Eye tracking study reveals 12 website tactics
Eye tracking studies have revealed valuable information about how people read and interact with websites. One study, Eyetrack III, published a summary of their eye tracking results for news sites.
While this is just one eye tracking study focused on a particular type of site, I think there are instructive nuggets here for any informational website.
In no particular order, here are 12 results I found particularly interesting.
Why “corporate” ads waste money
The money wasted on do-nothing “corporate” advertising is truly astonishing. Here’s a “corporate” style ad I chose completely at random from Target Marketing magazine.
Okay, quick … what’s it about? Don’t know? Of course not. You have to read the teeny little block of type to find out it has something to do with email. I think it’s software, but I’m not entirely sure.
This is typical of what I call “corporate” ads. These are ads that look pretty, say little, cost a lot, and don’t work very well.
USPS offers direct mail “summer sale”
It’s no secret that the economy has depressed mail volume and that the USPS is suffering. But here’s a bit of surprising news:
The postal service is offering a “sale” this summer. Dead Tree Edition provides the details:
To counteract its declining revenues, the U.S. Postal Service is rolling out incentives to certain organizations that increase the number of items they mail.
Postal officials are reportedly working on a “Summer Sale” program to encourage businesses and non-profit groups to send more direct mail, catalogs, and other Standard-class mail this summer. Sources say it would offer rebates of 20% to 30% for mailers that increase their Standard mail during July, August, and September of this year.
The Postal Service will reportedly file the Summer Sale proposal with the Postal Regulatory Commission this month. The PRC would then have up to 45 days to rule on the proposal.
The program reportedly grew out of discussions between Postmaster General Jack Potter and CEOs of printing and paper companies about how to increase USPS’s volumes during the off-peak summer months. It would apparently be more politically acceptable than Potter’s other idea for countering low summer volumes — temporarily reducing deliveries to five days a week.
Direct marketing extra credit reading list
I’ve been busy recently writing articles for everything other than this blog. So here’s a short reading list for a little direct marketing extra credit.
First, Melissa Data recently published The Ultimate Marketing Survival Guide for 2009. I wrote the lead article, “Direct mail remains the king of direct marketing.” Just in case you thought direct mail was dead or that tweeting is better than mailing, this article will disabuse you of that faulty assumption.
Next, there’s a fun little article over at Copyblogger titled The 3 Secret Persuasion Techniques Every Kid Knows. You parents will relate to this one. I don’t have children, but I know they’re often tuned into persuasion better than many adults.
Feeling a little burned out? Mary Jaksch asked me to submit some tips for Write to Done in a post titled 7 Easy Ways to Energize Your Creative Powers. If you’re a professional writer, you can’t just wait for the muse to drop by. You need a few techniques for flipping the switch on creativity when you need it.
Finally, there’s one of my regular columns for DM News, one of the most recent is Problem Solver: Is it smart for an online business to use direct mail? I discuss how you can’t let a particular medium dictate your marketing strategy and ways to use direct mail to build your online business.
This should keep you busy for a while.
How to use “official” envelopes for direct mail
There are two basic envelope strategies for direct mail packages: the teaser envelope and the mystery envelope.
The teaser envelope is just what it sounds like. It’s a direct mail envelope covered with teaser copy about the envelope contents. This makes it clear that the contents are advertising something. Often there are photos or illustrations, copy details, even a statement of the offer.
The mystery envelope by contrast, generally gives you no clue about the envelope contents. Sometimes the envelope shows nothing more than the return address and postage or looks like a personal communication. The idea here is for the mailing to not look like advertising.
“Official” envelopes are a subset of the mystery envelope. They don’t tell you exactly what’s inside, but they raise the curiosity level by making it appear as if the contents are important and urgent.
Here’s an example I received recently:
Semantic noise: the copywriter’s curse
“Semantic noise” is the term communication professors use to describe what happens when words mean different things to different people.
Here’s one notorious example. A copywriter wrote the following slogan for a cough syrup company:
“Try our cough syrup. You will never get any better.”
You can see what the poor copywriter meant to say, but his slogan can be understood in two ways. It creates major semantic noise and you are left wondering why anyone would buy a product that promises to NOT work.
Here are other examples of semantic noise caused by writers from around the world.
Sign in Norwegian cocktail lounge: “Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.”
Detour sign in Japan: “Stop. Drive Sideways.”
Hotel in Vienna: “In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.”
Elevator in Germany: “Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.”
Dry cleaner window in Bangkok: “Drop your pants here for best results.”
And my favorite from a Japanese hotel: “You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.”
Huh? Is your e-mail advertising confusing?
E-mail advertising has always been a simple and economical way to advertise. And now that economies all over the world are in the tank, there’s more incentive than ever to use e-mail to sell products and services.
But simple and cheap doesn’t always translate into “successful.” Sometimes I receive an e-mail that makes me say, “Huh?”
This recently happened when I received the e-mail ad pictured to the right.
First, I can’t read the copy. Maybe that makes me unsophisticated, but sorry, I don’t speak or read French.
Second, what exactly does “Air Email” mean? It appears to be the name of the company but, huh? Is this supposed to be like Air Mail? That used to mean mail transported by plane, signifying that it was delivered fast. Today Air Mail is a trademark of the United States Postal Service and refers to international mail.
What AC/DC can teach you about advertising
They’ve been recording and touring for 35 years. And in all that time they’ve remained an icon of anti-innovation. AC/DC began their career playing three-chord rock songs and they’re still playing three-chord rock songs. Almost nothing has changed.
Has it hurt them? Well, when the band recently released its new album, Black Ice, it went straight to the top of the Billboard charts, selling 784,000 copies in the first week. So I’d say no. Their lack of innovation seems to be working quite nicely, thank you.
We live in a time of endless, often mindless, change. DVDs killed VHS, and now your DVDs face their own mortality. You thought you’d caught up when you got that tiny little cell phone, now big Blackberries with keyboards are the rage. The GPS is cool, but the maps were out of date the moment you got into your car.
Everywhere you turn, something is changing and that out-of-breath feeling you used to get now and then is with you every day. And all you want is to find something that’s stable and familiar.
| FREE Newsletter |
| Get my monthly newsletter and a FREE 16-page Report: 99 Easy Ways to Boost Your Direct Mail Response! |
|
Past issues and more info. Your privacy is guaranteed. |
Freelance Success
See how an unknown Canadian copywriter earned $64,000 with one sales letter!Here's how to start making over $200 per hour with the secrets of "power quoting."
Go from zero to six figures in two years? Yes. Just follow this risk-free, step-by-step plan.
Find thousands of freelance writing and editing jobs. Fresh jobs daily. Kickstart your writing career for just $7.00.
-
Recently Written
- 21 great headlines from trashy tabloids
- What does “freelance” really mean?
- 23 thoughts to survive any crisis
- 6 secrets of buyer behavior in a recession
- 30 Timeless Direct Marketing Principles
- Generating sales leads with TV ads
- Spam scam copywriting secrets
- Quick online writing resources
- Eye tracking study reveals 12 website tactics
- Why “corporate” ads waste money
-
Categories
-
Blogroll
- A List Apart
- B2B Lead Generation Blog
- Ballantine Blog
- Click to Client
- Copyblogger
- Copywriter Underground
- Copywriting Maven
- Direct Marketing Blog
- Duct Tape Marketing
- Email Marketing Reports
- Freelance Folder
- Golden Pencil
- Graphic Design Blog
- MarketingProfs
- Naked Idea
- ProFreelancing
- Seth Godin’s Blog
- Ted Grigg’s Reflections
- Wealthy Freelancer
- Web Shop’s Best Practices
- Write to Done