Faceflow

www.faceflow.com

Upon entering the site, I questioned exactly what it was. The graphics and introduction text indicated that it had something to do with video, but did not offer enough information above the fold as to why I would want to use it since I already use a video conferencing program.
The look and feel is a clean web2.0 layout, however, there is no navigation menu, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is being offered. The main focus area flips through three informational bits that tell you that you can use FaceFlow for video conferencing, group chat and to meet people. However, it does not state clearly enough that you do not have to download any software to use the program. This would be nice to know immediately.

Fig1: Focus Area - Needs a clearer message

The graphics in the focal area are of a decent quality, but to me, they are not clear enough to sell a user into signing up for the service. I would totally redesign this focal area, stating clearly that FaceFlow is a free web-based video conferencing service that requires no software download. I would design a single graphic that details this versus the three screens they currently rotate.
Also within the focus area, there is a link for a faceflow youtube video and the quality is good, but that still does not give enough information about what it is or why I would want to use it. The video immediately states that “FaceFlow is easy to use, sign up for free”. This is not what I expect in an introduction video. I instead expected, more details about what it is, why I should use it, how I can use it, THEN show me the sign up process.
Scrolling down the page offers some resolve to the question of what the capabilities of the program are but again does not offer enough information about what FaceFlow IS, or why I would want to use it.
The focus is obviously on getting a user to sign up for the service, but I personally do not just sign up for things that I am unsure of. It would need to be useful to me, and I just do not get that message within the main page of the site. As mentioned above, I feel that the main page content needs to be rethought out.

Fig2: "Why" is finally answered

I decided to click on the link under the instant messaging heading and was taken to a page that offered more details on the IM portion of their service. At the top of the page, I finally got what I was looking for on the front page – text that states why I would want to use FaceFlow. However, past that I was stuck… again, the lack of navigation was an issue. There was also a features link at the footer but that seems to come in a bit late.

Fig3: Navigation with SEO (not users) in mind

There is no Home button, so I usually click on a logo to go home, but it was not click-able. Scrolling to the bottom offers a navigation menu (mind you that it is different than the one offered on the home page) that did get me back to the home page, but did NOT offer me any clear idea of navigating around the site for information. The menu instead is created for SEO purposes and not for users.
I did click from link to link within the text areas of each page so I was able to view all of the pages in the site, but an average user would not think to do this. They would be confused and just leave. Also noted in my perusing the pages, the fonts used in the sign up buttons change three times, the visited link are the standard purple and do not fit within the scheme of the design, and the spacing of the footer navigation needs some attention – should be laid out as it is on the home page throughout the site.
Conclusion
I would guess that faceflow could be a good product to connect with friends using only a browser, but cannot sense that this would be a useful business tool.  However, with some attention to the details of their message mentioned in this review, FaceFlow could rebrand itself as an application that speaks to businesses as well as average users.

Popularity: 3% [?]
 http://www.sitecritic.net/2011/02/11/faceflow-a-web-based-video-website/