Brian's Gourmet CRO Audit
A page by page teardown of Brian's Gourmet, a gourmet cotton candy store, covering the homepage, collection page and product page, plus a guided redesign built around flavor choice and larger orders.
Watch the full 19-minute recording.
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What we found.
Brian's Gourmet sells gourmet cotton candy that is all natural, dye free and handcrafted in Oakland, and that story is a real point of difference from the carnival cotton candy most shoppers picture. The tagline, Indulge Naturally, lands clearly. The photography is attractive, and product pages already carry nutrition facts and a satisfaction guarantee.
The problem begins once someone arrives. There are 19 flavors, all priced at $8, sitting in one flat grid with no guidance on which one suits which person. There is no bestseller signal, no taste filter and very little visible proof. When every option looks the same, visitors hesitate, leave to think about it and most do not come back.
The same gap repeats on every page. The homepage offers no route into the catalog by flavor or by gift. The collection page filters only by availability and price, and sold out flavors are marked by a blank space. The product page shows a review count with no stars, no review text and no guarantee near the add to cart button.
The direction is to guide the buying decision from the first screen to checkout. A short flavor finder, taste filters, proof beside the add to cart button and a box builder tied to the free shipping rule fix clarity, trust and order size together. The idea worth remembering: the products are good, so help people choose them.
Problem, opportunity, impact
The store shows all 19 flavors in one flat list at the same $8 price, with no bestseller, taste filter or visible proof, so a new visitor has nothing to help them choose and leaves to think about it.
Turn the flat flavor list into a guided path: a short flavor finder, taste filters, a box builder and proof at the decision point, so first time visitors pick with confidence and buy several containers at once.
Visitors who can pick a flavor quickly are more likely to buy, and a box builder tied to the free shipping rule should raise the number of containers in each order. Results depend on traffic and execu
Scored across five dimensions.
Five dimensions, each scored out of ten.
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01
Homepage & PDP review Where attention leaks and buyers hesitate, section by section.
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02
Mobile UX audit 70% of your traffic — judged on its own terms.
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03
Trust & credibility check The signals that make first-time buyers convert.
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04
Collection & discovery Filtering, merchandising and guidance from browse to buy.
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05
Prioritized CRO roadmap Ranked by impact vs. effort, ready to ship.
Every issue, paired with its fix.
12 issues found, 13 fixes proposed.
Nineteen Flavors With No Guidance To Choose
All 19 flavors sit in one flat list at the same $8 price. A first time visitor has no way to tell which flavor is right for them, so the site works as a catalog rather than a guide.
Homepage Has No Route Into The Catalog
There is no shop by flavor and no shop by gift on the homepage. The only way forward is to look at all 19 flavors at once, and every button says the same thing: shop all natural flavors.
Free Shipping Banner Sends A Mixed Message
The first thing a new visitor reads is a banner offering free shipping on four or more containers. It conflicts with the six container threshold stated on the product page and quietly signals that the site is not watched closely.
Filters Do Not Help When Prices Match
The collection page filters only by availability and price. With every flavor at $8, those filters do nothing, and there is no way to filter by taste.
No Bestseller Signal Beyond One New Tag
Apart from a single new tag, nothing marks a popular or recommended flavor. A shopper has to read all 19 names and guess, which is slow and uncertain for a product they have not tasted.
Sold Out Flavors Are Marked By A Blank Space
Honeydew and watermelon appear on the collection page with only an empty bar beside them. A visitor has to open the product to learn it is sold out, and nothing is offered in its place.
Sold Out Product Page Offers No Path Forward
The Strawberry Blue page shows sold out with two images and no way to be notified when it returns. The visitor reaches a dead end with no alternative suggested.
Review Count Without Stars Reads As Broken
The product page shows a review count of one with no star rating and no review text. Clicking it leads nowhere. Thin proof like this looks broken rather than trustworthy.
Guarantee Sits Far From The Buy Button
A one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee is stated on the product page, which is good, but it is not repeated near the add to cart button where the decision is made.
Long Descriptions Bury The Buying Decision
Long descriptions and nutrition facts make the product page very long. The useful information is there, but it pushes the decision further down and leaves questions about the product unanswered.
Nothing Turns One Container Into A Box
The shipping policy rewards larger orders with free shipping, yet no page builds toward that. There is one product template and no path from a single container to a multi flavor purchase.
You May Also Like Gives No Direction
The product page ends with a you may also like block and a link back to all flavors. It shows more products but does not tell the visitor what to do next.
Add A Guided Flavor Finder To The Homepage
Place a short quiz near the top that asks who the purchase is for, which tastes they like and how many containers they want, then returns a curated set of flavors.
Route Every Answer Into A Box Builder
Send finder results straight into a box builder when the visitor wants more than one container, and straight to a single recommended product when they only want to try one.
Group Flavors Into Scannable Taste Categories
Sort the 19 flavors into groups such as fruity and bright, classic and sweet, tart and tangy, and unusual, so a visitor can scan instead of reading every name.
Add Shop By Gift And Shop By Flavor Entries
Give the homepage clear entry points for gift buyers and for people choosing by taste, so the first click moves them toward a decision instead of the full catalog.
Add A Trust Strip Under The Hero Buttons
Repeat all natural, dye free and handcrafted in Oakland directly below the main buttons, so the strongest differentiator is read before the visitor scrolls.
Filter The Collection By Taste Profile
Replace the price and availability filters with taste filters, and keep a finder entry at the top of the collection page for visitors who want help choosing.
Mark Sold Out Flavors Clearly In The Grid
Label sold out flavors on the collection page itself with a visible badge and a notify me option, so nobody has to open a product to find out.
Offer Notify Me On Sold Out Flavors
Let visitors leave an email or phone number on a sold out product, so the demand is captured and they hear when watermelon or honeydew returns.
Show Ratings And Real Review Lines Near Add To Cart
Put a star rating and a couple of real customer lines beside the buy button, in place of a bare review count, so proof sits at the moment of decision.
Repeat The Satisfaction Guarantee Beside The Buy Button
Move or repeat the one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee next to add to cart, so the reassurance is visible exactly where the hesitation happens.
Add A One Line Taste Description To Each Product
Open each product page with a short taste line, such as dried summer strawberry with a soft floral finish, and move the long description and nutrition facts lower.
Align The Free Shipping Rule Across The Site
Choose one free shipping threshold and state it identically in the banner, product pages, cart and policy, so the offer reads as deliberate and trustworthy.
Carry Free Shipping Progress Into The Cart
Show a progress indicator in the cart that counts toward the free shipping threshold, and pair it with a gift page and an about page that tells the founder story.
The version we'd build.
The teardown in 7 lines.
- Good products do not sell themselves when a visitor faces 19 identical options with no way to choose.
- A flat list of flavors at one price works as a catalog; a store needs to guide people toward the flavor that fits them.
- Filters only help when they match how people decide, and price and availability filters do nothing when every flavor costs $8.
- A review count with no stars and no text looks broken, which is worse for trust than showing no reviews at all.
- Sold out items should say so in the grid and offer a notify option, not leave the visitor at a dead end.
- A free shipping rule only raises order size if every page states it the same way and builds toward it.
- A short flavor finder that feeds a box builder turns browsing into a guided decision and one container into several.
Questions this audit answers.
No. The audit finds the products are good and different from carnival cotton candy. The problem is the buying journey: visitors are shown everything and guided to nothing, so they hesitate and leave.
When every flavor costs the same, price tells the shopper nothing and the price filter is useless. Without a bestseller signal or a taste filter, the only way to choose is to read 19 names and guess.
The tagline and the all natural, handcrafted story work well. But the homepage has no shop by flavor or shop by gift route, and every button leads to the same full list of flavors.
The banner promises free shipping at four or more containers, while the product page says six. A mismatch in the first thing a visitor reads quietly signals that the site is not closely maintained.
They should be labeled clearly in the collection grid and offer a notify me option on the product page. Today a blank space marks them, and the product page offers no alternative or way to be alerted.
The page shows a review count of one with no star rating and no review text, and clicking it goes nowhere. That reads as broken. Ratings and real customer lines should sit beside the add to cart button.
It is a short quiz on the homepage that asks who the purchase is for, which tastes they like and how many containers they want. It then returns a curated flavor set and sends it to a box builder or a single product.
A box builder appears on the collection and product pages, and the cart carries free shipping progress forward. In the concept, three flavors cost $24 plus shipping, while a box of six costs $48 and ships free.
That was not the focus. The audit is about the buying journey underneath the design: clarity, trust and how much people buy in a single order. The redesign changes structure and guidance more than surface styling.
It adds richer photography, a one line taste description, a rating and real customer lines next to add to cart, and a comparison with carnival cotton candy. A box builder follows the buy button to encourage a fuller order.
The next step is a short strategy call with our CRO strategist and a team member. It covers priorities, scope, timeline, investment and whether turning the concept into a live Shopify experience is the right fit.
The video runs about 19 minutes. It reviews the homepage, collection page and product page of the live store, then walks through a redesigned homepage, collection page and product page built to fix the problems found.
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5-minute video teardownA personalized walkthrough of your store, recorded by Eva.
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Homepage & PDP reviewWhere attention leaks and buyers hesitate.
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Mobile UX audit70% of your traffic — judged on its own terms.
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Trust & credibility checkThe signals that make first-time buyers convert.
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Prioritized CRO roadmapRanked by impact vs. effort, ready to ship.