Zenni Optical has been teasing its Facebook fans and Twitter followers for a few days now, promising a bold new look. Fortunately for all of us glasses geeks out there, the site was unveiled today! While the new site is undoubtedly eyecatching, I'm not ordinarily very excited about a basic revamp. However, Zenni has also added some fabulous attributes that make the updated site extremely appealing. My fave new features are listed below.
1. Search by size: Previously, Zenni only allowed users to search by selecting a slider from "small" to "large." The new site allows users to select exact frame measurements, making it much easier to find frames that will fit well. Once you've selected an specific size, you will have to remove it from your search before you can select a different size, but it's still much better than it used to be.
2. Virtual try-on: Zenni has always offered this feature, but it's much easier now to simply scroll down the page and hover over any given frame to view the glasses on your photo. You no longer have to click "try on" to see the frames on your face.
3. Navigating favorites: Favorites now show up on a bright, scrollable page with clear, well-sized images from which you can easily do all of these things:
See the frame and price
Hover to view style number, try frames or go to the order page
Select quick view to see full frame information (size, colors, availability, etc.) while staying on your favorites page
Click on the frame itself to see the item on its own page -- with a large, detailed image.
The best thing about the new favorites page (IMHO) is that you can remove items from your favorites by simply hovering over the frame and selecting that option. The old Zenni site made it next to impossible to pare down your favorites list, so I'm super psyched about this!
4. Larger images: Zenni has a HUGE selection that was tiresome to navigate on the old site, in large part because the images were a bit hard to see. (You're dealing with a visually-impaired audience here, Zenni.) The crisp, new, high-contrast design of the site and large images on the individual frame pages make viewing the frames much easier -- and more compelling. Being able to get a better view of the frames before ordering will help shoppers make wiser decisions about their purchases and avoid buyer's remorse (which can arise given Zenni's more-limited-than-some return policy).
5. All colors in one place: Zenni used to separate its frames entirely. If you found a nice style in black but wanted it in red, you simply had to trawl through the list. Now, if you find a frame you like, you can view all available colors in the same place. Yay!
I'll keep adding to this list as I find things I like, but my overall impression of the new site is favorable. Although I couldn't find a way to browse all frames (user must select men/women/kids), and a couple of other changes threw my creature-of-habit human brain, it is much better overall than the old site. Well done, Zenni!
