Feedback from honest Freedivers?

[Jen32]

Hey divers,

I'm part of a relatively new freediving team who created an online store for freediving equipment. Now hold on, I'm not asking you to buy anything. I just want to know if we're going in the right direction, and I figure there's no better place for honest feedback than from actual freedivers (aka. you guys and gals).

So if you have a minute, I'd truly appreciate if go to our current website, poke around a little and come back here to answer the following questions:

1. What was your first impression?
2. If you were to make a purchase, would you do it here? Why or why not?
3. What would the site need to make it your go-to source for freediving gear?

Feel free to be brutally honest. I'm excited to see your answers nonetheless. A hulk-sized thank you to all who participate, you'll be helping us improve and offer what you really need.

Note: We're just getting products in so please don't mind the limited stock!

 

[DRW]

1. What was your first impression?

Very positive. Easy to navigate, attractive layout, a good range of underwater needs catered for, reasonable pricing, reasssurances about quality of service.


2. If you were to make a purchase, would you do it here? Why or why not?

I would certainly be tempted to place an order. Having begun in the early 1960s, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to gear and I was pleased to see that you retail traditional rubber fins as well as fins made from other materials. The black Dolphins interested me because I'd love to compare their comfort and performance to the pair of marbled Dolphins I already possess. However, there does not appear to be a means of specifying whether marbled-blue, marbled-green or all-black Dolphins are the desired option when ordering. On the subject of rubber fins and freediving, perhaps you might consider stocking pairs of longer-bladed rubber fins, ideally Gull's Barracudas (below), which are not always easy to obtain in western countries.

Another, more serious, downside is the apparent absence of PayPal as a payment option, which I would normally use when making international purchases.


3. What would the site need to make it your go-to source for freediving gear?

The availability of PayPal as a payment option.

 

[Jen32]

This is amazing feedback!! Thank you so much

Noted about PayPal, that's an extremely good point and we will be adding that payment option ASAP. Also the color selection on the products is an important comment which we will definitely be looking into.

Your freediving experience and insight has been wonderfully helpful, thank you again DRW!

 

[SubSub]

I'm with DRW on all points. I checked it out on a mobile device and it looks and feels great. PayPal def needed, but you're on that already.

I don't know if this is feedback that will apply since it seems you are focused more on a indoors freediving selection, but I feel the sortiment could be wider especially with outdoors gear, bouys, wetsuits, weights and maybe some spearfishing gear. You should also include products that are more or less industry standard such as the Pathos footpockets.

Edit. Now I have also checked it out via computer. Same feedback, it looks and feels great and kinda makes me wanna shop. But I think you'd do yourself a big favor by building out the sortiment, including more products and categories. Go for the easy big sellers first, maybe not the products you will earn most from, but it will attract customers whom hopefully will look in to the the rest of the sortiment.

 

[Jen32]

Thanks SubSub! The big sellers to grab attention easier is definitely a valid point. We're in the process of getting more suppliers so hopefully we can make that happen.

Awesome feedback guys, this is all really helpful. Thanks again!

 

[Stephan Whelan]

It's a good looking shop - I see it's built on Shopify - good choice.

There are a few tweaks you could do around colour options (for example hover and sub-menu links in menu are hard to read). Also your category images on the homepage need to be the same size.

Your lead magnet (7 unique freediving destinations) might be better to be something about choosing equipment rather than travel.

Shipping seems reasonable for worldwide.

 

[Jen32]

Hmm good point about the hover colour, will look into that now.

Yes we are working on more lead magnets, this was a trial run to test the plugin. Those shopify plugins can be tricky little fellas sometimes!

Thanks a bunch for the info Stephan! Great to have the founder himself check out our site!

 

[DRW]

I'm delighted to see that the website now offers PayPal as a payment option, which makes international transactions so much easier and safer. All I need now for me to place an order for EU size 45-47 black Dolphin fins is to be given the wherewithal on the site to specify that colour when adding the item to the cart. Black and marbled Dolphins are, or were, manufactured at two different factories and I am informed that there are differences in performance and comfort between them, so it's not just a matter of colour difference. I would like to compare the black versions with the marbled pair I already own and I would be prepared to write a review for you after receiving the fins. Keep up the good work with the website, Jen.

 

[Jen32]

Yes thank you so very much for pointing out the lack of Paypal! As for the Dolphin fins, I'm in the process of getting the color selector up, unsure why it's not appearing in the first place. I'll post here as soon as that's up and running.

Very much appreciate all your feedback, DRW

 

[Stephan Whelan]

@Jen32 - happy to help - drop me a line if you need anything else

 

[DRW]

And I've just placed my first order, now you've provided a means of selecting fin colour. Very reasonable pricing. Let's see how it goes.

 

[Jen32]

Incredible!!! Thank you! Let me know if you have any comments between now and when your fins arrive Your insight has been particularly helpful.

 

[hteas]

1) first impression: same garbage as everyone else in the fin descriptions. Everybody has the correct fit and balance of stiffness and ease of use
What we want is real information. Is the footpocket wide, narrow, deep , shallow...? How soft/hard are the footpocket and ribs? In other words, check out your inventory and try to describe it in real terms, not just what the maker claims.

2) I would seriously consider a new pair of fins here

3) To be my go to site you would need a lot more options (wetsuits, spearguns and pole spears,...). Not a complaint, since you are starting out, but for long term plans.

 

[DRW]

What we want is real information. Is the footpocket wide, narrow, deep , shallow...? How soft/hard are the footpocket and ribs? In other words, check out your inventory and try to describe it in real terms, not just what the maker claims.

"Hear! Hear!" as British parliamentarians are wont to say in approval. This is what I wrote in a forum message nine months ago in response to the question "What would make your diving experience better?":

I'm after greater international standardisation of the information given when describing masks, snorkels and fins in catalogues and on retail websites. I'd settle for the basic dimensions in mm:

• Mask: width × height × depth; skirt width × height.
• Snorkel: height and internal diameter and/or internal volume.
• Fins: outer length × outer width × outer height; inner length × inner width.

This said, some additional measurements would be welcome, e.g.:

• Mask: horizontal vision (angle°); vertical vision (angle°); weight (g); hardness (Shore).
• Snorkel: mouthpiece size (mm); mouthpiece hardness (Shore); snorkel weight (g).
• Fins: blade inclination (angle°); buoyancy (positive/neutral/negative), weight (g); pocket / blade hardness (Shore).

If the above sounds a little "over the top", then take a look at the Navy comparative evaluation of fins published in 1957, which required many more measurements to be made when comparing swim fins. Shoe sizes don't always equate to precise foot lengths when it comes to fitting fins.

 

[Jen32]

Valuable points from both, dimensions would definitely be a good addition to the descriptions. As a drop-shipping company, we don't have inventory per se, but I'll definitely look into getting the dimensions of each product on the site.

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[hteas]

If you can do it, you'll be the first anywhere to provide the numbers. It would be a great addition for online purchases for those of us without a local freediving store.

 

[DRW]

Incredible!!! Thank you! Let me know if you have any comments between now and when your fins arrive Your insight has been particularly helpful.

I see that your website promises to ship within five business days from the date of my order. Now in the third full business day. We'll see what happens as the deadline approaches. No pressure!

So pleased that you are considering hteas' recommendation to provide dimensions and other measurements for products on the site. This should be a win-win for both the online retailer and the customer. The former may see fewer goods being returned because they're the wrong specifications, while the latter will have greater confidence that whatever is being ordered will match personal requirements.

 

[hteas]

A fairly easy way to collect the dimensions would be to set up a standard protocol, and ask divers to fill the information in for their fins.

 

[cdavis]

getting real information on gear is not an easy problem, but it you solve it, wow, golden! Hteas is right; we need it, badly.

Good comments from several long time DBers got me interested. Nice site.

Suggestion for future gear additions: add some basic entry level gear, Cressi 3000ld's for example.

What country are you located in.

Connor

 

[DRW]

Business Day 5 today, I believe, and I remain hopeful that I will soon receive shipping details of the black Dolphin fins I ordered exactly a week ago. Let's see what happens.

On the subject of product measurements, especially those for fins, ideally manufacturers will choose to publish not just a description, but detailed specifications for their products, including key measurements. After all, their designers will have created a dimensioned blueprint for each product. Now and again, manufacturers do release a little more information than their competitors are prepared to do:

FL = Fußlänge = Foot length = 255 mm. FB = Fußbreite = Foot width = 95 mm.

Blade Hardness 85-90 Shores. U.T.S. (Ultimate Tensile Strength?) 140 kg/cm. Elastic Efficiency 25%. Specific Weight 1.15.