The responses were annotated on anonymised printout for me to annotate to develop responses to. It stretched to over 11 pages of feedback which is fantastic! Having annotated it, we’ve put together a set of responses to the key themes and most common things raised.
In use photos and videos
Time and again people raised this one and it's fair enough. We're Nerf tactical gear designers doing this full time so photography isn't our strong suite. Sometimes getting photos isn't easy. That said, we've got a few ideas in mind on how to fix that.Video is probably a while off yet. The feeling we're getting from this and when talking to others it would be the icing on the cake as opposed to a key ingredient of the cake itself. We like cake. Icing we can take or leave. The time and resources involved in video editing and other post-production stuff makes us hesitant to invest at the moment. For now, we're going to have a chat with a couple of our photography friends about touching up our photos and getting some in-action shots.
One of the particularly challenging thing about some of our products is they're very difficult to show on the body. By their definition, they're supposed to be low profile and body shots are just hard. We're in a great community and we know some great people we can go bother about that one and maybe get some hints and tips with it.
We'll be working on more guides and the like for people to demonstrate our products. The MkIV still doesn't have a guide at the time of writing (though it really ought to) so that's first on the priority list for the next couple of days.
General website:
I said above, we're designers and makers so websites are a little difficult. A decent, functioning website that does what we need it to do is a challenge to develop and maintain. The wonderful thing about these surveys is that they spur us to do things we know we should have done a while back. When running a small company, other things can get in your way and there's not always a minion to delegate to. By other people feeding back and telling us to fix things, it gives us a kick in the posterior to fix that nagging problem that's been with us for a while. Expect to start seeing some changes going forward in the next couple of days.Website photos:
We'll add whatever we can where photos are missing but sometimes we do forget to take them before a new item leaves the shop. Since we can't photograph prototypes, a new photo can't be taken until a new one is made or ordered. That's fine if it's kit the team wants but that's not always the case. Putting a sign up by the door might be a way to remind us to do that. It's one of the little niggles of our business model.
The visual layout looks fine. Agreed, there are areas for improvement, the plain black can be a little daunting and gives the website a bit of a dark overtone. We'll look into brightening that up a little bit shortly. We're sticking with the white on black for the time being.
Alternative currencies and international shipping:
We asked our web guy about an alternative currencies option. He nearly cried. We couldn't work out whether that was because it would be really, really, really hard or if he hadn't got over the trauma of fixing the international shipping bug. Which he did fix and international customers should have no further problems with having to email to order. Of course, custom items will always have to come through a human being but for everything else, there's the website.
Categories and taxa:
We'll get the categories sorted in due course. With the growth of external accessories, the resolution there needs improving. A few of the blaster things need sorting too. We'll see if we can get rid of the unsorted items at the top of the category page, we've been meaning to for a while but haven't gotten around to it just yet. We agree, it's ugly and serves no purpose when there's a full list of stuff below.
Order of products:
We trying to work out how to Strongarm (see what I did there?) the e-commerce software to behaving on that front. We're not quite sure how that works so we'll keep poking it with a stick until it responds to our commands. We'd like our holsters and such to be up front but it currently insists on having products listed in date order. Sorting by price is something we'll look into, too.
Products and development:
I'll take some time to go through a few things in terms of products and the development pipeline in this section. First of all, there is an upcoming blog post on the development pipeline detailing how our products become a reality. It uses our latest innovation: the PASGT helmet mounted torch bracket as an example product as we had the presence of mind to get full photos as we went through the design process.Lead times:
We appreciate that people want to get their stuff as soon as possible but our 2 week lead time policy isn't going to change any time soon. Iit gives us a nice glow inside to know people are that eager! Priority dispatch aside, 2 weeks gives us enough time to dodge the curve balls that life seems to love throwing at us. Everything from fabric suppliers turning up their toes to staff illness means that sometimes the manufacturing process doesn't go as smoothly as we like. With a 2 week space to make your stuff and get it shipped, we can keep the promises we make. For us, that's a critical part of our mission. We don't want to be that company that takes your money and delivers 3 months late or when we feel like it. If we can't keep our promises, we let you know and if you're not happy with the solution we offer, you get your money back without question. We're getting that message across, we had no problems with customer service feedback!
Drop-leg MOLLE platforms:
We've avoided adding any extra drop-leg stuff to our store for the very simple reason that too much weight on the outside of your legs is going to fatigue you disproportionately. Seating things on your belt is a far better way to preserve energy levels in combat. However, given the volume of requests we're getting for them, we'll put them in the pipeline and let people determine what they want to do with their kit.
Krydex holsters:
We had a couple of requests for Krydex holsters. In short, it won't happen at our end. We lack the manufacturing and machine capability to make them a reality. Further, the size of Nerf blasters and the hardshell of a Krydex holster is going to result in a holster that is bulky and inflexible. Our current holsters are designed to ensure that you don't notice they're there until you need your blaster. That pancaking, as we like to call it, is a design feature, not a bug. Krydex, while nice for small arms like your average Glock or Smith and Wesson won't work for your Strongarm, in our considered opinion.
Sock bandoleers and general sock holders:
We're Humans versus Zombies players ourselves, first and foremost but our system doesn't use socks. It's an unusual situation (usually it's the other way around, socks but no Nerf) so we never had much of an imperative to develop them. However, we are working on a few designs and there will be an in-depth blog post made in the next few days regards a sock bandoleer that's just been commissioned by a client. We'll look into sock loops for other stuff in the interim period, too.
Masterkey Brackets:
Just to clear up the Masterkey brackets, the reason the list is as restricted as it is is because each bracket is designed specifically for the blaster combination in question in order to allow for a best fit.
Large Zip Dump Pouches:
A couple of respondents flagged up the Large Zip Dump Pouch and the open ended zip problem. We'll take a look into fixing that, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to fix, it'll just involve sewing the gusset a little further into the system.
Miscellaneous points:
A few final points to respond to particular people's comments:- The font we used on our logo was called Prototype, Google it
- Diaries of a Nerf Armourer is the personal blog of Mike, our Managing Director and the mods he works on with a few friends during his spare time. It's not affiliated with company, Mike just happens to be an employee of the company.
- There will be a guide for the Vambraces on what each selection entails - photos too when things get made up.
Good night, folks!
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