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Please critique my online store

daydreamerbox

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Hi fellow FastLaners!

I would love some honest feedback of my online business and how I can improve.

The company is called BrownBoxTreats and we specialize in care packages full of local treats (mainly Washington so far)

The website is: www.brownboxtreats.com

What do you guys like, dislike, need improvement?

Its been open for a month now, and I have gotten sales, most from FB ads but still losing a lot of money before FB ads cost a lot.

I have gotten a lot of great feedback about my product and customer service as it gets delivered quick and it's free shipping.

The only problem so far is that I don't think this business is scalable as I have to get the products from the store myself, put it together, and drop it off at the post office. Which means I have to be in town and cant travel away for a long period of time. I also need to find a cheaper way to market as FB is killing me.

Thanks for the help!
 
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Hi fellow FastLaners!

I would love some honest feedback of my online business and how I can improve.

The company is called BrownBoxTreats and we specialize in care packages full of local treats (mainly Washington so far)

The website is: www.brownboxtreats.com

What do you guys like, dislike, need improvement?

Its been open for a month now, and I have gotten sales, most from FB ads but still losing a lot of money before FB ads cost a lot.

I have gotten a lot of great feedback about my product and customer service as it gets delivered quick and it's free shipping.

The only problem so far is that I don't think this business is scalable as I have to get the products from the store myself, put it together, and drop it off at the post office. Which means I have to be in town and cant travel away for a long period of time. I also need to find a cheaper way to market as FB is killing me.

Thanks for the help!

@AllenCrawley
 

Vigilante

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I was going to offer some feedback, does this mean I shouldn't bother?
Heck no. I just invited Allen Crawley in who is awesome at this, but you absolutely should. He's looking for any and all feedback / opinions. Have at it!
 
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becks22

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You don't have any social media yet according to your bottom footer? Seems pretty counterproductive to me considering you're using FB ads?
 

daydreamerbox

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You don't have any social media yet according to your bottom footer? Seems pretty counterproductive to me considering you're using FB ads?

thanks for pointing that out, i did create the FB page, so i will link that to my store. I also created an IG account but only 2 posts so far, but i will link that as well to the store.
 

Andy Black

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Hi fellow FastLaners!

I would love some honest feedback of my online business and how I can improve.

The company is called BrownBoxTreats and we specialize in care packages full of local treats (mainly Washington so far)

The website is: www.brownboxtreats.com

What do you guys like, dislike, need improvement?

Its been open for a month now, and I have gotten sales, most from FB ads but still losing a lot of money before FB ads cost a lot.

I have gotten a lot of great feedback about my product and customer service as it gets delivered quick and it's free shipping.

The only problem so far is that I don't think this business is scalable as I have to get the products from the store myself, put it together, and drop it off at the post office. Which means I have to be in town and cant travel away for a long period of time. I also need to find a cheaper way to market as FB is killing me.

Thanks for the help!
Rather than trying to judge your website in isolation, can you give an example of an ad people see and where they end up when they click that ad?

Maybe also give us a clue about why those people saw that ad too.

If this was Google Ads I’d want to know what the search term was they typed in, what the Google Search Results Page looked like so we can see your ad in situ with your competitor ads, and then I’d want to see everyone’s landing page to see how well it matches what the person searches for and what they were promised in each ad.

We’re judging the website or landing page in isolation if we don’t know who’s visiting what page and why.

I bring this up because people think a website or landing page has a conversion rate when it doesn’t.
 
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sparechange

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Wheres the Instagram page? About us page is to short and doesn't have a compelling story, I don't like how there is only 2 tabs at the top, More pictures, a cause to follow? What's the reason to buy from you?
 

juresesko

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What if I don't like this and that or the other. Can I create a custom BrownBox?
What about that stale cookies.
The thing you should make visible to your customers is that your cookies are fresh and delicious.
If I would be a potential customer scrolling through your website and stumbling upon a review saying that your cookies are stale I would be sad because I wanted to surprise my friend with some cookies and not some soggy sponges. (Talking like a customer)
I know you didn't ask to critique your product but I like your website so I looked deeper.
 

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I think I may like your idea but was pondering the following:

1) Care Package. Is this common terminology in the US? Rather than say gift box? Is that what people would search for, or immediately know what it is if they see an Advert?

2) Washington. Are those products specific to Washington that Washingtonians (if that would be the correct term) would yearn for them? Be nostalgic for them?

3) I would be a bit more cheeky in the descriptions. Make it fun.

The reason I said I may like your idea is because it is reasonably common for ex-pats to want things from home. Well British ones do anyway.

Here is what I consider a good example of a similar company that ticks points 1, 2 and 3 I query above.

British ex-pats would 1) search for British Gift Boxes because we 2) love our little rock in the sea and hate foreign muck, and 3) like a bit of cheek - I mean biscuits and crisps epitomising British Food Culture :)


So like Andy above I would want to know how people have arrived at your site. It is not bad as it stands alone but...

Dan
 
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P3HSB

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How to improve your website

Step 1:
Move your cookie basket to the top above the fold. Half of the cookies picture has been cut off and I need to scroll down to see what you are selling

Step 2: add buy now button above the fold. Call to action

Step 3: Add title that describes exactly what you are selling. "A variety of sweet and savory snacks from Washington" move that to the top. Then you can put your quote underneath

Step 4: Add a important links at the top "contact us" "phone #" "info/FAQ"

Step 5: add social Media links

Step 6: Improve about me page. Give a background story of your inspiration of creating this business and how it can benefit others

Step 7: make improvements to your info/FAQ page. Make it so clear that the buyer has no objections!!!
 
Last edited:

Ravens_Shadow

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Buy button is really dark and I didn't even see it at first. Put the buy now button in the banner to like the above poster mentioned. Mother teresa has nothing to do with sweets, you should show off all your best boxes in the banner there.
 

daydreamerbox

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Rather than trying to judge your website in isolation, can you give an example of an ad people see and where they end up when they click that ad?

Maybe also give us a clue about why those people saw that ad too.

If this was Google Ads I’d want to know what the search term was they typed in, what the Google Search Results Page looked like so we can see your ad in situ with your competitor ads, and then I’d want to see everyone’s landing page to see how well it matches what the person searches for and what they were promised in each ad.

We’re judging the website or landing page in isolation if we don’t know who’s visiting what page and why.

I bring this up because people think a website or landing page has a conversion rate when it doesn’t.

Hi @Andy Black , so far I have only ran a few different ads on FB. Here is how one of them looks like:


it's a pretty basic pic and text, but i will be testing other images along with videos as well. So far i have only targeted the local region as those are the ones who are familiar with these snacks. They typically buy for their friends or family who lives in other parts of the country and never had these before or misses these snacks. I also started this right before Mother's day, so we did get some orders as gifts for mothers. When they click on the 'shop now' button, it takes them to the store homepage. Do you think i should have it lead straight to the product page instead?

I have tried testing Google Ads (along with Bing) since they both give free credits to start with but since i'm inexperience, it ate up around $80 in about a week. Here are the keywords and search phrase results:


Where is Google Ads dashboard would i find the Search Results Page and Competitor's landing page? Thanks for the help!!


Wheres the Instagram page? About us page is to short and doesn't have a compelling story, I don't like how there is only 2 tabs at the top, More pictures, a cause to follow? What's the reason to buy from you?

I have just started the IG page, so i will add a link to that on the homepage. It only has two post so far, so i do need more content. Besides posting my products, i'm not sure what other content to post as i don't have that many products. I will update the 'About Us' page but I kept only 2 tabs on the top to keep it simple. I'm not sure what other tabs I would need to add since most of the other links is in on the bottom footer.

The reason to buy from me would be the different types of snacks and continence of sending a care package to a loved one or to themselves. Those who buys these snacks have great memories of eating them in the past and they want to share that with others. I don't see anyone else offering this, other than going to the actual store and buying it. Thanks for the inputs!

What if I don't like this and that or the other. Can I create a custom BrownBox?
What about that stale cookies.
The thing you should make visible to your customers is that your cookies are fresh and delicious.
If I would be a potential customer scrolling through your website and stumbling upon a review saying that your cookies are stale I would be sad because I wanted to surprise my friend with some cookies and not some soggy sponges. (Talking like a customer)
I know you didn't ask to critique your product but I like your website so I looked deeper.

I have created custom Brown Boxes, but I would like to avoid making too many custom ones as it would be more time consuming, which is why I didn't write anything in the description about that. Do you think it would be better to just leave that off or say 'no customizations'?

The stale cookie review caught us by surprise as we restock our snacks about twice a week, so everything is fresh and doesn't sit long. I'm hoping it was just a one time issue otherwise I will have a bunch of other boxes that got stale snacks as well. That review did bother me as i'm working hard to offer a great product and i'm not sure if i could have done anything differently before i sent that out but i do appreciate their honest feedback. We are working with that customer to get this resolved, but good point about looking at it thru the customer's perspective, i appreciate the feedback!

I think I may like your idea but was pondering the following:

1) Care Package. Is this common terminology in the US? Rather than say gift box? Is that what people would search for, or immediately know what it is if they see an Advert?

2) Washington. Are those products specific to Washington that Washingtonians (if that would be the correct term) would yearn for them? Be nostalgic for them?

3) I would be a bit more cheeky in the descriptions. Make it fun.

The reason I said I may like your idea is because it is reasonably common for ex-pats to want things from home. Well British ones do anyway.

Here is what I consider a good example of a similar company that ticks points 1, 2 and 3 I query above.

British ex-pats would 1) search for British Gift Boxes because we 2) love our little rock in the sea and hate foreign muck, and 3) like a bit of cheek - I mean biscuits and crisps epitomising British Food Culture :)


So like Andy above I would want to know how people have arrived at your site. It is not bad as it stands alone but...

Dan

Hi Dan!

1. I personally think 'Care Package' and 'Gift Box' are both common but might have different meanings. I think we use the term 'care package' more when we send gifts to someone who's away for schooling, military deployment, recovering from surgery, etc. and 'gift boxes' for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, mother/father day, etc. but the terms could be regional as well.

2. Yes, some Washingtonians would yearn for these snacks as they grew up eating it and can't find it nearby or if they moved to other parts of the country. I have definitely received a lot of comments of how they grew up eating these so nostalgia does play a factor. There are customers who also want to send some to their kids who moved away as well or share with their friends who never been to Washington before.

3. Initially when i set this store up, i just wanted to hurry and get it live to test it out, so i didn't add much description but i do agree about making it fun, as that matches who i am.

Thanks for the example! it is definitely similar to what i am doing, but for Washington snacks. I would agree with the Ex-pat example as a lot of Ex-Washingtonians would be interested in this as they miss the snacks they grew up eating.

Thanks again for the help!

View attachment 33325


How to improve your website

Step 1:
Move your cookie basket to the top above the fold. Half of the cookies picture has been cut off and I need to scroll down to see what you are selling

Step 2: add buy now button above the fold. Call to action

Step 3: Add title that describes exactly what you are selling. "A variety of sweet and savory snacks from Washington" move that to the top. Then you can put your quote underneath

Step 4: Add a important links at the top "contact us" "phone #" "info/FAQ"

Step 5: add social Media links

Step 6: Improve about me page. Give a background story of your inspiration of creating this business and how it can benefit others

Step 7: make improvements to your info/FAQ page. Make it so clear that the buyer has no objections!!!

Wow, thanks for all the tips and feedback!! I will incorporate all of that to the site. Can you elaborate a little more on Step 7 with the no objections? I thought i covered the basic information in the FAQ page, what do you think I should add?

Buy button is really dark and I didn't even see it at first. Put the buy now button in the banner to like the above poster mentioned. Mother teresa has nothing to do with sweets, you should show off all your best boxes in the banner there.

Thanks! I will change the color of the Buy Button as i want everyone to see that. Since I only have 3 boxes, do you think i should put all 3 on the banner? or the two that sells the most?
 
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daydreamerbox

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I don't like the alert , when i want to add to cart without adding a personalized message. It should not be a must to check the Yes / No , thanks answers

Hi! are you saying i should take the 'yes/no' question away? I initially didn't have that on there and a lot of customers didn't include a message when they actually wanted to. So that led to a lot of emailing back and forth. I added that mandatory question to prevent the extra emailing and to make sure the recipient knows who sent them the Brown Box.
 

zblundell

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Hi fellow FastLaners!

I would love some honest feedback of my online business and how I can improve.

The company is called BrownBoxTreats and we specialize in care packages full of local treats (mainly Washington so far)

The website is: www.brownboxtreats.com

What do you guys like, dislike, need improvement?

Its been open for a month now, and I have gotten sales, most from FB ads but still losing a lot of money before FB ads cost a lot.

I have gotten a lot of great feedback about my product and customer service as it gets delivered quick and it's free shipping.

The only problem so far is that I don't think this business is scalable as I have to get the products from the store myself, put it together, and drop it off at the post office. Which means I have to be in town and cant travel away for a long period of time. I also need to find a cheaper way to market as FB is killing me.

Thanks for the help!

Its a great idea first of all. However I do not like any of those "treats" and would want more options. Also suggest changing the name because here in Murica treats is used for animals such as a dog. Maybe BrownBoxSnacks?? I think you should add a drop down menu of very popular snacks (hot cheetos you would not believe how popular those are!!) and give consumers a chance to pick out there snacks.
 

Ravens_Shadow

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Got targeted by your ads on facebook afterwards. Plenty of likes and comments, so hopefully you're doing well :)
 
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