A Note (CC) to Marketing/PR/Whoever does the Website

[Bearfoot]

1. You really need to have all products clearly listed on the "store" page, and maybe even the landing page. Right now, BoS and BoM are there, but I have to dig around to find BoK and the collectors planes. And dig in a very unintuitive way, e.g. go the "About the Project" page. To me, and to many, the "About the Project" is the trivia/interesting stuff about bio's of developers, company mission statement, and contact information. I would not think of going there to look for information about the products. And neither would most people. And even after stumbling there, it is not apparent what the products really are, as the links to the products are not in text but buried away in a little menu on the right which makes no sense to anyone no already familiar with the product ("battle of kuban", e.g.) If I have to verbally tell a friend how to go and buy, e.g. Ju-52 or Battle of Kuban,I cannot say "Go to il2.sturmovik.com and click on the aircraft icon you like". I have to give more complex info, directing them to click down two or three pages. Slightly more complex only, but that makes a difference. And of course, people just coming to the landing page with a Google search won't even know or bother. 
2. Those beautiful profiles of aircraft we see on the "About the Project"? That absolutely needs to be on the landing/first page. Perhaps on a side-bar so that the main content does not get buried. Random people hitting the landing page through a google search for "Best DAMN WW2 Simulator!" will see the box covers for BoS and BoM. And that's it. Seeing all those aircraft profiles will instantly retain a larger portion of visitors, making them click through to the other pages. 
3. Related to above: definitely need a website section listing flyable aircraft. That's what people are interested in. Maybe just a repeat of the aircraft profile on the "about this project" page (as I said, not many people think of the "about" section when looking for this information), but this could also be more enhanced with cockpit videos/screenshots as well as different skins.
4. Those fancy videos of gameplay etc. at the the bottom of the landing page? Those all need to be at the top. Way at the top. On top of box covers for BoS/BoM. You really want people to see this: the gorgeous graphics coupled with the high-adrenaline moments of gameplay!
5. Should have a section on "maps", where we can see the map extent of the various modules, maybe even with screen shots of the most beautiful landscape/terrain I've seen yet in a flight simulator!

 

All these suggestions are made with sincerity, because I love this simulator so much and think more people should know about it and love it too!

Edited September 25, 2016 by Bearfoot

[VBF-12_Stick-95]

I also thought the plane profiles in gray were a bit bland.  Put on one of the summer skins.  Color!

[Jade_Monkey]

Yes the store needs a revamp.

 

Make the purchase as easy as possible in the least amount of clicks as possible.

If you have to go a few pages in, to find what you are looking for, you will lose a lot of people in the process.

 

Something like big tiles with all the products in the main page of the store would be a good indication of what's available.

[Extreme_One]

I agree with all the points raised above.

 

The site looks like it was designed wth existing customers in mind whereas, with a bit of optimisation, it should be capable of far more engagement.

 

The content is there, for the most part, but just needs to be better organised.

 

I also agree that summer skins would look far more eye-catching.

However much i personally enjoy the existing plane profiles, from a pure marketing perspective more colour would draw more attention.

 

Good ideas!

Edited September 24, 2016 by Extreme_One

[Bearfoot]

The site looks like it was designed wth existing customers in mind 

 

This.

 

Exactly this.

 

People who already know and are familiar with IL2 will be able to find things, though, even then, with a bit of clicking around: going to the non-intuitive"About this Project", then find the very-easy-to-overlook-SMALL-text-only-menu with "Battle of Kuban"). People who don't know or not familiar or even trying to learn more about the offerings will be confused or simply not even recognize that the waters here run deep!

[unreasonable]

All true - the store is a mess. Even having been a user for several years I still get lost in it.... hence I generally prefer to buy via Steam.

[Jason_Williams]

I hope to re-make the website, but its a long term project.

 

Jason

[pilotpierre]

Maybe there are some web designers amongst our flock who couls assist here?

[Bearfoot]

I hope to re-make the website, but its a long term project.

 

Jason

 

Thanks, Jason. And I did not mean this to be a whine/complaint. Just some suggestions to help bring in more people and hook them!

 

Maybe there are some web designers amongst our flock who couls assist here?

 

I think the problem is not so much website design, as much as information organization. The design/appearance itself looks fine IMHO! Especially like the understated-yet-content-heavy approach over slick/flashy/noisy/get-all-the-kids-with-shot-attention-spans-by-using-screaming-visuals approach.