Assignment 4: Website Evaluation

TO: The Current Custom

ATTN: Webmaster: Lorraine Stanick

For the longest time I have had a guilty pleasure of watching fashion and makeup videos on YouTube. What can I say? I'm a complete girly girl when it comes to makeup! While searching through videos I stumbled upon your YouTube account: The Current Custom. Your video blog features topics ranging from your latest shopping finds to reviews of makeup products that I find very helpful. To put it simply, I absolutely love your videos. I especially adore the simplistic beauty of the jewelry that you always wear. I recently discovered that you sell this amazing jewelry on your website! The jewelry that you sell mostly consists of necklaces and bracelets. The necklaces come in varying lengths of either silver or gold link chain. The longest length, which is five feet long, can be doubled around the neck to look as though the person is wearing two necklaces. What I love so much about them is that you can wear them with just a t-shirt and jeans or with a more dressed up outfit. They're extremely versatile. You also wear the cuff bracelets in many of your videos. Again, these come in silver and gold and can be dressed up or down. The necklaces range in price from $38.00 to $144.00 depending on the length and metal finish. The gold is usually a bit more expensive. The cuff bracelets range from $42.00 to $291.00. On the website I noticed that you offer a few other lines of jewelry but I’m particularly fond of the link chain necklaces and cuff bracelets. After all, in the YouTube world the necklaces are known as the “Lorraine” necklaces.

While I can’t say enough good things about the products you offer there is one thing I am not very fond of: the website. In my opinion it could be marketed so much better. At present time the website is very basic. The header of the page consists of a print of a blonde woman wearing black sunglasses and a background of pink. I believe it is a print that your father, Peter Stanick produces. Below this header is the name of the website: The Current Custom, which is also your account name for YouTube. Below the name are eight pictures and labels that direct customers to the pages that correspond to those products. The background behind this is all white. The website should be just like the jewelry and other products that you offer: amazing!

I recommend that the site be tweaked a bit. First off, there is nothing on the website that tells how versatile and beautiful the products are. I would include some kind of brief description of the different pieces of jewelry. I would also ask previous customers to write a short review of their feelings about the jewelry and, also, the customer service that they received. It is difficult buying products over the Internet and a good amount of trust is involved when doing so. Customers like to know that if something were to go wrong with shipping, payment, etc. that it will be taken care of immediately. I know that there are a couple of video reviews of the great customer service that clients received from you so maybe you could include either a write up, or maybe even put the video review on the website. While I may have been able to find those reviews on your YouTube channel, I doubt that every person that goes to the website will go looking for reviews so I feel that it should be provided for him or her. Another change that I think would be beneficial would be to add some color. Your audience is focused toward women so a website that gets the attention of women is going to be necessary. Seeing that you sell your father’s prints I think you should pick out one of your favorite prints of his and choose a subtle yet effective color from the print and design the website around that. By doing so, the website will get an inviting new design and it will have a personal touch because it’s derived from your father’s artwork. As far as the presentation of the jewelry, I think it could not have been presented better! By wearing the products you give the customer a realistic view of how long the pieces are and how they will hang. Placing the jewelry on the commonly used necklace holders wouldn’t have given an accurate visual of the features of the products. All in all, the products that you offer are modern and chic. I hope that you will take my recommendations into consideration so that the website will be just as chic as the jewelry and prints that you sell.