Five Ways to Increase Web Response Rates

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

1. People Will Click Everywhere

Web visitors are like Chicago voters, they click early and often. People will click on buttons, graphics, logos, anything that might be a button. Give them lots of places to click, and track the clicks you get so you can tell which ones are the “hot” spots.

2. Ask for the Sale Repeatedly

Make it as easy to order as possible. You’ll probably get the most clicks from the top few buttons, but add more (especially if you’re using long copy that requires readers to scroll down several times to read all of it). People may be ready to buy 1/4 of the way down, or 3/4 of the way down the page. Don’t make them work to find an order button.

3. Test the Wording on Your Buttons

Submit or Subscribe sound too impersonal and machine-like. Instead, try something that more clearly tells readers what they’re getting: Get Your Marketing Tips.

4. Keep Your Forms Short

Only ask for the information you absolutely need. It should be clear why you need it (such as an e-mail address and a name to send a newsletter, or a shipping address for a product). If you need to qualify leads to pass on to your sales staff, ask questions they’ll need to know. You don’t want them wasting time following up leads that aren’t worth the trouble.

5. Use Big Buttons

Don’t hide the order form or the product photo. Make them clear and obvious. A white paper or newsletter offer in tiny 9 point type won’t get clicked on.

Photo: cheesepicklescheese

Why Paper is Better Than E-mail

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Chris Brogan recently pointed out a marketing tool that will make your customers smile. He bought a book and inside was a card thanking him for his purchase, telling him what other kinds of books the publisher produced, and inviting him to get updates on future titles as they are published.

As Chris pointed out, it’s a thank you, gives helpful information about the publisher, and includes a call to action.

Since it’s in your new book, you’re likely to look at it and read it. Asking for his email address might have seemed intrusive (a way to send more marketing material). However, a card (or better yet, a bookmark) is an extra gift. People delete unwanted emails without thinking twice. Paper seems more important and personal, and people tend to save it. You can only see email, but you can see, touch, and sometimes (if it’s fresh from the printer) smell paper and ink.

Old cataloger’s trick: make your catalog slightly smaller than your competitors’. People tend to keep them, and stack them. Guess which goes on top?

Photo:shaun

Are You Networking or Spamming?

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

I got an email from LinkedIn Requests yesterday. Thinking someone wanted to connect with me, or wanted advice, I opened it. Turned out to be essentially a commercial. Someone I didn’t know, and had no contact with, sent me three paragraphs describing his business, how wonderful it was, and telling me to contact him. He went on and on about his shipping and logistics company – telling me how I could save money and all about his innovative ideas.

Trouble is, I rarely ship packages, particularly large ones. Nearly everything I do is electronic: web copy, brochures, letters are all uploaded via FTP or emailed. No shipping.

The email was impersonal, irrelevant, and unanticipated. I have no need for this person’s services, and frankly, I was annoyed.

So, before you hit send on LinkedIn or “friend” someone, think about it from their point of view. Is this for me? Or for the other person? Who gets helped by this?

Photo: the fang monster

40 Emotional Triggers That Will Boost Your Sales

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

Selling to businesses has some differences than selling to consumers. Usually, the lead time is longer, more people are involved in the decision-making, and generally (except for a house or a car) the investment is lower.

However, business customers are still people. And, people will respond to the same cues regardless of whether they are deciding to buy a software package or a lawnmower.

Victor Schwab (“Mail Order Strategy”) compiled the following list of 40 emotional triggers that influence decisions. It was written in 1956, but it’s still relevant.

Here’s the list of emotional triggers:

People want to gain:

Health
Popularity
Praise from others
Pride of accomplishment
Self-confidence
Time
Improved appearance
Comfort
Advancement: social-business
Money
Security in old age
Leisure
Increased enjoyment
Personal prestige

They want to save:

Time
Discomfort
Risks
Money
Worry
Embarrassment
Work
Doubts

They want to be:

Good parents
Creative
Efficient
Recognized authorities
Up-to-date
Gregarious
“First” in things
Sociable, hospitable
Proud of their possessions
Influential over others

They want to do:

Express their personalities
Satisfy their curiosity
Appreciate beauty
Win others’ affection
Resist domination by others
Emulate the admirable
Acquire or collect things
Improve themselves generally

Tapping into the right emotion (greed, fear, want) can take your message from just OK to truly gripping, and make a world of difference in the results you get.

How is the Cable Company Like an Evil Witch?

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?”

When I turned on my TV the other day for my daily morning news fix, I got a cable company house channel (channel 1) instead. This puzzled me because I never watch that channel, so I knew I hadn’t left the TV tuned to it. Curious, I changed the channel, waited a few minutes, turned the TV off, then turned it back on again. Back to channel 1.

Then I realized what was going on. The cable company is locked in a death match with satellite companies and phone companies offering TV services. They’re trying to counter the competition by pushing channel 1.

They’re running lots of commercials touting the fact that they have the channel and nobody else does. So, they’ve now programmed the cable box to automatically default to channel 1 when the TV goes on.

Trouble is (at least for me), I never watch channel 1. I have no idea if others do, but the point is I want to watch what I want to watch, not what the cable company chooses for me. Yes, I can easily change the channel, but why should I have to?

Like the witch in the story, the cable company is focusing only on what it wants, rather than what its customers want. Are you selling what’s good for you? Or what’s good for your customers? Are you differentiating yourselves with something your customers find valuable, or something they think is worthless?

Photo: dbking