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Edited by author 04-05-2005 02:59 PM
Like the idea behind this site! I hope it's a success for you.

These comments apply to quite a lot of web sites these days and the omissions (I don't like to use the word error) are easy to fix.

All web sites need to address users with accessibility issues. Do your users have sight problems? Do your users have input control problems (can they use a mouse?)

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 became law in October 2004 and require all businesses, whether they are web based or not, to make "reasonable adjustment" to make their services "accessible to all".

After having had a quick glance over your site, there are a few things you need to look at;

i) your text needs to be proportional, not fixed - it cannot be resized.
ii) some images require ALT tags - how can a blind user with a screen reader "see" the images?
iii) your menus are not available unless you have a mouse - all hyperlinks must be accessible to keyboard only users.
iv) imagine a blind user with a screen reader. The screen reader "reads" all links to the user. You have a link called "VIEW HERE" - what does that mean to a blind user? Make hyperlinks meaningful and don't repeat them. A list of "click here"'s is of no use to users with sight problems.

The DDA is very important. There are over 8 million registered disabled people - that is a lot of users that you could be alienating - and a lot of lost business.

If anyone would like help with their sites, drop me an email at admin@evolution-uk.co.uk and I'll get you up and running.

I'm also looking to start up my own consultancy and hope to get registered on BusinessBricks soon!

Thanks for reading

Peter
Evolution - UK

Hi Chris

Great idea, great website. I don't think the business model is a bad one, however there is two major things to overcome. Trust that it would be an effective service and education to let people know about it.

In your testimonials as far as I could see the only comment where they had purchased your system, used it and that it had worked, was at the end of the list, I think this would be better moved to the top, people might not get to the bottom.

Secondly this is just an idea, if you haven't already though of it, why not approach manufacturers to prebundle your stickers, this will give them a bit of a usp to their product as well, plus you should be able to gain some credability through their promotion or adoption of the service.

Good luck Alex

Hi Chris,

There's too much going on the hompage... so no obvious path for someone to know what to do next. Too many type faces, styles, graphics. And way too many choices.

You want people to register their interest. Selling is a multi, step process. Don't assume they'll do it all at once. (For the textbook answer - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) etc..
Capture browser interest with an offer "Try it for free".
Offer them a free asset number to use for 3 months in exchange for a completed registration form. If they lose an item in this time, charge them £10 if someone calls - to pay for the reward and your costs.

Of course, during the 3 months, you'll be trying to sell them the asset tags yourself...

Your competition - yellowtag (who now have an international link... and brand with the colour...yellow)
and most importantly...

Apathy - why don't I just put on my address ?

You need to answer the found but not returned, as well as the found and rewarded for return arguments.

So - I'd take selling the tags off the front page... it only matters when someone wants to protect their assets with a 3rd party code...

Focus on the only 2 messages that matter. Found a tag and claim your reward, and Try us for free.

Good luck

Hi,

I'll restrict my comments to the general theme of the business as I think the idea is fantastic. I didn't have a lot of time so I may have missed some of the detail of how it works but this may be just as useful to you. Layout and grab hand branding was excellent, however I do have a 'but' and quite a big one. Like a couple of others I was expecting it to be a service where you look up items that you've lost and people who find things add them to the site to be found. And for me this is the business model to go for as the labels idea just says to me I can do that myself for nothing, I don't need a web site. Thats what turned me off the idea so I'd review the business model as there has got to be a great business around lost property. Good luck and hope this helps.

OK thanks to everyone, we have made some major changes. We are still looking into the colour option and sourcing some photos of people and their items.

Let us know how you feel about the new look.

www.wantitbak.com

Hi

I LOVE the idea...

And I think that the first page should show the pictures of people who've had there stuff returned with a picture of the thing returned...

I thought it was a place to go and find stuff (i.e. all people would send in lost property to you, and you'd send it to the owners) - can you make the message clearer of what the product is?

I didn't find it too expensive...

And how about a 1,2,3 and you get it free offer - like refer 3 friends and you get yours free? Or something like that?

I truly superb idea!

I'll post a link it this on my community forum.

Love
Natalie

http://www.grantandnatalie.teamflp.com
http://www.lifestylemillionaire.com

Edited by author 22-04-2005 11:50 AM
Only a small comment as everyone else has covered all the other points ... I have an eyesight problem and found some of the text on site just a tad too small for comfort. And the white links on grey tabs had to be read out to me.

Hope this helps as I'm sure you'll have many visitors who have sight problems (and maybe lost their specs!!)

Annie
http://www.global-tuition.com

Cheers for all the comments guys. Lots to look at and work on it would seem. Less is more seems to be the flavour of the day so will definately look into that.

Colours! ok i see the point people are making, what would be better colours yellow or blue then??ideas?

An aside, No Anna not one of the 25 people has bought into the idea, which is interesting, even though one person has just suffered the loss of his wallet.

Keep em coming, thanks for all the great feedback

www.wantitbak.com

Look of the site is jazzy & professionally done - and I thought the easily identifiable logo (the grab hand) a good "branding" tool.

But...

>There was no "grab" for me to want to buy... I wasn't sure at first what you were actually selling. And I wondered if I wasn't there to do this exercise would I have bothered to read all the words??

>People love a bargain - shout about an introductory offer!

>I might normally have clicked off after just a brief perusal, but stayed and had a look around really only so I could be fair in my comments - if it is said people "buy" their houses within the first 11 seconds of a viewing, then you probably have less than this to make your impression and get critical information across.

>Finally, two things that came to mind about the product itself... I thought "labels? won't they peel off?" now I may be a girlie, but people need reassurance that this is durable and WORKS... then I clicked BUY - and saw something about "free 12 months subscription" (this hook should have been screamed from the front page) and the cynic in me immediately thought, uh-oh they reel you in, then squeeze you for more money - in my experience people buy on trust as much as anything (we are talking about personal security here afterall) so a bit more detail to reassure would be good.

All this aside - what a great idea - the simple ones are usually the best... very best of luck with the venture, I really hope it catches on!

PS Have any of us "critics" actually signed up? Now that would be interesting to know - if they have, then hats off to you, it obviously works!

I like the site.....Red on Black a bit harsh though. As for the business model its good but needs a lot of PR to make it work. Generally the public will want some courting before spending their money.

Good luck - Barry

a good idea..... the site was too busy for me and I also thought that it was a site where people returned lost items then searched for them on your site. Too much text to read. Also I agree about the colours - they are far too aggressive. I confess I got bored with it as I could not see clearly what you are offering quickly enough. I also think that you need coverage aswell as the internet to make people feel more reassured by you and more importantly so that they can search for you and know about you. Good Luck!

Hi, nice looking site.

here's what I did:
great idea, I wonder if they have got that little black wallet that I have had for 27 years and recently lost on a train?

Labels...err....no, I am not labelling anything.

left after about 10secs.

Hello Chris

I don't usually offer advice, but I can see the potential you have here. Your personal twist on a bog standard security label is a winner.

And you did ask, so, if you will...

1 Your site looks like it's been made by a 'design' professional. It's crisp has jazzy colours, it's way to 'busy', red is certainly not a good colour, and there's no flow. It's just way too complicated.

What is the one thing that you want people to do when they arrive on your landing page? Decide that and then gear everything on the page into making that happen. Just that - nothing else. If you had lots of products then obviously youcouldn't do that, but your other products are really just options aren't they?

2 As other posts have mentioned, there is no narrative, no sales message and certainly no easy way to buy or even any request to buy as far as I can tell. Unless I had already been recommended by a friend there is no way that I would buy from you with you site as it is. And I LOVE the idea.

3 You have some wonderful stories to tell to get that sale. Bear in mind that when you're telling your story, you have TWO issues of trust to address. One, a buyer has to first- off trust you. I have absolutely no idea who YOU are and why I should trust that you will hold MY PERSONAL details securely. If not on the first fold then it must be on the second fold of your landing page. Secondly, they have to trust that the product works which, again, is where your stories come in. The first of those stories should be on the first fold of your landing page. Written well, you could easily draw you readers in.

4 There are too many images. Images are good but only if they ADD TO THE TEXT they are next to.

5 Incidentally, If your survey says that people want the option of removing the tags, do you mind me asking why you aren't doing it? If it's a case of you physically can't do it, then you could tell them that you will send them one 'Detail Change' postcard for each sticker they buy so that THEY can pass on the added security that comes with the sticker to THEIR buyer. A great selling point for them. And a great offline contact for you to send more info and offer them a deal to get more stickers for the rest of their stuff. Would the extra administrative expense to you be outweighed by a contact from someone who is to an extent already pre-qualified, favourable to buying from you, and has given tacit permission to dierct-mail to them?

6 Put your contact number right where they can see it not hidden away at the bottom of the form. If you can't mand it all the time, re-direct is fine. Exp. net spenders won't use it anyway unless they have a specific question (in which case you've got 'em if you can answer the question). It increases trust. (Does anyone have any up to date UK info on whether freephone numbers or local numbers are better for net sales? Are freephone numbers a winner or loser?)

7 I have to go now to work on one of my sites, otherwise I could go on some more if you wanted. Hope this has been useful in some way.

All the best. I've bookmarked your site and will come back to see if you can convince me to buy in the future.

Ian

P.S. do you see any scope for capturing their email addresses for a series of follow-ups? Aweber.com have a great autoresponder product. Not the cheapest but the best I've found so far. In my quietest month of using it to date, it made me more than ten times what it cost for the month.

Great site design and great idea. Not convinced about the pricing though. Surely insurance cover would suit more people for less personal items? I'm not convinced to buy labels, although I love the idea.

I think the site is very professional looking, perhaps some of the pages look a little busy but overall the image is great. The success stories would be made more interesting by having pictures of the people smiling etc and perhaps make as much of that as you can because that is what the aim of all this is. The page about what have you got to lose could be combined with the success stories to show people who have had success in reclaiming that particular item. I think the business idea is great. Perhaps your overall problem is that you just need to keep on advertising it so that more and more people know about it - I would never have heard about it if it wasn't for the business brick email. Maybe you need to rethink your marketing campaign? Perhaps giving out sample stickers at railway stations where people always leave things behind might be a good idea?

Agree about the colours - lots of potential here though.

Poor conversion may be a function of targetting? Who are you driving to the site and at what stage do they leave?

I tried to find the affiliate/reseller area but couldn't - as others have said, your service lends itself to partnerships with insurance companies and retailers of high value items - this is a no-brainer.

Have you tested ppc? And do you know how much a visitor is worth? If you tested it, did you test different ads by keyphrase and different landing pages?

Cheers,

Paul http://www.incisecomms.co.uk

Chris

I agree that what you need most is large scale awareness, through PR and or partnerships. Have you tried talking to some of the companies that run services to protect credit cards? I use a service marketed through M&S which also gives me stickers to put on my wallet and a key fob. Its called Cardsafe - contactable on 0870 600 3055 cardsafeenquiries@cpp.co.uk.

Just to post a different view however, I think the site is a problem, at least in being the right site to make people feel good about your service.

You want people to feel safe and secure with your business, and to trust that there is a reliable process and company to work with. However, what I get from the site is:
- discomfort from the red and black colour scheme, which suggest risk not security
- confusion from the barrage of quotes and windows, rather than security from a story that flows and clarity of navigation

Hope this helps

Alan

Hi Chris,

Your site is a great idea - that is not in doubt. What Julie says below is important too and her suggestions are very good.

I disagree with her comments about the site's design though. I think it needs to change colour because red on black is a very stark contrast and can look aggressive and overpowering. (Some photos of people showing their returned goods might be helpful too.) I'd change it to a calmer, more reassuring colour set so that people feel welcomed to your site - these feelings are the feelings you need to tap into because you're not selling stickers - you're selling RELIEF!

That I can get back what was once mine is pure relief and proof that the risk I took in buying your stickers paid off. Focus on the benefit to the customer i.e. the underlying feelings/thoughts associated with your product over anything else. Tap into the sense of relief people will feel and they might be more willing to risk a tenner.

I hope this helps.

Lee

http://www.carnihan.co.uk (web designer)

Chris

I think the site is great. Really professional, clear, explains itself well, easy to navigate, has depth. Very good. I don't think this is your problem.

I think the reason that you are failing to get conversions could be two things:

Firstly, I think you really need some 'critical mass', via recommendations / referrals / good PR (I'm thinking, insurance companies, electrical goods companies, the police (surely they have stuff handed in all the time). You need to become talked about, known about, bit like carrying a donor card. Or you could consider targeting parents, kids loose stuff at school at the time (when I was a kid it was name labels in your socks!).

Secondly, the price, £10, I do think it is a bit expensive for what could be perceived as something that you may never need! Perhaps you could offer a discount for recommending others, therefore helping on above point too.

Not sure if this help....good luck anyway

Thanks for some great suggestions. We have completed a bunch of changes taking in some of those ideas. keep 'em coming.

www.wantitbak.com

We would love to talk to insurance companies but we are finding it difficult to get through to the people that we need to talk to. If anyone has any contacts......

Cheers for feedback guys, keep em coming, I like the idea of advertorial.

Nancy, in relation to the stickers being removed, i would be interested to know peoples thoughts on this as our surveys showed people wanted removable stickers in case they wanted to sell the item later. Although it is removalble it still acts as a Theft Deterrant.

again this is great getting this feedback. Thanks everyone

Agree with the other reviewers, great site.
I think you should focus on the product - I don't think the site is holding you back.
Is it deemed too expensive?

Rob

Great looking site, loaded very quickly for me. I love the concept, and I think you have a great business model there. Conversion, seems to be your problem. I would highlight press release articles and press coverage on your home page, this will inspire confidence in the reader. Also as has been touched on by other people here, I would market your idea to major Insurance companies, to see if they can add it to as an add on service to their customers, sell to them at 5% above cost and they will sell on to their existing customer base. 5% mark up to 250k customers is worth it! You cna get free priblicity in your local area contact the local paper tell them about your service, offer 5 lucky readers the service free, in return for an advertorial! Good luck with it!

www.londonlifeclinic.co.uk

The idea is good, but I do not like the stickers and as they could be removed, I am not so sure I would part with my money to buy some.
The idea came across well and the sight was easy to understand.

Edited by author 21-04-2005 02:15 PM
Have you seen www.yellowtag.com which I think is a similar concept? There might be some ideas to glean from their site. They have managed to get their basic kit enclosed with Olympus cameras which I appreciate has nothing to do with the website but is a great marketing opportunity.

Paul Wakefield

Great site, very striking. Have you tried seeking insurance approval for this concept? Get reduced contents insurance because of Want It Bak protection would be a strong incentive and vote of confidence in the product.
Also, mercenary character that I am, I would like to know more about the reward for return, I am asking myself if it offers enough to make ME go to the trouble of taking responsibility for someone elses lost property...What a shallow man I am.

Best of Luck

Jon Marris
Heath Reid & People
www.heathreid.com

Congratulations - I think the site looks professional, and makes the business seem bigger than I suspect you are. I've not spent a lot of time looking at it, but have had experience of secure marking office equipment before and so my thoughts are really along the lines of questions about the business model:
1) how easy is it to remove the stickers? I appreciate this is aiming for the honest person to return items, but what about if they are nicked?
2) Is there (and how much is it) an annual subsription fee for having your stuff logged on the database? Of it is a one off charge then shout about it!
3) On the homepage I would have one of the boxes displaying a slogan along the lines of 'Protect your 4 essential items for as little as £9.99' (or whatever it is) with a background picture of phone, laptop, pda, diary and walkman etc) just to hammer the point home. Link it to a page which flogs your main kit product and introduce the 3 easy steps points with a BUY NOW button next to it.

Who are you aiming this at - the individual or businesses - you may want to think about having seperate directions for where to go straight from the off (home page).

Hope this helps - good luck!

Jan Harrison
The Really Special Events Company
www.reallyspecialevents.co.uk

Cheers for all the great thoughts guys keep em coming. The navigation is definately a problem, especially since it works in everything but IE perfectly. Interesting point on the titles on the menu cheers for that.

We shall get to work straight away on some changes.

The word BAK is deliberately spelt incorrectly as it is a marketing ploy. It first of all attracts your attention and then because it is spelt wrong stays in your mind.

Interesting point on the colour used. We chose Red as it is so commonly associated with security and warnings etc. We shall look into maybe toning it down a little.

Thanks again everyone that has commented so far.

Excellent website.

It looks like I'm going to enjoy looking around but my first concern is, what do you do. The bullet points at the top of the page don't tell me what I want to know. In fact the first 2 tell me what I already know.

The stuff at the bottom of the page (which I can't see on my 800x600 browser) is what I want to see. Its all about labels which makes sense to me. I think I'll read on.

I think you should also revisit the navigation buttons, not just how the work (or don't) but how meaningful they are to your average visitor. I had to think about it and, for me, that flags a warning. I always like an 'about us' button to be visible so I can see, straight away, who I'm dealing with.

Go for it.

Chris Price, Choctaw

Hi Chris,
Love the site graphics - IMHO, it is the best of today's 5 by a proverbial "country".
But (and there always is one when asking for feedback) I have to agree with the girls - the navigation system is definitely dodgy on IE, but again works fine on Netscape.
One other piece of assistance I can give is that I would see the biggest selling point of this business as its success stories (not necessarily the return %). If you have lost something that is worth looking for (and potentially willing to pay a reward) I'm not sure that you would be worried how many other people are "unlucky". You know the odds are stacked against you in finding it, but you just want your item back.
My point is that you have to look very closely on the home page, and then make further clicks to find a "success". Surely this should be plastered prominently on the home page? The i-Pod man from Wapping looks your best bet for now from the ones shown. Regular changes of the success story (success of the month?) could be introduced as business increases.

The other point I would make, is that reading your site, I am not actually sure whether your No.1 aim is to reunite owners with lost property, or to sell stickers?

Finally, some of the success stories in the list are duplicated which may need checking out?

Sorry if it all sounds bad - it isn't, you've got the basis of a good (& unique) idea and terrific site graphics. If only I had that (and took my own advice occassionally).....
Good luck.

Andy Freeman ~ Freeman Solutions Ltd
www.freemansolutions.co.uk

Agree with Rachel's comments on IE - it DOES work - after about 4 attempts to 'catch' the dropdown!

Here's some quick thoughts in no particular order:

Red is OTT - quite oppressive. Combined with heavy caps everywhere and exclamation marks it's almost a shouty/angry feel to the site, as opposed to friendly, reassuring, problem-solving.

Tiny text used and no way to make it larger in browser.

"Bak" is msn-messenger type slang that doesn't inspire trust.

Lots of rather odd graphics that seem unnaturally big, and drop-shadow is never that great on a screen.

Hope this helps!

Kevin Browning
www.kmdwebdesign.com

Chris
This site looks great. It seems to work well on my PC, but I have to agree with Rachael Wyatt, the drop down menus disappear at the speed of light.
For such a high number of hits and such a low conversion rate, there is obviously a big problem. I know the brickies will help, but I think it's time to call in an expert.
Best of Luck
Debbie Short ~ JeaP Clothing & Promotions
www.jeap.co.uk

Hi Chris - I've just had a quick look at the want it back website - fab idea. As someone who has to check phone, keys, and purse every half an hour or so, I could save myself a lot of pocket slapping. Brick 141 mentions you are having a problem with the conversion rate on your site. I think I may have found one possible reason. The navigation system works like a dream in Firefox for PC and Mac, and in Safari - but it doesn't work so well in IE for PC (which most people in the UK are still using unfortunately) I've asked a couple of other people using IE to check it and they have the exact same problem. They can't select a menu item from the drop down boxes because they intermittently disappear when you try to mouse over and click on them - so I think your low conversion rate is possibly due to your visitors frustration whilst navigating the site. Have a look at your web stats to get a detailed breakdown of the way people are moving through the pages. Also, if you are using a mac then poddle along to your nearest internet cafe/PC shop and have a look at how your site works on other machines - sometimes it can give you a bit of a surprise to find out that not everyone is seeing what you're seeing. I'd recommend this to all website owners. Anyway, I hope this helps a bit - all the very best with the business :0) Rachael - www.purple-dogfish.co.uk