Please critique my landing page (for a Photo viewer app)

Hi guys,

It’s been a while, and not in the happiest of moods right now. Got feedback left and right, mostly about about needing to focus on benefits, not features (not really easy for me, on retrospect). So, @rfctr was quite right.

Anyway, here’s a new try to redefine my landing page. Please critique the content and eventually the pictures. It’s just a template - I want to create, in the end, a landing slide with probably 4-5 of the benefits, and maybe a link to the rest + a button to download.

Thanks again!

Overwhelming and lacks Unique Selling Proposition.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t list all those features/benefits somewhere on the website but the structure should be: a short, dominant USP + list of features, in a muted way.

A concrete example: https://codekitapp.com/

Notice their USP: “Build websites faster and better”. Short, descriptive and therefore clear.

By definition if you list N equally promoted features, then you don’t have USP.

Let’s face, no one needs or wants a photo viewer. Windows has a built-in one, Mac has a built-in one. Marketing a “better photo viewer” is probably not a good strategy.

Counter-intuitively, I think you would sell more by narrowing down the focus.

I would pick “The fastest way to manage large collection of photos”.

Because Preview on Mac is ok as photo viewer, it’s miserable when you have lots of photos and has zero features for actually managing them (like filtering etc.).

Then you can list, in smaller print, all the features that support “managing and viewing” claim you made in USP.

By marketing as a “best photo viewer”, you slot it (in the mind of the person reading your copy) as alternative to Preview or Windows Photos.

By marketing as “fast way to manage large collection of photos” you make it clear it does things that Preview of Windows Photos is not good at or not able to do all. You don’t even be explicit about it. If someone ever had lots of photos and tried to use Preview to view them, they know it’s not good.

I would also put specific numbers like “instant startup even when you have 10 thousand photos”. The 10k is a specific number which is better than vague “lots of”.

I would clone the structure of CodeKit landing page because it’s excellent.

Literally, just change the screenshots, change the copy for each feature but everything else is top notch:

  • a clear buy button and download link
  • buy button is on every page, consistently placed
  • readable screenshots (yours are so small I can’t see details of the UI)
  • documentation/help page (most software has none)
  • page with short videos demonstrating the features. Again, most software has none. You have a video but it’s more like a commercial and methinks videos demonstrating features are a better sales tool
  • light,“happy” design. You do like dark backgrounds
  • social proof (i.e. review quotes)
  • “What’s new” page that makes it clear it’s an actively developed software
  • “Email support” link, “Found a bug” link, on every page, consistently placed.
  • “About” page is a bet. Some will think it’s bad because it’s personal and doesn’t convey a “company”. Some will think it’s good for the same reasons. I think it doesn’t matter either way.

Note that it also has as much features/benefits listed as your mockup but it’s structured better. It’s not N features but USP + N features.

Also note that they describe their features/benefits using much shorter copy than the one in your mockup.

You over-explain things that are better shown as a short video or a big screenshot.

One thing I would improve upon in CodeKit page is linking benefits to videos e.g. they have a video on “Zurb Foundation” and they talk about “Zurb Foundation” on landing page. There should be a link “See in action” on landing page that opens up a video as an overlay. Short description + link to a longer description if user is interested.

https://codekitapp.com/ is such a good software landing page that I’m considering marrying it. If that’s not legal yet, I would use it as a template for any software project, at least until I’m confident I can do better than that.

1 Like

Hi @kjk,

Thanks for the feedback!
About codekit - looking at their website, and it does indeed look awesome! Will see what I can “steal” :slight_smile:

About USP - it’s really hard for me to come up with one, I’ve gone through several, but so far, not good results. My current USP: “Your Photos are Awesome. They Deserve an Awesome Viewer.” is not as good as I’d hoped.

“The fastest way to manage large collection of photos” -> I will definitely think about that.

About “specific numbers” - will certainly do that!
About clear buy/download -> for sure. This is just a dummy mockup listing the benefits. I’ll have several iterations.
About readable screenshots -> for sure - they are a bit bigger, but the landing page generator does not allow me to make them bigger (or, I need to take another look at them).
Videos demonstrating features -> yes, instead of the small pics :slight_smile:
Light, happy design. Right, actually I’m even thinking allowing for a light background on my app as well. I’m not that much of a fan of dark, it just happened to be the default for this landing generator. But yeah, for sure, light would be better.
“What’s new” page - I guess it could be a good idea. I do have within the app, but sure, having it clear on the website would be cool tool.

About “Email Support” -> I can add that. About “Found a bug”, we have that in the app, insanely easy to use. But i do get what you’re saying -> people don’t know that yet :slight_smile:

Thanks!

Hi @kjk,

Does this look at bit better?
Since it’s a photo viewer app, might as well do videos :slight_smile:

Long story short, I’ve made videos for my top 5 benefits. I’ve reduced the words immensely.
The carousel is not fully functional yet (does not autoplay and such) - but I’ll work on it.

And yes, I will go with something close to your pitch “The Fastest way to manage your 25K+ Photo Collection”. Thanks!

Larger screenshots are much better.

2 things I would improve:

  • text over the screenshot is easy to miss. Put it under the screenshot
  • a different screenshot for extreme zoom. A closeup of an eye was a bit jarring to me

Awesome, thanks! Will redo the 2 videos with the zoom, and get back to you.
About the text over the screenshot - totally agree. I’m using a custom slider maker, and still tweaking the settings :slight_smile: Hopefully I’ll find out how to do it, or I’ll just have to user something else.

Thanks again!

LATER EDIT: I’ve fixed the text over screenshot, and managed to make the videos autoplay also :slight_smile:

Erm… as I just pointed out on another thread, the U of USP is “Unique”.

@kjk Does this look better?
(fully incorporated into the website - next step will be to make it the homepage in the near future)

p.s. I did use pretty much your pitch, and I’ve also redone the UI of the app in white.

Yes, much better.

2 more nitpicks:

  • I would increase the contrast of text to be more readable. Color currently is #5c5c5c; #222222 would be better
  • not a fan of auto-changing screenshots. It’s aggravating when I’m looking at a detail of the UI and things slide. Allow manual control over screenshots
  1. Nice catch, will do! Looking into it.
  2. Will do some A/B testing to see how people like it best.

Thanks again!