Copyright 2002 Carol
Ann Waugh
About a month ago, I
embarked on an analysis of third party distributors for a client
of mine and in the process, I decided to visit a sampling of the
distributor's web sites and request a catalog. I was amazed at the
response I got so I thought this would be a good topic for this
week's i-Tip — how to be successful at white mail and inquiry
marketing.
I visited 21 web sites of companies that distribute educational
materials to the K-12 market and placed a request for a catalog,
wearing my substitute teacher hat in the Denver Public Schools.
As I expected, some companies made it simple to order a catalog
and others made the process not only difficult, but in some cases
impossible! Some companies made you fill out a form with loads of
questions about who you were, what you taught, how long you were
a teacher, you name it, and they asked it. Others were friendlier,
simply asking for your name and the address where you wanted the
catalog sent. And some, simply popped up a blank email message that
you could fill in with whatever information you wanted. Very few
of them had a "privacy policy" of how they would use my
email address (usually "required information" on the form
— so I put in fake information in that spot and wondered whether
this would "kick" my request out of the pile and I wouldn't
get the catalog I requested. And most of them also stated that the
catalogs would be mailed with 4-6 weeks. Sheeze! Have these companies
heard of Internet time???
Interestingly enough, the first of the requested catalogs arrived
the very next day! And, by the end of 2 weeks, I had received 16
of the 21 catalogs I requested. Now, what ever happened to the missing
5 inquiries? It got me thinking about how we handle these inquiries
and how they should probably be the number one priority for all
internal marketing efforts and I would bet you they are not. Some
companies obviously have a well-established procedure for how Internet
inquiries are handled — others don't. And I'm not just talking
about educational distributors either, since I've also had the same
results with educational publishers. The best companies are the
ones that tell the truth on their web site (we'll mail you your
catalog/information within 48 hours) and then proceed to execute
what they promised.
So, here are some tips on how to evaluate your own web site and
improve the process for your Internet visitor:
- Make it easy for someone
to get a physical copy of your catalog. Put the "Order
our Newest Catalog" button on the home page, top right
corner!
- Don't ask for "too
much" information. Just ask what you need to mail the catalog
to the person and offer to mail it to their home or school address.
- If you ask for their
email address, tell them why. (Confirm shipment, sign up for
special offers, free lesson plans, etc). You need "opt-in"
permission to market to them so be very clear about why you
are asking for this information.
- If you ask for their
email address, have a clear, easy-to-understand privacy policy
and put that link right next to the place where you are asking
for the email address.
- Audit your internal
procedures for responding to any and all emails sent to the
company from your web site. If "catalog requests"
get to customer service, what happens next? What is sent out?
Is it customized "thanks for visiting our web site"
or is it general "thanks for asking for a copy of our catalog".
Is it counted? How often is a report sent around and to whom?
Is the fact that this person come into your database through
your web site indicated on their data file? Are you tracking
the "life long" sales for this person?
To tell you the truth, I
fully expected to be inundated with follow-up marketing efforts
once I requested a catalog. I mean, here is a person who went to
your web site, gave you some information that shows they were a
qualified prospect, asked for a catalog, and is obviously in the
"shopping" mood. Wouldn't you expect some follow-up?
Well, I am here to report that of the 16 companies that did send
me a catalog, only one --count them "1", enclosed an offer
I couldn't refuse (a $5.00 off gift certificate) AND followed it
up a couple of days later with a personal "customer care"
phone call (Hi, I'm Rhonda and I'm your personal representative.
If you want to see any samples or demo disks, let me know and I'll
be happy to send them to you.")
Did I order from them? You betcha. Was it your company?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article was written by Carol Ann Waugh, President of Xcellent
Marketing, a marketing and new business development firm specializing
in the educational and library market. Xcellent Marketing offers
a variety of marketing services to help publishers increase their
revenues and profits from identifying new markets, providing critiques
of web sites and marketing communications such as direct mail, catalogs,
advertisements, etc. as well as developing effective traditional
as well as Internet-based marketing plans. Carol can be reached
at (303) 388-5215 or at cwaugh@xcellentmarketing.com.
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