What do you think of the new Bradley Website?

[Sailor]

I am a pretty simple guy and when I am looking to buy something from a company I want to know what I am buying.  I want to see the product, see the dimensions, see what it can do and know how much I am expected to pay.  I don't know if this is the "new" site but I went to http://www.bradleysmoker.com/ and I have to be honest and say that the web site that I saw failed in all categories.

I am running a iMac and use Chrome as my browser.  It was slow loading and seemed to hang up.  I had to refresh 2 times to get it to load.  Then I see a movie of fish!  I was looking for smokers!  As a potential customer I think I would be a bit confused.  So I then see arrows on each side.  What are these for I say.  I click and see a clam shell with a photo of a smoker overlay.  I click the digital smoker thingy and then get to see a spinning smoker.  No other information regarding the smoker.  No inside view.  No specs.  Nothing to make me want to purchase the product.  So I click the right arrow to see what is next.  I get a movie of sheep and a overlay of a smoker.  OK, so I click on the "view digital smoker" button.  I see a spinning smoker again with no inside view, no specs and nothing to motivate me to want to buy the product.  I click the right arrow again and get to see a hunk of meat.  Click the tab for the OBS and get another spinning smoker with nothing to make me want to buy the product.

I have clicked "Home", "Products", Buy a Bradley", "Company", "Media" and "Warranty" and I can't find any information about a smoker.  I would have thought that if I clicked "Products" it would get me to where I wanted to go.  Nope!  Got another spinning Bradley.

Then I click on the "Buy a Bradley" tab and click on North America........USA.....A page of smokers comes up and I am starting to look at it and it goes away and up pops a bunch of guys at a tailgate party and the site goes into another slide show.  Now I am really getting confused.  Now I have several browser windows that have popped up.  I still can't find any information about the smokers and I give up!  I don't have a clue where I can find any information about the products.  Perhaps there is information there somewhere but I have lost interest in trying to find it.

I love my OBS and use it at least 2 to 3 times a week.  I have smoked hundreds and hundreds of pounds of meat in it and it is still going strong.  I have friends that I have recommended the Bradley to and they have purchased them.  To be perfectly honest, if I was in the market for a smoker and did not know a thing about the different types of smokers on the market and went to the Bradley site, I would be turned off and Bradley would have lost a customer. 

Not sure why there are movies of fish swimming and sheep grazing and a clam shell and a hunk of meat.  I would think that if Bradley wanted to put a movie in then why not have a movie of a happy customer opening his Bradley to see a gorgeous Brisket or Butt getting a blast of nice rich smoke?  Then have a page that shows the inside of the cabinet and how the racks stack with dimensions of the inside and outside.  Why not show how the smoke generator works?  Why not get that customer to the meat and potatoes of the Bradley as fast as you can to keep him/her interested and want to buy one. 

Guess I am just old fashioned and not very hip.  When I go into a store I know what I want and I don't want to waste time getting it.  If I can't find what I am looking for I leave and go to another store.  The 1st store may have had what I was looking for but making it hard to find don't get my business.

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday we launched our brand new website!! It was a lot of work and a big project, but I truly hope you guys like the new website. After all, we made it for you! Let me know what you think! :)

Not sure why you made the website for us the members of the Bradley forum.  I would think you would have made the site to attract new customers.  I don't think I have ever gone back to the Bradley site since I purchased my OBS almost 3 ½ years ago.

In this day and age of internet you have a small window to capture a customer when they visit a site.  I found nothing on the site that would make me say.....wow this is what I am looking for.  I am not trying to degrade the site......I am trying to give honest feedback as I want Bradley Smokers to succeed.  You wanted to let you know what we thought and I am giving you my honest opinion.  Good luck with the new site.

[pikeman_95]

Sailor
I kind of liked the fish. It reminds me of spearing Pike. I thought it was a little tough to find the forum which is my favorite part. I think the guys on the forum do quite a lot to promote the smokers. I know they are a good bunch of guys. I have recommended all of my contacts to join the forum which I am sure interest them in the equipment.
KC

[Tiny Tim]

I'm only seeing what was billed as the global site when we reviewed them and not the one that was supposed to be for USA/Canada which I felt was a better site, I'm glad the forum was added to this one but I think the other website we reviewed was much better and I hope it get's published for all to see.

That site is here: Link.  Can be found about a third of the way down the page of the global site, and pops a new tab or window...but it takes forever for my page to be able to scroll there.  I'll be bookmarking this one instead of going through the global from now on.

[Wildcat]

I also felt that the regional site was better than the global. I may be wrong but I believe the global site was designed to capture the initial interest with links going to regional sites for more detailed information for their particular region.

[beefmann]

I was  one of the  luck few that had a  preview, I think it is a  great  looking  website and will be good for  years

[Saber 4]

Sailor, I couldn't have said it better, I love my Bradley and want them to have great continued success and I don't think the new website as currently configured is going to help do that.

I'm only seeing what was billed as the global site when we reviewed them and not the one that was supposed to be for USA/Canada which I felt was a better site, I'm glad the forum was added to this one but I think the other website we reviewed was much better and I hope it get's published for all to see.

That site is here: Link.  Can be found about a third of the way down the page of the global site, and pops a new tab or window...but it takes forever for my page to be able to scroll there.  I'll be bookmarking this one instead of going through the global from now on.

Thanks Tim, that's kind of hard to find, I think it should be the first thing you see and there should be a button at the top for the forum and customer service/FAQ's.

[Bradley Marketing]

Thank you for your comments and feedback! And yes we made the new website for our customers (which includes the forum members), and our potential customers. The global site (www.bradleysmoker.com) is designed to have more like a show room feeling. The north American site is where you can find detailed information about our products etc. If you are using an older browser/system the screen might clutter. If you send us your browser, system and screen details, we can adjust the settings.
Thanks again!

[Tiny Tim]

Windows Vista OS (tell me how and I'll get the version/update numbers)

Google Chrome browser, Version 30.0.1599.101 m

[Saber 4]

I'm using Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 10 both with the most current updates available.

[Ka Honu]

Well, my comments (many of which ran pretty much along the same lines as Sailor's) appear to have been largely (if not completely) ignored.  That, of course, is their privilege.  One area in which I was ignored, however, bears bringing to the attention of the forum members.  If you go to the Recipe section you will find that many of the recipes are direct copies of posts on the forum recipe site. That brings up a couple of issues:

     - Bradley does not own the recipe site or the recipes thereon so I wonder if they have the right to use those recipes for commercial purposes, especially without attribution.

     - The "Author Info" on the page of every recipe attributes the recipe to some guy (real or imaginary) named Ted Reader (including those with the true author's name on the recipe, e.g. Brisket Pachanga) and goes on to claim that the recipes are "his food smoking secrets." At best, that's misleading and rude.  In the hands of a competent attorney it's definitely a profit opportunity.

In addition, the entire Recipe section of the site is essentially sloppy and lazy work.  Two examples:

       - Recipes from the forum site are copied verbatim but explanatory photos are not included.  For example, 10.5's classic rib tutorial is copied without the pictures, even though the largest font on the page clearly states that the page is a pictorial guide.

       - There's no way to cut and paste (copy) any of the recipes.  I guess they expect you to carry your (connected) computer with you whenever you need to refer to the recipe you're preparing.  I guess I could use my tablet but am glad I don't have to drag my desktop back and forth between my prep area and smoker.

End of rant.

[devo]

What he said X2

[Bradley Marketing]

I just would like to say that all feedback has taken in to consideration. And yes we do reckon the issues with the recipes site. We are going to change that but couldn't do this before the launch. You may have seen that there are A LOT of recipes on the site which we have to go through so it will take a while. And maintaining the recipe page will be an ongoing process. I'm sorry if this wasn't clear to everyone.

[Tiny Tim]

A few items that I addressed in my evaluation were taken care of (guessing I wasn't the only one to bring them to light), at least on the North American site.  I didn't provide much info on the Global, as it was just as temperamental then (for me) as it is now.

[manxman]

I totally agree with Ka Honu's comments about the recipe section and this was one of the main areas I concentrated on in my response. I don't think that area is a good advert for the BS at all although obviously it is their prerogative to do as they see fit.

I went to town and made quite a few positive and negative comments in general. Some of the negative ones seem to have been accepted and to be fair the feedback from the marketing group seemed to concentrate on comments that had been made by the concensus of the respondents..... not just the rantings of one Brit from across the pond!  ;)

Think it was sensible to select a finite number of people to respond other wise the process could have taken too long and it was great they came to the forum in the first place to give people a chance to have some input.

Conversely I think perhaps it was too rushed and I think I concluded my original feedback by saying the new website was a "work in progress", in particular the recipe section should have been tidied up significantly before release IMHO.

Hopefully Bradley will accept both the positive and negative comments highlighted in this topic  and continue to give forum members the chance to input such things in the future.  :)

[KyNola]

Here is Ted Reader.

http://www.tedreader.com/

Can someone direct me to the recipe section as I can't seem to locate it on the website.