Mike Frantz and his Website!

[earthandsky]

There have been some great points made, so I won't reiterate those.

My beef is being unable to update the shopping cart quantities. I put 2 lbs in, but now I want to reduce it to 1 lb. An error always results after clicking the update cart button.

I look at your site most often for glass, and I would like it very much if the glass were displayed in order of their stock numbers. If we may ask for the moon , let the customer select the sort order (number, name, price, or bestselling, in ascending or descending order).

The site should not pass the cart ID in every URL that is clicked. Handle this in a cookie so that the URLs will be "simple", and thus, e-mailable. Currently, I cannot send the URL of an item's detail page to someone as is, because the cart ID will be expired by the time they look it up and they will receive an error. If I send http://www.frantzartglass.com/Itemde...591254&eq=&Tp=, it will be a dead link. Now, I know that shortening the URL to http://www.frantzartglass.com/Itemdesc.asp?ic=591254 myself will take my friend exactly where I want to send them, but most people don't know, and frankly, it's a pain to have to chop out all the unnecessary stuff in order to e-mail a working link.

Also, for your new website, please do not utilize Flash, ESPECIALLY for the menu. It is no guarantee that customers will have that particular browser plug-in installed, and then you're back to square one - an unusable website.

Good luck!

[beadstillmyheart]

I would love to shop with you via your website, it's just too difficult.

I posted this before, but will again. It would be SO AWESOME if you set up your glass pages like this:

http://www.artbeads.com/swarovski-6301.html

I can see all the colors from one manufacturer side by side....then I click on the color I want and choose rod dimensions, etc.

Mike, I want to say this in the nicest way possible. You lose a TON of business every single day because your site is a PITA and people like to SEE what they are ordering.

[WillfulOne]

Originally Posted by rosiescreations

I like to look at your site.
I have tried several times to buy glass and your shopping cart never works for me.
Its hard to search your site. I just have to stumble onto things

This has been my experience as well. I work odd hours, so I shop at odd hours. I have tried to order from your website several times without success. I purchased elsewhere for the convenience. I have made purchases by phone but only when the time difference between west and east coast was not a factor.

I have no suggestions for your website. I will watch this thread for any update on changes and I will give buying from it another try then.

[FourTailsLampwork]

Hi, Mike,

I really don't have anything to add to what people have said. I love your service, selection, and quality, but that web-page is appallingly hard to search and shop--and I'm pretty comfortable with webpages and the web in general, having been around since Lynx was the most up to date browser available. I have purchased form your site, but it is my last choice. Your service reps have been helpful, but as I work afternoons and evenings, the time difference between Eastern and Pacific time means that I have to rey on the website or shop elsewhere most of the time.

One poster suggested that you and your web designers try to place an order yourselves, and I heartily second that option. That as much as anything here will show you graphically what needs to be changed at your site so that you will get many greater rewards for your service and selection--i.e. more people will shop there. I also support the idea that you perform the same search on your competitors' sites. Not only will you be impressed with the ease of searching and ordering on those sites, but you will be impressed with your own thoroughness and selection

Kudos to you for asking about this issue, and I am looking forward to a well-designed, easy to navigate site.

[gljjr]

Mike,

Kudo's for asking such a hard question from your customers! As a newbie here and new to the art glass community today was my first real serious visit to your site.

With as much product as you have making the site easy to navigate is one of your hardest tasks. What seems logical to one person will be totally perplexing to the next.

Here are a few of the things I have problems with on your site. And please realize that I am a database programmer by trade so some of my comments may seem biased

SessionID should not be part of the URL. Use a client side cookie for the Session and put a LONG timeout on it so that the cart deosn't time out. Just let people know that you are using the cookies ONLY for the shopping cart!

When registering take the person to a page that thanks them for registering instead of the edit page. It is very confusing the way it is.

Your Contact Us page needs to have your retail store hours and address. Plus a link to a map so people can find you!

Your left side menu is worthless as there is too much information there. Limit it to no more than one screen high and possibly do something like the following instead. Put a drop down (Or Tree View) menu sorted first by main areas. IE: Tools, Kilns, Hard Glass, Soft Glass, etc. Then let that take the person to a page that allows them to see what you have under each section and move on to that.

Make your pages so that they have all sizes of one particular type of glass able to be selected from a single page allowing the customer to choose the size/type of that color when adding to the cart. Take a look at www.Cabelas.com for and excellent illustration of this.

Your search engine by default seems to return information ordered by Price. It should first search for explicit strings and then add in results by keywords and Order then by Product Description by default. Also, allowing someone to enter a string like the following is great. boro* -tube +kimber. Thanks for that ability!

The tab that says "Store Front" should be "Home". Store Front implies your retail store, and that is not what your page shows!

Make the logo in the upper left be a link to your home page!

I'm sure I could come up with more critiques but I have to get to work. Expect to see an order from me in the not too distant future.

And good luck with redesigning your site. That is no easy undertaking and something that will take a great deal of care and thought. My last comment is to make sure to get a list of features that you absolutly must have, then create a document outlining the site (IE a Functional Spec), Once that is done create the appropriate design documents and Prototyped pages, and then start coding/testing. This is similar to the way a house is built. First get the architects drawings, , then the detailed drawings from the Framers, and Electricians, renderings of the kitchen, etc. Then follow through with the building of the house. Software needs to go through the same thought process to be done correctly! Don't skimp on the documentation ahead of time. In the long run having that will save you countless hours during the building and maintaining of the site.

[mintleaf]

Honestly, I don't like the "new" website. I have to scroll down to far to find what I am looking for on the left. If I don't find it I go elsewhere.

Another pet peeve I have is that my orders will show backorders that never get shipped (ever)! I am not sure if it is a design flaw or that I have a new rep on my account every time I order.

The last thing that I don't like is that the web site shows items that you do not have in stock. One time everything I ordered was out of stock.

These are things that I don't like, which are tied into the web site. Please do not take this personal because it is just the problems I encounter when I try and order. I met Pat at the Tuscon bead show and she was wonderful and very helpful!

[barbaracollins]

The website is cumbersome, but better than when i started using it. Suggested changes would be great! Especially fix the cart. I like to add things to it throughout the month. The color number when I print an invoice would be wonderful.

But, I do use the website anyway, because: I get glass I want, in rods, not pieces; at least one rod of each color is labeled, so I do not have to make labels, rather than a bundle wrapped and the number/name in tape; And I would buy Lauscha from Frantz if the colors were available.

So there!

[bjcohan]

Mike, you are and always have been my primary glass supplier. Love your company. Love the customer service. Love your employees. HATE the website ... for all of the reasons everyone else has said, particularly Kalera (thanks, Kalera!).

When I need glass, I make a list, then pick up the phone and call. I hate having to do that. I'd like to be able to place an order in the middle of the night, or on a Sunday, and be done with it.

There is no excuse for having such a lousy site in this day and age. For the money you are losing in ONE WEEK of lost sales, you can fire your web designer and hire one who knows what s/he is doing.

Your customers have been telling you this for as long as I have been making beads. I hope that you will finally do something about it. Don't try to fix the site you have. It will not work. Scrap it and start over. If you want to see a website that sells similar products and does it with ease and style, look at the Olympic Color site - www.glasscolor.com. IMO, it's one of the best.

Hopefully, by then, I will be back to working and able to take advantage of it!

Barb

[AKDesigns]

I tolerate your website but often order from one of your destributors instead.
1. Search function brings up way too many things other than what you are searching for.
2. Need to flag out of stock items.
3. Catagories need to be weeded out and simplified.

If you fix the website, make a big announcement and pair that with a special sale/giveaway I know you would double your sales. But your distributors may suffer because of it...

[Dana L]

Originally Posted by Kalera

I tolerate the site because now I have full confidence that if I make note of errors, they will be resolved by your excellent staff. However, sometimes I can't order and I give up. The "saved cart" feature either won't open a saved cart, or it multiplies items every time I re-enter the cart. Items are flagged as unpayable by credit card. Items are out of stock. Sometimes it just plain won't let me check out, for no apparent reason.

I agree that your menu needs to be broken down into general categories, and then subcategories. I suggest simplifying your front page so it loads quickly (right now it's so cluttered that it's painfully slow) and has either no product whatsoever on it, or only two or three specials. An ideal front page, IMO, should have your logo, some text explaining who you are and what you offer, and category links. MAYBE some "teaser" specials.

Mike,
First I want to say Thank You for asking. We know that you are one of the people responsible for the strength of the lampworking movement in the United States and we love you for it. That huge growth is part of the problem with your website. You have so many wonderful items your website has become unmanageable. I love that you have so many different items. It is just time to pay the pros to make it more accessible.
I agree with everything Kalera said. Other people have stated the websites problems very well. My biggest issues are:
• The lack of real time availability (not knowing if an item is in stock.)
• A search engine that does not return the items I am looking for.
• A category listing system that is too long to locate things in (use sub categories PLEASE.)
• A shopping cart that just doesn’t work (can’t be edited, times out, multiplies and deletes items.)
• A save shopping cart feature that doesn’t work (either can’t save, or can’t retrieve, multiples order when you open a saved cart, saves cart multiple times, etc…)
On the bright side Arrow Springs and Bullseye don’t even offer online shopping, just a catalog with an email address. At least I can shop at your site at 3 AM if I have the patience. Thank you so much for caring enough to ask Mike.
Dana

[artflower]

i do not even know but i sended some e-mails and never get answers. so now i look by other sellers with other websites...

[hotcoles]

I agree with most all the comments. My biggest frustration is finding what I'm looking for specifically. I like the idea of having the left column broken down to main catagories. When doing searches for items it's usually a complete failure. Even though I find it difficult to navigate, I still somehow manage to make a successful order. Would love for it to be much faster, however. Love the paypal option idea!

[beadstillmyheart]

Originally Posted by Carolyn M

I'm sorry Mike, but I've never ordered from you because initially the website was so difficult when I was a newbie, and now you don't take Paypal which is the only way I shop with U.S. companies.

Ewwwww.....didn't know he didn't take paypal. YIKES!!! That's where I keep my glass stash money. That would be a deal breaker for me.

[daffodildeb]

It's very difficult to use. I never get ANYTHING usable from the search. Also, being able to view all the items in a category on one page would be very helpful. It's time consuming to have just a few items on a page, and having to wait for a page change. Being able to skip to various pages would be helpful if you can't have everything on one "long" page.

[*Sally*]

I tried to order some glass again the other day, I really want some of the new odd lot colours.
But ......... failed miserably ........ again.
So, I'm just bumping this thread back up so Mike doesn't forget about it.

[Kym]

The colour palette is good but I can't find except on a posted thread. There doesn't seem to be a link. I wanted to see if he had creation stations but couldn't find them though I thinki I saw them there before. The search engine is useless. Trying to put in 1/2 pound is fraught! I only find out at the end of a couple of hours that you can't. Or I couldn't anyway. There are too many categories and the Glass is all over the place. Just find Moretti here there and everywhere. Exhausting.

[lampworker1]

I don't like your website at all, and I don't order from you because I don't find your website to be enticing, in fact at times I find it to be confusing as heck!!!! First of all the color is a bit dull, especially when you realized that you offer products to people who are visual artist I would brighten it up a bit. I would enhance the color choices. Secondly the menu is a bit overwhelming. Is there some way you can have the categoreis of products pop out a bit more so that the buyer can identify where the product is that they want to purchase with more ease. They way it is listed now they all sort of blend in together and you have to spend a great deal of time sorting through the various listing to find exactly what you want. I would have a large heading identifying the product, then I would have the sub heading. Even though I live on the east coast I would still purchase from you because I'm sure you have items that I want, but you web sight is a turnoff. Good luck.

[Karen Hardy]

I don't want to rehash all the things said here.
Everyone makes great points.
I just wanted to add my voice to all the
people that say your website is doesn't
work for me.

Your customer service is awesome. The people are
super nice and helpful. Your prices are great - and
your stock is unbeatable. Everything I ordered
over the phone came in a timely manner.

However, because I usually place my larger orders online
at 11:30 pm in my pajamas, I go with other vendors.
Fix your website and I'll be thrilled to order from you.

[ammaws]

Ditto here--I was bound and determined to get thru your website, but after 30 minutes of trying to find what I was looking for, I gave up and ordered it elsewhere.

Jan

[daisydog7]

I also would order from you if your web site was easy to use. It isn't. It is AWFUL. Check out morettieandmore.net and lbsupplies, which are two really easy sites. It is too much hassle to use an unfriendly site. I procrastinate and say I'll do it when I have more time... but I never do. The next time I check out your site and find it user friendly, I'll order. Pam

[AVTrout]

Ditto on most of what has been said. I bought most of my start up supplies from Frantz. But I just skip to the Main Catergories. I can't navigate all the sub catergories because I don't have the patience. I really like the selection, though!!! Great selection! And I agree with the member above who said there was too much room at the bottom of the page. Add more stuff. It's a pain to have to keep clicking through.

I have never had a problem retrieving my cart. In fact, I save carts for stuff I want to get in the future.

[AVTrout]

One thing - your shipping is really slow. It drives me crazy. And stuff is always backordered. I don't like that.

[FLT]

I just went and placed an order last week, Mike - and what I noticed the most was that after I added an order to the shopping cart, I had to go back into the sub menus to find that same category of goods again. That got VERY frustrating when I wanted to get multiple types of (for example) transparent moretti rods. I could add the clear, but then I'd have to go find it again to add the transparent green, and then back again before I could add the black.

I sort of want my shopping cart to show me my updated order when I add something, but when I click "keep shopping" I would like it to dump me back in the same area of the catalog I was already at. I can still use the menus on the left to get somewhere else, but if I"m putting in multiple types of glass or tools I really don't want to have to go through the process 5 or 6 times in a row to get it all added.

I was impressed with the quick email confirmation of my order from Jaime Look though! Very professional email, and quickly answered an add on question I had too. Your customer service (company wide, and as displayed by every individual I've ever delt with there) is the reason I keep the majority of my shopping with you. I only wish UPS ground didn't take so darn long to get to me from the west coast! LOL

Thanks for asking for my feedback,

FL Ettlin

[AVTrout]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your phone call! I left you a message, but in case you didn't get it, here's the issues I've had:
1. When I started up my studio, I ordered a bunch of stuff including a pair of Corrina's Nippers. I got an email from your company that they weren't available and as soon as you got more in from a diff. supplier, I'd get a set. That was March but I haven't gotten them yet. I could really use them, though.
2. The last order I placed was for a bunch of glass and some mandrels that I really needed (it seems I don't just need things in the customary sense, I REALLY need em!) - a few colors were backordered and the mandrels, too.
I'm not sure, but I think you guys held the order till the backordered stuff came in cause I got an email that said my stuff was in. I'd have rather had the choice to : have the stuff right away or wait for it to come in. Because I would've wanted it right away.
3. Then, because I ordered so much glass you guys gave me FREE glass! Yipee! I LOVE FREE!!! Problem was, I am a busy gal. So when you guys called me to discuss what color I wanted, I didn't get back to you for a week. So you didn't ship my glass during that time period. FREE is GREAT! But what I ordered would've been greater. I (of course) REALLY needed what I ordered. I finally left a message that said "you pick the color" and by that time, my backordered stuff came in so I got the whole kit n caboodle at once.

So, I like your site. I like your stuff. I don't have problems working with the site. But when I order glass, I need my glass ASAP. Probably just like everyone else.

Hope that helps!
Alexis