28 February 2011

this is NOT a trap

Ok, this is not a trap, really, this is what I think I heard someone one time call 'market research'. (..shudder...)
I have a little field trip to take you on and at the end you'll be asked to give me your impressions, opinions and suggestions. This won't take too long and I promise, despite the direction we'll be going, not to try to sell you anything. If any of you forgot to get your parents to sign the paper, you have to stay here.

So, I've been searching to find an online service to use to do the back-end stuff (printing, mounting, shipping... etc.) and I think I've come across the site that I like. I like it because it offers the widest variety of options. From giclee prints on standard photo paper to cotton rag to stretched canvas, framed, unframed... the works. My only hesitation is it's functionality. It's layout. How easy it is for you, the art savvy consumer, to navigate and not get frustrated. It seems mildly convoluted to me, but then again the laptop from which I write this is really just an abacus with some wires taped to it.

So, this is the point of the field trip. Anyone who wants to click on this link will be directed to the page on my website that I'm using to test this new endeavor. You then need to click on the big white link & navigate around on the other end. Play around with all the different formats & frames & just have a ball. Then, if you'd like to be a help you can pop back here (leave a trail of breadcrumbs) & let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. I'm specifically looking to find out about ease of use. If you were looking to purchase some of my yummy yummy art, would you through this service. I know many of you know me & would just contact me direct to be all '...yeah, so I know the artist, I'll just call his personal line...' but just pretend you were a stranger.

And, as thanks, every response will be entered into a draw to win an 8x12 of the image in question (a shallow grand) or take a chance and ask Monty Trout for the 8x12 print behind door number 3! I'll do the draw on March 15th.

Now go on! (and don't go getting lost on the internet!)

5 comments:

  1. k, I went for the boxed stretch canvas print, 40 x 26.63, it was $468.62, I winced at the price, not your mastery, and switched to paper, which came out at $293.75 [oh yeah!] Under #4 when ordering, I would've like to have seen the differences in paper, but shucks, I proceeded as I'm daring like that. I efficiently added it to the cart, clicked check out, signed up for a free acct so that I could track my rolled tube in transition...and came back here, eagerly anticipating the arrival of this beauty - smooth and efficient, especially like the ease of pymt rendering/paypal option.

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  2. Hi Billy. At first I thought it was tricky to navigate because I couldn't find any other photos of yours to view. But then I realized you only had one up. Everything else was easy. I liked that felt very upfront about pricing, in a very step by step way. Also, it was reassuring to see a customer service phone number in big print in case I had a question.

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  3. Done. I went to fin ear tamerica dot com and it was really easy. But not attractive. Text colours in that awful Microsoft blue. If I'm going to dish out the big bucks for art I want to feel like I'm in a classy art gallery, not a Costco in Kansas. So I guess I'm asking: can you change the look?

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  4. Thanks for the comments folks. Just a few days before the BIG DRAW and as it stands, each of you has a 1 in 3 chance of winning! pretty good odds.

    Jolie - I'm glad you found it easy to get through to the payment stuff. To be honest, I almost think there are TOO many options. As per the price... I'm workin on that.

    Savanna - customer service number... nice. I didn't even notice that!

    Aaron - seems I'm stuck with the blue. I almost don't care about the look of it so long as it's user friendly. I mean, if it looked like a geocities website from 2002 I might have an issue, but the blockiness & blue don't really bug me. Do you REALLY think a customer might be driven away by it? What I'd really like is if I could completely customize what is on the page. I think there's too much clutter, too many links above... I dunno. We'll see. It's a test.

    THANKS AGAIN FOLKS!

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  5. ...ooo... kinda forgot the big draw... and the winner is.........................................................................Aaron!

    You have won yourself an original Kreddible Trout Photographic Artwork!!!

    Now... do you walk home with your 8 x 12 print of 'A Shallow Grand' or will you gamble it all on the 8 x 12 that's behind door number 3?

    Monty Trout is tapping his foot with excitement!

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