It ok for Tazo to have a crappy landing page because they have excellent placement at point of purchase (aka. physical landing page). They have placement and packaging that converts, and built in defaults that result in sales. (eg. if you order tea you're ordering Tazo at a large number of coffee shops)
They also have excellent testimonials by having a large chain such as Starbucks serve their teas. Tea is generally an instant gratification purchase, and not something you'd wait 2 days to arrive over the internet. (Yes, perhaps there is an opportunity for a Zappos of tea, but internet retailing is not a core competency of Tazo)
If you're ordering tea from the internet, it's probably specialty and not something you can pick up from one of the hundreds of coffee shops you can find within a few miles of where ever you live. Hence if you are 'really really obscure hipster tea' then you need a good landing page, Tazo does not.
In the world of people who buy tea Tazo has the #1 ranking in terms of 'google for tea' (aka. starbucks). Designing a proper landing page and website will add almost nothing to their bottom line where as changing their packaging would have a much bigger impact, or sweetening the deal for distributors so the local mom and pop coffee shop is more likely to carry Tazo. People often forget that 98% of purchases are made offline. No one is going to order Tazo tea from the internet, nor will they decide to order Tazo tea the next time they are at the coffee shop because of a landing page. Therefore from the perspective of their bottom line their landing page is as good as it needs to be.
But how much would it cost Tazo to upgrade their landing page to be merely mediocre-but-usable? I would think that for a company of Tazo's size and success, the cost of doing this would be trivial.
Regardless of whether it affects their revenues and sales, they went to the effort of building a website, and then made it nigh impossible to get to.
At the very least, they're wasting a large portion of their investment in building a website.
Imagine if a tech startup created a physical bi-fold brochure, but then glued it shut. It doesn't matter a whole lot because it isn't mission critical for a tech startup, but it sure is a stupid thing to do.
All I get on my iPhone is a nice prompt to install flash, and no link to a non-flash version so I can't even comment on the horrible-ness of the landing page.
Ain't much better on the desktop - there's a broken javascript link to the front page. I had to look at it and type in the actual URL: http://www.tazo.com/tazo.asp?init=
ETA: Mind, this looks like a neglected old-school ASP site that hasn't been touched in years.
That's the point the OP is trying to make. Btw, on a browser with Flash, you get a popup with flash content instead of actual content on the main page. And the back button breaks (at least to me in Safari in OSX 10.6.5.)
>"It obviously plays zero role in their sales and marketing strategy. By the looks of things they're focusing on their facebook page rather than their website as their main online presence."
Does any of their packaging include the website address. Does Facebook link to the website? If either of these is true then they are using it as part of their marketing strategy. I don't expect much from a tea company, just an image with their product range and possibly a list of suppliers along with the usual boiler-plate and statutory obligations.
Are they a public company, trying to win investment?
I didn't notice their landing page linking to a Facebook page which at least says that they didn't tell the person in charge of the website that Facebook is their main online contact point.
I know people who would think that is good ... (Based on the fact that they think flash pages with intro animations are good, because they 'clearly take more work, and are so much more unique.').
It just says my patience will be rewarded with tea... I'm on an iPhone. I'm going to have to be patient for a very long time to get this tea. And I'm thirsty now.
As an amusing bit of background, the Tazo site was designed by Sandstrom, who have done some other doozies in their time: http://www.sandstrompartners.com/work/tazo
It's even more poignant that Tazo hasn't changed much at all in the last four years...
Yeah, this website is bad. But I agree with the comments that say it doesn't matter, because it doesn't. You are not Tazo's customer; Starbucks and other coffee shops are. Presumably nobody googles for tea and finds Tazo, instead they see it at other coffee shops, see it at trade shows, etc.
It Just Doesn't Matter. (Why have a website at all? No idea. They wanted one, did a bad job, didn't see it affect their sales, and just left it. Or something.)
Bzzt. I am Tazo's customer. I buy their products. If they had a great website, such that I could learn more about their products which I haven't tried yet, I might just buy more of their products.
[+] [-] fleitz|15 years ago|reply
They also have excellent testimonials by having a large chain such as Starbucks serve their teas. Tea is generally an instant gratification purchase, and not something you'd wait 2 days to arrive over the internet. (Yes, perhaps there is an opportunity for a Zappos of tea, but internet retailing is not a core competency of Tazo)
If you're ordering tea from the internet, it's probably specialty and not something you can pick up from one of the hundreds of coffee shops you can find within a few miles of where ever you live. Hence if you are 'really really obscure hipster tea' then you need a good landing page, Tazo does not.
In the world of people who buy tea Tazo has the #1 ranking in terms of 'google for tea' (aka. starbucks). Designing a proper landing page and website will add almost nothing to their bottom line where as changing their packaging would have a much bigger impact, or sweetening the deal for distributors so the local mom and pop coffee shop is more likely to carry Tazo. People often forget that 98% of purchases are made offline. No one is going to order Tazo tea from the internet, nor will they decide to order Tazo tea the next time they are at the coffee shop because of a landing page. Therefore from the perspective of their bottom line their landing page is as good as it needs to be.
Also it appears that their 'landing page' is: http://www.facebook.com/tazo?v=info and not tazo.com
[+] [-] angrycoder|15 years ago|reply
In chrome, you get nothing but a tiny bit of text with no option to continue to the main site.
In firefox and IE, you get a browser notification that the site is trying to open up a popup window.
[+] [-] lwhi|15 years ago|reply
The actual site is pretty engaging, informative - and involves some interesting navigation widgets.
Fixing the landing page is a no-brainer.
[+] [-] Umalu|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lukevdp|15 years ago|reply
At the very least, they're wasting a large portion of their investment in building a website.
Imagine if a tech startup created a physical bi-fold brochure, but then glued it shut. It doesn't matter a whole lot because it isn't mission critical for a tech startup, but it sure is a stupid thing to do.
[+] [-] ankimal|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] philwelch|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blatherard|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dholowiski|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Semiapies|15 years ago|reply
ETA: Mind, this looks like a neglected old-school ASP site that hasn't been touched in years.
[+] [-] samratjp|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ja27|15 years ago|reply
http://www.tazo.com/noflash.html
[+] [-] dagw|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbhjpbhj|15 years ago|reply
Does any of their packaging include the website address. Does Facebook link to the website? If either of these is true then they are using it as part of their marketing strategy. I don't expect much from a tea company, just an image with their product range and possibly a list of suppliers along with the usual boiler-plate and statutory obligations.
Are they a public company, trying to win investment?
I didn't notice their landing page linking to a Facebook page which at least says that they didn't tell the person in charge of the website that Facebook is their main online contact point.
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] smanek|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] younata|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Vivtek|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flip|15 years ago|reply
Is this how marketing is supposed to work?
[+] [-] Vivtek|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blacksmith_tb|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jrockway|15 years ago|reply
It Just Doesn't Matter. (Why have a website at all? No idea. They wanted one, did a bad job, didn't see it affect their sales, and just left it. Or something.)
[+] [-] Bud|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bobds|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Raphael|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] riffic|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cubicle67|15 years ago|reply
same market, but different approach
[+] [-] ryanjmo|15 years ago|reply
Maybe not...
[+] [-] Veera|15 years ago|reply
Now, how am I supposed to know this information, if my pop-up blocker has already blocked this page? :P
This reminds me an old joke where one person writes a letter to his friend saying "Please write me back if you are not getting this letter". :)
[+] [-] earino|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] chrismealy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] binspace|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] preek|15 years ago|reply