Sharing your insight with our development team

We’re now finished with our global meetings as well as a two day summit with our web development team in the US. These meetings were all about what we need to do in the short-term to improve the new site experience as well as in the longer term to drive competitive advantage. And this blog was incredibly helpful in that discussion.

Our team is now focusing on some short-term fixes such as speeding up the image experience on the home page. This has always been part of the plan but the strong comments coming into the blog have elevated the priority of that change so thanks for the input.

After discussing the comments focused on the flash opening, there was some significant debate as to whether the main navigation was clear enough for those who had issue with loading of the site. Were visitors looking for core product information not going directly into the product area? Was the Find Your Nikon naming in the navigation not clear enough to direct visitors? Did we over think the naming of the product area? What are your thoughts?

Comments

[Emil]

Generally, the site looks like a nice re-work, but some issues: slow start-up, even if you check "low bandwidth" ... and what ever happened to personal profiles? With registration, we could in the past access our registered equipment, update profiles, etc. I sure can't find it now ... and you're sending to an old email address that's no longer in service! How does one change it if you can't find it? The site map is a nicely laid out feature. Now add a simple method of obtaining downloaded documentation without having to go through so many steps to find it. Too many layers. Tnx.

[klaw]

I must say the navigation is somewhat muddled frankly.

If you go to adobe's corporate site, look and feel the design flow of there site.

I would suggest more segments on each camera and then add all sub headings under each unit. example, take the D300 (which I own) and every thing tied to that camera should be right there, no where else....period.

Next: I would take the SB800 and develop and videos of the "how too", lets say using the D300 and when one add 3 extra sb800 what you can do with it, like settings,etc. Believe me your sales will go up by 25% in flash units. The manual you write for the flashes are written in geek speak, not written for the "simple Simon's" of this world.

In my view video tutorials are the new standard in learning camera how too's.

Respectively,

Ken in Kentucky

[John]

I put it in another comment...I will say it again.

Have a links page or something to goes out to all other links that Nikon USA takes care of.
http://capturenx.com/
(some might be under the big Nikon Shell)

I am sure there are others...I just don't feel like finding all of them at this moment.
Lots of good info out there....
or merge all that info into one site.
(which would be much better)

[Roger Edwards]

I've tried to subscribe to Nikon World magazine for months. I visited your new site design expecting to see an online subscription form. Well...
1. I had difficulty even finding a page with info about the magazine. I finally found it, but in a place I wouldn't have looked if I wasn't desperate.
2. Still no online form. Same old phone number which no one ever answers. Want to increase subscriptions? Assign someone to answer this phone!

[Theodore Paradise]

I love the site's new look - it's really engaging and very interesting and fun to look at. Which is saying something - there really aren't that many "fun" corporate sites. No, I don't think it's difficult to understand the "Find Your Nikon" heading.

A few other comments, I shoot with an other-than--Nikon system and yet I did shoot Nikon film bodies for years and I like to come back to the site and see what's new all of the time. One of the frustrating things about the Nikon site is that it has a bunch of related sites that aren't easy to get to / you have to know that they exist or find them in a Google search. Example? This Blog - I don't see an easy to spot link to it on the Nikon main page. When I click site feedback, I get a feedback form. I found this blog through another site. Once on this blog, I can't even find a link to the main site - hitting the logo just refreshes the blog. I would suggest standardizing how to get back to the homepage (e.g. hit the logo). Another example are things like Nikon.net. For another unnamed brand, they have their learning area / monthly feature write-ups off to the side of pages and if you click it takes you to a very comprehensive page of related info. I can even see who the endorsed pros are. Whenever I want to find the Nikon pro endorsements, I've had to do a Google search. Once I find the page, it doesn't appear to be up to date. For example, Cliff Mautner is not listed. So organizing the site so that all the many related Nikon sites are clearly presented in something like a side menu / fly out on certain pages would be great - and i think help the brand.

The new main page is great - nice job on a great design.

[John]

I hate the flash animation, very distracting, and not helpful at all. Took me about two minutes to figure out that what I wanted "products" was under "Find your Nikon".

What does that mean? Find your Nikon? Why not just put "Find stuff". I have been around the web for 15 years, and when I go to a commercial site, I am looking for "Products" , "Services", and "Support" about 95% of the time.

Also, you have a typo on this page, stating that the f1.2 lens is a "Fast f1.4". Doh!
http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Camera-Lenses/1435/NIKKOR%2050mm%20f/1.2.html

[jlw]

Any chance of adding RSS feeds for, e.g., the Knowledge Database, or news about particular product categories?

For example, I don't particularly care about the CoolPix product line, but I want to know everything there is to know about new Nikkor lenses for DSLRs...

[Ben Smukler]

The site looks nice, but I find it very difficult to navigate (and I work with various computer programs all day, every day). For example, I use both F-series film cameras as well as the new digital equipment and software (D3, CoolScan, related programs), and I miss the obvious link to digital tech support and software support. Also, I wish it were easier to find the digitutor pages and digital imaging pages.

(Background: Nikon user > 20 years; charter subscriber to Nikon World; photo enthusiast ~ 45 years)

[Will Fastie]

I agree that site navigation has taken a serious turn for the worse. "Find Your Nikon" is just silly - save it for a prompted collection of criteria to help a visitor find the right product and make the link more sensibly say "Products." Why is there no lens category for "DX?"