this is Cassidy Carl's with me today. Say hi Carl. Hey, that was not enthusiastic. We're late.
We're late. I'm upset because we're late because Cassidy had to switch out his polo. He wasn't in. He made us late.
Carl Carl expects me to show up every day with a new a new night shirt on. So I broke out a nice new one for him. He's rocking the sweater. What do you call that thing?
The sweater polo. It's like sweater. It's like knitted. Never heard of that.
That's crazy. It's the best. It's great for Southern California when you have like a cool Chris morning still and then it gets a little bit hotter like in the afternoon. You need a little something a little more versatile.
This is ridiculous. This is what her this is what her polo. All right, everybody. We'll get started when you're going to do Courtney Courtney is a creative director at the refine lab.
She's going to be the expert on the show today. She's going to walk you through a company that we picked out for our tear down or build up. How are you going to call it? Courtney, how you doing?
I'm good. Excited to be here and walk you guys through toast, which is the brand that I chose. But just a little bit. I am I've been at Refine Labs for about two years now.
I'm based in Haverill, Massachusetts, which is north of Boston, close to New Hampshire. And I have a background of in different tech companies in the greater Boston area. I've been in the design world for almost 10 years now. And I've had my handful and just about everything website design animation event branding.
You name it. Basically, I've done it. So, and I guess I will get us started. Yeah, Courtney, why you bring that up?
Am I correct and saying you're the first like you're the OG creative person at Refine? Is that how I should, am I correct on that? Yes, you are correct. I was the first designer on board.
And as you know, we'll built our team up, which I love so much. But yes, I was the first one here. So that's awesome. That's awesome.
And so, so for the audience, make sure this should be interactive. So ask questions in the chat, raise your hand. We'll have to bring you on As we go through this and maybe to start, Courtney, let me decide to pick toast as you kind of tell us what his toast is. Yes.
So actually, that's a great question. So there are tons of brands to choose from and all of them were good. And then some of them, there was a lot of opportunity for growth. And I wanted to choose one that I thought was working well, which created a challenge for me as a designer because I'm like, okay, it's already working well.
But what can we do to improve it even more. So that's why I went with toast. Also, I didn't realize how often I use toast personally. And I'm sure all of you guys will kind of realize that once I did this every restaurant I went to a coffee shop.
I'm like, oh, use toast, use toast. So that's kind of why I chose it because I use it. And then also I thought creatively, it was a great example of a brand that's working well, but still has room for opportunity for growth. I love that I've used toast as well.
Big fan. Big fan. Great product. I'll digress.
You go for Courtney. Okay, so let me just move us over here. So just a quick overview overview of toast. Toast empowers restaurants of all sizes to build great teams, increase revenue, improve operations and delight guests.
Toast pairs with a deep understanding of the restaurant industry with a powerful cloud based software and restaurant grade hardware to deliver an intuitive all in one platform across point of sale, guess marketing, digital ordering, ordering and delivery and payroll and HR. So the funding posted is at 962 million the industry is software development. They were founded in 2011, which makes them around for 12 years. Their annual website visits are at 2.4 million and then the programs today that I'm going to be walking through our email their website and social and I'm going to start with the website and then I'm going to go into the email and then the social for order.
And then for the website, I'm going to actually just walk us through the website and then I'm going to do a recap of some of the pros and cons and again stop me at any point, if you have anything to add. Agree, disagree here for it all. So. Okay, can everybody see my screen?
Okay, cool. So when you first go on to your website, you see a video and as a creative or somebody I'm like, oh, this is awesome. This is something that we tell a lot of our clients like video really resonates well and it's really a good way to grab the attention within the header of the website. You also see that it's very sleek.
It's very clean. There's a lot of there's a branding element subtly behind here. Everything is working very well, very easy to digest. And then we have the headline so built for restaurants built for you.
The tagline is quick to learn and easier to use toast restaurant first platform is built with you in mind, which is great. It invokes that emotional Residents with the page it speaks to you. It speaks to your restaurant. But there is something that I wish that they did a little bit more and is kind of play into how is it built for you.
Why is it built for you. I know that there's a video. And if you watch the video, the video chef kiss it goes through everything perfectly. It explains toast.
I know exactly who they are what they do. But it's I think it's very important when you jump on a homepage to know exactly what it is off the first glance because if I just took a look look at the video and headline I wouldn't know. So I think that they're really missing the opportunity to educate here, although I do think that they're doing a really good job by breaking it down so you can easily digest and understand Another thing to that stood out to me is where do I click I jump on I see get a demo I see check out our starter kit and I see the video. So I have to choose.
I think that that's another thing kind of complicates it would simplify it a little bit. So it's easier for the viewer to digest and click on one or the other. That's a really great point Courtney. If I could stop you there like that decision fatigue on the CTA is it's pretty intense.
Check out a starter kit. I could see pricing. I mean, yeah, you've got one and even the login at the top. I don't know you feel about this, but I always feel negatively about having like a big login button.
Right, because I'm like, how many customers really like log in by going to the website. You typically have a bookmark or, you know, it's it's on your browser or some way if you're actually like a user of the platform. And I've always thought I don't have any data to support this. But I've always thought that it was just wasted real estate for something that probably is useless.
What do you do you agree with that or like, what do you think about that? Cassie, curious to get your thoughts to for more like a business kind of strategic standpoint. I like Courtney go first. Okay, I was going to say I think that that's a great call out and I think that's a great point.
And that kind of when you see a login, I'm almost like, is this the homepage, like, am I on the right page. So I do agree with you. I think that it is a little misleading. I feel like it is taking away, distracting.
And it's also when I get to the homepage and I see login, I already feel like I'm a step behind because I'm not set up to log in yet to. So I think for the user experience, I think that it is a little jaded and it is a little like out of place. Yeah, and then like the search restaurants even hidden CTA up there next to login. What does what does that even mean?
Right? Search restaurant? What am I searching? You know, so definitely some CTA fatigue here.
Yeah, my reaction on the login would be they should know very clearly. They do know very clearly. They should be there. The question is, have they taken action on that?
So for example, your point, Carl, if it's not getting a lot of activity because people have a bookmark or they go into the mobile app or whatever, then I would definitely de-emphasize it. For some reason, if it is your home screen for this page, your home screen for the app, which would be odd. It's getting a lot of traffic to maybe do leave it there. Your point on search restaurants is a great one.
I actually can't even imagine what that means, actually. And I would say the thing to stick out to me is I see your point, Courtney, on the the hero is the copy is good up until toast restaurant first platform. Like I just makes me cringe. Like everything else seems very natural.
But the learner is easy to use. It's built for you in mind, but then we call it a restaurant first platform. So your point is probably the opportunity to explain a little bit more in plain English, like what it is versus like trying to slide in a word of phrase that actually probably needs nothing to the industry. Yes, I agree.
Definitely agree. So just to close the loop on this, I clicked search restaurants. This is a totally different thing. Like toast, apparently, is trying to compete with like Uber Eats and like other delivery services.
And so that redirects you to this site that is all about like, I could order a pizza if I want to have it delivered. I think that makes it actually works because it's like that's a totally different business model. Now you've like redirected me to something entirely different. So come on, toast.
I'm glad that you brought that up though because that is something that I called out within the entire page is that there is a ton of information and the organization of the information throughout the pages. I feel like it's definitely an area for opportunity. So it's interesting that we're seeing that off the bat too. So as we scroll down, one thing I want to mention too, and viewing a website, you really want to think about the experience for the viewer.
So first they educated us with this video, which was great. Now we go down and they're adding more value by explaining why other restaurants love to use toast, which is great. They have some really, you know, consistent icons in here. They're calling out some good important points that add value.
And then we go to this section here, which visually is a nice design break because the beginning of the page is mostly white. There's few splashes of orange. Now we're seeing a nice visual break with the orange and they're really honing into your experience and what is the right fit for you. And I'm going to actually navigate to one of these pages because I think that these pages are done very well.
And their organization is a little bit better than the homepage or working better than the homepage. So you go on to this page and you have the cafes, bakeries, meat, toast, you have some nice lifestyle photography, which is really great because that, you know, toast is saying that they're built for you built for your restaurant. But you're kind of missing the human field to the beginning of the homepage. So we have some nice lifestyle photography.
We go down the page. We have this, you know, really successful branding element over here. Then we have this deliver on the pie opening experience for your guests. That's super creative.
That's super clever. If you go through and watch the video, I'm not going to make us all watch that today. But I definitely would recommend checking it out because that language and some of that playfulness is in that video. And I think that if that video was sprinkled out more throughout the webpage, the homepage, as it is in this page in the video, it would be a lot more successful telling the brand story.
So as we scroll. One thing that I want to call out is I do feel like this is organized very well. I like that you scroll down and it is creating some sort of interaction. I would like to see it a little bit more interactive and broken out a little bit more because an example, you see this mockup right here.
You can barely read the screen. It's easy to start and grow with. But how is it easy to start with and grow with there is bullet points, but I would kind of like to see those visually shown And then the same thing throughout just kind of I think more interacting, like, especially with the product than what it is, would definitely help make the experience for the viewer a lot easier to understand Can I ask your professional opinion here? So if I'm hearing you right, and this is like an actionable takeaway, I think, in that what you're suggesting is actually a more intuitive and in depth kind of product explainer, maybe not a video, but they're kind of Putting here just like, you know, just vague kind of JPEGs of the product.
What you're saying is like, maybe show me some more like maybe like a GIF or something like that of the product being used and clicked. And I guess talk to me about your experience with like, does that work, you know, like, or how have you seen that work in the past or how would a team validate that that lift is kind of worth it, right? Talk to me like about ROI on some of that. That is actually a great question and I'm going to kind of divert a little bit because I have an example in the deck that I think sums up nicely to this.
Just explaining more of the UI and how if it's broken down, it's easier to understand. And I think that this is a great example. So I signed up for a demo with Toast and my research and I was taking to the demo page and then I was clicking all the buttons just exploring a little bit. And they came to this for scheduling a demo.
Now, it's something as simple as scheduling a demo, but I think that the UI is so if like very effective in this. It's broken down. It's simplified. I know icon of a calendar.
This is a calendar. We're going to schedule. Then you have all these dates in here. It's easy to schedule and then you have a person in here scheduling the demo.
So it's it's broken apart. And I feel like when you break apart things, it's easier for the viewer to digest. I feel like right now when you look at this right here, it's a lot to take in. I see the 56 points.
I see the check out at the bottom. I see all the images in there and kind of exactly what's happening in this shot. I'm not clear on. So I think that when you take it, simplify it, break it down and make it easier to digest.
Just like we do with our copy with the visual. That's when it has better results and people know what it's doing. What does a page show about the trust of my thousands of cafes, coffee shops? Yes.
So they have quotes in here like different customers, kind of testimonials or quotes that they've had in here. And basically they go through. There's different people where they're from. I think that this is a nice touch.
I also think visually the break of the purple is working really well here. We haven't seen this so far. And then again, to my point, we have a lot of information. So this is built for restaurants, built by people.
We have different points here. And then we go into solutions for every budget and then continuing with like all of this is very well designed and very well put together, but it is a lot to digest. And then continuing at the bottom and it goes more into that what we were just talking about separating apart the gifts goes more into this right here. We should let Lex on real quick and she had a comment here about their tone.
Lex, I'd love to hear more about that. If you can unmute. I don't know if Miles is around. Miles fixes.
Oh, okay. I'm unmuted now. Hello. Yeah, I was just noticing as we're scrolling on the page, there's, you know, these puns are funny, but they feel really inconsistent with the rest of their messaging.
So to me, I think it's clever, but it almost feels like a little bit cheesy and just distracting because of the fact that they're not really bringing that in anywhere else. So it seems like they're doing it just to do it rather than with some kind of like laddering up mentality. So yeah, I don't know. I'm just seeing a lot of inconsistencies in their messaging as we're scrolling down the page.
There's moments where it feels very transactional. There's moments where it feels kind of like a little bit more of a branded experience and I'm just kind of a little bit confused about what they're trying. What's already they trying to tell on this page? What is this page designed to do?
There's any messages. So that's just one thing I'm noticing as we're scrolling through at a high level. So Lex, whenever you're comparing these things, like, are you looking at like, are you saying, okay, deliver on that pie opening experience? That's funny and cute.
And this is like the restaurant. This is a landing page for bakeries, right? So they're trying to speak to a bakery. Are you saying like, well, that tone isn't aligned with like the images right above this H1 where you've got like a dude in some kind of restaurant.
It doesn't look like a bakery. Actually, it looks like a coffee shop, maybe. Is that what you're saying? Or you're saying it's just inconsistent with other copy on the page or both?
Looks like we're doing meter again. Okay, no, I'm here. Yeah, I mean, I'll start with the H1 here. Cafes and bakeries meet toast.
That seems like a very pointless headline, in my opinion. We know like we're on toast's website where, you know, I know that they're trying to make it clear that they're talking to cafes and bakeries here, but this just feels like a very wasted, you know, primary estate here. So for me, I'm thinking like, okay, they're being so just the Nella in this section right here. And then all of a sudden you get to this pie opening experience for your guests and you're like, okay, wait, what?
Who are you? Like, how are you talking to me right now? I don't know. I just feel like this, again, especially in this header section, this year.
Oh, it's just so ineffective in terms of letting people know what they're trying to accomplish on this page. All they're doing is telling me who I am and it just seems like a wasted opportunity. So then when you start getting into this more kind of silly toned messaging, it just feels really off base. And it just feels kind of like, yeah, I'm this overall.
It feels like fake personalization almost where it's got a couple of the points that are personalized, but like they didn't go like all in on really figuring out like how we make this page really vibe with cafes and bakeries, right? It just feels pretty hollow. And I'll answer a curious question. I feel like in this section, you know, cafes and bakeries meet toast.
I'm on your website. I'm meeting you already. That's the point of me being here. Tell me what you're going to do for me.
Tell me why I should meet you why I should use you. This feels kind of just like very redundant on some level and just kind of like a little bit of a duh moment. So in this case, I would just make this H1 speak a lot more to the experience that toast is going to give me as a cafe and bakery owner or what value it's going to bring rather than just saying, hey, meet me. I'm here.
You're on my website. So yeah, that's kind of how I would tackle that section. And yet for me, it just feels like you run into this a lot with copy in general. There's a lot of people who are just trying to be very funny.
And the way that they do that is just by throwing a couple of puns on the page and calling it a day. Feels like they're kind of mailing it in a little bit here with that. There's You know, having a pun on your site does not equal having a brand voice, a brand tone. It does not mean that you have that you know who you are and we were talking to.
And to me, in this case, it almost demonstrates that they really don't know because they're not consistently deploying that across their messaging. They're just throwing it in at random places kind of happenstance. So That's kind of more when I'm getting at there. It just feels a little bit hollow and yeah, kind of like a half-assed attempt to have some personality on the page.
And I think that there's probably just more effective ways that they could do that. Love the pun though. It's very clever. I like it.
I just wish that they had brought that ethos and more And just kind of had like a little bit more strategy behind it, which it feels like they're maybe lacking in here. Okay, Lex and Courtney, I am a knuckle dragging salesperson. So I have an objection for you here. Why does that matter?
Right? It feels so nitpicky, right? Like So from a creative standpoint, like again, talk to me about like ROI because it feels like a lot of work now. Right?
You said this is half-assed. So it seems like a lot of work to like whole ass this page And really like look at all the copy and make sure it's all like aligned with this tone. And that sounds like a lot of work. Like, is there really going to be like a major uplift?
What have you seen in your just experience? What would you say to again a half-grained person like me kind of challenging the creative team in that way? Because there's a lot of marketers and creatives that get that kind of pushback, right? So like, I don't know, would you address that?
More what I'm getting at is, you know, I'm not saying hey, they didn't try hard enough. They didn't work hard enough here. They need to go back to the drawing board entirely. What I'm getting at is this reveals to me that there's probably a lack of understanding on their part of how to talk to their customers and how to communicate what they actually do.
These messaging inconsistencies are not a lack of creativity. I'm not saying, hey, you guys need to try harder to be more creative. It's more so do you really know what you're trying to accomplish on this page? Because as a user, I'm not quite sure.
So to me, the real work that needs to be done is figuring out how to talk about their product and how to make the user or the potential user care, which benefits someone in sales as well and kind of does some of the heavy lifting for you. That's kind of where I'm coming from. Not so much. Hey, this is boring.
Make this more creative and more fun throughout. But like, hey, figure out what you're trying to say and how to say it. Don't just throw a pun in just for the sake of throwing it up on. Does that answer your question?
Yeah, to a degree. I think it's still like, I think you're right. I agree with you. But I'm like, what?
Like, what? It really makes this page better in the sense that it drives more conversions, etc. I mean, they're converting even the CTA's right here. All over the place.
They have shop now and then right below that request a demo. I don't even know what shop now means. Am I an e-commerce page? I don't even, what is this?
Right? Am I buy tennis shoes or something? Can I buy some muffins right from this page? I don't know.
But I think for me, it's still the question of like, how would you as like a creative executive on your team be like, this is why we should do this. And this is like the lift in whatever that that KPI would be that we should see if we do this well, right? If we really nailed this. I think too kind of piggyback to on Lex.
I think it is about like what I said earlier when like you enter a web page, it's about the user experience. And right now I'm confused. And then also let me take it back to you to kind of, I think this ties in nicely on the home back to the homepage. So it's a user experience.
I want to know what you have, how I can get it in the quickest way to do that. But right now I'm kind of confused. I don't know which way and which direction to go, which I think in the long run will affect you and people converting and buying your product. And to kind of like stack that up a little bit, this is a little bit more of it.
So we're explaining, we have a user experience, and then we go into this. When I got to this first reaction was, what? Because I just went through this whole experience of learning the video, learning what so says, why restaurants love it, the right fit for me, and then I go back to what they're actually selling or what their products are, what they have to offer. Seems out of place.
So I think I would start, if I was to make tweaks or start with tweaks, I would start with a minimal and I would really just try to strategically place things on the page in the right order. So it's easier for the viewer to digest and understand. And then I would start to go back into the copy and the images and make them more relate to tell more of that story. Yeah, it feels like there was a couple points here.
It feels like there was a battle between the brand and copywriting team and product marketing as you get deeper into this. And I think that's part of the confusion in why there's so much information. This product is pretty cool, but it's not that complicated yet. It feels super complicated as I read through, you know, scrolls and scrolls of information.
And if you go back to kind of what they said at the beginning, it's supposed to be, they're supposed to make the restaurant's life easy and intuitive. And then you just regret, you just like blast me with a ton of information. This doesn't feel easy and intuitive anymore. It feels complicated.
Like what's all this mean? We got to read all this stuff to be able to use your product and buy your product. Show me why it makes my life easy. I own a restaurant.
I'm a small business owner. I don't have time to read this entire website. So I've been involved in any situations like the product team wants all their information, you know, 300, you know, 24 by 7365 support and talk about point of sale and talk about our billing options and all these things. They want all that information, you know, available on the website.
And there's somebody, you know, another team is like, listen, we're trying to make this speak to our voice. We're trying to make it simple and elegant and easy to use. And I think what happens is these two worlds collide and you get something like this. Yeah, I think there's kind of like an overarching disconnect between intention and execution, like, especially going back to that use case page on cafes and bakeries.
This is my first time seeing this site at all. So I'm not even sure really how we got here, but this to me feels like, you know, they needed to have a page on the site for this specific audience and they just kind of mailed it in as far as like actually putting content on the page. And so for me, it feels a little bit like, yeah, tell me, show me how easy to use this is show me how it makes my life easier as a business owner owning a cafe or a bakery. And that's what I care about if I'm coming to this page.
I'm not really getting that from this. I'm just getting a lot of yeah like kind of granular information that just feels like a missed opportunity. The one other knit I would say here is, you have a lot of like we talked about business owners that are out like running their business using toast. I would be sending a camera crew around and I'd be filming them all and I'd be using that in my marketing I'd rather hear from a cafe owner talking about toast change their, their business or transform their business then to your point likes like some imagery like this it's like, frankly, an AI can build that today.
So yeah, let's hear more from all the people out there like myself, who are using toast to kind of make a difference in their business. I will say in my research I did find a few ads of testimonials that they have run, and those were significantly so much more impactful than all of the social ads that they currently have out there so I definitely agree with that point that adding that real life people and customers into the mix is probably the best word to take. I want to hit this question from Sid it's a tactic but it's helpful as we're here for so he asked when we talk about animated product gifts and product images for website revamp which he's working on any advice for getting the design team a good storyboard or visual flow. And the reason I want to kind of point this out is one because Sid was kind of to ask it to us I'll start with us too like we want something short, snappy and impactful.
And then we talk about the product team who's like okay I should say these things and the creative teams how do you kind of bridge the gap on that language that they kind of get you what you need in order for to make something that's kind of compelling for a website, you know my never Courtney start maybe like skin. Yeah, so that's actually a great question I'm actually going to probably scroll to one for an example. So say if we receive the big product screenshot and we want to simplify it and make it into a gift. And then what I would think about is what are like what's either the top thing or top to things that you want this gift to do what do you want it to show.
And that is what I would that's where I would start make sure that you are incorporating for this one say you want to show the QR code that's the main thing. So I would take this you I shot and I would have probably the QR code pop up and then have the screenshot like pop up behind it. So I would lead with what's most important and then make sure that is clear and then from there I would kind of simplify a little bit. So if you have a big UI shot and you know there's one line that that's the highlight of what's happening.
I would kind of bump that line out you know maybe put some text in there or whatever you wanted to show, and then I would kind of mute the colors of the other lines and make them more like organic so they're not actually words they're just color bars that are like a late gray. So what the action or what you want it to show what is actually happening is the most prominent thing and is the first thing you see as soon as you see the image. That helps some I don't know if you have more to add likes. Well Courtney definitely helped me.
Yeah I mean I think that that pretty much covers it but getting into this you know these kind of little buckets over here. This is kind of what I'm talking about there's just like a bunch of random copy here that seems so pointless and confusing I don't understand what they're trying to accomplish here. The entire easy to start using growth section is just random nonsense to me and kind of blabber so yeah I don't know I just feel like there's a lot of wasted space on this page. I mean even under the even under easy to start using growth like you know quickly order know what your customers will be best.
They're making it so more complicated so yeah Carl to your point of like it seems hard to create a better page. I think they spent a lot of time making a really bad page that they could have easily you know one person really knew what the goal of this page was and was you know given the freedom to just run with it and bring it to life. It probably would have taken way less time I'm imagining that they probably spent a lot of time on this thing and I'm not quite sure what they're hoping for with it. I'll grow in the pen and paper perfect that complex cup of Joe with a digital ticket I have no idea what that means.
And then another point to add on to that if you take a look at the actual product shot the UI on that looks like somebody is like total for like a bill. And like I'm missing that's a complete disconnect with that copy. I mean I know that copy has room for opportunity to but also like I feel like that's very important especially with a web page to make sure all the images are using somehow tie into that copy. And this one right now seems very disconnected.
These are the hot takes that I signed up for Cassidy I don't know about you but I came to this page and I was like this a pretty good page now I'm like dang if Lex says it's not a good page and I'm out. She's right though I mean I guess like I don't know I like the bullet points of like explaining what it does okay the ab run the pen and paper is you know that's a useless bullet point they probably just needed three and they can only think of two and they wanted to be consistent. But I don't know it's kind of listening out like outcomes or features I guess like explain like what is it's answering the question like what does toast do for you. So I don't know.
Yeah I would push back Carl you're not reading these bullets. This is like a presentation 101. You're going to have a bunch of bullets and you have multiple lines on each bullet and you have a hands in the sentence. Nobody's nobody's you're you scan websites you don't read it like this.
Yeah, and so like this is a take 75% of the words out of each one of these bullets and you might have something. Yeah I second that. I don't know protect margins with Commission free online ordering. That's all right.
That's one of the better bullets but like so many of these other ones could be are either just there as fillers or are yeah like defeating the purpose of them even being bullets. I think that's it. I think that's a key there's a lot of there's a lot of filler there's a couple of good stuff he does like a few good notes here and there but there's a lot of filler. So, and can we just be honest here like this computer that they use it just as ugly like it looks very like not modern it's like where like who has like a black backs computer anymore.
Usually it's like some slick apple or something so there's like some little little things but all right. Yeah, my one takeaway just again and have some empathy here is like this is pretty hard in general like we all make these mistakes like this is a company's raised a billion dollars and probably has the best. The best town in the world may still can't get this nailed down so it's a. I think we all think design copywriting being clear to your customer is kind of easy it's a formality.
I think this is proves it's one of the harder things to do. Yeah, it takes a village. Back to the homepage to go a little bit further down again there seems to be a lot of information customized solutions built for you. And then we have the video replaying again which I think takes away from the value of the video at the top is a bit repetitive we could short in the page.
And then we have some logos here which I know a lot of companies do that you know sometimes it is nice to see ones that you personally use in there to create that relationship with the product. Give or take but again that could probably you know replace the video the video seems repetitive and then schedule a demo we have this again and I think that this section here ties into all the points we're just talking about regarding the imagery on we have this you know we have the product which I understand but again it looks like it's a signature part when you pay. Which I love because it does the tip for you and it makes you know some of the guesswork of that taken out which is helpful but it doesn't relate at all to the demo and then along with the design element here we just have you know the pattern orange which I get on brand but it's not adding value to the get a demo part it's not making me want to sign up for a demo with this imagery. Also this would be another great example of if you're working with those animated gifts or you know creating some interaction.
This would be an awesome area where you could have stuff like popping up out of the screen to create create create more like drive to sign up for that demo. And then I'm going to head over to the email. Let me just over here. Okay, so for the email I just did a quick demo get a demo sign up for an email super simple and not signed up for the emails but I think that this is very effective for kind of going back to all the things we just talked about on the website.
The course story of the brand is missing in the email even though it is just a demo email it should have it in there. The email really should you know have value confidence in the tone should be consistent with the website and as we know there's a lot of inconsistencies with the website. You know going through here it is easy to understand it's simple it's short straight to the point but there is an opportunity to educate the educate you more about the demo maybe add the video back in maybe some of those testimonials. I think that would be a great area to leverage that.
They also have gone back to their bullets which again we just discussed I do I do appreciate the timeline today this week this month I think that's organized very well. But other than that I think it definitely is lacking schedule your personal as toast demo I get that you have that here but there probably should be a little bit more information about that see why 500 set 57 K restaurants choose your partner with toast. Where am I going to see that there's like a few things that are just missing more links or more information are definitely needed in this part. Any questions or comments before I go to the next half of the email.
I think Sarah had a question she said where would you put the core story of the brand in the email. I would I would form email kind of again like the website like an experience like I wouldn't use hate Courtney I think that that's a little cliché I would change that out. Welcome to toast and then I would say thank you for your recent download. And then kind of like have a little bit more of the story and then probably add them in there either before before the what's next probably after the what's next to kind of drive home a little bit more give a little bit more like information context to read before your demo so you are caught up to speed when you've got on your demo and you are educated a little bit.
I would agree with all that feedback I will also say I think most of us don't do this very well like this is actually pretty decent. And I think your your inputs are actually very good like we should be doing more with this. Hey you signed up for a demo here's what you should do between now and when we meet. And here's what you should expect, etc, etc.
But hell we're guilty of not doing this very well at least Carl is, and I think everybody has room for improvement here. So I like meet my rep as a CTA. It took me a second to like figure out like what that means like meet my rep is just going to take me to a landing page is going to show like the sales rep and like their history or something or what and then I was like oh it's it's the book of meeting. Because you don't like so I took me like a second because I'm slow right and but little stuff like that like you're not used to it as a user I'm not used to seeing meet my rep I don't want to meet my rep anyways like I actually really not talk to a rep right I'd rather I want to book a meeting to see the tool book a demo whatever it is because I'm assuming you got this after you've downloaded.
Yeah you requested a demo. So it's not opposed to the demo so I didn't know that's what that meant I thought it was like a little picture of Carl for example introduce me to the person that's what it's going to do that's the one tweet that anyone can make to like increase win rates today is to just like have random pop ups of my face on your website. But yeah again to your point Cassie it takes you a second to be like oh that probably opens up a chili Piper link or something like that to book a meeting. It's not immediately known or obvious.
So also I always think it's funny when vendors say like will be well on your way to outperforming your peers by 10 to 30%. Well, except if they use toast right then technically I'll be performing the same as them. I never like claims like that brands make about peers because you know six cents does this a lot right they're like all this access to this data very quickly I'm like yeah but everybody's using six cents so it's actually not a strategic differentiator anymore anyways I digress. Alright sorry Courtney keep going you're doing great.
So to go to the bottom of the page again very short email which I appreciate but then I also would want more. So we have the get ready to get started and again we have a 60 minute demo a 15 minute demo I think across the toast site there's way too many buttons and options. I think that consolidating the options is probably the best way to take because again I am getting confused and like do I need 60 do I mean 15 like what which one do I choose. And then also I did think they did a good job by calling out some relevant stories or blog articles to share.
I think that this adds value if I was going to do a demo and I was a restaurant owner I definitely would want to check out you know different customer stories or the floor plan templates. I think that that adds value to it. And then I'm glad that you called up the the rep button because I did and this is what I referenced earlier I do think that they're doing a really good job edges this is a just one more thing and then they're kind of prompting you the user experience on this page I think is done well. And then I'm going to create a demo and that's the imagery is really tying back into that very simplified you I shot.
I think this page is done really well just three steps three bullets of what to expect next next short straight to the point. I this was a little nugget that I didn't expect to find that I thought was working really well. So Courtney what was it for here you signed up online they sent you an email and then you booked the meeting. I did not book the meeting but I clicked the rep button.
Okay. At the top of the email and then this that took me to this page. I would love to just see this is nice I just love to see this website level. Like I signed up the website I put the meeting there and I'm done.
Yeah, this is I thought this was done very, very well and I wish that this was like incorporated in the main website, especially the homepage. We know this by our data and we know this by Kaylee if anybody wants to ping her afterwards on the data but like the idea that you sign up and then you get an email and then you have to book the demo you're going to lose 30 40% easily of your volume by having those many steps versus just pop this nice looking thing up on the website and let Courtney book right away. And then this is just a recap kind of what I was talking about the messaging pros it does bring value to the customer it lists out the next steps and a timeframe. It does offer blogs that add value to someone who would be looking to demo toast.
The email does a cohesive with the website using the same color palette icon illustrations. It does use iconography and photography to make the content more easily digestible. And then cons the core story is in present I feel like it's lacking personality they're using that cliche welcome and then someone's name would like to see some more messaging that adds the value. And then the design cons I feel like it is lacking fun and inviting feel it just feels like a cold email from the design side I think that we could definitely benefit with some animations or more visual illustrations into like what's next in the next steps.
And then I'm going to get into the paid social. So these are three ads but I'm actually going to navigate so all three of these are actually animated. So I'm going to just quickly go through the animation and stop as I go to recap some of the pros and cons. Can everybody see my screen.
So this was the first that I took a look at. There's a lot going on in this one I feel like. So as you see it is built for restaurants built for you. Again, it is really missing the why why is it built for restaurants.
Why is it built for you. I understand that it's giving the value and it's telling you what they offer but it's just when we create social ads we really want to make sure the company is core story is top of mind and it's easily digestible and you're educating your viewer. So I just know that you're built for restaurants and built for you about how I feel like that this one is lacking a little bit and also I'm going to pull out and I'm going to actually look at this presentation again real quick because this one in particular I took a look at the post copy to. So the post headline says pick and pay only for what you need.
Nothing you don't build for flexibility today and tomorrow. So we're built for flexibility today tomorrow we're also built for restaurants and built for you. The messaging is definitely very repetitive. It's not telling a story on there's definitely another way to position this also lacks great curious here thoughts on this one.
And then also from a design standpoint, this one does do a better job. It is this is what I was talking about with the gifts like simplifying and like calling out little actions that are most important. But again I do feel like it is a little you know we could have the button move at a different point or a different area. And they're just seeing like new order from a person.
I would kind of flip that hierarchy. And when I say that I mean it says delivery and then from let me go back into this. So you open this up. So if you go you see curbside new order from Sue Smith.
The first in the jumps out is new order from Smith, which is great. But if you go to the next one and you see. Right here new order from Jen Wilson, the new order from the person is the primary focus. That's the first thing you're seeing.
But what do we want to see the takeout or the delivery. I think that that's really the impact of the system. It's doing all of this together in one place. But the highlight is on the person.
So I think that there's a few little things here and there that definitely could drive this home. But definitely I think that they miss a mark with the copy and then also with the visual tying back. And then again, there is a few design tweaks here and there. I know that there's text in the background and it's kind of getting a little lost not really adding value to the ad.
Any thoughts or questions or comments on the first one. I'm curious if you're targeting this too, because yeah, from my perspective, not knowing really anything about toast this tells me nothing about them or what they do. So I'm curious like, you know, who is this, who is getting delivered to you know what's the intention here. I don't know what the product is actually doing or what yeah, what I should care essentially.
Yeah, my takeaway is this is a competitive market and it's going to be anybody's end. Yeah, any other competitors. I agree. I really honestly can't stand the angle of an iPad to I don't know if anybody else.
It's not legible too, which is another thing that I think is super important, especially with UI shots is to make sure that everything is legible. If it's not legible, probably a remover or muted a bit. But definitely this angle just yeah is not almost like they're trying to hide something. It's like you do like it feels like you're deliberately not wanting to show me like just a squared up like screenshot of the system, you know, like because it's such an absurd angle.
Anyways. Yeah, the irony of this is as a user when I'm ordering from a restaurant with toast, the ordering experience is amazing. Yeah, it's super easy compared to like most websites or calling up and talking to somebody on the phone, which is a nightmare. And they're not kind of showcasing that for generals in here.
I think it's miss. I agree. Totally agree. To go into the next one.
Let me screenshot here a little bit. So I picked I picked this orange one here. So I want to stop real quick. It seems like they're using the same imagery throughout a lot of their website and their ads.
This seems to be very repetitive. Overall, collectively looking out the orange white text with underline and this image of the when you're paying and tipping seems to be repetitive. And it's not adding any value to the ads. So I just wanted to mention that I'm going to roll through this one again.
I think it's very similar to the last one. This one does do the bill to flex your needs get started today for $0. I have a car that loves here. He thought some of those ads.
I know when I see that I'm just like, Oh boy, it's definitely lacking the value and not educating the viewer. So yeah, those are kind of my thoughts on this one. Curious to hear yours as well. Does it communicate anything compelling to me in the feed, right?
If I'm scrolling and I see this thing flip around like the Cassidy's point before it could be any point of sale provider and it's like built for restaurants. Yeah, like no shit. I mean, I know that like your toast like your, you know, your category leader. So like, there's so much familiarity likely that most restaurants probably know that toast is like kind of like a premium product in the space.
So I'm like, why should I take any action? They're not, they're not explaining why change like why should I change? Why should I do anything different than what I'm currently doing today? None of that is is communicated.
And so I'm going to keep scrolling and they likely don't really see much conversions or any revenue that's driven from this advertising. I'm always I'm perplexed why they keep showing this image. Yeah, because like listen, like I can go to the farmers market and the little person in the in the stand has a dongle on their phone that does this and they probably got that for free from 18th year something it's like, or swear. I don't know why this is so compelling.
This is like par for the course for all of us. We order on our every place you go has this. It's also funny because this, you know, additive situation screen here has become such a meme right now that it almost feels like a negative image culturally so it's just kind of funny that that's really what they're pinching their entire visual identity on basically. And they're not showing anyone using this product and having a great experience.
They're just showing the thing we all hate. Yeah, this is the worst part of the experience. Exactly. The part where I feel morally conflicted about giving a tip when like nothing like nothing was really done for like I just ordered the counter.
Exactly. You're heartless, Carl. You're heartless. Courtney, I was hoping you were going to put your own leave a tip screen at the end of this presentation for us that for us to tip you but I also had a question about the the thought and the as I deal with a lot of typography.
I think the underlines kind of lazy. I don't know something about it really doesn't like another trying to make it pop in like that's like the bold part of the thing but is there anything else is like a designer you would have done instead of like the just kind of simply underlining the end of each sentence. Oh, yes, there is tons of things that I would have different routes that I would have taken. I think one thing that's important with ads is that when we design ads and they're in a set that they're all significantly different.
I think that's the underline. I agree. I think that it works. But I do think it is a little bit lazy.
I also have noticed that it's throughout their entire branding. So I think it might have been a brand decision. But some other alternatives is I would definitely start to incorporate their other colors or other colors are really pop, especially that purple on the customer testimonials section. We could incorporate that.
We could change the background, you know, if it was a white background, we had purple text and then the pop of the orange that would work to if restaurants was orange. We could play with different blocks behind it. Even if it was a shorter headline, we could, you know, increase the size of restaurants to make that stand out more, maybe create a thin stroke on it and knock it out and have that pop that way. There's tons of different opportunities, but I do agree with you and that is a good call out because that is consistent across all of their branding.
So, that's awesome. Yeah, I appreciate it, Courtney. And myles, no underlines on Chris's content. I don't think that will go well.
I mean, it does work in some cases. Yeah, now I got to test it. So, but it looks like we're up on the hour here. Yeah, that's up.
I think that was comprehensive. Thanks for picking, so I think I love going through brands that we all know and interact with. And then to your point, like you pick somebody who's crushing it. But yet there's a lot of room for improvement.
So I love it. I think we may have to send it over to them, Carl, but we'll take that up offline. With everybody. They're either going to try to hire Lex or they're just going to black list her.
So we'll see what happened. I'm going for black list. Yeah. We're going to find out.
Thanks, Lex. See y'all. Bye. That's a wrap.