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How to drive more offline traffic to your website
Online commerce is crucial to growth today. However, much business still takes place offline and offline is still a MAJOR driver of web visits and sales. Here we provide a range of suggestions for driving more of your offline customers (e.g. direct mail orders) online. Enabling you to sell more effectively, capture data and enjoy more rewarding long-term relationships:
1. Always promote your website clearly and include a special bonus for ordering online (special price, special incentive).
2. Promote your website on your products – listing special benefits of buying online in future. Remember – don’t just list the web address, but tell them why they need to go there and what they will get.
3. Include a “bucksheet” or small flyer with every order you despatch telling the customer about some great deals online.
4. Include a small flyer with every product, alerting customers to a free download or other benefit.
5. Develop a strapline to accompany your web address on point of sale/exhibition display materials. Don’t just rely on people seeing the web address and going there – give them a reason to visit.
6. Encourage online competitions at exhibitions where people can sign up.
7. Promote a web-only offer in all your PR. In many cases, magazines will often mention a product but not how to get it. By including an offer in the press release there is a chance the magazine will also refer to the offer and generate web traffic to your site.
8. Position your logo next to your web address – today, time is short so any visual cue with a linked association will help people make the leap into the “intangible space” of the web.
9. Promote your website and core benefit even on your envelopes. Eventually, you want people to associate a core value (“how to save £50 on your heating bills”) with your logo and your website. Even if the envelope isn’t opened, the message still gets across.
10. Remember the power of the PS in your sales letters. Refer to your website there and the core offer of the letter. After the initial salutation, the PS is read before the body of your letter so use it to get the message to sink in.
We have also produced a special guide to capturing more customers and data from your website, including a range of ideas for special offers and promotions. This is available FREE at the Red Page downloads page (Resource RP0009). Click here to view.
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