Hi, I know it’s been a little while since the dramatic front page make-over but a number of things seem to have disappeared for good and I wondered if I missed out on a consultation (quite possible, I moved house and pulled the shutters down for a while).
There used to be gift registries - they were often seasonal Valentines, Christmas, Easter, or topical Gardeners, Gifts for Him, Gifts for Her that sort of thing. I always thought these were great provided good trawling of the site happened regularly to highlight fresh work etc.
The top seller list has gone too - suspect there was some relief with this change, it could look a little samey/exclusive.Then Folksy’s favourite picks -this is still there in a somewhat diluted form - well it seems it, maybe that’s just the new layout of the front page though.
Anyway, just wondering, was there a big consultation about it all? Cheers. Fiona
No there was no consultation.
I believe Folksy were monitoring where customers looked and made decisions on that basis. They also thought that there was too much information for new visitors so hence the trial with the new sparse unsigned in front page.
I think it is all still a work in progress.
Thanks Deborah, useful to know that it’s still a work in progress. Are there any updates about it anywhere, I’d love to have a read through but cannot find anything.
I was thinking more really of the home page once you have signed in. They have some of the old features - new seller of the week, a pinterest board and some favourites as well as a couple hand-picked (randomly picked?) examples of recently listed (no bad thing - the swamping of listing was irksome before).
I just think it’s a bit of a jumble and a terrible shame they have got rid of the ‘gift ideas’ sections that used to open from a bar at the top. These would change on a reasonably regular/seasonal basis and would give a glimpse of some of the things on offer and I think drive people to consider sections they might not otherwise look at. Shame, I enjoyed looking through them too.
It is a shame the gift guides aren’t more prominently displayed for all as they are ideal for casual browsers - I’ve spotted a few things that I love which I would never have searched for off my own back.
We tend to know where things are as we know the lay out of the FP and we are familiar with it, but sometimes I wonder if new visitors find their way around and manage to locate what they came for.
I do think it would be better for gift guides to be displayed in a more eye-catching way.
As a seller I still find myself at a loss when I need to search for a gift. I don’t usually know what I want to buy, I want ideas. I think the gift ideas sections do need to be more accessible.
It would be quite good to replace the top central photo (the large one) with a second gift guide. And perhaps they should be labelled “Gift Guide” more prominently too… @InkyprintsOriginals Fiona, they originally put up a different screen, which they called “The Smorgasbord”. It was chaotic - covered in lots of little, tiny photos, showing recently listed, recent & current sales, Folksy’s favourites… all kinds of things, in different sized photos, all jumbled about. They thought it would encourage browsing, but it was a nightmare. I think they must have realised it wasn’t working like that. This is the newer, more slim-line version. Not bad, but I think it needs a few tweaks still.
Like many others, I do find browsing more difficult. I’ve also noticed a big drop-off in views since the changes - and others have said the same.
Still, it looks “modern” and “new”, if nothing else!
Actually, just having tried to look at Gift Guides, before coming to Talk Folksy forum… It would be really good to be able to scroll through the gift guides, as we used to do. I wanted to see different guides, but even though I kept using the “refresh” button (top right of screen), I could only see two or three different ones - and they weren’t what I wanted.
We are coming into the busiest selling season of the year. We really need our customers to find it Easy to Browse on Folksy. They must find it easy to spot things they want, or they will shop elsewhere!!
Wow. Just found the random gift guide…that it isn’t obvious in amongst all the other jumble of pinterest etc boxes says it all…and it’s ONE and it’s random…I want to be able to access a selection of gift guides, they were great before, in a bar across the top with side arrows to flick through to more. It worked. Yes, some of the other changes might help - or at least recognise that not everything before was great, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, the gift guides were fab. If I have to go and hunt them down (assuming they still exist) then I’m simply going to shop elsewhere…and I value handmade, independent designer-makers, so what about those who don’t have a vested interest in supporting the site? Ah well. Thanks for all the help and pointers where I have missed things. Cheers.
Thanks Fire Horse (great brand name Julia) - they do still have them then, yey.
Ok my next question is this - short of saving this link, how do I find them on my own lol? Sorry to be so dim, but I have looked on the Folksy front page and am obviously missing something because I can’t see a link there to them - how would anyone new even know they exist? I promise that I have looked, I just can’t find them and shouldn’t they be one of the first things we see on the front page, signed in AND pre-signed in, though I haven’t checked the latter? Am on a mission to get these pinned down now lol.
Right. Thanks Helen, that’s really helpful, will take a look. At least I will now be able to find it again - I loved having a look through, have favourited a bunch of stuff and starting thinking about Christmas lists, so they really are important for sales.
BUT, I never normally stop and look at the pre-signed in page, just sign in, and I bet I’m not alone. So, does it also exist on the signed-in front page, because I just can’t see it?
If you’re signed in you can get to the gift guides via the sections, so if you go to jewellery the relevant gift guides are listed first under the heading ‘highlights’ then the subcategories for jewellery are underneath those, bracelets, rings, etc. Different categories like homeware, clothing & accessories etc show different relevant gift guides (with a bit of overlap).
That’s the only way I know of getting to them all once signed in if you don’t already know the url posted by @FireHorseTextiles
