There’s an important parallel here with newsletters.  If you’re going to go through the effort of creating a newsletter, you want it to get read.  And there has to be a strategic business purpose for publishing a newsletter.

Here’s a great email case study from Marketing Sherpa.  Drs. Foster and Smith ran an A/B test to see whether a straight product promotion, or education focused with a product promotion would result in more sales.

“The winning design in both tests was information more prominent, offer less prominent. Remember, the informational call to action translated to a 15% increase in sales over the promotional offer.

The all-important landing page used shorter copy with a top image hot-linked to a product page where readers could purchase products relevant to the information. In a sense, readers were being pre-sold on an item with expert advice which further motivated the purchase.

Marketing Sherpa summed up the key takeaway as “Their audience responds better to relevant content than to a heavy-duty sales pitch.”

I think much of this learning applies to newsletters as well.  So, Here are some strategies for writing newsletters that actually get read:

1. If you have a large, more diverse audience, go with the multiple article format (like Grokdotcom).  Readers have the choice to read the whole thing, or cherry-pick the articles of most interest.   With multiple articles, there’s a greater chance a reader will find something of value for their particular situation.
2. If you have a more focused subject of expertise, go with the single article approach.   There’s a greater chance that one article will resonate with your more focused audience.   And short and sweet is a true winning strategy for today’s time-starved reader with an overflowing inbox.   There may be a greater chance they’ll open it up and read it since they know it won’t take much time.
3. Have a voice.    In our Soccer Mom Myth Newsletter, Michele and I are big believers in the use of humor.   Who doesn’t love a good laugh once in a while?   Roy Williams’ extremely popular Monday Morning Memo always has something profound to say and features Roy’s unique way of expressing his ideas.   Here are some tips on how to create a voice for your website or your newsletter.
4. Use a mix of “how to” articles and “wow, that gets me thinking” articles.    We all love articles or blog posts that give us practical tips we can apply right away to our daily work activities.    But also throw in articles that are designed to get people thinking, to help change their perspective or touch on a universal truth.   These types of articles are an incredible way to create an emotional connection with your reader.   It’s a great “how to” logical and “get me thinking” emotional one-two punch.
5. Use personal stories.   Yeah, I know, I’m a humanistic.  I’m a sucker for them.  But these stories help the reader to feel like he or she really knows you.  If you are in the services or consulting business, creating a relationship with your readers is the best way to promote yourself and your services.

What about you?  What techniques do you use to create successful newsletters that people actually read?

But what about the methodicals – those who want their questions answered BEFORE they jump in and take action?

I found two different online dating sites with these two different approaches to getting visitors to interact with and sign up with their sites.

Match.com – Their home page is pure spontaneous – one image (is it just me or does that girl look like she’s 13?) and one action you can take  - “start searching now, it’s easy” -  plus one special offer “Guarantee – find someone special in 6 months or we’ll give you 6 months free.”   The whole home page is designed for someone in spontaneous mode who just wants to start looking, no questions asked.

Compare that to Plentyoffish.com - Their home page is mostly methodical.   New visitors see a list of four points (numbered, which the methodicals loved) answering questions that those methodicals want answered BEFORE they take even one action on your site.   (They’re not going to waste their time looking around until they determine it’s worth their while to spend time on this site.) Here’s the text from the home page:

1. We banish anyone who is extremely rude, has anger management issues, uploads fake pictures or is otherwise unfit to date.

2. Unlike traditional Dating sites we don’t put a pay wall between you and everyone you try and contact.

3. Social Dating is all about giving you tools you need to help YOU find someone. Traditional Paid Dating sites care about the exact opposite, raising prices and trying to keep you around longer. If paid dating sites gave you what you wanted they’d go bankrupt.

4. We delete and banish scammers, it’s easy to do. Traditional Paid Dating sites have little interest in deleting fake profiles because they could convince you to pay for the service.

The only image in the active window is actually an ad for a different dating site.    Other than signing in, the only action you can take is almost below the fold where they do actually show you some profiles you can start browsing.

I did notice that when you return to plentyoffish.com, you see a different page that is now designed for the more spontaneous with profiles for you to browse in the active window on the home page.

So – which approach is more effective?    That probably depends on if you are more spontaneous or more methodical.    When it comes to love, I think Woody Allen put it best….

“To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you’re getting this down.”
- Woody Allen,

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson should have attended our course.   According to many analysts, he’s doing a terrible job of selling the bailout package to the American people.

MSN Money blogger Charley Blaine talks about the problem, and how he thinks, of all people, Jim Cramer has it right on how to put the bailout plan into plain English and terms people actually care about and can relate to.

[Jim Cramer says] The Bush administration — especially Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke — are doing a terrible job selling the plan, he says. And he’s right. They’re explaining it in terms only Wall Street bankers, analysts and economists can understand.

How would Cramer do it?

The plan, he said Wednesday, “is about keeping people in their homes. It’s about making sure banks have money to lend “so your kid can go to college.”

Indeed, he said, Paulson should be selling the plan as “Invest in America.”

Paulson talks about “unfreezing the mortgage market,” Cramer said. As an explanation, it’s out of touch with the reality that most of us deal with.

“The next time you hear Hank Paulson or any of the plan’s defenders talking about the plan freeing up commercial paper,” Cramer said, “just insert ‘Being able to buy a new car with a loan.’”

The administration should stop talking about “making banks whole from their own mortgage mistakes.” Rather, he said, “they should start talking about making sure there will be cash in the ATM when you need money next week.”

I say ” touché ” Mr. Cramer (even though you do yell too much for my taste).   Whether you’re a website copywriter or the Treasury Secretary of the United States – if you want to persuade people, you have to avoid the techno-jargon and speak to your customers in their language about what they care about.

According to a New York Times article, the opposite is happening - gender gaps are widening.

When men and women take personality tests, some of the old Mars-Venus stereotypes keep reappearing. On average, women are more cooperative, nurturing, cautious and emotionally responsive. Men tend to be more competitive, assertive, reckless and emotionally flat. Clear differences appear in early childhood and never disappear.

To test these hypotheses, a series of research teams have repeatedly analyzed personality tests taken by men and women in more than 60 countries around the world. For evolutionary psychologists, the bad news is that the size of the gender gap in personality varies among cultures. For social-role psychologists, the bad news is that the variation is going in the wrong direction. It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States.

Wow – what’s going on here?   I would have thought with so many women in more progressive countries breaking out of traditional roles, women would take on more traditionally male traits.    But the report has a different theory:

The biggest changes recorded by the researchers involve the personalities of men, not women. Men in traditional agricultural societies and poorer countries seem more cautious and anxious, less assertive and less competitive than men in the most progressive and rich countries of Europe and North America.

There are lots of other theories floating around, as well as challenges to the results.   But it brings up an important point for marketers.  You’re still going to have to be aware of male vs. female communication styles.   Even if outward appearances might suggest the two genders are coming closer together, the truth may be that they’re actually still far apart.

Jenny Nicholl disappeared on 30th June 2005. A linguistic analysis showed that text messages sent from her phone were unlikely to have been written by her but, rather, were more likely to have been written by her ex-lover, David Hodgson. A number of stylistic points identified within texts known to have been written by Jenny Nicholl were not present in the suspect messages. Instead, these were stylistically close to the undisputed messages of David Hodgson.

I have to tell you – the mere thought of a term like “forensic linguistics” makes my brain buzz.    I’m just enough of a geek to think that would be one cool job.

What we say, and how we say it, write it, or text it says volumes about who we are.

Why is this important to you if you’re a marketer and not a prosecuting attorney?   People respond when you speak “their language.”  Even subtle differences in wording or phrasing can make a huge difference in conversion.

I was working with a financial client recently, and we found the word “legacy” had different meanings for different people.   For some, it was positive.  For others, it sounded egotistical.

Ahh…the power of words.   Thanks to Jeff Sexton for sending me the forensic linguistic article.   I love Jeff’s writing and always find it insightful, even if he does use “thesaurus words.” 

Check out the video.

Editors Note: While we are talking viral videos, have you seen possibly one of the best “experiential” ads online?

OK, actually, we share a few things in common.   But one of them is an interest in technology designed specifically for women.   Too often, we see big companies who want to reach out to the women’s market, so they simply take an existing product and make it pink.   We’re both members of the “no pink phones’ movement.  But the difference between Ying and I is, Ying actually took action and did something about it.

Ying Cheng started LA YIN a company devoted to fusing High-Tech with fashion and style.

Amen sister.

I recently bought a way cool red laptop zip cover to protect my MacBook while traveling.   And talk about giving new life to something as dull as a USB drive!   I now have a snazzy new red USB drive with cool swirly things on it.   (Sorry Ying, I know I don’t do justice to your beautiful designs with my bad American slang, but “snazzy” is the highest praise I can give).

I asked Ying what it is that women want from technology products.  Here is her answer:

We want products that make our life (which is not always the same as of our counter gender) easier and we want them to be easy to use, not too intimidating. We also want them to look good, in particular mobile phones, music players and other personal devices – as these are equivalent to personal accessories, they are an extension of our own personal expressions.

I think the key point here is, yes, many women look at technology products as a personal accessory or a personal expression.  I think guys feel that way as well, to some degree.  But a man’s idea of fashion and style may differ from a woman’s.   Which is why I’m so excited to see more women taking matters into their own manicured hands and designing what they want.

LA YIN is starting with a few products, but Ying has plans to expand in the future.  She has a board of over 100 women from around the world guiding and supporting her efforts.

I, for one, love my new LA YIN USB drive and laptop cover and am planning on giving them out as presents and thank you gifts to help spread the word.   Why should I be the only one who looks fabulous with my stylish high tech devices?

While past elections focused on the key voting block of the Soccer Mom, now it appears there may be a new focus.  This year, we have a candidate who is a self-proclaimed “Hockey Mom”.

As a marketing to women enthusiast, and a long-time researcher of Soccer Moms, this is one of those marketing insight opportunities that has me salivating.  How will this “Hockey Mom” thing play out with voters?

One of the main reasons Michele Miller and I wrote The Soccer Mom Myth was to help companies and marketers break through the stereotype of the Soccer Mom to better understand who women really are and why they really buy.

We’ve found that women don’t like the label “Soccer Mom.”

Yes, Soccer Moms are terrific mothers, devoted to their children, driving them to and from sports games. But there is also a negative side to the term. Do you think Soccer Moms are incredibly technologically savvy? Would you seek one out for intellectual conversation at a cocktail party? Would you want one running your company?

Here’s the problem. Sometimes these biases are unconscious. That’s why they are so dangerous.

So do we now have a new stereotype?  I’ve heard of Hockey Moms before, but with Sarah Palin now calling herself a Hockey Mom, the term seems to be everywhere.

It’s always a little tricky to blog about marketing of politics without getting into political battles – so let me be clear I am looking at this strictly from a marketing point of view.

I am curious what the term “Hockey Mom’ brings up in people’s minds. When I went to Wikipedia and typed in Hockey Mom I was redirected to Soccer Mom. Hmmm…that’s interesting. Are they the same thing?

Dan Rodicks from the Baltimore Sun has some interesting insight into Hockey Moms.   He  points out this main difference:

Soccer moms get to attend their children’s games in the great outdoors, often in warm sunshine. Hockey moms rise early, in the dark morning hours of a winter Saturday or Sunday, and drive their hockey-playing children to an ice rink in time for an 8:00 am game, which occurs indoors, under the dim lights of cold hockey rinks.

Here’s my main question – when voters hear the term “Hockey Mom” will they relate to it? Will they have a positive connation? A negative connotation?  And how do they feel about a “Hockey Mom” holding one of the most powerful positions in the country?

I honestly don’t know how using the Hockey Mom label will affect the public’s perception of Sarah Palin.    I do think it’s interesting that so many of the news organizations picked up on that label.  Seriously – Google “hockey mom” and see almost every result is a story about Sarah Palin.

What do you think?  Will identifying herself as a Hockey Mom help or hurt her political image?  No matter what your political affiliation – you have to admit – this has been one of the most interesting campaigns from a marketing standpoint.    Fascinating.   I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

It’s an important and disturbing question.   There have been several studies done that show the negative effect of all these anorexic models on women’s self-esteem. But do those super skinny models actually sell more clothes?

Heather Strang at RetailDesignDiva.com has a fascinating article on the subject.  Here’s a sample:

Jeremy Kees, a business professor at Villanova had this quote to share: “The really interesting result we’re seeing across multiple studies is that these thin models make women feel bad, but they like it. They have higher evaluation of the brands. With the more regular-size models, they don’t feel bad. Their body image doesn’t change. But in terms of evaluations of the brands, those are actually lower.”

Personally, I don’t think Jeremy knows what he’s talking about, but it’s worth exploring. Why would something that makes us feel bad also motivate us to buy? We may need a panel of psychologists to figure this one out. Ultimately, though it puts retailers in a position where they can’t win.

I’d like to learn more about the study that found women have a “higher evaluation” of brands that use these thin models.    I’m not saying I disagree, but I’d like more details.   Since the top fashion houses are the biggest offenders with these size negative 2 models, perhaps women associate this look with high-end designer clothing.  I don’t know.

What do you think?

Is the strategy that men will want to talk to a pretty girl?  And women may be more comfortable talking to another woman than a man?   I don’t know.   But a recent study might provide some answers.

Robert Dooley at Future Lab has a great post A Pretty Woman Beats a Good Loan Deal.  He looks at a case study by a South African Bank trying to boost their loan business through direct mail pieces.

The experiment featured a rather dramatic range in interest rates – 3.25% to 11.75%. They also incorporated different features in the offer, including different descriptions of the loan, a comparison to competitive products, varied photos of males and females, and subtle suggestions.

There’s a lot of information in that study, but here’s the part that I found to be most startling:

“For the male customers, replacing the photo of a male with a photo of female on the offer letter statistically significantly increases takeup; the effect is about as much as dropping the interest rate 4.5 percentage points… For female customers, we find no statistically significant patterns.

Overall, these results suggest a very powerful effect on male customers of seeing a female photo on the offer letter. Standard errors however do not allow us to isolate one specific mechanism for this effect. The effect on male customers may be due to either the positive impact of a female photo or the negative impact of a male photo.”

Hmmm – interesting.  What’s going on here?   I don’t have any proof, but I’ll throw a hypothesis out there.  Male brains are still hardwired to facilitate their role as the hunter/gatherer.    They’re still programmed to compete to “get the girl.”    I don’t mean this to make men sound like cavemen.  But I suspect the subliminal message these direct mail pieces may be sending is:

“Here’s a way to get more money – and the prize is going to be this attractive woman.”

Or, maybe the photo simply got the men’s attention long enough for them to interact with the direct mail piece.

Another possibility, as the study suggested, was the possible negative impact of a male photo.  Did seeing another guy stir up feelings of competition?   I don’t know.  I hope there’ll be further research done on this topic, since, at least from this study, there could be a big effect on conversion.

So let’s turn our attention to the women.   They supposedly like “lifestyle images” and people’s faces.  Why didn’t the photo have any affect on their response rate?

I suspect it might have something to do with this important point by Roger:

Will slapping a photo of a pretty woman on your direct mail piece boost response rates? If you are marketing to men, maybe. Women seem to be much less affected by irrelevant photos, according to this test. That might be good news – women shouldn’t be negatively affected if a female photo is used in an attempt to boost male response. (Note that this test did NOT evaluate the use of more extreme photos, like the bikini babes I discussed a few weeks ago.)

The emphasis is mine.  Women look at things more holistically.  What is the relationship between the person in the photo and the offer?   If the picture had a loan officer’s name on it, that might be more effective since she would now have context for who the woman is.  If the image featured a woman and another person – a child or aging parent or young person getting ready to go off to college – that might have more of an impact since the image is now relevant to what she might do with the money.

Every business is different, and only testing will prove what does and doesn’t work.   But the importance of images, and how men and women may react differently to them, should be something we’re all looking at.

Give it a listen.

The product copy had this to say about the helmet:

“The ergonomic designed padding and an additional pad set for the perfect individual fit guarantee ultimate comfort.

The product review had this to say about the helmet:

“The helmet fit both girls well; ages 10 and 12. They must be comfortable because they wear them every time without reminding.”

Which description do you think convinced more parents to buy this helmet?

Not only did the review use more simple language, it also touched on one of parent’s biggest concerns with bike helmets -will their child actually wear it?

Mine your product reviews for ways to improve your product descriptions and convert more buyers.

There are some interesting tidbits including why women may be more stressed than men, how Barbie has affected women’s eating disorders, and some cool brain differences.

I wrote about some of these differences in The Soccer Mom Myth.  Differences between men and women DO exist.   It’s ok to say so.   But what’s even more important is to understand how those differences affect our buying decisions and which marketing messages we respond to.

Go take a look and share your thoughts with me.

These are some of the questions I discussed with Gord Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro Research.

More and more studies are showing there are differences in how men and women use websites.   Is there a difference in how they use search as well?   Let’s find out.

Take a listen.

Click here to listen to Holly’s interview with Gord Hotchkiss

To download Holly’s interview with Gord Hotchkiss the MP3 to listen to on your ipod click here.

Seems I’m not alone. A recent study provides more evidence of the online/offline buying connection.

Media measurement company, Nielsen Online, conducted a survey to examine the relationship between online research and offline purchases. They found that 80% of participants who had recently bought consumer electronics from a brick and mortar store whose site they visited first.

• 53% bought from the site where they spent the most time.
• 58% would choose the internet if they could only use one channel to conduct product research on consumer electronics. Only 25% chose the brick and mortar store.

It’s certainly not breaking news that customers do research online before they buy. But how much that online experience affects offline purchases may have been underestimated.

Are you answering your customers questions?

I was in Petsmart the other day stocking up food and gourmet snacks for my pups. I’ve been considering changing dog food. But was that a decision Petsmart’s brick and mortar store could help me make? Maybe, if there had been a doggie nutrition expert standing in the aisle, or they had a “food tasting” aisle where I could let my picky Boston Terrier sample different foods and choose his favorite. But no such help was provided.

The Neilson Online study found this about pet food purchasers:

Here’s the percentages of pet food survey participants who would use the internet to research each topic.

48% Learn about nutritional specifications

45% Learn about product ingredients

45% Learn about recalls

40% Learn more about safety issues

40% Find sales/promotions

This works both ways. Find better ways to answer your visitors’ questions on your website, but also look at better ways to answer their questions in your brick and mortar store.

Defining & Measuring Success

With the average conversion rate under 3%, it doesn’t mean that 97% of visits fail.  How do you determine if you give your visitors what they want, whether you communicated effectively with them and whether you influenced their thinking and buying behaviors as well as those of their social-media-connected friends.

Defining success or failure, not only through your metrics but also through measuring the perceptions and actions of your visitors is challenging but possible if you understand the value of qualitative metrics and of quantitative metrics using Persuasion Architecture; just ask us how.

About.com and Brandweek are presenting a roundtable and cocktail party Thursday, July 17, starting at 3pm. You can join me as part of the exclusive in-person audience for “Online She Trusts… or Does She? “- an expert roundtable discussing women’s interactions in the virtual world – where they go and what and who they believe, what they respond to, and what they steer clear of.

Featured speakers:

Mary Lou Quinlan – Founder/CEO Just Ask a Woman

Ritu Trivedi – Managing Partner and Media Director, Mindshare Interaction

Grant Schneider – CMO Time, Inc. and author of She Means Business: 7 New Rules for Marketing to Today’s Woman

Danielle Vona – Director of Marketing, Carbonated Soft Drink Flavors, Pepsi-Cola North America

It should be an informative event and it’s free. If you’d like to go, respond in the comments below and I’ll get you the details and registration information. But hurry, space is limited.

“Think of it! Millions and millions of people we can hyper target with relevant messages and offers, contextual targeting, behavioral targeting – THINK OF THE VIRAL OPPORTUNITIES!”

Um, you’ve got a little bit of spittle there at the corner of your mouth…there, yeah, you wiped it off.

Yes, the potential is huge. But some companies have been disappointed with the results in their early efforts. They have some great ideas, but aren’t always sure how to monetize them. (Read this insightful article on the challenges of monetizing Facebook applications.)

I couldn’t agree more – the opportunity is huge. But how can you really make money from social media?

Go Into Relationship Mode

I was fortunate enough to get to spend some time the other day with Joseph Carrabis of NextStage Evolution. (Are you jealous? You should be.)

One of my many questions to him was about social media – it’s all the rage, but can advertisers really tap into that power to sell their products and services? I was particularly interested in advertisers hoping to reach women. Women are huge consumers of social media. A recent rapleaf study found, while both men and women are using social media in increasing numbers, women far out-pace the men.

Joseph pointed out that social media is about building relationships – if advertisers want to reach her in that medium, they have to be in relationship-building mode.

I thought this was interesting. I was at a recent marketing to women conference where two presenters talked about the “mode” women are in on the Internet and how you need to match that mode. Shopping, communicating, and entertainment are just a few modes she might be in.

Which brings up an important point. If she is in relationship mode, respect her space. She may not want to deal with anyone who is too pushy or does not respect her space. For example, look at women on MySpace decorating and customizing their pages. This is their private sanctuary – just like decorating their room in a house. Be aware of that. It’s one thing to barge into a website she is viewing (with your ad). It’s another thing to barge into her “room.”

Another idea we discussed in relation to women and social media and building relationships is the importance of the concept of fair value. As Joseph says, “You have to give as good as you get.” Is there something of value you can give to her? Are you giving more than you are asking for?

And how do you build that relationship? A great way to start is through a conversation. Social Media is often a great way to have a two-way conversation with your customers and potential customers. Just keep in mind, does she actually want to have a conversation with you? And if so, what does she want to talk to you about? A good place to start would be to answer her questions.

Use Persuasion Architecture to Get The Most Out of Social Media

Some of the best advice I’ve heard on the subject came during a recent podcast interview with Forrester’s Josh Bernoff. Josh points out that you can’t start with the technology. You have to start with people and objectives FIRST. What a great point. I can’t tell you how many times someone has come to me and said, “I need to start a blog,” or, “I need to tap into the Internet,” or, “I want to create a discussion forum.” My reply is always, “Who are your customers and what do they want?” THAT’S the first question. What do they care about? How can you make a difference in their lives? What are your objectives? Next, you can come up with which technologies can help you achieve those objectives (i.e., blogs, forums, Facebook, etc.).

It’s a novel idea – start with the consumer and what she wants. (This is the entire basis for Persuasion Architecture.) It’s also about communicating with customers in the manner they want to communicate.

How Do Your Customers Want to Interact With You?

FutureNow recently put up a Facebook page. As our Director of Marketing, Brian Bond said,

“The way I see it, technology evolves to better facilitate the needs of consumers, to have their questions and motivations addressed. The evolution of tools like Facebook is an answer to a need to communicate differently. Just like letter writing was largely replaced by email as a more efficient communication method, I see apps like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc., all evolving as alternatives to email and other current communication methods. For marketers and businesses, this represents a great opportunity to communicate with their audience with the method their audience chooses. This change is something we have to embrace because it’s how our audience wishes to interact with our brand. Who are we to tell them they are wrong? The beauty of the Persuasion Architecture approach, in my mind, is that is that it applies equally well to all marketing/communication methods. It’s all about communicating with customers the way they want to be communicated with and addressing customers’ motivations. If there are technologies that better support this communication, then we must embrace them to be relevant to the customer.”

How do your customers want to interact with you? How can you provide genuine value to them? Remember, relationships are a two-way street. You can’t always ask ask ask – you have to give in return. Think about what you could give your customers that would be of value to them.

Do Facebook Ads Relate

Here’s a Facebook ad that got my attention:

Now, I deleted the header because it was “(my age) year-old-woman.” That creeped me out. I don’t like someone calling out my specific age. It’s not that I’m that old (I’m barely out of my twenties, really). But screaming my personal information at me like that made me feel a little violated.

Despite the header, the ad got my attention because it was for free samples of products – many of which I recognized in the image. The fact that this company was willing to give me something first appealed to me. It felt like a welcome gift. It felt like the way I’d like to start a relationship. (Rather than flashing the usual banner ad at me, screaming at me, “Buy our stuff! Give us your money!”) Remember, I’m in relationship mode right now, NOT shopping mode. Offering me a gift appealed to me more than offering a percentage off a purchase.

I know some people would joke that women are always in shopping mode. But ads like this one to the left are a big flop; a belly flop. Ads like this make me want to ban all advertising on Facebook.

Want your social media ads to work?

Start with People

By all means, embrace social media. But start with people, in particular, your customers. Who are they? What do they want? Start with their goals first. THEN bring in technology to achieve your goals. And remember, conversations are a two-way street. Don’t just ask…listen. You’ll form stronger relationships. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Since I’ve focused so much on Facebook, I’d love to hear from you – Advertisers – have you had success using Facebook? Tell me about it. Facebook Users – how do you feel about ads and applications on Facebook? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Sound off in the comments.

If you are doing social media advertising, would you like to do a research project with FutureNow to see how you can make those efforts more effective?  If you’re interested, let’s have a conversation about it. You can start by leaving a comment below.

While attending a Google Website Optimizer presentation, our good friend Sean D’Souza crafted some cartoons that do a great job of “getting the point across.”

It’s amazing when you actually take the time to do testing, how all that accumulated learning leads to some pretty impressive results.  It may not happen all at once, but, in the long run, you’re going to win.

Check out the rest of the cartoons inspired by the presentation.

P.S. – If you haven’t read Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, you’re missing out.

Want to see more cartoons by Sean D’Souza?

A recent Advertising Age article, What All That Chatter Is Really Saying, talks about how text analytics can turn customer feedback into more meaningful insight.

Today it is marketers who are increasingly turning to text analytics to mine information from the mountains of customer data they’ve accrued from customer-service surveys, e-mails, online forums, hosted feedback sites and user-generated blogs.

“You can have someone read through 100 comments, and they will likely overstate the importance of some concepts, understate the importance of some concepts and totally miss other things,” said Tom H.C. Anderson, managing partner, Anderson Analytics. “For instance, if one person in 100 mentioned something, it would be missed. But if in 100,000 responses, 1% of people say the same thing, it could be noticed as important, like a new trend that’s developing or something wrong with a product that’s just starting to surface.”

So what are these companies learning? Unilever’s Dove brand is using text analytics to gain insight into who their customers are and what really matters to them.

In recent work for Unilever’s Dove brand and its Pro-Age marketing campaign, Anderson went digging for consumer insight on Dove’s own message boards, coding the text content against 43 different psychological attributes. Anderson found the vast majority of women who posted comments appreciated the realness of using older nude models. But they also discovered other common sentiments. For instance, most women over 50 strongly dislike the concept of “perfection” in beauty images. They also often talked about their mothers, grandmothers and daughters with concern about their portrayal in media. In fact, two in 10 women expressed real anger at how other advertisers portray women.

“Text analytics is a new methodology for us, and we were very pleased with the results and the depth of insight,” said Catherine Cardoso, associate insights manager at Unilever, in a statement. “The results were helpful beyond understanding reactions to our campaign. We also gained an understanding of what motivates people on discussion boards, which issues are most important to women in our target group, and how to create better products and messaging for them.”

Interesting stuff. At FutureNow, an important part of our persona development work is assigning value words to each persona – these are words personas may be typing into search engines, may use to describe their problems or the solution they are seeking, or may be words that appeal to their buying modality.

How do we determine these value words? One of our secrets is mining the text of customer correspondence, blogs, and live chat logs.

What are you doing to use your customers’ words to better understand who they truly are and what they truly want?

Call me mean, but I like that thought.

I’ve long held a theory that women are more sensitive to shipping costs than men. I have no proof of this theory. It’s mostly anecdotal. When I talk to women about shopping online, shipping costs invariably come up as a sore topic, which is why I took notice of this discussion on the High Rankings message board about how women shop online.

Randy Cullom brought up some insight he had about shipping charges, and something he noticed with women in particular:

I’ve had two of these market research session since I first noticed the anomaly, and in each of them 80% or more of the women in the group expressed a strong or very strong dissatisfaction if the shipping and/or handling was out of whack from what they considered to be normal. As an aside, I asked those dissatisfied to write down what S&H they considered reasonable, and in all cases they were pretty much spot on with the real costs, with a little bit extra. Men seemed much more inclined to let “too costly” shipping and handling charges slide right on by. This still too small of a test group (only 60 women total between the two sessions) to be statistically sound, but the reaction has been so strong that I’m inclined to think it’s valid.

Interesting. Still not absolute proof, but it’s enough to make me ask, “How are your shipping costs helping or hurting your conversion, especially when selling to women?”

Consider setting up an exit survey when someone leaves your site to ask if shipping cost was a reason for them leaving without purchasing. If your shipping costs might be considered “high” by female consumers, what can you do about? Why not take a cue from Amazon and see if there’s an easy way for her to increase her purchase to the point that “free shipping” might make sense?

Another option: Create an incentive to purchase more products so that the shipping cost doesn’t feel as high.

For example, if you’re buying one pound of gourmet coffee for, say, $10 and the shipping is $8, there’s a good chance shipping is going to be a deal breaker. What if you tried a promotion where customers who buy 3 pounds get the fourth pound for half off. Encourage her to buy “a month’s worth of coffee.” You’re giving her a reduced price, which she’ll like. Shipping costs may go up a little to cover the extra coffee, but chances are it’s no longer 80% of the purchase price.

Obviously, you have to do what makes good business sense. These are just some suggestions. But if you’re selling to women, take a close look at your shipping charges and see if there are ways to lessen the sting for these shipping-sensitive women.

For more ideas on testing shipping costs, check out “How to Increase Shopping Cart Abandonment.”

Have you ever abandoned an online sale because you perceived the shipping costs to be too high? (I’d love to read comments from the guys as well.)

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About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a Persuasion Architect at FutureNow and co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Customer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys.

But before we discuss how the iPhone team does it, I’d like to show you a few other examples that illustrate some of the dos and don’ts — mostly “dos” — for using online video as part of your overall Web strategy.

• Ebags.com – Ebags features videos of some of their handbag designers by giving the designers their own category page with which to showcase their own products. Here’s an example from the Antoinette Lee Designs. When you click on the video, you’ll see Antoinette talks about her background and her inspiration — very cool. It’s refreshing to get a sense of who’s designing the handbag. It creates a more personal connection with the designer and her product. Again, a fabulous use of video.

• 4Q – Avinash Kaushik and iPerceptions have teamed up to develop a free online customer survey product called 4Q. The landing page links to this YouTube video where Avinash actually walks you through setting up a 4Q survey on your site. I like this video for a lot of reasons. I like Avinash’s delivery (”You just finished step one. Give yourself a hug!”), and you can actually go through the whole process, screen-by-screen, from the sign-up page through putting the code on your site. So often with software, we see a screen (think sign-up process page) and have no idea what’s coming next. This step-by-step approach helps people mentally go through the process before they even sign up — a brilliant way to remove barriers and inspire confidence in the product.

• Microsoft Dynamics – I know they’re an easy target, but this micro-site for Microsoft Dynamics, a business management software product, has a lot of dos and don’ts in one place. Click on the actors to launch the videos and you’ll see what I mean. While I like the direction Microsoft is going, I think they hurt themselves with the execution. Similar to the 4Q video, Microsoft shows actual screenshots, so you can get a sense of what it would feel like to use their software. But unlike 4Q, they only show the interface briefly, so it’s not as thorough. Microsoft also customized each video to attract different people within a company who might potentially use the software. From the “typical IT Manager,” to the “typical Marketing Manager,” to the “typical Finance Manager,” each video targets specific things that each of these people segments care about.

But Microsoft’s videos aren’t as effective as they could be. They don’t feel authentic. These are obviously actors, using hokey language like, “I’m your typical Sales Manager.” What’s up with that? Because these people feel so plastic, their message doesn’t resonate with me the same way a more authentic delivery would. Which brings me to my final example…

• Apple iPhone 3G – Ah, yes, the iPhone. Leave it to Apple to be ready with a great online experience to explain everything you need to know about the new iPhone on the very day it’s announced. With the next generation iPhone 2.0 operating system, Apple is making a very bold move. They’re positioning the device as the must-have business solution for any type of industry — even the Army! On the iPhone enterprise page, Apple links to a video that proves in no uncertain terms that top companies are relying on the iPhone for their most important work.

• The video features top companies using the iPhone. There is instant credibility. (”If it’s good enough for Disney and The Army, it’s good enough for me.”)
• In the IT industry, the top sources of information are peers and colleagues. Rather than having sales people (or actors) talking about the iPhone’s features, we see actual IT people talking in their language about why they like the iPhone and its specific capabilities.
• The video shows the phone in use, so you can picture yourself connecting through your VPN or using it for other applications. Or just holding it.

What’s your company doing with video to help sell products online? If you’ve found other ways that are new and effective, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

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About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a “typical Persuasion Architect” at FutureNow, Inc. She’s co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth and an expert in planning online persuasion scenarios.

I’ve heard from some folks who got initial buy-in, but whose companies quickly lost the stomach for testing. They ran some tests that did well, but they ran some tests that actually hurt conversion. The tests that hurt conversion are especially painful for smaller companies, where that lost revenue is felt directly by the business owner.

So what can you do to keep morale high and commitment to testing firm? What can you do it increase your chances for getting the best results from your testing? There’s a wonderful article by Lily Chiu at Omniture called “How to Make Testing Successful.”

There’s a lot of great advice in Lily’s post, but one bit really hit home with me:

I’ve seen some companies fail because they try to limit risk by treating testing as project-based task that just needs to be executed once per quarter. By doing so, they actually increase risk because the chances of testing being looked upon favorably decrease with every test that doesn’t generate lift. By limiting the number of tests you run, you limit the number of tries you get to knock a test out of the ballpark.

Here are a few more points to add to the list:

• Give yourself more chances to win. Get commitment to run more than just a a few tests. The more tests you run, the better your chance to create a real winner.

• Any tests that hurt conversion are only temporary. You only hurt conversion for the short period of the test. Once you get valid results, you can revert back to the control and immediately stop any losses. But tests that increase conversion? Those are the tests that keep on giving. You will enjoy those gains, not just temporarily, but for months, and years to come. Even a small increase can have a big impact on the bottom line when you enjoy those gains over long periods of time.

• There is no such thing as failure, only feedback. Now, I know that business owners are probably thinking, “Yeah, easy for you to say. It isn’t your wallet that’s affected.” But look at the opportunity cost of NOT doing testing. You are left guessing which changes to make to your site, or you may not be making any changes at all. How much MORE money could you be making? You’ll never know.

Testing is one of the best ways to gain real insight. You learn something from every single test. The combination of that learning IS going to result in gains, but it doesn’t always come in the first few tests. So hang in there. Don’t get discouraged. Sometimes you knock it out of the ballpark in the fest few tries, sometimes it takes a little longer. The more tests you run, the better your chances for success.

Hint: Want to get better create better tests? Personas can help you know what’s worth testing.

“Are you new to the team?” asks the nuclear engineer of the stranger who saves a frazzled control room from reactor meltdown.

“Actually, I’m with the tour group, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

Holiday Inn Express has a brand promise: “Stay Smart.” Well, I had the opposite experience. Why? Blame it on their poorly named “Simply Smart” bathroom products.

It’s early in the morning — very early — and I’m looking for the hotel shampoo and conditioner. Not too difficult. Just look for the bottle marked “Shampoo” and the one marked “Conditioner”, right?

But I find no such thing. My choices include “Refresh”, “Scrub”, “Wash”, “Soften”, and “Tame”. I reckon that “Tame” is the conditioner, but as to which one was the shampoo, it’s a toss up, so I bring all the bottles into the shower with me. I then compound the situation by not brining my glasses, so now I can hardly read the labels.

Where was the helpful cut-out in the bathroom explaining what each “simple” bottle was? It wasn’t until later that I noticed tiny print on the back of the bottles explaining what each thing really was.

So, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but did I feel like I could fix a multi-million dollar athlete’s sprained ankle or prevent a nuclear meltdown? Not exactly. I had shampoo on my legs, hair conditioner on my face, and mouthwash in my hair. I didn’t feel capable of pouring a cup of coffee. (Though I must say, their hot breakfast bar really is impressive.)

In hindsight, once I knew what each container was, it made a little more sense. (Though how you get Spot & Stain remover from “Rub”, I still don’t know) but surely I’m not their only guest who was confused.

Nothing against Holiday Inn Express. I stay there often and the staff is usually lovely. But this bath product labeling thing really threw me.

So, what’s the lesson here (other than mouthwash should never be used as shampoo and vice versa)?

Beware of cute and clever labels. I see this on websites as well. There’s no glory in being clever if you end up confusing your visitors.

I also see this in advertising messages. I read about an effort in Australia to pull over drunk drivers. The original message was “Don’t blow your license.” Testing showed this message had near 100% understanding. But the ad agency wanted to change it to “Don’t blow it.” Clever, yes, but only 5% of the people had a clear understanding of their message. Some people even thought they were promoting civil disobedience by saying “Don’t take the breathalyser test.”

Back to websites. I know sometimes you want to show your visitors how creative you are. But do you really look at your site from their point of view? I am often befuddled by advertising agency sites. Leo Burnette has an interesting category called “We’re Idea Centric.” The sub categories are “Start Clean,” “Stay Restless,” and “Amplify.” I honestly don’t know what any of those mean or what I would see if I clicked on them.

I’m sure you’ve run into this yourself. I’d love to hear your examples of websites that had labels or navigational elements that were “clever” but not easily understood.

Well, off to getting the furniture polish out of my hair (another story for a later date).

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About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a Persuasion Architect at FutureNow and co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. If you’d like to meet Holly and judge her in person, join her on June 2nd for FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Manhattan. Not only will you learn techniques for attracting customers online, you’ll get a chance to schmooze over hors d’oeurves and cocktails at our “Happy Hour with the Experts” reception, which we hope you’ll find to be appropriately named even though it will last for more than an hour.

Who had me doing the Tiger Woods I-just-made-another-eagle-putt fist pump? Avinash Kaushik. (The title of the Mya Frasier’s AdAge article is: “Google’s ‘Anayltics Evangelist’ Explains Why Websites ‘Suck’ — Kaushik: Despite Mounds of Data, Marketers Don’t Understand Consumers.”)

Why did this interview get me so fired-up? Because Avinash hit the hot button with the fact that, even with all the data available today, most marketing efforts still fail because advertisers don’t truly understand their customers.

Here’s an excerpt:

Avinash Kaushik thinks one of the reasons why so many websites “suck” today is because of the hippo — as in the “highest paid person’s opinion.”

And, yes, you’re likely a hippo — a successful advertising executive, CMO or brand manager, pulling in a six-figure income, often found pontificating about what does and doesn’t work online. You use tried-and-true metrics such as unique visitors and click-through rates to decide on the best design for your landing page or what content is best suited on your product site.

‘Least closest’
Yet, despite your mounds of data, Mr. Kaushik thinks you are the “least closest to the customer.”

Now, I work with these “hippos” all the time, and they’re some of the smartest people in the room. I have tremendous respect for them. The CMOs and other top executives I work with are master strategists. But like so many of us, they rely on the customer data that is collected to give them the insight into who their customers really are, and what those customers really want. That’s why not having regular, direct customer contact IS a problem. You’re forced to rely heavily on the data coming in from other sources.

And often, that data is compiled, sifted, sorted, filtered, and presented in a manner in which the original customer intent, words and emotions are missing from the final “customer data report.”

You may get insight into WHAT happened, but what’s usually missing is WHY it happened — which was exactly Avinash’s point.

What can you do to learn “why” your customers did something? Avinash suggests the two products he evangelizes:

• Use Google’s analytics tools, including Google Analytics and Ad Optimizer.

• Add a short, free 4Q online survey (from iPerceptions) to your site.

I still think nothing beats getting face-to-face interaction with your customers. Everyone on your ad team — from the CMO to the copywriters to the web designers — should have regular, direct communication with customers. Now, I hear some of you saying, “That’s impossible. We can’t take the time to send all our people out to interact with customers.”

OK. Here’s another idea: Bring customers to your marketing team.

I saw a presentation at the M2W Marketing to Women conference by a company called Snippies. They have “video journalists” who interview people in different market segments. What I love so much about this approach is, you get to hear from real people, in real environments (not focus groups), in their own words. It’s amazing what you can learn about people by hearing it in their own, unfiltered words. This documentary-style format is very engaging; the impact and insight from these videos is way more powerful than simply getting a report with a bunch of spreadsheets and data.

Smashing Stereotypes

I also love this approach because it helps smash stereotypes. When you see real people, it helps you get past stereotypical views and gain understanding. The further away you are from your target market, the harder you’re going to have to work to get past customer stereotypes to gain that understanding not only of what people do, but why.

Don’t be the one who’s “least closest” to your customers. Take the initiative to gain that greater understanding. It will keep you from wasting money on ineffective advertising and help you create messages that persuade people to take the actions you want them to take.

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About the Author: Holly Buchanan is a Persuasion Architect with FutureNow. Each day, she helps clients use personas to smash stereotypes about their customers. She is also co-author of a new book, The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. If you’d like to meet Holly, join her on June 2nd for FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Manhattan. Not only will you learn techniques for speaking to customers in their own language, you’ll get a chance to chat over hors d’oeurves and cocktails at our “Happy Hour with the Experts” reception.

Here’s what Dove has to say:

The “real women” ad referenced in recent media coverage was created and produced entirely by Ogilvy, the Dove brand’s advertising agency, from start to finish and the women’s bodies were not digitally altered.

Pascal Dangin worked with photographer Annie Leibovitz (Ogilvy has never employed Mr. Dangin on the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty), who did the photography for the launch of the Dove ProAge campaign, a new campaign within the Campaign for Real Beauty. There was an understanding between Dove and Ms. Leibovitz that the photos would not be retouched – the only actions taken were the removal of dust from the film and minor color correction.

I actually thought Ad Age’s Jonah Bloom had a better idea for how Dove could respond:

Here was Dove’s statement as I imagined it: “We’re sure our consumers are smart enough to know that photos that are going to be blown up to the size of a billboard may have to be retouched. For the sake of the women themselves, there are certain things — a pimple, a stray hair — that might be airbrushed. The idea here was to use models of various shapes and ages, not to unduly expose them. We think we’ve made a point. But, we’ve also tried to raise women’s awareness of the issue of retouching and ask whether, when taken to extremes, it can create an unrealistic notion of beauty. If this New Yorker piece reopens the debate, that’s a happy coincidence for us, and something we definitely want to hear consumers’ views on it.”

However you feel about Dove or the Campaign for Real Beauty — it has sparked a conversation — a very real, very passionate conversation. And Dove continues to back it up with efforts outside of advertising, like the recent opening of a play in Canada “Body and Soul,” featuring real women talking about their feelings about aging.

But here’s the thing…

I know I’m going out on a limb here (move over, squirrel), but I don’t think Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has anything to do with beauty. I don’t think women suddenly feel beautiful because of these ads. I think this goes to something deeper. I think this campaign has generated so much interest and success because it touches on a universal need for almost all women: approval.

Are women saying, “Oh, Dove thinks I’m beautiful”? Could be. But I think it’s a lot closer to “Dove thinks I’m OK the way I am. They approve of me. ” In today’s world, that approval is a lifeline.

Why? Because…

Women today are SO judged.

Stay at home with your kids and you are judged because you’re not working.

Go to work and you’re judged for not staying at home with your kids.

Whether it’s an advertising industry that surrounds women with images that tell her she’s not good enough (check out this video by Dove appropriately named “Onslaught“), or a corporate workplace where you lose points if you behave too much like a man or you loose points if you behave too much like a woman.

Women get it from all sides; they’re judged by men and they’re REALLY judged by other women. (I am appalled at the way some women treat each other.)

So when a brand comes along and does NOT judge. When a brand says, “We don’t care what other people say, we think you’re beautiful. We’re going to celebrate you for being you.” Do you know how powerful that is?

Does your brand want to connect with women?

Then stand up for her. Approve of her. Lock arms with her and walk a few miles in her shoes.

You can go the aspirational route; “Buy our product, THEN you will be approved and worthy.” Lots of products have had success with that formula.

But if you want to stand out from the crowd, if you want to create fanatical loyalty, try the Dove route. Try approval. There is SUCH A THIRST for it right now.

If you have a few minutes to spare, check out “A Girl Like Me.”

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About the Author: Holly Buchanan is co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth: Today’s Female Consumer: Who She Really Is, Why She Really Buys. If you’d like to meet Holly and judge her in person, join her on June 2nd for FutureNow’s Persuasive Online Copywriting seminar in Manhattan. Not only will you learn techniques for attracting customers online, you’ll get a chance to schmooze over hors d’oeurves and cocktails at our “Happy Hour with the Experts” reception.