HairBow Center

Hairbrow Center - startup featured on startuplift for website feedback & startup feedback

Hair bow and ribbon crafting supply business

Target Audience: Individuals who make hair bows and ribbon crafts as well as B2B sales to small businesses
Website URL: www.hbcsandbox.com
No. of Feedback Providers Requested: 1


Feedback sought:

1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?

2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?

3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?

4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?

5) Are there any confusing parts about ordering our products and/or going through the checkout process?

6) Any other comments or suggestions?

5 thoughts on “HairBow Center

  1. First good luck with the endeavor. Great effort with the web site! My feedback:
    1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    My feedback
    – design is relevant to the service offered
    – nav bar has much improvement scope.  mouse over is a good feature, but the spacing between various menu items and the number of submenu items is too much; looks over crowded
    – hero picture could be better designed. font colors are fine but image and font color overlay is lowering the quality of image and message of the image
    – testimonials should be given more prominence on the home page. maybe add font size or change color. Pictures for testimonial gives would add a personal touch.
    – “read more reviews” looks like orphan text. instead, a button or a different font that makes it stand out is recommended.
    – if site aims ate attracting business customers adding some business client testimonials will help. even separate nav bay menu items for a drop down for business users. or a separate link for business purposes
    – featured products are more “featurable” if they have reviews. if no reviews, then could in another section for new products.
    – images used in featured products do not have a transparent background. they have a white background. while the block has a off-white background. follow design best practices.
    – in the footer I do not see the purpose of “620-223-9898” below FAQ
    – overall the homepage has promise, but it does not give the impression of a robust e-tail platform. At some places, design is also lose (covered above).
     
    2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    My feedback
     
    – I did not find any information about how to get help as a business trying to partner with hairbow, bulk discounts, etc. If I have to navigate for long to find that info, I will move to another prospect.
    – make it easy for B2B transactions on the website by displaying a prominent action button on the top somewhere, not hidden under contact us page dropdown (department) in the footer
    3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
    My feedback
    No, I am not encouraged.
    link to “create an account” is on the top header. plus there is no incentive or prominent action impulse that will encourage me to create an account, if I find that one can be created.
    4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
    My feedback
    I did not find a comparable site  .
    however I found https://www.hairbowcenter.com/.  I think the new design (https://hbcsandbox.com/default/) is far better than the old design.
    5) Are there any confusing parts about ordering our products and/or going through the checkout process?
    My feedback
    – after adding an item to the cart, why does the cart not comeup, the item just gets added to the top of the page near the cart icon and price info. not intuitive and user friendly.
    – checkout process needs many tweaks also. there was an error page when I selected multiple items in the cart.
    – I proceeded to checkout using demo data via paypal option. there was an error on paypal page. when I went back to the original page I had lost the data in the cart. there was no items in the data. this is not good user experience.
    – shopping cart and payment process needs much attention
     
    6) Any other comments or suggestions?
    My feedback
    mostly covered above.
     
    Great effort and Good luck!!
     
     
     

  2. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    When I look around your homepage, the hairbows displayed look very juvenile. The end consumer appears to be parents of young children judging by the opening picture. Next to the hairbows it says: “Whoo loves fall?” Why is Who misspelled? I assume this is intentional and I’m guessing most visitors would too. I recommend changing this. And the green background does not look good for these colors. I recommend a blue.The green does not match the green font next to it “unleash creative” You have too many shades of green here that do not look good. Get rid of the dark green.
     
     
    2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    Only think I can think of is hairbows, and you have a lot of them.
    3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
    No, simply because I am a male, not interested in hairbows, and I have no use for your products.
    4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
    When I do a search for hairbows, Claire’s comes up. They have a big selection of hairbows. They have a more professional looking homepage. They would probably get my business over your website.
    5) Are there any confusing parts about ordering our products and/or going through the checkout process?
    There is not anything confusing that I found browsing your website.
    6) Any other comments or suggestions?
    There were several ribbons under the new tab that appear to not have a picture. This would be helpful, because I would assume people want to see the product before they order it from your site.
    I like that you accept Paypal and Google Wallet.
    I am not fond of the border at the top of the page that is brown, light pink, hot pink like a candy cane. It distracts my eyes and I don’t believe the colors are complimentary, especially with the greens on the page.
    I like how you offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

  3. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
    I took a quick glance and did not see anything that was truly attracting me. Guess guys don’t buy crafty Ribbons. The low price of only $2 give me the idea that it is too cheep. The Same Day Shipping got me stuck for some time and felt a bit puzzled as the *Not Guaranteed phrase gave me doughs. Would rather suggest something in the line of. “Usually shipments is same day if order is place before 1pm. Followed by Allow 48H (Or max time) for delivery. As a customer I just would like to have a reasonable time frame
    At the top I did not find the usual About us button with a condense overview of what Hairbow stands for. Was difficult for me to figure out what your site is about. At the bottom I found the history button the clear everything and made me realized this is a lucrative business that a lot of people find need for. Overall the website loads quickly, is neat and has a sense that people who knows it buys quite a bit as the layout give me the idea that it is a unique  product that very specific people look for.
    2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
    I decided on a hairbow and as a guy I guess it is not too uncommon for us to have no clue what on earth a hairbow is. After just a few clicks I found Hairbow kits and 2 and 2 came together for me. Fancy lint folded in a girls hair to make her more pretty. No wonder the stuff is so popular. Everyone is talking about it. Was amazed on how many different ones there is to chose from. This site truly has a very large selection. So yeh I found a Hairbow pretty easy after I figured out what it was. Find the kid for $24 a bit price as I propably do not know how easy or difficult it is to make one. Must complement you on such a great variaty and kinda felt I would like to try to make a hairbow myself as I have two daughters ages 2 and 4. Would be a smart idea to put some kids wearing your uniuqe hairbows. People always like to see how things look in real life on real people. Thats anyway how I make most of my decitiones.
    3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
    After getting trough all the jitter and figuring out what the heck a hairbow is I kinda feel attracted to the idea of having an account. Would not want to mention it to my wife cause she will just go crazy on a sit like this. I must add your very large selection made me like the site and also the low price. Could hardy believe you even have a sale. Now more worried if the delivery price will not be more than the items selected.
    4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
    I found https://www.claires.com that amazed me as quite a few things I suggested they actually do. Have a more asy message for delivery that just state Free shipping for over $25. That is kinda all I would want to know about shipping info. Time goods get to me will be fine if it is for free. Alo encourage me to spend a little more. They also use real people to promote their products and uses a slider to get better exposure for all the products they offer. Under hairbow that is not the main feature they have a very large selection without me having to choose to go to the next page. One thing I can tell you is that generally people is very lazy and get bored very quickly. If you like them to pur most of your catagoriy items in one long list rather than view options it wll work better. At Claires I scrolled down to the bottom where on your site I just skimmed trough the first page. Claire and hairbow is very differant companies what product is conserned. Hairbow has much more choises and will keep people coming back cause there is more than enough to choose from. So for variaty I woulld choose Hairbow but as a new customer I like Claire best. Strongest reason would be hoe the website and pictures present the products. Hope you find my review inspiring. 
    5) Are there any confusing parts about ordering our products and/or going through the checkout process?
    Product ordering seems quite simple and nothing too complicated. Must add I would have preferred only 3 parts to compete an order. Five steps to finally finish is too long. I would also liked to have my name displayed after I created a user login. Else the checkout is clear with no big queistions
    6) Any other comments or suggestions?
    Hairbow is quite a new company that has seen the power of using the internet as main marketing medium. All social links is in place an the feeling I get is that you have a massive amount of stock. Also that you are more a supply not only to the public but also the shops. All in all your site is functional and gets to the point quikly. Would add a couple of sliders and short vidoe on have u have taken to heart 

  4. My first impression of the website was that it was well organized and very colorful.  I also noticed that there was overlap on the search window and the go button.  Possibly a problem viewing on a mobile device (ipad).  Other than that all buttons seemed to work and direct correctly.  
    Searching through ribbons and hardware was very easy with the drop down menus.  I also liked that they had a sitemap and direct links all at the bottom of the page.
    I was not encouraged to create a new account, but I imagine someone that purchases ribbon and hardware regularly would be.  All links to set up an account were easy to find.
    I checked out a couple of other sites and the one thing I can say was better on the others was the overall color scheme.  There doesn’t seem to be one on HairBow Center.  Maybe pick 3 colors for the background, tables and text.  It was not appealling to the eye and I felt it distracted from the product itself.
    I attempted to add a few items to a cart (several different alligator clips) and was redirected to log in to Facebook.  This was a little confusing, but when I refreshed the page and tried again it worked fine.  
    Overall the organization and ease of movement through the website was good.  I would suggest making sure that the site is optimized for mobile devices as there was some weird overlapping in text on some pages.  Also, tone down the colors in order to showcase the ribbons better.   

  5. 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
     
    The home page looks like fun. It reminds me of my childhood when hair-bows were the style for little girls.
     
    The size of the name, the finished bows all look great.
     
    If I were to change/add anything, it would be a video showing the possibilities for hair-bows, you might get more customers. I think that is especially true of the casual visitor who does some crafting and is curious or people who are looking for hair-bows.
     
    2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was anything confusing?
     
    Not knowing how to make hair-bows, I went to instructions. I see there are a couple of templates and I was hoping for more. Here, I really, really want a video. If you don’t have one free instruction video, I’m off to YouTube and might not return.
     
    3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)?
     
    Maybe in the future, when I want to take time to play.
     
    4) Go to search engine of your choice and find one other company that offers a similar service. Compare the two companies. Which on do you prefer? Why?
     
    I went to hairbowsuppliesetc.com.
     
    The layout of the home page is quite different. It shows all the variety of products they have and not just finished bows.
     
    They also seem to have a larger variety, including ribbons. Their silk flower selection is enormous.
     
    What I don’t see are templates or any kind of training.
     
    Overall, you have an excellent presentation and, for my taste, theirs is somewhat better. And that’s me. Other people may find yours better.
     
    5) Are there any confusing parts about ordering our products and/or going through the checkout process?
     
    I went up to the point where a credit card was requested. Everything seemed clear, except local pick-up. Where is local? Do you have drop off points in different locations?
     
    6) Any other comments or suggestions?
     
     
    I can’t think of anything other than the video and maybe having models, so we can see the bows in use.

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