Top 5 Things a Professional Website Should Have

Plenty has been written about how to setup an effective website, from designing a home page to effective SEO management and employing promotional lead-generation tools. But in thinking about all I've read and written on the topic, I’ve boiled it all down to five amazingly simple features and sum it up this way: be direct and to the point.

1) Simplicity – How many times have you gone to a website that was so full and so complicated that you became tired touring and clicking around? Too much hyper-interactivity without a defined purpose is just activity and sure to turn off visitors. One simple message is easy to understand, easy to use and, best of all, easy to purchase.

2) Design – With literally hundreds of millions of active Web pages available, it's essential that yours be well designed. Good design attracts a person’s attention. This seems so obvious, and yet there are millions of websites that have skipped this essential ingredient to success.

3) Communications – Another key to a successful website is to establish a conversation with your visitors. A weekly or monthly enewsletter allows you to stay in front of your visitors and allows them to let you know what they think about what you have to say.

It's essential to establish a voice in your market. But don’t be too loud, by the way. Be very sure your message truly represents who you are and what your company offers.

4) Opt-in – A lot has been written about collecting data on visitors as they download your information or play your videos, etc. With all of the research we’ve conducted, there is much evidence to support that you are better off giving away quite a bit of information without asking for any from your visitors. This seems to encourage increased visits and requests, which are many times more meaningful than trying to push visitors into action.

5) Be responsive – I admit this is somewhat of a gripe of mine, but it never ceases to amaze me when a company receives a request of ours and does not follow up. The company probably got busy with something else and just forgot about our request or it received so many it had no way to process them. Either way, it lost a potential customer and that’s never a good thing.

Suffice to say, it’s important to communicate your interest in all you do and follow through with all of the promises you make in your marketplace.

Source:  Tom Marin, Printing Impressions 2012

WHAT'S IN YOUR MAIL?

Does it seem like your direct mail ideas are less than creative, or maybe your response rates aren't quite where they need to be? If so, it's time to shake things up and try something new.
Direct mail comes from nearly every organization, which may be why its response rates keep falling. But you can combat your declining response rates by thinking of new ideas for your next campaign. The trick is to think “outside the envelope.”

Even in this digital age, people are still bombarded with mail every day, most of it in standard white envelopes. Most people throw it out without even bothering to open it. If they do that to your package, you won't get your message out, which means less revenue down the line.

To break the cycle, make your mail package impossible to ignore. Here are a few creative direct mail ideas that'll get your mail out from under the bottom of the stack.

• Personalized MessagesYou see your name in the address on the envelope, but how often do you see it in a handwritten note? Probably never, but if you did, you'd definitely notice it, which means your mail recipients would notice it, too.
  
  Use a handwriting font to add an informal, personalized message to your envelopes, or go the extra mile and hire professional handwriting specialists to write on the envelopes for you. This costs more than the handwriting font, but it has an added benefit - because it uses real ink, skeptics who wipe it will know for sure that it's real. However you do it, a casually written, personalized note on the outside envelope increases the chances of the person opening up the package to see what you're sending.

• Thicker PackagesYou know what's in a flat envelope - usually paper and nothing else. But when you get mail that's wider than a millimeter, you always want to know what's inside. You open up thick packages, so you can bet your prospects will as well.
  If you want your mail to get noticed, place a promotional product right in the package. The possibilities are endless:
  • Key chains
  • Refrigerator magnets
  • Pens or pencils
  • Flash drives
  • Bottle openers
  • Mini flashlights
  Any product that fits neatly inside a mailbox and can be imprinted with your organization's logo can turn into one of those creative direct mail ideas that gets your package opened and increases response rates. Besides, the recipient will see your logo and company name every time they use that item!

• A Mail Miniseries
When a TV show ends with "To Be Continued," do you shrug it off? Of course not - you tune in the following week to see what happens. Apply that same principle to your next direct mail campaign and your prospects will be on the edge of their seats.

Most direct mail packages are self-contained. They make an offer, cover all the talking points, and have a call to action. But if you stagger that over a series of mailings, readers will be more curious about your final pitch. Tell a story over the course of several letters or postcards. Promise helpful tips and then offer only one tip per mailing, ending with your message. Emphasize that there's more coming later and your recipients will start reading the packages now.

When brands get personal...

Source: Ryan Joe, senior editor, Direct Marketing News

Successful marketing is about continual evolution. It's about being flexible with constantly changing consumer preferences, whether that means altering one's message to stay current, overhauling a marketing strategy in order to reach out to a new customer base, or pushing new strategies into new communication channels.

The most prominent instance of this latter example: Facebook commerce, informally known as f-commerce — the parameters of which are still being defined by analysts and marketers. Yet, the advent of f-commerce marks a clear transition in the way brands now approach social media. Whereas just one year ago, enterprises tentatively set up Facebook pages simply to indicate their presence on the site, now there is legitimate debate, reported on in-depth by staff reporter Erin Dostal, around using the social network as a medium to drive sales. The question of Facebook as a legitimate e-commerce platform isn't without its nuances. It's notable that while established brands, like JCPenney, might have limited use for Facebook as a sales channel, smaller companies like Hari Mari, a Texas-based flip flop company, has had 40% of its e-commerce traffic originate from its Facebook page.

Dostal writes that the small companies that benefited from a sales standpoint did so because they can interact directly with potential customers. It's a message echoed by Steve Thomas, CMO of Edible Arrangements. Thomas oversaw new marketing initiatives that sought to build continuing relationships with clients — one that allowed customers, in his words, “to connect emotionally.”

That a company like Edible Arrangements benefits from more personal customer connections is not a surprise. However, there's also a shift, as noted by staff reporter JoAnn DeLuna, as health insurance companies seek to reach out directly to consumers. The catalyst in the case of health insurance is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that requires uninsured individuals to meet basic coverage standards. This means that insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, which devotes the bulk of its marketing efforts on b-to-b endeavors, now must become more adept at reaching out directly to consumers. As such, they're investing in data to learn more about customers at an individual level — from basic demographic information to behaviors and lifestyle decisions.

The ability to reach out to customers in as many places as possible, and backing that outreach with analytics, is key for marketers going forward, said Yuchun Lee, VP of enterprise marketing management at IBM Industry Solutions. Featured as our Q&A in The Work, Lee detailed another key emerging channel marketers must account for: mobile. He discussed why it's crucial that brands leverage mobile buying tendencies and how those tendencies can possibly contribute to sales in brick-and-mortar outlets.

All of this ties in neatly with our Agency Business Report, in which we discovered that the availability of data positions digital and direct marketers advantageously. Brands might have access to data, but they need help structuring it and turning it into actionable intelligence. However, while copious data may be great, it's also important not to overlook the importance of creative.

12 Fast Direct Mail Tests for Cheapskates

So you want to boost your direct mail response? Okay, just start shoveling money into a few dozen tests and …

What’s that? You don’t have a big budget for all the testing you’d love to do? You don’t have time to run a bunch of tests? No problem.

One of the great things about direct mail is that, with just a little ingenuity, you can test quickly and on the cheap to improve your results.

Here are 12 quick and easy testing ideas for cheapskates:

Change your outer envelope. A new color or a different size may be all it takes to get people to take a second look at a package they’ve seen too many times. You can also try switching from a teaser envelope to a plain one or vice versa. And faux express envelopes are often worth a test.

Test a new letter. It can be an all-new letter from scratch. Or a longer version of your current letter with more detail. Or a shorter version with less detail. Or a modified version with a new spin on the headlines and opening paragraphs.

Remove your brochure. Believe it or not, response often picks up without that elaborate brochure. It may be that removing the brochure simply gets people to read the letter more thoroughly. This doesn’t always work, but as tests go, you can’t get any simpler.

Include a stand-alone reply form. You should be doing this anyway, but if not, try it. It doesn’t matter if another piece already has a reply form. This is just a test. And if it works, you can make further modifications later.

Insert a lift note. This is an easy way to overcome a major objection or highlight a key benefit. Just remember to keep it short and have it signed by someone other than the person who signs the main letter. If you have a celebrity or authority who can sign it, all the better.

Strengthen your offer. This is where you can usually make the most difference. All things being equal, the best offer you can make is a free trial. The second best is a money-back guarantee. If you don’t want to change your offer completely, try turning it into a yes/no offer, or a yes/maybe offer where “yes” is a purchase and “maybe” is a request for more information. Of course, sweepstakes can always add a lift, but your customer quality will usually go downhill.

Offer something free. It’s generally better than discounting your product and gives you the opportunity to use the magic word “FREE.” It can be a free gift, free shipping, free add-ons, free subscription to your newsletter or catalog, whatever.

Add a time limit. This almost always boosts response. You can connect the time limit to your main offer or to your premium. One easy way to add this to a preexisting package or mailer is to create a simple piece of art that looks like you’ve rubber-stamped the deadline. It should be ugly and realistic.

Highlight your guarantee. In a package, you should feature it prominently in the letter, brochure, and order form. If your guarantee is strong—and it should be—you can also create an insert or lift note that explains your guarantee in detail. In a self-mailer, you should place your guarantee on the primary selling panel and on the reply panel.

Build a package around your self-mailer. You’ll need an outer envelope, basic letter, reply form, and BRE. Add your self-mailer as the brochure and presto! You have a complete direct mail package. It’s not an ideal solution but good enough for a quick test.

Mail your print ad. Just print it, fold it, and insert it into a plain envelope with a little note that says something like, “I thought you would find this interesting” or “Try this. It works.” You might also try adding a BRE or reply envelope with a live stamp to help ease response. You may even try adding a reply form so people don’t have to cut out the coupon.

Try the two-step. First mail a postcard or small self-mailer offering free information on your product. Then fulfill requests with your direct mail package. Just make sure to modify the package with envelope copy that says something like, “Here’s the information you asked for.”

Contributed by: Dean Rieck