Encourage more catalog requests, if you want

Would you like to encourage more catalog requests from your website's visitors? We know that shoppers who come to our clients' sites after receiving a print catalog are more likely to buy than other visitors, and spend more per visit than visitors from other sources.

Now there's one less obstacle for a site visitor to request a print catalog from your website. There's now no longer a requirement that an email address be given when requesting a catalog on your website. We've separated the Catalog Request process from the process of creating a Website Account. The website account creation process required an email address as a unique identifier. Now there's no connection between these processes, making it more likely that a catalog request won't be avoided by a website visitor for fear of giving up a sensitive email address.

Here's a couple other changes:

• The URL to the Catalog Request page has changed, to http://www.yourdomainname.com/catalog_request.php. We've updated your site's universal navigation menus and email templates that link to this form.
• You can now add a "Teaser" to the top of the Catalog Request page. Create a new teaser that features photos of your catalogs, along with a text description of their frequency and subject matter. Assign it to the Catalog Request "Teaser Spot" in the Teasers section of the Admin Area.

Note: If your website automatically imports catalog requests into your order fulfillment software, like Mail Order Manager, then expect this to continue. There are no changes in how this data is integrated with your other software packages.

Comments

[Patrick Pitman]

Update: When comparing results for 3 weeks prior to this new Catalog Request form and 3 weeks after introducing it, we find this positive difference: The "exit rate" of visitors coming to the catalog request form has dropped by half.

For one client, the exit rate changed from 12.5% to 6.6%. This means that now, since the change, half as many people are leaving the site without completing this form compared to the number before. That's good.

[Patrick Pitman]

The URL for the catalog request page has been updated to http://www.yourdomain.com/catalog_request/new

The old URL still works during a transitional period of time...