts with RM and Parcelforce... parcelforce on my list of things to look into coz while I have RM collection I don't have it for the heavier parcelforce items. If you're running in an area with lots of small businesses, you could look at splitting the cost with another business as well.

Postal rates for all RM/parcelforce services are detailed on their (slow but worth it) site - www.royal-mail.com

Steph

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