I was poking around EyeBuyDirect the other day and found something really great. So great that I said to myself, "Self, you should whip up a quick post on this."
I'm often frustrated by the perspective of the frame photos on some of the sites. 39DollarGlasses' photos look somehow twisted to me -- always have. I've bought numerous pair of glasses from them and they've all been straight (as expected). I'd also like the images to be a bit more consistent (I'm looking at you GlassesShop).
It's an optical illusion of some sort, but it strikes me every time.
EyeBuyDirect has something that I've been wanting for a long time. My version of this would have shown two versions of the frame in the product grid at the same time -- one straight on, the other at the standard angled view. They haven't given me this, but they do allow me to switch my views now. Look at the frame icons hanging out at the right side of the controls below.
This is a highly useful feature. While the 30 to 45-degree angle view on all the sites may be the most appealing, it's not always a big help in figuring out the look of the frame. I've bought many pairs of glasses online and this lack of a straight-on view has burned me twice. "Burned" being relative, of course as the frames were fine -- just not entirely what I was looking for at the time.
I have a few things I'd change to make it even more useful, however:
Ratings are cute, but could exist solely on the frame detail page. You're not likely to show a 1-star rating on a frame anyway, so having all 4 to 5 star ratings makes this meaningless. I would LOVE (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) to have the important frame details available in this grid. It would make the process of finding that perfect frame so much less fatiguing.
In the end, I do think the angled view should be the default.
I appreciate the steps EyeBuyDirect is making on making their site more user-friendly.
7 comments:
- At October 12, 2009 at 8:51 PM Marc said...
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"I would LOVE (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) to have the important frame details available in this grid. It would make the process of finding that perfect frame so much less fatiguing."
By this, do you mean the Frame Width, Depth, Bridge, Temple, etc.?
Great post by the way. EyeBuyDirect is probably my favorite website out there - they get a lot of things right.
Marc - At October 12, 2009 at 9:04 PM Ira said...
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@Marc,
Yeah, I have them listed with the screenshots I added near the bottom of the post. - At October 12, 2009 at 10:12 PM Anonymous said...
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They should also list the brand of lens they use as well, once you start paying for progressives and photochromic lens you want to know what you are paying for !
- At October 13, 2009 at 9:49 AM Anonymous said...
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I've bought 3 pair of glasses from 39dollarglasses.com and all 3 pairs have been twisted and do not fit right. I bought a pair of progressive glasses from eyebuydirect and they were not correct. I can't be bothered wasting my time sending them back. For all the money and aggravation I've spent on glasses online, I could have bought a nice pair from BJ's or Walmart.
Mo - At October 13, 2009 at 10:19 AM Anonymous said...
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I hate having to "dig" for frame and lens measurements and it's the one reason why i haven't use EBD yet, it's just so annoying and time wasting.
Zenni's site is an excellent example of how it should be done, a picture to show how the glasses look and all the size information with it in the same box in an easy to interpret manner. - At October 19, 2009 at 10:33 AM Anonymous said...
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Probably the best EyeBuy feature is the Try Before You Buy thing, where you can overlay frames from a front view over a picture of yourself to actually see how you'd look in them.
- At October 31, 2009 at 11:57 AM Anonymous said...
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on 39 dollar glasses.com, they have a feature where you can print a PDF file of the frames you are looking at, which makes it to be the exact size, and it's from the front view, kind of like you prefer with the other site. Just a tip.
