Thought experiment: I have dogs. I like to feed my dogs healthy, whole food. I don’t like to feed my dogs “meal”or “by-product” or “digest” or other such mysterious ingredients. That’s kind of like you eating a hot dog from a dingy corner store with a constantly flickering florescent sign. Okay in a pinch, but do you want to base your diet on food like that?
I also want to give my dog healthy treats. So I look for 100 percent meat treats. And I come across these Bravo Bonus Bites. Freeze-dried: that’s a good sign. Type of meat in name: also a good sign. Let’s check them out more closely.
The introduction: 4 pings
“Your pet will love the rich flavor of these all-meat treats. And you’ll love knowing you’re feeding grain-free, all natural snacks.” It’s all about what my pet will like, after my quality standards have been met. This first sentence is pretty successful. The second, aside from industry shorthand that results in a grammatical blunder (I’m feeding snacks? I didn’t know snacks could be fed.) is also successful.
Informative copy: 2 pings
Let me save you the eye strain. Under benefits, it reads:
“Try BRAVO! Your pets will cheer!”
The brand isn’t usually in all caps, so that’s a bad call. Two exclamation points! Also a bad call. The other text is relevant, but not about the benefits of this product; they needed to take it one step farther.
Under the description tab:
“Bravo! Bonus Bites Freeze Dried Venison Livers are made with the finest hormone-free, grass-fed meats, certified organic poultry, and fresh fish. The special drying process seals in maximum flavor and nutrition without using preservatives, so your pets get the healthiest treats available.”
Now, I know copy was written for all the variations of this product, but this is just confusing. Venison livers are made with meat AND organic poultry and fish? I don’t think so. By the time I got here, I had to check to make sure I was looking at the same product.
Effective images: 1 ping
I want to see a large, clear image of the bag. I want to see what the treats themselves look like. I’d also like to see close-ups of all the nutrition labels on the bag. I get none of these things, so I can’t verify that what’s written about these treats are true. Do you want to buy something edible from a website like this without that confirmation? I don’t. I’m including the one image from the page again here to reinforce my point.
What I’m buying: 1 ping
This is what I know about this product: It’s a 3-ounce bag. I don’t know how many treats come in the bag, what a serving is, how I’ll reseal it after it’s open.
Design: 2 pings
Ugh. Half the time I visit the site, a coupon offer pops up that I have to close. I need a better pop-up blocker. The information is too spread out. There’s a big block of white space between the price and shipping info and the tabs with all the information. And most important, those informative tabs fall below the fold. But they do have tabs, and a quantity selection, and an auto ship button that provides a pop-up window rather than taking you away from the page.
Also of note: They’re categorized under cat treats. These are billed as treats for pets, but don’t seem to show up under dog treats. Another reason to see the size and texture of one treat in an image. And that “made in the USA” flag in the image needs to also be in the copy. The information, not the flag.
Final score: 2 pings
If I were to buy this product, it’d probably be a case of reverse ROPO: research offline, purchase online for a better price. I have little doubt that the treats are high quality and worth considering, but am left with too many unanswered questions.
See the whole page
