Eric Yonge’s Update: The Head2Toe Landing Page is UP!
July 12th, 2008
Hi, Everybody!
While they’re busy assembling all of their products, the ladies of Head 2 Toe asked us to create a temporary landing page that will communicate all the core information about their new business and provide a general sneak-peak. You can see it at www.head2toepub.com
With only a single page to play with, we have to make every inch count. We finally settled on three elements:
1.) Graphic Branding
2.) Information about the owners
3.) Clear contact method
Stripped of anything remotely product related, this was a visual reminder to me about what many COMPLETE stores consistently fail to promote to their customers. Many store-owners assume that the customers only care about the product they want to buy. As my dad would say, “The only thing wrong with that is that it’s wrong.”
This error has resulted in more losses in conversion than I want to even think about. While there are plenty of other core elements a site must have to be successful, let’s talk about the three mentioned above:
1.) Graphic Branding
Branding isn’t a “thing.” It’s EVERYTHING. Branding is everything about your business that makes you different from the other folks. My secretary knows that even the way she answers the phone contributes to the EYStudios brand. In terms of graphic branding, every color, every line, and every typeface matters. As a store owner, the site design you approve will absolutely reflect some aspect of your personality. Reader, you are absolutely one-of-a-kind. Your store should be as well. What can you do that promotes you as being DIFFERENT? Forget what the other store is doing… if you mimic them, you’ll never be better than them.
Head2Toe got this without me even having to say anything. They didn’t just want generic cartoon characters… they wanted a little boy that looked like Karla’s nephew and a little girl that looked like Amy’s daughter! Talk about being unique. They didn’t want a manufactured “clip art” feel. It’s their store and darn it, if there’s going to be cartoon kids, it better be their kids.
Because people make graphic decisions, graphics are a lot like people: You can tell when they’re genuine and when they’re fake. What do you want your graphics to say about you and your company?
2.) Information about the owners
If you don’t have a big “ABOUT US” link on your site, you should consider getting one. The About Us link on our site is the most visited page in our entire website. Why? People want to know who they’re doing business with. Don’t pretend to be a business you’re not (are you beginning to see a theme here?). Use the fact that you’re a small-business to your advantage. One of our current clients posted a video on their About Us page of him introducing himself and then taking the viewer on a guided tour of their offices. This resulted in a 40% sales boost. Even big companies like ScottTrade and Sprint are trotting out their less-than-glamorous head honchos out to humanize their brands, so don’t worry about what you look like.
In my hometown, the most successful real estate agent in the area plasters pictures of her holding her giant grey cat on billboards, grocery carts, and even movie screens. People want to buy houses from her because they feel like they know her from her ads… and they feel let down if they can’t meet her giant grey cat.
3.) Clear contact method
Forget how great your products are… forget how fantastic your site design looks. If people can’t contact you, you’ve got a big problem.
Many clients are terrified about putting a toll-free number in their header, because they don’t think they can handle the call volume. The fact is, many customers won’t even call the toll-free number, but it still reassures them that someone is there if they need them. I can’t emphasize this enough—you have to make yourself available to your customers, even if they don’t need you!
At the very least, you should have a very prominent “Contact Us” tab in your header. Put every contact method you can think of in there. On my site, people can even find my instant messenger ID. I can’t tell you how many sales I’ve made just from people feeling free to IM me when they see me online.
What’s the big take-away from the above points? It’s the fact that people matter. Your customers matter, of course, but don’t YOU matter more than you realize. The more you invest of yourself in your business, from what it visually and verbally says about you to the way people can contact you, makes a huge difference. You want to be able to say “This is MY company,” and mean it.
See you next time,
Eric
-Eric
ERIC YONGE President | Creative Director
