New Website - Product Comparison

cardine

cardine

...
Jan 9, 2008
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wordai.com
The site is: WhichProduct - Compare Products

The idea is that you can plug in any 2 products and you'll get an instant side by side comparison including specs, reviews, ratings, etc.

Here's an example of the site in work: Apple iPad or Kindle DX - Comparison (but you can compare almost any product that has specs)

I've spent a good amount of time on the site (and on a marketing plan), and I'm really close to starting the first part of the launch. There are just a couple bugs that I'm working on.

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, criticism, etc.?
Are there any ways you can think of to improve how the info is displayed, what type of info you want to be displayed, or stuff like that?
 


I imput "ford explorer" and "maybach" and got nothin I was even remotely interested in. BUT I think if you have a marketing plan that will draw mass traffic, you fill get a good amount of sales and ROI. I hate amazon because of their low commission rates though.

Keep us updated.
 
I like it. It is something out of the ordinary and quite useful. Let us all know when you go live with it.

As an aside I think AdWords on your site couldn't hurt. :)
 
Love the idea.

But I typed in iphone 3g vs iphone 4g and I got a "case" vs a "screen protector"... Though the specs below were correct..

Then I tried 2 monitors and it worked great.

Thoughts / Suggestions: It seems really slow? Maybe add an option to compare more then just 1v1 (1v1v1, 1v1v1v1 etc)
 
PROS
like the idea.
like the simplicity of the design

CONS
slow as molasses
comparison fuzzy logic needs work

for instance:
In the first comparison text field I typed in logitech mx revolution, is there anyway to pass the main category to the second input box so that the fuzzy logic can offer better suggestions.

In this example it would have been helpful if perhaps an area above the comparison boxes appeared that stated: It looks like you are shopping for computer accessories>mouse - click to confirm (something to help the logic)

other than that - love seeing sites like this go up and you are doing a great job.

-cryptix-
 
yeah, awesome idea and the site looks good

i put in a couple of laptops and got a power adapter for one and nothing for the other
 
cryptix: The fuzzy logic thing is something I've been thinking of doing. I would probably need to change around how a bunch of stuff on the backend works but I think something like that can definitely be implemented. If it's something that people think is important and/or very helpful I'll do it.

The phone thing is a bug that I've been aware of for a while and I know whats causing it. It'll definitely be fixed before the site officially launches. In general Amazon sucks with pulling the correct images/links. For phones I can easily fix it, but for random products displaying the power cords, screen covers, etc. it will be a little more tricky. I will probably need to hardcode a bunch of product specific workarounds for when Amazon gives me the wrong images/links.

The site (right now) really only works with products listed on Amazon (and unfortunately you can't buy a Maybach on Amazon). I'm thinking of creating a cards.whichproduct.com (where you could just drop down cars to compare) but I think I'll only do that once the current WhichProduct is a lot better.

Very long pageloads are unavoidable the first time 2 products are compared. After that initial comparison it takes a lot less time for that to load (the data gets moved to somewhere that's much quicker to access)... so since you all are the first people using the site it's taking a long time to load. Once it launches most of the main comparisons will have already been done causing the page to load much faster.

I appreciate the feedback so far... and even the searches that are being done so I can take a look at what people would search for and what results are actually showing up for those searches.

christopherim said:
i put in a couple of laptops and got a power adapter for one and nothing for the other
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the ADVENT Quantum Q100 isn't listed on Amazon (it isn't even on Google Products) which is why WhichProduct can't find stuff for it.

Thanks for the positive feedback (I'm glad to hear that everybody else likes the idea as much as I do) and keep the criticism coming :)
 
Hey Cardine,
another thought - While the site searches, have you thought about dimming the screen with a grey background

and

then centering an animated graphic with some text that says something like -

"Researching Your Items...Please Wait"

have some sort of animated loading gif - like those circular spinning gifs that you see all the time. or a progression bar of sorts?

Look at Orbitz and Expedia when you are searching for fares, do something snazzy like that, that lets the end user know that the site is busy/working
 
cryptix said:
PROS
like the idea.
like the simplicity of the design

CONS
slow as molasses
comparison fuzzy logic needs work

for instance:
In the first comparison text field I typed in logitech mx revolution, is there anyway to pass the main category to the second input box so that the fuzzy logic can offer better suggestions.

In this example it would have been helpful if perhaps an area above the comparison boxes appeared that stated: It looks like you are shopping for computer accessories>mouse - click to confirm (something to help the logic)

other than that - love seeing sites like this go up and you are doing a great job.

-cryptix-
Click to expand...
I think I've figured out how to do the fuzzy logic part, but I'm still trying to decide how to present the information to the user in a way that flows with the rest of the site (so it doesn't disrupt users who know exactly what the two products they want to compare are). I'm thinking of maybe having a button that says "Find Me a Similar Product" or something like that. If you have any ideas how to intuitively present this 'suggestion' to the user i'd like to hear it so that I can go ahead and implement it.

Also I'm thinking of having a button where you can just type in the genre of the product and two products will automatically be given to you... so I can target comparison shoppers, and shoppers who don't know anything about the products but know they want a laptop/phone/etc.

And I think once I add the fuzzy logic part, the engine will know whether or not the product is a phone so it can make an adjustment so that it doesn't show the results for the phone screen/protector instead of the phone itself (an error bauss pointed out). I'm still trying to figure out how to also add this feature. I wanted the focus of this site to be simplicity so when I want to add design features I'm always worried that the interface will become to cluttered or confusing for the user.

cryptix said:
Hey Cardine,
another thought - While the site searches, have you thought about dimming the screen with a grey background

and

then centering an animated graphic with some text that says something like -

"Researching Your Items...Please Wait"

have some sort of animated loading gif - like those circular spinning gifs that you see all the time. or a progression bar of sorts?

Look at Orbitz and Expedia when you are searching for fares, do something snazzy like that, that lets the end user know that the site is busy/working
Click to expand...
I like the idea... and I'm currently working on getting that added as well :)

Thanks for your suggestions Cryptix, and if you or anybody else has any other ideas I'd love to hear it.
 
Bump - Dude thanks!! This is going to come in real handy.

I just got back from Europe and decided I DEFINITELY need a 13" laptop with long battery life. Way too much traveling coming up.

With stuff that has "specs" I'm a huge fan. Congrats on a job well done so far.

That said, if anyone has a recommendation on a 13" laptop to compare with this, I'm all ears. Just started researching..
 
i accidentally this site the other day while i was looking for info comparing the iphone 4 and 9700. your site came up in the serps, and i was like damn what a cool little site.

and thats yours? pretty slick dude.
 
I like it, grand idea old chap. Perhaps if there are no common specs to compare for 2 items i.e ford explorer vs apple ipad, show a message that says 'sorry we cant make that comparison' or something instead of just showing the 2 products and blank fields underneath.

Also curious if each comparison gets saved as a static page? might that help for the serps? like if someone searches apple iphone vs htc diamond that page could be saved under a category "phones" and then indexed by google.

I'm so smart sometimes it hurts... it's amazing I pretty much make no money :)
 
I like this a lot.

Definitely has potential... and just needs to be tweaked a bit.

I searched for htc evo and samsung galaxy and it showed me just a few specs, like "smartphone" and how big is the screen.

But it worked with iphone 4 and samsung galaxy

So yeah, it needs a bit work to be fully ready which is expected for an application like this.

Good luck man I hope this takes off.
 
I love the idea, however I'm not too crazy about the results. I typed in "Motorola droid" vs "Motorola droid x". The site brought up a motorola droid docking station vs. a motorola droid x docking station.

I tried again, "motorola droid phone" vs. "motorola droid x android phone". It seems to have pulled up the correct motorola droid, but the "motorola droid x android phone" brought up some case for the phone.

I realize this is tough as it's using Amazon search. But the results need to be improved before I can see anyone using it. Maybe when the "Did you mean" boxes pop up, you could show a thumbnail of the product next to each item as well as the price? That way I could select the phone as opposed to the case (as I know the phone is more expensive).
 
Also I just got an SQL error-

Could not insert data because: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 's Laboratory: Mandark's Lab? (PlayStation) - Compare prices, reviews, user opini' at line 1
 
Magic Hat said:
I love the idea, however I'm not too crazy about the results. I typed in "Motorola droid" vs "Motorola droid x". The site brought up a motorola droid docking station vs. a motorola droid x docking station.

I tried again, "motorola droid phone" vs. "motorola droid x android phone". It seems to have pulled up the correct motorola droid, but the "motorola droid x android phone" brought up some case for the phone.

I realize this is tough as it's using Amazon search. But the results need to be improved before I can see anyone using it. Maybe when the "Did you mean" boxes pop up, you could show a thumbnail of the product next to each item as well as the price? That way I could select the phone as opposed to the case (as I know the phone is more expensive).
Click to expand...

You need to put in the exact model numbers in the Amazon title for it to work well. Otherwise I'm sure it needs to find a way to guess.

For products that have two different "versions" (such as shoes that have multiple sizes and colors), it also doesn't work that well. A few laptops were showing up like this. Amazon's API SUCKS for these kinds of multiple-property products, and it drives me nuts because the API should really be better. I'm assuming that's what cardine's run into as well.
 
Berto said:
Bump - Dude thanks!! This is going to come in real handy.

I just got back from Europe and decided I DEFINITELY need a 13" laptop with long battery life. Way too much traveling coming up.

With stuff that has "specs" I'm a huge fan. Congrats on a job well done so far.

That said, if anyone has a recommendation on a 13" laptop to compare with this, I'm all ears. Just started researching..
Click to expand...
Thanks :)
I'm hoping that eventually (much later, after the site works completely) I'm going to have something in place that helps with finding products to compare as well as comparing the products. So then not only will I be able to compare products, but I'll be able to recommend you products to compare (basically getting Which Product more and more involved in how you decide which product to buy so I can attract people at all stages of the buying process).

johnmatrix said:
I like it, grand idea old chap. Perhaps if there are no common specs to compare for 2 items i.e ford explorer vs apple ipad, show a message that says 'sorry we cant make that comparison' or something instead of just showing the 2 products and blank fields underneath.

Also curious if each comparison gets saved as a static page? might that help for the serps? like if someone searches apple iphone vs htc diamond that page could be saved under a category "phones" and then indexed by google.

I'm so smart sometimes it hurts... it's amazing I pretty much make no money :)
Click to expand...
The error message is a good idea. I can still get the Amazon review and Customer rating and compare those, but just giving a message telling users what's going on seems like a good idea. Most of the feedback I've been receiving is about making it more clear as to what is actually going on... and it's something I'm going to spend a lot of time working on now.

And yes, each search is pretty much saved as a static page.

Berto said:
You need to put in the exact model numbers in the Amazon title for it to work well. Otherwise I'm sure it needs to find a way to guess.

For products that have two different "versions" (such as shoes that have multiple sizes and colors), it also doesn't work that well. A few laptops were showing up like this. Amazon's API SUCKS for these kinds of multiple-property products, and it drives me nuts because the API should really be better. I'm assuming that's what cardine's run into as well.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's almost exactly my issue (search Motorola Droid on Amazon, which pretty much sums up those problems).

Magic Hat said:
I realize this is tough as it's using Amazon search. But the results need to be improved before I can see anyone using it. Maybe when the "Did you mean" boxes pop up, you could show a thumbnail of the product next to each item as well as the price? That way I could select the phone as opposed to the case (as I know the phone is more expensive).
Click to expand...
That's the best idea I've heard so far as to how to combat this issue.
Another idea I just thought of (based on your input) is when recommending products, show them the Amazon title of the product. For instance if one of the recommended searches is Droid X, instead of saying 'Droid X' it will say 'Motorola DROID Multimedia Docking Station' since that is the result that Amazon will find when it actually does the search. That way it is a lot less confusing and the user won't be surprised that they get a different result from what they were intending on searching.

Magic Hat said:
Also I just got an SQL error-

Could not insert data because: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 's Laboratory: Mandark's Lab? (PlayStation) - Compare prices, reviews, user opini' at line 1
Click to expand...
What were you searching when you got that error?



Also since from my logs it looks like half the failed comparisons are for cars, I'll work on adding a car comparison feature.

Thanks everyone for the support and feedback. Most of my good improvements have come from negative responses, so keep the criticism coming :)
 
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