Suggestions for redesigning our Product Pages

Hello!

This month, I'll be working with Su (our talented designer) to rethink Equipboard's product pages, example here. In addition to brining it up to speed with our current design language, I want to rethink how the page should be organized and what features are useful.

So, answer me these questions three:

• 1. What's your favorite thing about Equipboard's product pages?
• 2. What's your biggest problem with Equipboard's product pages?
• 3. What's a feature we could add to improve it to make it the best page on the internet for music gear?

Thanks all!

• 1. What's your favorite thing about Equipboard's product pages?

X ARTISTS USE THIS . Nobody else has anything else like this.

• 2. What's your biggest problem with Equipboard's product pages?

My biggest problem is that the focus seems to be on things Google and Amazon can already do just as well, and the unique perspective and context that only Equipboard can provide (verified Artists and community pedal board photos) is too far down the scroll.

• 3. What's a feature we could add to improve it to make it the best page on the internet for music gear?

1. Bring Artist cards up top, closer to the main item image, and sort those Artists by POPULAR, so Mk.gee or whoever is hot this month is shown, instead of like... Porter Robinson or Martin Garrix.

2. Get rid of the little row of additional photos underneath the main item image, as you can't tell at all what you're going to get until you click on them, they are slow, and the photos that are really sexy are just re-prints from the Community Gear Photos section... so just bring up the Community gear photos. Give us one strip of Artists cards at a good/big size, and then just below that, a strip of community gear photos cards in the same size... like I'm browsing for movies on Netflix... just a strip I can scroll left/right with and whiz through like 50 in short order.

What is going to make me want to buy a pedal: the fact that it has 4.5 stars, 5 reviews, and is available at 3 stores, or the fact that Thom @#$%ing Yorke has one and all these people on the site with badass super-thoughtful pedal boards full of expensive stuff ALSO choose to give that pedal precious space? These are things EB can put front and center that nobody else can provide, that lean into the fact that MI gear purchase psychology is somewhere between buying candy and the fashion industry, rather than the Wirecutter/Consumer Reports approach that works well for toasters and TVs, but doesn't work well for something you're going to impulse-buy because it's just small enough and just cheap enough to sneak it past your wife, and you feel like adding it to the pedal board in your man cave will make you feel happy and complete as a human being for at least 5 whole minutes.

A more granular suggestion: provide an "Add Video" button that whisks users with the appropriate permissions to that section of the Edit Item Description page?

As per: https://equipboard.com/forums/general/topics/equipboard-improvement-ideas?page=9#post-31217

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I'm sharing it with the designers. :)

• 1. What's your favorite thing about Equipboard's product pages?

The big ol' picture!

• 2. What's your biggest problem with Equipboard's product pages?

Too frontloaded! It used to be that you would immediately see what artists were using the product. Now there's the price tier, the AI-generated pros and cons (which are often restated generalities or tangentially relevant buzz phrases), the item description (which are getting overwritten by formulaic generative AI templates). The grid list is also difficult to parse.

In summary, I would remove or relocate from the top:

• Price Tier / Average Price
• Pros & Cons
• Availability Links
• Genre Affinity

A return to a layout more in line with the 2019 iteration would be my ideal (notwithstanding the related items / curated recommendations carousel).

• 3. What's a feature we could add to improve it to make it the best page on the internet for music gear?

Please restore the newer item's image!

Thank you all so much for your thought feedback! I'm still trying to process it all, but it is certainly helpful.

Can you give me your thoughts on this direction?

https://imgur.com/a/0DfFPOZ

The information section at the top right will scroll down with the view until it hits the Artist section.

Looking good! However, with my prior feedback intact,

1) More orange, please!

2) I wouldn't dress the curated items as "Recommended for you", which implies that it is algorithmically curated to the user's browsing history on the site. A most [EDIT: I meant to say more] compelling (and technologically honest) title would be something along the lines "User-Curated Alternatives"

3.1) I still think that Artists should be the first thing under the overview, with reviews (gorgeous layout, by the way!) second. 3.2) Maybe there could be separate sub-tabs for Artists and Reviews, with Artists as the default?

4) Available stores could be condensed. Whether that be in two columns or not.

5) I'm not sure the most recent editor needs to be displayed on the main page.

6) Bring back the article ribbon icon!

Reviews first. Just bgg because an artist is spotted with something doesn't mean they turn it on frequently.

I like the overall direction this is headed, especially that fact that there's more breathing room/less clutter up above the fold.

Granular notes on the Sidebar:

(you're free to ignore these, of course, I'm just one jerk among thousands)

1. Listing the Price Tier Category in the sidebar seems redundant, IMHO... better to make the sidebar even cleaner. The price range is right there above it, either that price range is too expensive for the person viewing or it's not. I get why you're applying these tier categories now, but where you have it in full detail above retailer comparisons feels like the right place to introduce the concept.

2. "We compare 600+ plus stores..." isn't necessary to mention, better to make the sidebar even cleaner. Whatever you're really doing here, Google is likely doing way more, without having to explain what's going on. Google this same MXR M169, they'll give you over 100 stores with stocking info, price + shipping, etc... EB is only ever going to list the affiliate stores, right?... this is totally fine, just maybe not necessary to try and sell what's going on. It's self-explanatory.

3. The SAVE button has always seemed kind of odd to me. I only ever want to do 2 things 1. Add to my Wishlist or 2. Add to my Equipboard. Every time I go to add something to my board or wishlist, I have to remind myself that the "Save" button with the bookmark icon is where this action lives. Having 2 buttons here, instead of one, would be better, I think: one dedicated to Wishlist and one for adding to your own Equipboard. For users who haven't signed up yet, this reinforces how Equipboard works... on top of the uniqueness of getting to build your own EB, the Wishlist here is rad too: on Amazon you can't build a wishlist with vintage or direct-only stuff, only new stuff... on Reverb(dot)com the favorites are more for keeping tabs on items you might want to put in an offer on... so EB is my one true gear Wishlist.

Reviews first. Just bgg because an artist is spotted with something doesn't mean they turn it on frequently.

Any ideas on how to make Reviews on EB more distinct/special? You know I go hard on my reviews when I write them (as do you), but for the top 100 or so items on the site, I feel like the top reviews are often pretty vanilla... not much different than you'd see on Sweetwater, Amazon or Google, and EB is going to have way fewer reviews than those places, in most cases.

Do we need something like a "featured review"... like a real prize/honor for writing reviews that set this site apart?... beyond just some gear IQ points?

Well the featured review could be the one with the most likes I guess... there are flaws to this approach but it's a thought. The descriptive stuff and links, then a featured review followed by the up artists who use the gear would be a great 'at a glance' item home page with the ability to deep dive if there's more info...

I like the overall direction this is headed, especially that fact that there's more breathing room/less clutter up above the fold.

Granular notes on the Sidebar:

(you're free to ignore these, of course, I'm just one jerk among thousands)

1. Listing the Price Tier Category in the sidebar seems redundant, IMHO... better to make the sidebar even cleaner. The price range is right there above it, either that price range is too expensive for the person viewing or it's not. I get why you're applying these tier categories now, but where you have it in full detail above retailer comparisons feels like the right place to introduce the concept.

2. "We compare 600+ plus stores..." isn't necessary to mention, better to make the sidebar even cleaner. Whatever you're really doing here, Google is likely doing way more, without having to explain what's going on. Google this same MXR M169, they'll give you over 100 stores with stocking info, price + shipping, etc... EB is only ever going to list the affiliate stores, right?... this is totally fine, just maybe not necessary to try and sell what's going on. It's self-explanatory.

Good points!

1. The SAVE button has always seemed kind of odd to me. I only ever want to do 2 things 1. Add to my Wishlist or 2. Add to my Equipboard. Every time I go to add something to my board or wishlist, I have to remind myself that the "Save" button with the bookmark icon is where this action lives. Having 2 buttons here, instead of one, would be better, I think: one dedicated to Wishlist and one for adding to your own Equipboard. For users who haven't signed up yet, this reinforces how Equipboard works... on top of the uniqueness of getting to build your own EB, the Wishlist here is rad too: on Amazon you can't build a wishlist with vintage or direct-only stuff, only new stuff... on Reverb(dot)com the favorites are more for keeping tabs on items you might want to put in an offer on... so EB is my one true gear Wishlist.

I second this. It made more sense when it was separated into "Have" and "Want".

1. The SAVE button has always seemed kind of odd to me. I only ever want to do 2 things 1. Add to my Wishlist or 2. Add to my Equipboard. Every time I go to add something to my board or wishlist, I have to remind myself that the "Save" button with the bookmark icon is where this action lives. Having 2 buttons here, instead of one, would be better, I think: one dedicated to Wishlist and one for adding to your own Equipboard. For users who haven't signed up yet, this reinforces how Equipboard works... on top of the uniqueness of getting to build your own EB, the Wishlist here is rad too: on Amazon you can't build a wishlist with vintage or direct-only stuff, only new stuff... on Reverb(dot)com the favorites are more for keeping tabs on items you might want to put in an offer on... so EB is my one true gear Wishlist.

This is such a good idea, it should be implemented immediately.