I'm with you on the search option. Its on many sites and rarely if ever works really correctly to get you to what you are looking for. You may end up with 100 matches and have to open 98 of them before you really get what you want (or realize the search term you should have used).
I don't mind the new site but I pretty much know my Taylors pretty well. Not sure how it would be for someone looking for their first guitar etc.
Really the one thing that could be used on the site is "help me pick a guitar". Basically similar to a "pick your breed" dog site. Ask a bunch of questions and match up to the top 2-3 picks for someone. Then if you could offer photos and some sound bytes it may help folks narrow their choices. It could also offer dealers that may one those guitars in inventory and a mechanism to email those dealers from there to inquire.
-Dave
First, thanks Shannon for being open to discussion and working to resolve the website issues. Even in today's economy it is rare to run across a company today that truly does care what the customer thinks.
This is my particular situation - I am in the market for a 12-string. Now I am also a Taylor lover so it seems like a no-brainer. I am also an analytical CPA-type so my instinct is to gather info. I also know that the risk of buying guitars is that I am going to want another at some point - do I spend the big bucks now or later, basically.
That said when I go to the Taylor website I can get to the 12-strings and look at all the pictures (about 5 pages) and specs but there is nothing there that tells me why I should consider a particular model. Over the last year I have learned all about the different wood types but that's BC I have 2 Taylors now and participate in 2 forums.
I know that Taylor 12-strings tend to stay in tune, I know the different woods sound differently, and that alot of that is asthetics - I like Koa and Maple, others like other woods and sounds. I second the suggestion of a "help me decide" feature that would help me narrow down the choices. When I was in the market for my first guitar last year I did not have a clue as to why I should consider different wood types (whoever heard of cocobolo) and strings (why are there so many different kinds), and necks (size really does matter), and body sizes (again, the size thing), and etc. I actually kind of stumbled onto Taylors and almost ended up with a Martin. I also didn't know that the suggested price is just that - suggested. Many people do not know that prices are discounted to "street" and one may even be able to negotiate further - kind of like buying a car.
I guess it all kind of boils down to your target market - people who know Taylor can move around the site but new people may have trouble. I do go to Google but frankly, when a search on "12-string guitars" returns 1.2 million hits in 0.12 seconds - that's not helpful either.
My final point is that the Taylor website will play a role in my decision - but I am not a newbie, it's a good starting point as I can reference specs but when I consider spending probably thousands of dollars I'll have to get my info elsewhere.
Maybe a "connect to my local dealer" option would be good. Then I could look at the models on the site and send a message to someone who would then become my go to for more info, would entice me to come in to their store, I would then get to play models and have them played for me to listen to, and actually get one in my hands all while establishing a relationship with that store. My two local Taylor places have excellent staff that I interact with and I can call them and say "hey, it's me - I need some info....".
I have to say that as a newbie walking into GC or another music store I felt intimidated and when I walked into an acoustic room with hundreds of guitars, well....... If I already have communicated with a store I can come in and they'll say, "hey, glad you could come in, let's look at those 12-strings".
Sorry for the long post and thanks for listening.
