ECommerce and offline marketing are more intertwined than you might think. Building an offline presence for your eCommerce site may seem counterintuitive but trust us it’s essential to building and growing your eCommerce site. Even if you generate all your money from your website, your offline presence will drive traffic to your site, retain customers, get customers recommending and much more. Below are a few ways in which offline marketing will help your eCommerce site grow.
It’s not all digital
You’ve got your website, you’ve got some traffic going to your site but who doesn’t want more traffic? Have you exhausted all the digital marketing avenues? Like email campaigns, social media posts, Google Ads, etc. Maybe it’s time to try offline marketing. Did you know that direct mail has better conversion rates than regular email shots? Direct mail can boast a staggering 4.4% conversion rate compared to emails 0.12%. The DMA found that direct mail response rates can even be 10-30 times higher than that of digital! Consumers are feeling more overwhelmed by cluttered inboxes and flooded social feeds. The best thing about direct mail is that it’s tangible, feels unique, and these feelings are all part of the buyer experience. Plus, direct mail has an average lifespan of 17 days in the consumers’ household. Now you know how great direct mail is and why you should be using it. Here’s how!!
Catalogues
Catalogues are great at driving interest for your products in a perfectly crafted way. When designing your brochure, don’t forget that humans engage through stories. Do not just throw a load of products in a booklet and hope for the best. Tell a story and reach people on an emotional level. Catalogues are an excellent way to bridge that gap between the offline and online worlds. People set catalogues aside to be read later and usually have a better response rate than traditional TV adverts. (Source below 1) Brochures can either be sent out on their own or as part of a pack with cover letters, branded envelopes, etc. to drive your story home. See some of our projects HERE for inspiration.
Vouchers / Leaflets
Catalogues are not everyone’s cup of tea. The initial cost can be quite high (although the spectacular conversion rates more than make up for this), but sometimes brochures might not be right for your product or brand. That’s where the superior power of leaflets comes in to play. These can range from small form postcards to A4 or more substantial pieces. The range is endless and is only held back by your imagination. Direct mail leaflets have the same advertising life span as catalogues and therefore are a great addition to any omnichannel marketing campaign. Flyers are a perfect way of offering discounts, highlighting specific products or driving a customer to a call to action. Don’t forget that just because these are a smaller format than brochures you can still tell a story.
Do something different
Stand out from the crowd and do something different. Utilise interactive direct mail pieces to leave a lasting impression with your prospects. There are a plethora of things you can use. A few examples of these are branded playing cards, flicker books, pop-up cards, origami shapes that fold out. I could keep listing and listing but like I said there are so many to choose. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, call our office on 01905 795 700 and speak to our team who can help every step of the way.
Merge the worlds
The easiest and most cost-effective way of generating more revenue from your site is recovering abandoned baskets. 69% of all online shopping baskets are abandoned! These abandoned carts cost online companies BILLIONS of lost revenue. You can now tap into this lost revenue automatically. Using offline marketings’ superior conversion rates, you can now send a personalised piece of direct mail, that will land on the customers’ doorstep 48 after the basket is abandoned. This direct mailer can offer a discount on the items in the cart, similar items, anything you want to drive that customer back to the site. Like we said all this happens automatically. All you need to do is design the leaflet and envelope, then set a trigger point to send the letter. Then make a cup of tea sit back and relax. Case studies have figures showing a conversion rate of 25%. Read more about PSE mail HERE. Plus don’t forget that personalising a piece of mail can increase the likely hood of a purchase by a staggering 80%.
Tracking
You might think that tracking how your offline campaigns are doing is a massive headache. This is not the case. There are many ways that you can track your campaign data and report back on the results. Unique codes are a perfect way to get into the fine detail of data reporting. Generate a unique code for every person you “hit” with a piece of marketing then you can see exactly who has used that code. Another great way of tracking the results of offline marketing is landing pages. These are perfect for A/B testing too. For more information, please read our guide to offline marketing here.
Pop Up Shops
Pop up shops help your customers get a feel for what your brand is all about. These can be tiny little stores that last a week or so, or you can go big and get a large store for a more extended period. The pop-up store industry is now worth a staggering $10Billion and is continuing to rise. Pop-up stores are a great way to unload leftover stock, test new stock, get a buzz for your online store and create new customers. The upfront cost can be more, but you can get prime real estate for a fraction of the cost. Just don’t forget to generate interest by sending some direct mail to locals before your pop-up store opens.
Conclusion
There you have it Ecommerce and offline marketing go hand in hand. Offline marketing is a critical part of any multi-channel marketing campaign and will play a pivotal role in ensuring the continued growth of your eCommerce site. PSE can help inspire, guide, design, send and report back on all of your offline marketing needs. So please call us on 01905 759 700 to find out more. If you liked this blog and found it helpful please share it!!
1 Source Catalogs: Trends and Updates, USPS, Presented at the National Catalog Forum hosted by the American Catalog Mailers Association, May 3, 2017.
