Welcome to Our Special Report
Welcome to Direct magazine's special report on the Direct Media 2005 Spring Mailer Conference and Co-op. Presenters at this year's event shared their knowledge on a number of subjects, including e-commerce for multichannel marketers, the challenges of e-mail marketing and tips for making the most of your e-customers' time. We hope you enjoy this wrap-up, sponsored by Direct Media.

Multichannel Marketers Follow the Money -- Online
The biggest opportunities for multi-channel marketers are in the online space. Unfortunately, that's where the biggest headaches are as well.

"It is a challenge for organizations to look at a customer communications strategy from a holistic point of view," said Mike Sidders, director of e-commerce at Fingerhut. "But the net to the company is greater than the expense we undertake."

Panelists at a session at Direct Media's annual co-op conference in April agreed that the online channel holds great promise for generating money. But the road to those dollars can be bumpy.

As panel moderator Jennifer Cuttler, senior vice president of sales at Direct Media noted, someone who is a multichannel customer has a higher value. Fingerhut acknowledges this, and Sidders stressed the need to have a consistent brand message across all mediums.

"For Web initiatives there should always be some sort of physical property engagement -- a catalog, a flier, whatever form the media takes," Sidders said. This helps break through the clutter of media focused at online customers.

Ultimately, of course, outreach efforts are about money. "We talked about lifetime value and profitability," Sidders said. "When shopping in most mediums, things are cheaper on the Web and there is a higher likelihood of increased frequency."

That said, for Easter Seals the move to generate money from the Web has been a slow one. The organization has been much more successful in using the Internet to present a stronger brand image across its 90 affiliates. In the five years the charity has focused on its online presence, the Internet has served more as an organizing and information-dispensing tool than a fundraising one.

Part of this is due to the disparate demographics of Web users and Easter Seals' traditional donor base. "The average age is a little over 70 years old," Chris Cleghorn, executive vice president of direct and interactive marketing for Easter Seals Inc., said. "Not to say that older Americans aren't embracing the Internet -- but our current base of support is supporting us through direct mail."

Easter Seals hasn't yet found the magic key that will link them to a younger, charity-supporting online audience. This is a shame, because the contributions it generates online average around $50 per donor, compared to the $12-$15 direct mail pulls in. Alas, online donations make up only around 1% of its donor base.

For this reason, extensively segmenting its online fundraising efforts isn't something Easter Seals is doing right now. "We are not dealing with enough volume," Cleghorn said. "We will target based on legislative efforts [for advocacy campaigns]," he continued.

Where the Internet has excelled is as an outlet for information, and that can sometimes have a compound effect on donations. Cleghorn recalled one donor who had given at the $100-$500 level through direct mail efforts. But the donor went online to get a better handle on Easter Seals' activities, and ultimately wrangled an invitation to one of the organization's facilities. The result of the in-person visit was a $50,000 donation -- made via the Internet. Finally, the ability to give online may have one additional benefit for donors, and therefore for Easter Seals. It's a lot easier to use a credit card online, Cleghorn noted, and some donors may prefer to use their American Express cards. "They want the points," he said. Information and organization are noble goals, but for Diane Petruzzelli, a direct response advertising consultant, the first concern of any marketing channel is profit and loss. To her, that means upsell, no matter what the medium. "When someone calls an 800 number, [offer] a continuum product or another product," she stressed. "Get as many dollars as you can from that call in. Hire a telemarketing company that is adept at this."

A Click in Time Saves...
If time really is money, Eric Svenson wants to make Web sites a source of savings for visitors.

At Direct Media Inc.'s April Co-op, Svenson preached the virtues of being thrifty with site browsers' time, saying that if a potential customer has to "spend" an inordinate amount of minutes finding what they need, the value of the site's offerings drops. He offered several tips for making Web site navigation more efficient, including:

* Being aware that all links off a home page are not created equal. One landing page featured 79 links, each taking the visitor deeper into the site. By analyzing which clicks led to sales, the company was able to determine what visitors valued.

* Including a series of "featured category" links along with search results. These can be based on a variety of product attributes, such as price, manufacturer and product type. Remember to include best sellers, gift items, clearance, seasonal, new merchandise and "Web specials" categories, as applicable.

* Thinking in terms of solutions, not products. The Audubon Workshop site features a drop-down menu, which asks visitors to pick a species of bird they would like to attract. This allows the recommendation engine to promote not only a guide to hummingbirds (the original item wanted by the visitor) but also a nectar dispenser and other items with high cross-sell potential.

* Setting aside space on every page of the Web site for an offer that is customizable to the visitor, but consistent within each visit.

* Providing an "items previously viewed" section allows visitors to quickly recall previous products -- and add them to shopping carts with one or two clicks. Svenson recommends saving these items for three months, and promoting them not only on subsequent visits, but in follow-up e-mails if a viewer purchases some, but not all, of the items selected.

* Offering a "quick order" feature -- especially for marketers who use catalogs and other mailers. This allows visitors to enter item numbers and quantities into an order form on the landing page's sidebar and jump straight to checkout.

* Using individual account numbers on catalogs and other mailers, and encouraging customers to enter these into the Web site. This allows marketers to auto-populate name and address fields, reducing checkout time by 50%, provided mailing data has been pre-loaded into the site database.

* Locating on-site search bars prominently. Half of the people who use an on-site search bar make purchases. Do not add another click -- and therefore useless time -- by making visitors jump to a search page.

* Ensuring that search results pages feature "view all" and "sort by (price, size, manufacturer, etc.)" functions

* Providing repeat customers a re-order feature, with items listed adjusted for new and seasonal items ordered.

* Offering alternative or similar products on "Item not found" landing pages, instead of simply apologizing for not having the item or recognizing the request.

* Reviewing quantitative records of items visitors searched for but didn't find, along with what they ultimately purchased, and adjust re-direction and recommendation pages accordingly.

* Taking advantage of cross-sell opportunities on shopping cart pages, such as through product recommendations and "last items viewed" sections.

* Allowing visitors lured to the site through a promotion a chance to enter promotion codes right on the shopping page. This reassures the visitor that the promotion will be applied without the visitor having to wait to purchase items selected.