Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [93]
By examining the benefits espoused by the loyalists, the customer’s words were benefit statements that the company had never made. In fact, the customers made statements about the viability of the product that the marketing department would have never developed. Their perception about the benefits created additional marketing content, opportunities for testimonials, and specific benefit points that needed to be brought out in the marketing. Many companies have a conception of what they bring to the market and the benefit they provide to the customer. However, I wonder how many of those companies actually have checked with the customer to be sure their benefit statements match the customer’s actual benefits,
In this case, the benefits that the company touted in the marketing materials were far more complex and involved than the simple messages that the customers were providing in their feedback. As a result, the marketing messages were reworked to be simpler and concise. In addition, the benefit statements went into the development of the new website and incorporated the primary benefit categories as high-level navigation items in the menu. Additional benefit statements were implemented throughout the navigation, using the customer’s own feedback and words to assist other, potential customers in solving their problems and finding answers.
Within weeks of the new website launch, the results were clear. Benefit-based searches were bringing new customers to the website. By restating the benefits of the customers, the website was able to rank for and draw in new prospects that were trying to solve the same issues. By testing the marketing message and refining the message to be simpler and using the same language as the customer, this company saw their website traffic increase by 800 percent and leads increase by 400 percent, just within the first five months.
Beyond the website, a new marketing campaign was launched, with the goal of creating a simpler message that was easier to communicate. The customer research showed that the majority of loyal customers found out about the company through word-of-mouth. The majority of Detractors found out about the company through more traditional forms of advertising. Based on these findings, a campaign was launched as the centerpiece of the company to reward and promote the loyal customers and encourage word-of-mouth. Loyalty breeds loyalty as they learned, and encouraging your promoters provides the best kind of customers.
Use Real People, Not Groups
Chapter 4 introduced the concept of developing a user persona. Personas are the art of developing an internal conversation with someone who fits your target market and using that mind-set to see your marketing as they see it. When it comes to messaging, testing with an actual member of that target market needs to be done. My personal preference is not to use focus groups, because a herd mentality tends to take over and people are less inclined to share their personal opinions if they differ from that of the group. In general, people want to be accepted by a group, and that desire allows them to be persuaded in order to be accepted. Because of this, I tend toward recommending properly constructed online surveys and one-on-one interviews and observation.
Do not rely on the persona to test your message, but find actual members of the market that fit the persona. Either through personal interviews, online surveys, or user observation, this is your key to understanding the psychographic profile of your persona. Record their words, phrases, thoughts, and reactions, because these can be used in further developing the persona