An online vendor of flags and flagpoles, united-states-flag.com is defining itself as “the leading online retailer of American flags and flagpole kits.” This is probably one of the worse sales pitch mistakes an online vendor could make. First of all, as a customer, I don’t care if the company is a leading online retailer or not. I’d like to know why to buy from them. Are the prices better? Is the quality of the material of the flags better? And what makes it better? Secondly, when theys say they are the leading retailer they also have to give me something that backs up this statement. After five minutes browsing I found other sites that could easily compete with united-states-flag.com including usaflags.com, flagline.com, theflagshop.co.uk and flags.com to name just a few.
And now to the full critique of the site: what strikes me the first moment I open the home page is the absence of important disclaimers needed on every e-commerce site: sales and refunds, TOS, terms of use, and privacy policy. I managed to find information about sales and refunds and terms of service after clicking on Customer Service. I still don’t know how united-states-flag.com is going to protect my privacy policy and I assume I am allowed to copy the content of the site, since the copyright notice is expired (2004). Even the outdoor flagpoles page is outdated (2006 seasonal specials). How am I supposed to know that the prices are actual?
The old fashioned layout wouldn’t be so bad, but the right menu overlaps the content in Firefox. This makes the design look unprofessional and unappealing. There is no consistency in design when we compare the landing page with the sub pages. The body text on the sub pages is larger than on the homepage. The pictures come in different sizes and quality. Example of a professionally designed online store? Dell… Apple… You name it.
The site fails at all validation tests, including W3C html validator (over 100 code errors) and the Cynthia test for people with disabilities. Sure, this probably doesn’t lower sales, but it doesn’t provide for good user experience either.
I don’t like that I have to dig in so deep to find a product. To find the US flags I’d probably buy I need first to click on the link I find in the right menu bar, then read some information about the company, including the fact that they won the Yahoo Top Service award for 3 years, then scroll down to find the flags’ categories. On the US flags page at pins, patches and decals, I even learned that Canada is an US province or something of the kind, as it’s featured there, among all the American flags, as US decal. Then another observation: I find here that
Nylon is the most popular outdoor flag. It is very attractive to look at, durable, affordable, and it flies with the least wind. Believe me.
The flag pictured there is far from being attractive. Ironing it would make the picture much better. If a ruffled flag is attractive… let’s be serious. (Yeah, I know, I am picky! But it is a national flag! Have some respect and don’t display it like that!)
And I learn with utmost surprise that united-states-flag.com is the leading online vendor of Romanian flags. I’d like to see the proof of that.
review sponsored by united-states-flag.com
