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Internet
marketing has become a race between the boastful hare and the persevering
tortoise. The "hare-brained" rush to employ the latest technology
has rushed past "tortoise-minded" traditional marketing principles.
The
list of Internet technology available to help marketers reach customers
is endless _ cookie files, cache busting, rich media _ but Internet
marketing is not solely about technology. There is so much at the
fingertips of today's marketer that sometimes the most useful tools
are overlooked.
Also, some of the most successful online marketing tactics are the
most basic. A case in point is the thank you page/post-purchase
page.
Here is a marketing opportunity that is seldom used but rarely fails.
The concept is simple: Many e-commerce sites accept banner advertisements.
While having the opportunity to market to someone in a buying mode
is great, even better is to take advantage of the thank you/post-purchase
page. This area can be found directly following a user's purchase
of a product. It typically thanks the customer for his or her business
and provides the price, shipping date and other order-confirmation
details.
With no technical hurdles to jump, the rationale behind buying this
ad inventory is simple. The customer has just completed a purchase
online, and presumably is satisfied with the experience. He or she
is familiar with e-commerce, and has already proven to have no reservations
about giving out credit card information online.
Perhaps most importantly, they have nothing left to do on that site.
One site that clearly understands
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the benefit of this area
is CDnow. With low margins on compact discs, CDnow is forced to
turn to ad revenue to enhance its bottom line. Banner and tile advertisements
can be seen throughout the site. After CDnow customers make a purchase,
they are brought to an order summery page that details the buy and
thanks them for shopping at the site.
A number of advertisements appear that are unique
to this area.
One is a credit card offer that targets people with established
credit lines. The other is for shopperconnection.com, which asks
"where would you like to shop next?" Both of these advertisements
were placed on this page to reach a specific type of consumer.
Finding thank you/post purchase inventory isn't necessarily easy.
Most e-commerce sites don't accept advertising, and the ones that
do have limited space on this page. However, putting together a
program focused on this inventory is worth it. Click-through rates
tower above the 1-percent norm, and the conversion rates exceed
almost any other type of media buy.
Also, many sites that sell this type of inventory
have yet to understand its true value. This allows marketers to
take advantage of these targeted areas without paying an inflated
cost-per-thousand impressions rate.
A smart marketer will negotiate a yearlong
buy for an ad on the thank you page to reach any minimum advertising
expenditure the site may require, and then take advantage of surges
in visibility during the shopping seasons.
This represents a tortoise-minded solution to the hare-minded
world of Internet marketing options. Such a media buy allows the
marketer to reach customers while they are in the process of buying.
Cookie targeting and other technology-based marketing tools are
valuable shortcuts, but will never take the place of a disciplined,
traditional marketing approach.
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