SMA April/May 2008 Newsletter

What percentage of web visitors scan?

We've know for about the past 15 years that direct mail recipients don't read their mail line-by-line, word-for-word. Studies found that about 85% of direct mail recipients scan. And finally, a study by Jacob Neilson finds that 79% of users scan a web page. Only 16% of web visitors read word-for-word. Are your web pages easily scan-able? Here's how to tell:

Read only those elements that really stand out to the eye. (If you squint at a web page, those elements that remain the largest are typically "scan-able.")
By only reading the elements that stand out, do you learn:
- Why should I buy yours
- What benefits will I get by buying
- Why should I buy now (or if lead generation, what steps can I take now to learn more?)

If you don't learn all of these things just by scanning, go back and rewrite your headlines and write some specific subheads to deliver this information to the scanning reader. Put all of your "next steps" (special offers, key involvement devices, etc.) above the fold, ideally in the right column, so the scanning reader won't miss them.

Wordsmithing: "Buy Online" versus "Start Shopping"

We reported a few months ago that a study of web site "action buttons" discovered that "add to cart" was more effective than "buy now." The conclusion was that "add to cart" implied less of a commitment -- visitors much prefer to just add interesting things to their shopping cart as they browse (and then decide at checkout if they really wanted to purchase everything). MarketingSherpa recently reported a test between these action statements for a cell phone provider:

Buy online and get free shipping
Buy online and we'll waive your activation fee
Start shopping now!

"Start shopping now" got 12% more clickthroughs than the "no fee" offer and 16% more clickthroughs than the "free shipping" offer! More proof that the actual wording of your "take action" copy and buttons can have a huge impact on results - and that lesser commitments continue to make for winning copy.

3 proven ways to improve web results

A recent email from the Direct Marketing Association reported:

Bringing in a dedicated web analyst can increase web site ROI by 900% - 1200% (according to Forrester Research).
Improving the usability of your web site can achieve 80% to 200% increase in results.
(Checkout our "Web Site Rehab" white paper for some usability ideas.)
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) improvements can result in 40% to 4000+% ROI.

To banner or not to banner (ad)

Since the Internet has been around now for about 13 years or so, our eyes have become very attuned to the look of banner ads. Most of the time, our eyes don't even notice ads on a web page - similar to ads running alongside an article in a magazine.

So how to break through the clutter if you're using banner ads? Don't make your ad look like a typical banner ad.

MarketingSherpa reported the results of a banner ad test of 3 sizes: the long vertical "skyscraper" (160 wide x 600 high) ad, versus the long horizontal "leaderboard" (728 wide x 90 high), versus the 300 wide x 250 "box" ad.

The "leaderboard" ad - frequently seen at the top of web sites (so frequently that most eyes no longer notice it) - was the least effective.

The "skyscraper" ad - frequently running down the right column - finished second.

The most effective ad was the smallest size ad! (It's also the ad size least likely to appear at the top of a web page.) The 300x250 "box" ad was 27% more effective than the skyscraper.

Conclusion: bigger is not always better in the case of banner ads. Make your ad look like less of ad, and more like a part of the content of the page. Create an ad that looks like an interesting involvement device or link - and you're likely to generate more clicks.

Improve your search engine position with PDFs
If you have PDFs on your web site, you can use those files to add to your overall SEO (Search Engine Optimization) effort. MarketingSherpa advises you can:

Add keyword and description metatags to your PDFs (just as you would to each page of your web site), by accessing "Document Properties" within Adobe Acrobat. Create a list of keywords used most frequently within the PDF, and a description explaining what the PDF is about.
Add links within your PDFs to allow viewers to access more information. Be sure to include the entire URL address, so viewers can still access the page if they've printed out the PDF.
Tag images within PDFs with ALT text using Acrobat. (Write ALT text to explain in words to search engine spiders what the image is about.)
Tag your headlines with the same metatags you would use on your web pages (H1, etc. for the most important headline, etc.). Header tags tell spiders these are important phrases on the page.

Non-Profit donor facts
The Direct Marketing Association reported these donor facts:

80% make donations online and offline
51% prefer online giving
Only 48% found non-profit web sites well designed (So the majority of non-profit web sites could use a "Web Site Rehab" -- see our white paper with our own "12-Step Program to Web Site Recovery")
74% say an email about how their donation was used would improve the likelihood they'd donate again

No surprises here. The best way to pitch donors is to ask them to donate for a specific purpose. So after the donation, reinforce that specific purpose - show them how much good their donation actually made. (And pitch the next specific purpose to continue their donation habit.)

EMAIL
How are you tracking email effectiveness?
Are you relying on "open rate" (the number of times graphics are requested from your email server) to indicate how many recipients actually opened your email?

"Open rate" has numerous problems, including:

All recipients viewing email within a preview pane (now estimated to be at least 70% of all email addresses) count as "opens" whether those recipients ever view your email at all. Some of those recipients might scroll to view your email within the preview pane - but for everyone who doesn't scroll down, they still count as an "open."
All recipients viewing email with images blocked will never count as an "open", even if they repeatedly "open" your email. That's because "open" only counts when graphics are pulled from the server; with graphics blocked, no "open" registers.
All recipients viewing email on a mobile device that receives only text messages will also never count as an "open".

But DM News recently reported some interesting results from ExactTarget. The email provider discovered that 88% of clicks resulted from emails ExactTarget was able to classify as "opened." What are the possible implications?

On average, 70% of your mail file using preview panes is showing up as "opens" whether they view or not. So, your open rate of at least 70% is likely overstated.
But those viewing email with images blocked and on mobile devices are understating your open rate.

So perhaps the overstatement and the understatement are canceling each other out.

Although a 12% error rate with the "open rate" statistic is a problem, it may still be worth tracking, just to view overall trends in your "open rate."

But you're looking for click-throughs. By tracking clickthroughs by each link and by the individual clicking each link, you can:

Identify the best placement within your email for links
Identify the topics/offers/products of most interest to your recipients
Track by each name in your database those offers, topics or products they have clicked on in the past, to further customize future email messages, and potentially, future web visits

DIRECT MAIL
Business-to-business list results: seek out Response lists
DM News recently reported that about 70% of all business-to-business data (individual names) is useless within a year.

If you're using compiled lists, you might need a list makeover.
1to1 Magazine reported the unfortunate story of Fairytale Brownies, a company that wanted to pitch their products as corporate gifts. An agency purchased lots of compiled lists and trade association lists for them, with many records not even containing an actual contact name.

Remember: compiled lists make sense when you are marketing within a tight geographic area - or when you've exhausted every other response list you could possibly use. "Compiled" on the business list side means the names have been gathered from public sources, usually Yellow Pages and trade association directories. The high changeover in employees (see DM News note above), coupled with the fact that the data in Yellow Pages and other directories can be 2-6 months old by the time the item is published, makes compiled B-to-B lists highly inaccurate.

Plus, mailing without a contact name should be reserved for those occasions when you really have no other mailing list choices.

Be sure to seek out "Response lists" whenever possible. Response lists contain names that have responded to a prior offer. The most accurate business Response lists tend to be magazine or newsletter subscribers, because the publication is mailed monthly to those subscribers, keeping the list more up-to-date.

Consumer Lists: targeting for a cleaning service
If you are using consumer compiled lists, try to move beyond income (the most inaccurate select on most compiled lists). 1to1 Magazine tells the story of a cleaning service that went beyond income and boosted its direct mail response by 46%!

Instead of just mailing to those with incomes over $100,000, the cleaning service targeted based on home value, length of home ownership, and the presence of children and pets - all much more likely to be reported more accurately than income level.

This monthly e-newsletter summarizes the latest Response Marketing findings as reported by MarketingSherpa, Direct magazine, DM News, Target Marketing, various white papers, and other resources.

Comments? Have you noticed any good or bad Copy examples lately?

Check out more copy reviews at blog.SMAresource.com

Email Karen at info@SMAresource.com.

Copyright Strategic Marketing & Advertising, Inc. April/May 2008. All rights reserved.
You may reprint or copy or distribute "SMA Resource April/May 2008 Newsletter" with this copyright notice included.