Website Redesign - Feedback Needed!

Hello everyone! I want to preface by thanking all of you for your support over the years. We are only a few months away from the 11 year anniversary of me founding this company! As many of you know, we launched right here on Reddit, and Redditors have been a big part of making us who we are today. My journey founding and growing this company has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. My main mission from day one has been to advance the lab testing and quality control standards of the industry. That mission has never changed. If you have followed me over the years, you probably already know that has been a challenging mission. Challenging isn't even really a word that scratches the surface. The past decade has been some of the most difficult of my life. I am proud of all that we have accomplished, and the hurdles we have overcome. I might be beaten and bruised from that journey, but I am in no way defeated. I could not, and would not, still be here today pushing forward on that same mission without the support from all of you, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Now onto the main reason for this post. We have started the process of a complete redesign of our site. As with most things in my company, we have organically grown the site to what it is today over the years. We used what was available to us with the Bigcommerce platform, but our site growing and being built in that way has not leant itself to the most efficient or useable design and layout. This is especially true on mobile. As mobile has become a majority of traffic, it's desperately in need of a ground up redesign. Even desktop could be laid out more efficiently. For new customers, it's extra confusing trying to find products unless they already know what they are looking for. Even existing customers have made comments and posts here acting surprised that we carried a specific product, because they didn't know we did. I believe that is because the layout and structure of our site and catalog needs to be rethought from scratch. I am happy to say we have already started that process, and have a great team working on this redesign project. Over the next 3-4 months, we will be working on that revamp. Because of our history on Reddit, we are in the unique position to have a large and active community of customers to get opinions from. Who better to ask how the new site should look and function than the very people that have used it for years!

One of the main changes we are making is simplifying the category structure. Right now there are a bunch of different paths you can take to get to the same product. You can look up by "Shop All" and then choose capsules, powders, tablets, etc. Then you can go by type, and select mushrooms, plant extracts, amino acids, etc. Then you can also go by use, and select energy, fitness, memory, immune, etc. Having so many categories, and then so many products in each category, is confusing for many people. As we have seen, this leads to people not being able to find the best product for them, or not even knowing we carry certain products. A big part of this redesign is going to be simplifying that down. Our idea is to get rid of the types and forms, and have the categories being just for function/use. I think that is what most people want anyway. I don't think people really come to the site and say: "Show me only tablets." or "I just want to see amino acids." I think most people are looking for effects, like: "Show me memory supplements." This is why we are leaning towards "Sort By Use" being the main categories. However, I want your feedback. If you have other ideas, please let us know!

The other thing we are going to implement is a tagging system. This means that we will select a primary effect for products as their category. However, we will also have tags on the products that will allow you to filter further. This means tags for secondary effects, and things like vegetarian/vegan. This means you will be able to go to the site looking for energy supplements, but then have it filter showing you energy supplements that also help with memory, and are also vegan. This tagging system will allow for an easier way for people to find products that accomplish what they are looking for. Again, if you have any ideas for tags we should have, please let us know!

The other improvement we are going to be doing is putting more useful information on each product in a visual format on the product pages. Want to know what a dose is, how many times to take, whether to take with food, how long you can expect to notice the effects? We will have that information on every product page so you don't have to hunt for it. We are also going to be simplifying and organizing things much better for all of you. Paragraphs about what a product is and how it works are fine for supplement nerds (like me) that like to read, but most people want easy to parse visual information that doesn't overwhelm them.

\>I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?

\>I think you can in Europe!

That's what we will be moving to. We want you to be whelmed, with the option to click and read more detailed information for the people that want it. Simple and easy to read information, but giving you the details you want to see. I want to get away from customers having to email our support and ask for things. I want everything to be available at your fingertips on the product pages so you don't have to hunt for anything. This includes COAs. It's been a technical limitation of our theme that we could not have COAs on the product pages. Everyone has to email us with their lot number to get them. That's going to be a thing of the past! We are putting that as a primary function of our redesign. This means you will be able to see the lab testing data for every product without having to leave the product page itself. I am also working towards having a QR code on the labels that will take you right to the COA. This might not be ready for the initial launch, but it is something we are working on. Simplifying and streamlining the experience is the name of the game here!

There are a lot more things we are going to be changing and improving, but I want to hear all your feedback. Throw out any ideas you might have. No idea is silly, and no amount of information you throw at us is too much. We want to hear everything you have to say, because right now is the best time that we can actually work that into our design. Now is your chance to help us make using Nootropics Depot easier and more efficient for you! Thank you in advance for all your ideas!