View Full Version : Hot Picks - Help!
Hi All,
Ive been sitting here thinking about hot picks and how they work at the moment and how you guys use them.
I basically hit a blank.
Do you guys use them? How do you use them?
Im trying to think of how we can improve them for next year. Do you think they would be better if they showed more information? maybe descriptions or merchant?
Im really interested in finding out how we can make this module better for you guys because at the moment I do think there is room for improvement.
Thanks in advance for you feedback.
Amo
I'm using the Hot Picks on my site on the initial page but I've changed them slightly so that they include descriptions and I may, in the future, add the merchat info to them as well.
For me they are quite useful but others may disagree.
IntroSites
12-12-07, 13:27
i use them like ads, ive added them in some content via php and modded them slightly
clivewalker
12-12-07, 13:27
How about the ability to choose which products are displayed [in addition to the current ability to choose Hot Picks from a specific category]? For example, I might choose product A from category 1, product B from category 2 etc etc.
How about the ability to check which Hot Picks and/or products are clicked [and/or tracking of product orders?]
Firstly, yes I do use them, so don't dare think about taking them away, lol. :p
Secondly, yes I agree that there is room for improvement for them and a lot of room for that matter.
Ok, now i've come out and said that, time to try and engage brain to explain my thoughts...
1. Make it easier to pick how many picks are shown and what category (see 2.) is shown.
2. Make it so that picks from multiple categories can be shown (not just sub cats).
3. Make it a global function so that they can be shown on any shopping page, without the need for changing hard code.
4. Make the hot pick url and img have alt and title tags for more text weight.
5. Either add or explain a little easier how column and row splits can be used with hot picks so that they can be layed out better for specific pages.
6. Give the option to choose a hot pick keyword per occurance, so that certain keyword related hotpicks will be displayed, so that it's not just random picks.
7. Give an easier way to better control the length of the product titles for hotpicks, per occurance, rather than just as a global.
I'm sure I could think of a lot more off the top of my head if i was'nt struck down with flu and a throat infection.
Anyway, one of the big gripes for hot picks and various other parts of shop window for me is the config bits, you have to go all over the place hunting down variables if you want to change any defaults. I feel there should be one central config file where you can change every setting.
I do think that every bit of information a product has should be optional for hotpicks, via a simple variable placement. Some people might use some, some people might use others, some might use none, but having the option there by default to allow us as much flexibility as possible is the best way forward and the best way for us all to be able to individualise our shops.
One other idea I like the idea of, but am not sure if you guys would be willing to go with would be something like an AJAX hotpicks box, where at the bottom of the box there is a little button which says "more hotpicks", where if you click it, it displays a different set of hotpicks without the whole page refreshing. I'm surprised ShopWindow doesn't actually use any AJAX at all though to be honest, it's definately the way forward.
Regarding the hotpick thumb image that is used, I aint got a clue what you can do with it, but the single worst and messiest part of the hotpicks is the thumbs, they are so randomly sized and all over the place they look awful at the moment. It needs something, I dunno what, but something.
Anyway, i'll let someone else have a turn, lol.
Confuscius
12-12-07, 13:55
Hi Amo
You can add extra stuff like descriptions and merchants already if you want to but we still have to put up with crap images, missing descriptions and extraneous content. I have seen this done on a couple of sites.
A couple of suggestions for you on Hot Picks (I still think that you need to address the basics as a first priority- new functionality + old crap will, in my view make little difference) :
1. Multiple hot picks functionality. Hot picks by search term, hot picks by merchant, hot picks by category, hot picks by brand, hot picks by price range, hot picks by product and random hot picks.
2. See no 1 BUT scrap hot picks altogether and replace them with affiliate specific discount codes linked to merchant hosted discount terms, conditions and usage pages - that would rattle a few cages!
Paul
2. See no 1 BUT scrap hot picks altogether and replace them with affiliate specific discount codes linked to merchant hosted discount terms, conditions and usage pages - that would rattle a few cages!
Paul
I'd like to see what you've suggested there too, except the scrapping of the hot picks bits as I like them.
Try this:
Hot Picks each category based on accredited sales would give you a top 10 most popular for that month/week. By using the aggregated data you can then produce a widget with these popular items.
I guess your question is about how the client software displays hotpicks?
I don't have a problem with the API side of things as long as the picks are actually hot and not just random junk the merchants want rid of. I don't know how accurately product sales are tracked on ShopWindow and therefore how realistic the hotpicks are but the top 10 most popular "hot" DVDs and CDs for example have very little in common with the DVD and CD top lists on merchant sites.
Is popularity based on ShopWindow sales data or is there manual intervention?
Actually! I knew there was something! I display 10 hotpicks ordered by "popular" for any given category. However, this list changes on every refresh. How's that work? If these hotpicks really are ordered by popularity then they wouldn't change (at least not on every page load). So what is a popular hotpick? I don't get it.
When I show the top 10 most popular DVD hotpicks I expect that to be something similar to most of the DVD retailers' top 10s, but it isn't and it's never the same twice.