clemans on marketing: confessions and misdemeanors

Help is Out There.

If you have a website and a stream of customers, you probably need to bump up your Help Page. Think cyber information booth.

Check out the grand daddy of Help Pages at Mozilla.org. Customers can ask for help, make inquiries, gain access to dynamically updated FAQs, the Mozillazine Knowledge Base, tutorials, release notes, technical information, keyboard shortcuts, forums, etc.

If you think Mozilla doesn't want to talk to their customers, you're probably right. Most small companies can't afford to set up call centers, even in Bangalore. Therefore, it makes sense to upgrade customer support online, decrease frustration and increase the likelihood that they'll be back for more.

Increase Traffic Inside – One to One.

Once visitors reach your home page, you want them to stick around, kick the tires, move from page to page in predefined and purposeful ways – staying within the velvet ropes – ultimately calling, registering, purchasing and returning for more.

To ensure that this happens, we develop primary psychological and business-related buying profiles, with customized content pathways for each. The meat 'n potatoes guy wants the facts, hold the frills. The CEO is looking for high level information and analysis. The emotion-driven purchaser requires romance. You get the picture.

Create A Better Home Page.

Review these 5 can-do tips so your home page sells smarter, navigates easier, gets more personalized, resonates with the right visitors, takes action and stays focused.

1. Emphasize what you do best.
Pump up your heart rate at Nike.com. Visit MiniUSA, for "More super. Less size." Or head over to the Anthropologie home page, capitalizing quite nicely on it's sweet yet edgy brand appeal while making it easy to shop 'til you drop.

2. Stay lean and keep the main story front and center.
Crate & Barrel wins the prize for best organized home page. They successfully anchor the page with the lead story, while making it equally easy to skim the page for the latest catalog, gift ideas, events, trends, etc.

3. Mastermind your content hierarchy with stories and links that are relevant, important and matter to your target audiences.

Visit Sun Microsystems' home page. The primary content is exhilarating, to the point and engaging.

4. Reduce the number of subjects vying for attention.
Microsoft is the super highway of websites; no fluff here. Instead, straight forward navigation. Home page "lead story billboards" link folks to urgent and valuable information like, "Learn the risks of counterfeit software. Validate today, get access to free downloads..." and "Internet Explorer 7 is here. Install it today." Gone are the fancy graphics and warm fuzzies.

5. Drive visitors to actions.
So you're not selling guitars, see how Fender gets people to give up their personal information. From signing up for Fender E-mail News and the Players Club to contests and the online store. So you're not selling diamonds, analyze Leo Schachter Diamonds' home page anyway and learn how they're sending prospects in the right direction and right to a Leo Schacter diamond jeweler.

Cisco Connects Humanity.

Cisco recently updated their website by creating an open window to the world. It's beautiful and bold. I believe we're looking at a sea change.

From the home page, click on "Explore what is possible on the human network" and you'll be linked to transformative stories and a slew of inspirational external sites. You'll visit idealist.org and favorville.com (people helping people), thelivinglink.net (collection of sites reflecting the best of the human network), knaction.com (a place to reveal our talent to the world), howwesee.com (photo sharing) and thebroth.com (collaborative art projects).

Senior VP and CMO Susan L. Bostrom shares the wisdom behind the changes, "A transformation is occurring on the Web. The end user is more in charge, creating collaborative websites and blogs, generating, mixing and sharing content, and having more of a say in how companies do business with them.

The potential of the Internet is being fulfilled by more than the physical network alone, it is the human network where people are connecting and collaborating, enabling ideas and opportunities. This represents an ideal time for Cisco to transform our website, into a platform for collaboration, interaction and innovation".

I am impressed with the fact that even as Cisco connects us with the global village, they never forget to mind the store.

Diamonds are forever – But first, a reality check and extreme make-over.

Leo Schacter Diamonds, known to well-heeled patrons from Belair to Beaulieu-Sur-Mer, watched 50,000 visitors log onto their website daily – and then disappear.

Not to be undone, they shifted from an abysmal 0.86% conversion rate to an awesome 51% conversion rate by setting a course of action at the most fundamental level. Wow Factor: That's an increase of 5,500%. No fancy Flash, no video, no talking heads, no pop-ups – just hard work getting to know their customers really, really well – then turning what they learned into compelling, targeted copy and graphics, valuable offers, and clear navigation links.

STEP 1. Define visitors' "personas"
STEP 2. Create a redesign wireframe (graphical outline)
STEP 3. Write targeted copy and visuals geared to each "persona"
STEP 4. Track clickthroughs by "persona"

Make your online marketing programs work hard.
Better Conversion Rates Through Science and Intuition.

*September 21, 2004 Marketingsherpa.com article entitled "How to Redesign Your Site to Lift Conversions (Exponentially) with Persona-based Copy & Navigation."