Catching up to the future
- Josh Mehlman
- 1 December 2009
- Page 1 of 2 : single page
Case file #23
How do you get the balance between form and function right? Just ask Mark Mortelliti, whose company Lifestyle Furniture specialises in handcrafted hardwood furniture, mostly using Australian timbers.
A quick browse of the Lifestyle Furniture website
, will give you some idea of the range of timbers available, including red gum, blackwood and jarrah, as well as some of the designs for tables, buffets and chests.
Unlike the big players in the industry, Lifestyle Furniture is happy to modify designs to suit its customers' desires for furniture that not only looks and feels good, but will also fit comfortably into their lifestyle.
Right now, Mortelliti's challenge is getting the form and function of his website hitting the same sweet spots with his customers.
"We are a traditional bricks and mortar retailer and while the website is generating leads and sales in store, almost zero is actually purchased online," he says.
"I continue to struggle with web strategies, email marketing ideas, and other online presences such as catalogue central to generate leads."
The Panel
- Jonathan Crossfield, Netregistry. Expertise: Online content
- Ciaran McGuigan, Strike Force Sales. Expertise: Sales strategies
- Kevin Garber, Melon Media. Expertise: Digital marketing
- Josh Mehlman. Moderator
Challenge 1: How do I capture information about potential customers?
Kevin: Communicate internally that you will be sending out a monthly email newsletter. Explain that growing the recipient database is important and embed into the culture of your business the value of collecting email details of customers and prospects. Provide your staff with a simple process for them to record email addresses. You could approach other retailers in related but different segments; for example, a bedding retailer, that has an existing database. Offer to either sponsor their email newsletter, or form an alliance to cross promote each other's website and newsletter. You should also provide a clear and effective mechanism on every page of the website for web visitors to sign-up for your email newsletter. Make the sign-up text compelling.
“I know you’ve had the site since 1999 and you say it has been revamped three times since then, but it looks like it’s stuck in 1999”
Jonathan: That's right. Every page of the website needs to have a call to action. It needs to motivate the person reading the page to do a particular thing. I know you have a link there so that customers can lodge an enquiry via an email pane - I recommend you make a form instead. That way they won't have to leave the internet browser to do an email. Create copy on the page that encourages them to communicate with you and share their information. Give them some reason why they need to fill in the form.
Josh: You can collect all their details, which they may not give you if they are just sending you an email.
Jonathan: Forms are not that difficult for someone to integrate into your website. If you get a designer that can help you to tighten those things up around the website they will be able to put whatever form you want in there that would store information. It is possible to also have those things plugged into your own software that you use in your CRM (customer relationship management system), if you had such a thing. That would then store that data in ways that are useful to you elsewhere within the business. So that would be the first step to creating an information capture that could have multiple applications for you down the line.
Mark: I can see I'm not capturing information about my visitors effectively yet. I haven't got a system in there to generate a database of people who visit my site, and unless they start an order, I can't see which of my products they're interested in.
Josh: How about capturing some information at the order stage? Your site requires that people create an account to be able to process an order, which means you miss out.
Mark: We've only had Zen - our transaction tool - up for about three months, and so far the result has been negligible because it's only based on the fact that they want to buy something. What if I had something that didn't require the transaction - instead just a general enquiry about our products and services? Would we get a higher uptake of people putting their details in?
Jonathan: Exactly. I'm assuming a lot of them are using it to print out things or look around before actually going into your business? It's generating offline activity rather than online activity?
Mark: Definitely, Jonathan. I guess furniture is an emotional, touchy-feely product. It requires a bit of interaction because people are going to sit on it, or look at it, or eat at it, or sleep on it every day of their lives. Discerning buyers want to touch and feel the furniture before they order a custom-made piece. We're creating leads via the website, but 99.9% of our sales are offline.
Challenge 2: What are some smart ways to get more leads and convert them?
Ciaran: The first thing you need to do is get on the phone and qualify or disqualify those leads you already have. Ring them up as soon as possible after the lead comes through from the website and start talking price range.
If they are happy to talk after that then you know they are real. A great technique is to ask the prospect what is wrong with their current bed, desk or chair. When they tell you, they are effectively telling you their selling points.
Kevin: You can build up your lead database online with a simple blogging, Twitter and email newsletter strategy. You could do it in three steps:
- Create a blog on your website. Commit to writing one article a fortnight. This article can be short or long, contain pictures and/or videos, and does not have to be professional in terms of quality of content, but rather capture the feel of your brand and culture.
- Set-up a twitter account. Commit to writing one tweet a day and following 10 people a day. Link your Twitter account and your blog so that your blog articles will automatically be tweeted. And,
- When you publish your email newsletter tweet it to your followers. This will assist in generating quality traffic to your website. In store, you can put up a note for customers to email you and/or tweet photos, stories and memories that involve some of the products from your store. You can turn this into an ongoing monthly contest - best story/photo wins a prize. You can also put up a note explaining how they can easily follow you on Twitter and sign up for your newsletter containing special offers.
Challenge 3: How can I better present my product range for different audiences?
Kevin: When your database grows in size, you can look at segmenting the database and sending more customised messages to each segment. For example, you can send a different message to recipients who have purchased than to recipients you have only provided quotes to.
