Problem #1: There’s a
lot of content on the home page and it is sort of overwhelming. It’s difficult to gauge what’s important
because everything (below the giant header) seems to have about the same space
and image power, and because there are so many things you have to scroll for a
while, which is kind of annoying.
Problem #2: For some reason there is a feature that guesses
my location; it guessed incorrectly and I don’t know why. Now I’m worried that it’s going to give me
information not relevant to my area.
Problem #3: There are too many navigation options. There are two rows of navigation at the top
of the page, navigation in the feature well, navigation beneath the feature
well, all those featured items under the “What’s Happening at Toyota,” a bunch
of options at the bottom of the page, plus a footer. It’s a little overwhelming to pick where you
want to go.
What could be improved: Instead of highlighting every possible cool
thing about Toyotas, I think it would be more effective if they focused on
highlighting the most relevant cool things for one or two particular audiences. Then those audience would really feel like
Toyotas are indeed the cars for them. This
might mean de-emphasizing the neat tools that are more geared toward techy or
car nerd audiences than parent audiences, for example.
Problem #1: Waaaaayyy too much text on the home page.
Problem #2: The flag waving in the tope left corner is super
distracting. Plus the tagline just makes
you think about things made in America and not the actual product itself.
Problem #3: The alignment on the page is off quite a bit and
the left hand navigation is too narrow.
What could be improved: I would want them to have a lot more
focused of a home page that is more engaging.
Instead of so much all over, they could create a feature well with
engaging elements like an image of someone using their product, a customer
review, and a patriotic statement about their products being made in the US if
their market is into that. That way
their main messages aren’t scattered all over so much. They could also link to the shopping page
instead of packing so many products onto the home page. I think by streamlining their site they would
come off as more professional and would create a more focused perception of why
their product is the best to purchase.
This web site feels clean, simple, and upbeat or positive. It makes me feel like owning products made by
this company will simplify my life in a positive way. There aren’t too many options off the home
page for me to sift through, and I don’t have to scroll at all. I can choose easily where to go based on what
I’m interested in. Of course, this brand
benefits from significant product awareness.
If I had never heard of iPods or iPhones I would not really know what I
was looking at. But because I do know
these products and because the web site is so clean and simple, I trust the
company to be clear with me and I believe their products will be
straightforward to use. This makes me
feel more confident with technological products since these types of products
can be intimidating for consumers like me who don’t know about technology.
This web site’s branding is not what I’d expect. I’m more familiar with Ford branding like “Built
Ford Tough.” I expected to see more
trucks. This web site impresses upon me
that Ford is more about intelligent efficiency, especially in terms of
MPGs. This messaging flows nicely into
their highlighted vehicles, which are all vehicles that fit well into that
message. It gives me the feeling that
purchasing any one of those cars is a smart choice because the engineers have
been very forward-thinking about the technology and have been aggressive in
their pursuit of fuel economy. It’s
especially interesting that the trucks are not highlighted at all on the home
page. This signals to me that the
company is really shifting their emphasis toward fuel efficiency and that they
are striving to be a leader in this area at the expense of other aspects of
their business. Even the image behind
the cars looks like San Francisco, which has a very tech-oriented reputation,
and so I think more about the fuel-saving technology than something like the
towing capacity or off-roading capability, etc.
I did not notice any serious problems about the Toyota website until you mentioned them. I chose it as one of the more well designed websites but you do make some great points on how it could improve. Thanks for sharing.
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