Dear Direct Marketer,

Welcome to Direct Marketing Update. In this issue, you’ll discover how to supercharge your e-commerce profits with strategic upselling and cross-selling, just in time for the Christmas shopping rush.

We’ll also look at a powerful way to improve your direct mail response.

In This Issue…

• Generate thousands of new customers with magalogs
• Web strategy: The most overlooked method to dramatically boost web profits
• Copy tip: The power of the “bucket brigade”
• Wrap up more sales this Christmas…despite tighter purse strings
• Testing corner: Which email subject line grabbed the most clicks?

Generate thousands of new customers with magalogs

One of the most effective direct mail formats is the magalog. The magalog is essentially an infomercial in print. They are full-color, glossy publications that are especially useful for getting your message to an information-hungry or skeptical audience.

Let’s take a look at how one company found unparalleled success with magalogs.

The featured product was Prostata®, a natural prostate health supplement for men aged 50 and over.

Our marketing challenge was to overcome consumer skepticism about supplements and natural products and to make Prostata stand out in an already crowded alternative health marketplace.

To create the magalog, my team and I focused on these objectives:

1. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to elevate Prostata above the competition.
2. Create a clear, distinctive theme that distinguished Prostata from other supplements, medications and procedures.
3. Utilize persuasive copy and dynamic art that adhere to proven direct marketing standards.
4. Include valuable offers, discounts, premiums and testimonials from Prostata users to encourage response.

I chose the magazine-size format so the piece would stand out in the prospect’s mailbox. On the cover, renowned prostate expert Dr. Larry Doss was featured prominently to add credibility and build trust.

Next, I created “you-oriented” copy to connect with prospects and address the most common prostate health concerns. And to demonstrate why Prostata was a smart alternative to dangerous surgery and expensive pharmaceuticals.

Numerous testimonials and informational sidebars were placed throughout, with a value-added “diet and lifestyle” Special Report.

Finally, the call to action included a “Fast Relief Discount Certificate” (the easy-to-use order form).

After the magalog hit mailboxes, the orders came pouring in. It generated thousands of new customers and was used in multiple mailings for the following year.

Your company can have this kind of success with magalogs too. To learn more about this response-driving direct mail approach, click here.

Web strategy: The most overlooked method to dramatically boost web profits

Lead-generation response booster

If you’re doing lead-generation on your website, the shopping cart offers an important opportunity after the prospect has filled in their information. It’s the perfect time to direct him or her to another product…or another action, such as picking up the phone and calling.

Direct-sales response booster

If you’re a marketer selling products or services, the online shopping cart is your platform to create interest in other products while seeming helpful, not pushy.

For example, online clothing retailers do this very well. When a customer adds a sweater to his or her shopping cart, the bottom of the page displays other items and accessories that complete the outfit.

Here are 2 Ticket-sale Boosters to try on your own site:

Ticket-sale Booster #1: Bundling. Offer customers the chance to buy two or more related or complementary products together in a bundle for one low price. (This should be done with a discount.)

Here’s a website I created for Mommie Helen’s Bakery that uses this technique to its advantage:

Here’s another upselling example: Offer the basic or low-priced product by itself and separately charge for an add-on or an extension.

If I buy a $39 newsletter subscription, offer me the option of subscribing for 2 years at $72 with an extra premium.

Ticket-sale Booster #2: Community cross-selling. This strategy is based on customer buying trends on your site. Shoppers are curious about what’s popular, and what products have worked for others.

Entice them to consider what other customers have bought with phrases like “Customers who bought items in your cart also bought…” or “Customers who shopped for this product also viewed…”

This tactic increases your credibility and builds customer trust by reinforcing that many others have purchased from you too. It acts as an implied recommendation from other shoppers, which can be more powerful than using a phrase like “May we recommend…”

Look to Amazon.com for inspiration on these features. Try a search for David Ogilvy’s books and review the attractive upsells offered to you.

Apple’s iTunes music store also does upselling and cross-selling well with its new Genius tool. Genius is a dynamic sidebar that provides music recommendations to customers based on what they’ve already bought. Customers can preview and buy new songs without clicking away from their current view.

Take a look:

Put these techniques to work for you to increase visibility for the rest of your product line or upsell for greater profits.

Not sure how to implement upselling or cross-selling on your website? Call me and my team of copy and web design experts at 310-212-5727 and we’ll set it up for you. Or you can email me at craig@cdmginc.com.

Copy tip: The power of the “bucket brigade”

Every direct response piece you write—whether it is a magalog, direct mail package, email, website, radio ad or TV commercial—must engage the reader in a one-on-one conversation.

To perfect this person-to-person feeling in your copy, you need to call in the “bucket brigade.” That is, conversational words and phrases that pull in the reader, keep the conversation moving and prevent your copy from sounding too stiff.

Here are some of my favorite bucket brigade phrases that have been proven effective time and time again:

• You already know that…
• And what’s worse…
• You see…
• But it doesn’t stop there…
• Let me ask you this question…
• Keep reading to find out…
• Now you can…
• But what you really must know is…

The true test for conversational copy? Read it out loud. You’ll be able to tell right away whether you’ve created a fireside chat…or a one-sided lecture.

Want a FREE critique of your latest mail piece, email campaign, insert, display ad or website? Email me at craig@cdmginc.com. I’ll let you know what you’re doing right and what, if anything, could be adjusted to increase response.

Wrap up more sales this Christmas…despite tighter purse strings

Last holiday season, shoppers planned to spend an average of $859 on gifts, according to a poll by American Research Group.

A full 16% of consumers said they would pay full price for gifts. 50% planned to wait for sales and 34% responded that it depended on the item.

How will these figures change with the current economy? Time will tell, but projections show that there will be fewer dollars to go around.

Check out the results of a recent Harris Interactive poll of Internet users:

• 80% of consumers said they’ll purchase fewer gifts this year.
• 63% plan to buy less expensive gifts.
• 44% said they’ll shop at discount stores.
• 35% will turn to coupons.
• 32% plan to shop online for better deals.
• 24% will shop online to save money on gas.
• 19% will shop during Black Friday sales.
• 13% will make all online purchases at once to lower shipping costs.
• 12% are planning to save with last-minute discounts.

Now, your first reaction might be despair. But this doesn’t have to spell doom for your fourth quarter. If you read between the lines, you can use this information to your advantage.

1. Drive your online sales with aggressive and professional direct marketing. This can include direct mail, display ads, TV, radio and more. But in a recession, you cannot afford to have a mediocre direct response strategy…or mediocre copy.
2. Improve your online advertising. Now is the time to do paid search right, to have the best direct marketing microsite and to use the V.I.V.A.^™ (Valuable Information, Value-Added) system in your emails. Click here to learn more about V.I.V.A. and call me at 310-212-5272 to find out how it can work for you.
3. Be sure to review your online shopping cart. As we’ve been talking about in recent issues, it is critical to keep it simple and with a minimal number of pages so you don’t lose orders or leads.

With the goal of saving money online, consumers will be more responsive to free shipping offers and online-only discounts. In all of your marketing, emphasize value.

Your advertising must break through their financial concerns. Emphasize that you want to help them get the best deal in these tough economic times.

Keep watching for more seasonal strategies in the next issue of Direct Marketing Update.

Testing corner: Which email subject line grabbed the most clicks?

When it comes to email marketing, here’s my golden rule: If at first you don’t succeed…test, test again.

Just after the government announced its $700 billion bailout, I created an email campaign for a Switzerland-based publisher and provider of financial services.

We tested two subject lines for an email about the current economic crisis. Take a look:

Test A

Crisis unfolds: Carter-era inflation on the way

Test B

Bailout nightmare: Your wealth is in jeopardy

Which subject line enticed the greatest number of people to open it? My response analysis showed that Test A’s opening rate was 45.1% higher than Test B.

Why do you think Test A beat Test B? Are you surprised by the results? Email me at craig@cdmginc.com to share your thoughts. We’ll include reader feedback in our next issue.

ACTION ITEMS

1. Take a look at your most recent marketing piece. Identify areas where you should call in the “bucket brigade” to improve the conversational tone of your writing. (And, as always, feel free to take me up on my offer for a FREE critique. Just call me at 310-212-5727 or email me at craig@cdmginc.com.)
2. Now is the time to start planning for Q1 campaigns. If you haven’t started, you must act quickly. Click here to read our last Direct Marketing Update Bonus Issue about scheduling your mailings for the busy shopping season to come. Then call me at 310-212-5727 for help with your marketing.
3. Want to learn more about marketing during a recession? Right now I’m writing an in-depth article on that very topic for my industry-leading newsletter Direct Response. You won’t want to miss it. Save $15 when you subscribe now.

Yours for direct marketing success,

Craig A. Huey
President
Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc.
email: craig@cdmginc.com
phone: 310-212-5727
www.cdmginc.com

Click here to visit the Direct Response Library. You’ll find numerous articles from past issues of my Direct Response newsletters that provide even more valuable direct marketing help.

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