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New Warmoth website feedback from old timers seen negative.

Unwound G

Unwound G

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Can't help but reading the feedbacks on Warmoth's new website and find most old timers are not liking it.  I just put it down to Warmoth's opportunity to re-invent for a newer market target as we now live in a "new normal".  The same thought passed through my head when I was no longer qualified as a 30% discount dealer/builder came late-90s.  It's a matter of accepting the change I guess. 
 
I like the new website far more than the old one. (of course the bugs need sorting out which will just need a bit of time)
 
I too like it better than the old one.

Let’s not forget that there’s a difference between the old and the new website if you were just to browse bodies and necks. A difference that you might have some opinions about.
But if you are actually buying an in stock item or building one to buy it, the new website makes this more streamlined and informative.
IMO.

 
I can see its a step forward.  The color for the wood finishes are a lot more accurate now, which is very useful.

I was critical because the new website does not offer a way to show hardware on the bodies.  So the functionality has been reduced.

I can think of a few aspects of this:
1)  It focuses on the core functionality that is required for Warmoth to operate their business.  They are only selling parts.
2)  Most of the experienced return customers (high value & low trouble) probably don't depend on an online visualizer to decide their purchase.
3)  Later when the all the bugs are ironed out, I'd expect Warmoth to restore the functionality we were used to in the past.

 
I personally don't care, but if it helps Warmoth get more happy customers then I'm all for it.
 
I think the new site is leagues better than the old one, and I'm sure the back-end is far more sophisticated and functional, so it will be much more useful for Warmoth. It's definitely easier to find the help pages, they were practically hidden on the old site haha! There are some kinks to work out maybe, but that's standard for any web page when it meets the public for the first time.

Drop-downs that default to nothing on the builder instead of radio buttons is the only thing that has stood out to me as frustrating and that isn't a big deal lol!
 
The only thing I don't like so far is that neck/body pictures are so big when viewed on a computer that you don't see many of them on each page. On the old one you could scroll through the hundreds of items to incite a GAS attack.
I  get it's much better that way for a tiny mobile screen, but for a computer screen it's a downgrade.

Well, the showcase being mostly empty ( I helped with that couple days ago) I guess it doesn't matter too much for now.
:laughing11:
 
I can see it as a step forward, with initial teething pains. I've been keeping my gripes mostly to myself, simply because so many grumblers are not being gracious about it.  Getting the bass stuff into the builder is big. And it might double or triple the number of the very low volume bodies (double neck. Seven string) - which by itself might not be big, but across the board, I think it's progress. Yeah, I don't really want a star, but we're all helped by the fact that Warmoth is selling more than just Strat, Tele and mutated Gibsons to avoid harassment.  Yeah, the speed is frustrating, the loss of the pickguards is disappointing (very) but still... I think it's a good thing
 
Unwound G said:
Can't help but reading the feedbacks on Warmoth's new website and find most old timers are not liking it.  I just put it down to Warmoth's opportunity to re-invent for a newer market target as we now live in a "new normal".  The same thought passed through my head when I was no longer qualified as a 30% discount dealer/builder came late-90s.  It's a matter of accepting the change I guess.
Click to expand...

yo, u seem to be forgettin' that negative nancys yell the loudest. positive perrys tend to move about their day without dwelling on as many first-world problems as you.

do you get mad that sometimes shorts cost more than pants? it's like, they're just LESS pant. bet that drives u crazy
 
swarfrat said:
And it might double or triple the number of the very low volume bodies (double neck. Seven string) - which by itself might not be big, but across the board, I think it's progress. Yeah, I don't really want a star, but we're all helped by the fact that Warmoth is selling more than just Strat, Tele and mutated Gibsons to avoid harassment.
Click to expand...

This. I like to see when people buy the less-common shapes and see what they do with them. I can't get enough mooncasters! They're usually basses though, so not really my jam! It's nice to be able to look at the different body shapes much more easily.

 
If you're looking for something specific, the new website is great.  If you're just browsing showcase inventory, it's very very tedious clicking through each model which may or may not even have anything available.  Unlike the old site where you just click on the tree branch and there it is.  But, I'm a function over form kinda guy and realize that's the old way of thinking
 
I think it would pay big dividends to put a "BUILD CUSTOM" button right at the top center of the home page (to the right of the phone number and above pickguards).

There is a perfect space for it and the idea would be to capture the broad-minded and narrow them down into the specifics of choosing custom (and pricier) options.

What could it hurt? There's a perfect spot for it!
 
Wolfie351 said:
If you're looking for something specific, the new website is great.  If you're just browsing showcase inventory, it's very very tedious clicking through each model which may or may not even have anything available.  Unlike the old site where you just click on the tree branch and there it is.  But, I'm a function over form kinda guy and realize that's the old way of thinking
Click to expand...

This is has been the dominant issue for me. While I like the design of the new site better, I really miss being able to quickly see what's new, which is the main reason I visit each day.  Technically, the new site code does include a couple of rss links, but they are empty.

I'm also a bit puzzled about the site performance. The slowness is most noticeable when browsing from page to page for a given product (say strat bodies). Page load times are longer than they should be (animated icon, darkened page). This is persistent across browsers, devices, and connections.

There are also still a number of minor issues listed in the Bug thread that I hope will be fixed in time.
 
I do think the showcase browsing is important for this reason:

People coming to build something specific are already seeking a solution. The showcase is a trap for the casually interested. Oh look shiny! <Kaching>
 
The distressing part I have seen on one of the warmoth fan pages on Facebook is that the people starting threads slamming Warmoth are also being VERY sloppy with their language, which just fosters a lot of misinformation.

Especially in regard to the visualizer. One guy had people thinking that Warmoth was eliminating Unique Choice woods altogether.
 
People are always reluctant to changes (my job for last 2 years was being part of a team that implement a new software where I work) and some are very vocal upon minor details - evenif it is an improvement overall.

Fortunately, Warmoth team has a great way to communicate and rectify.

For my point of view, I really like the new website, the only thing I kind of miss is the ability to mimic adding a pickguard and a neck to a body to see how it would look (it was only available though for certain bodies in the In Stock section). Maybe in a future update, who knows!


 
Man, the new site is SO much better.
I’m sure there are bugs and there will be upgrades and additions.
Definitely a move in the right direction!
 
swarfrat said:
I do think the showcase browsing is important for this reason:

People coming to build something specific are already seeking a solution. The showcase is a trap for the casually interested. Oh look shiny! <Kaching>
Click to expand...

The Showcase also allows for what-you-see-is-what-you-get if shopping for something like a flamed roasted maple neck before you put money on the table.
 
visually, the site got a lot better. Everything is more intuitive (vs before you had to kind of know where things were)

I think changes inherently will come with resistance. Some people know how to provide constructive feedback, but some people don't. That's kind of the cost of doing business. My analogy is a restaurant taking Yelp reviews. No matter how good the restaurant is, there is always going to be someone sharing some unreasonable or not super polite feedback.

One thing to add is, they got rid of a few features that stopped making business sense (like customer build photos). I personally liked the build galleries since they helped get lots of ideas for my own builds, but Warmoth sits in the country of lawsuits, so it is understandable they got rid of it. Besides: Google images still work ;)
 
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