Online Consumer Marketing

Just as e-commerce is a major function of the Internet, online marketing is an integral component of e-commerce. Online marketing is inherently interactive marketing. While it obviously expands the reach of marketers in connecting with customers, to be effective it must be part of an overall marketing strategy before it can create value for customers. A point to remember is that just as quickly as a firm can rise to become a star in cyberspace, if not launched properly and operated efficiently, it can just as quickly burn out.

Consumers who shop online can point to a number of advantages to online marketing. The benefits online shoppers obtain from Web purchases fall into three categories: lower prices, convenience, and personalization. Marketers should ensure their Web sites offer consumers these basic advantages over traditional shopping in retail stores, by telephone, and by mail. In addition, Websites should be easy to navigate, offer security and privacy, and provide information that consumers can use in making product comparisons and purchase decisions.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

Direct Response

You should, if at all possible, engage in direct marketing. The value to you is enormous. You get to pinpoint your prospects with amazing accuracy. You can be selective in regard to age, race, sex, occupation, buying habits, money spent on past direct mail purchases, education, special interests, family composition, religion, marital status, and geographic location. The list should naturally start with your own customers. From there you can expand it to include people who have recently moved into your area, and people who have recently been married or divorced, or become parents. You can eliminate people who have moved away.

You might engage in a simple direct mailing of postcards to customers, informing them of a sale you will have the next week. They will very much appreciate the early notification and will show their gratitude by purchasing from you. You might also engage a full scale direct mailing, consisting of an outer envelop, a direct mail letter, a brochure, an order form, a postpaid return envelop, and even more.

Whatever you do, the process begins when you decide exactly what it is you wish to offer. How will you structure that offer? Then you must select your mailing list. If you haven’t got the names already, you can purchase them from a list broker. Be sure, you buy a clean, fresh list. You must be certain that you know all  the costs involved: postage printing, writing the mailing, artwork, paper, personalization (individualizing each letter by name and address, and repeat mailing costs. Your gross sales, minus these costs and your production, handling, and shipping costs, will contribute your profits. Be sure you make financial projections and know your break-even point.

In the old days, a direct mail campaign meant a letter. Today it means a letter, two, three or five follow-up letters, perhaps a follow-up phone call or two, and finally, one more direct mail letter. Many entrepreneurs engage in weekly or monthly direct mailings.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

 

Letters Dealing with Orders

Most ordering today is done on standardized order forms, purchase forms, and requisition forms, and is handled by means of standardized procedures. Together with telephone ordering, which has surged to new highs in recent years, forms have eliminated most individual letters about orders. As long as there are human beings ordering and filling orders, there will be errors, exceptions, special requests, and problems to write about.

 

If you are ordering without a form (the form is missing from the catalog, you are responding to magazine ad), include the description of the desired item, the quantity, the size, the color, personalization/monogram, and the price. Include your own name, address, postal code, and state your method of payment. If you are paying by bank card, include its number, expiration date, and your signature. If you are buying from a company in your home state, add sales tax to the total. Also include any stated handling charges. Specify shipping directions or any special considerations.

 

When responding to orders received, it is helpful to have an all-purpose form for problem orders. After saying something like, “Thank you for your order. We are unable to ship your merchandise at once because . . . “ list a series of possible problems so that one or more can be circled, underlined, or checked off. Some suggestions: Payment has not been received. We no longer fill C.O.D. orders—please send a check or money order. We do not have a complete shipping address; a description of the enclosed merchandise; a copy of the sales slip, invoice, or shipping label; an explanation of why you’re returning it; your request for a refund, credit to your account, or replacement merchandise, an expression of appreciation. If returning the merchandise is difficult (in the case of a large appliance, for example), write first and ask how it should be returned. Always ask for (although you may not always get) reimbursement for your shipping costs.

 

When you are canceling a prepaid order or when asking for a refund, give all possible information: order/invoice/reference number, date of order, description of merchandise. Specify whether your payment should be returned to you as cash or check, as a credit to your account or your bank card (if you charged it), or as a credit to your company’s account.

 

Arrange your order on the page so that it can be deciphered at a glance. Instead of phrasing an order as a long sentence, arrange the information in columns. Set off data so as to be quickly read—there will be a similar chance of error in your order.

 

If you need merchandise or supplies by a certain date, state it clearly. By making explicit in your letter the importance of the delivery date, you will in most instances be able to cancel the order without forfeiture if you fail to receive it in time; the letter can serve as an informal contract.

 

If your first order should go astray and you send in a second, emphasize that it is a duplicate order. Too often, the first order eventually turns up and is also filled.

 

Orders were made for forms, and vice versa. Although no two order forms are precisely alike, a few items are standard: customer’s name, business name or title, address, postal code, and telephone number with area code; customer’s account number; description of merchandise, page where it appears in catalog (optional), quantity wanted, size, color, type; monogram or personalization; price per unit; total price for each item; shipping and handling chart; sales tax information; amount enclosed; shipping information (options available plus approximate length of shipping time); space for bank card number, expiration date; and signature; spaces for signatures from purchasing department or other authorization.

 

Individualized letters dealing with orders are generally typed on letterhead or memo stationery.

 

If writing about a personal order from your home, a handwritten note is acceptable if clearly written.

 

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Line of Sight