Feedback Complete.
The meet online/date offline social site matches members based on location, cause interests and site activity and provides a platform for individuals and groups to meet, connect and volunteer together.
Target Audience: Men and Women from 18 to 65 with cause-related interests who care about making a difference in their local community.
Website URL: www.YourCauseOrMine.com
No. of Feedback Providers Requested: 1
1. One of the first things I noticed was the that the home page didn’t load correctly for me. In the center of the page above the fold, there was what looked like it might end up being an intro video, but it never fully loaded. (I’m using Firefox 15 and Windows 7.) The second thing I noticed was that I liked the use of a little pop of color to highlight important words in the tag line, intro text, and selling points. The next thing I noticed was the very cute and colorful “Is YourCauseOrMine Right For You?” section. This is adorable, but it does make the home page rather long.
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After looking over the home page, I understand that YourCauseOrMine is a dating site for people who are interested in advocacy, activism, and so on. However, I have to admit that I thought it was more of a social networking site until I saw that you explicitly stated it was a dating site in the fine print at the bottom of the page.
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2. I wanted to be able to browse through profiles and see how the site is structured. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that without signing up. I don’t object to giving you my email and creating an account name, but I didn’t really like that I had to fill out several different screens before I could browse. Then once I tried to run a search, I was a little thrown by the fact that the search parameters are both at the top of the page and in a side bar. Seems kind of redundant. When I saw the results, I found it odd that the profile photos were not uniformly sized. However, each profile itself was well structured and easy to read. So, did I find what I was looking for? Yes, but only after feeling like I had to jump through a few hoops. And was anything confusing? Yes, the search process was a little bit strange.
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3. I could see myself using this site if I was looking for a relationship. I care strongly about a number of causes. If I was looking to date, it would be nice to find someone who cared about the same things, not to mention that the site also seems designed to help users locate events and causes to join, which I would also find valuable.
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4. In terms of the home page, if there’s a video that’s failing to load for me, it might be failing to load for other people, so it’s something to think about. If I were you, I would make that video (and especially the sign-up next to it) smaller, move your endorsements to the bottom of the page, and move your selling points directly upward into the new space you’ll have. I’d make the background of the entire page the same bright blue that you use under “Is YourCauseOrMine Right For You?” Right now, the page looks strangely divided. The “Is YourCauseOrMine Right For You?” section is a little long. You might want to shorten it a bit, or perhaps if you follow the above suggestions, that will create more room for it.
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In terms of the sign-up process, I’d suggest you make it quicker and easier for people to sign up and start browsing (i.e., create an account name and password, confirm an email address, and that’s it). I’d also suggest that you make the profile photos uniform in size in search results.
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Your “About Us” page isn’t really an “About Us” page. It’s more of a “How It Works” or “Why YourCauseOrMine?” page. An “About Us” page is supposed to provide information about the company behind the site. By the way, this page also has some spacing and punctuation errors. I’d suggest you get a proofreader.Â
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Your “Press Room” page is more like an “About Us” page. Again, it could use a proofreader.
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“FAQ” took me to the “Member Support” page instead of to an FAQ page.
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“Become an Partner Organization,” which should be “Become a Partner…,” has another blank space to the center left that looks like a video that’s failing to load.
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“Community Guidelines” is short, sweet, and easy to understand.
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“Safety Tips” is a nice bonus.
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“Contact Us” again takes me to “Member Support.”
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All in all, I think you have a good concept for a niche dating site, but right now, the site seems to be buggy. If you can clean up some of these errors and inconsistencies, I think it will look much more professional.
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5. I think common interests are extremely important in a long-term partnership.