Recommendations

[ChefKnivesToGo]

I have an idea. What about putting a button on the item pages or on the header where customers can click on it, and our recommendation form pops up, which they can then fill out? Then it gets emailed directly to me. I know new customers struggle with all the terminology and the large selection and I think I can add value to their shopping experience if they could get a hold of me quickly and easily.

[Jeff B]

It's certainly worth a try just to see how it goes over with your customers. It may be a big help to many just as adding Steve's videos were.

[salemj]

There's a lot to consider here. I think such a thing would be most effective if it was a fillable form with drop-down menus, which would really help less experienced people navigate the vocabulary. However, making such lists would be very, very difficult as a user interface, because most recommendation requests are quite open rather than specific (for example: steel types are often categories, not steels, such as carbon or stainless-clad carbon, but other things, like length or handle type, are often quite specific and would be easy to list as drop-down options; type of knife is often in-between, with lots of people saying they want "something" in a "range" but leaving it open to a petty or gyuto, or a small suji or large petty, or a bunka or nakiri, etc.).

The other issue I see here is that fewer people have knowledge of the very broad selection you carry, which makes recommendations difficult and also suggests that processing more recommendations faster will create more demands for a limited selection of already popular products while leaving other great options on the shelves.

So, a great idea, but also a big challenge!

[FisherMAn1298]

How about laying out what options are available to pick from, wa versus western, carbon versus stainless, blade length, price point, etc. Give them something to choose from?