Marketing to Women Online

Why Online Shipping Costs Are Driving Women Away

It's a common scenario - she comes to your site, finds what she wants, adds it to her cart, and sometime during checkout she sees what she considers to be an unrealistic and unfair shipping cost. 

She bails.

From the anecdotal evidence I've received, shipping costs are an even bigger problem with women than men. 

I suspect that the reason shipping costs are a deal killer for women is because women may be more likely to think the price is "unfair."

Where's The "Shut Up!" Button?

Talk to women about their website pet peeves, and one of their top complaints is always video or audio that launches automatically when you open a website.

"So I click to the site, and this video opens up and takes over the whole home page" my friend remarked when sharing her frustration over a recent website visit.

"All I wanted to do was read a piece of copy under the video.  I started hitting buttons all over the place.  I couldn't click out quick enough.  Where was the Shut Up! button."

Yup - I hear you.  I've searched for it too often myself.

A recent example was when I was on a client call, and just wanted to pull up a website real quick to check the dates of a conference.  Well, the site opens up, and there's this load bizarre beeping noise.   Apparently, there was a count-down clock for the conference that was beeping its little heart out.   I couldn't click out of the site fast enough.  I didn't want the client to think I was doing something else other than giving him my undivided attention. (Which I was, really, I swear).

Websites for Women - Common Mistakes Part 3

I was talking with Jean at All Moms Go To Heaven, our guinea pig site, er....our test subject, and she has seen a definite increase in activity on her site.   By fixing her home page, and and making the suggested changes to her nomination form, she's seen an increase in sales, nominations, and overall positive comments on her site.

But there's still a lot of room for improvement.

So - let's take a look at another common mistake when creating websites for women - category pages.

I've written about category pages before and how important they are, especially if you are targeting women. 

So let's take a look at All Moms Go To Heaven and see what improvements we can make on their shopping page.

Fewer Women in Web Design?

There's still a big gap between women and men in the IT field.   Would it be a good thing to have more women in IT, and specifically, in web design?  I think so.   But if you're designing a website for women, does the gender of the designer matter?   

check out the debate on Grokdotcom.

Websites for Women - Common Mistakes - Part 1

So, you've finally done it.   You've started your own business.   You've found something you're really passionate about.  You know it's a good product/service.

So now that you have a business, you know an important first step is to create a website.  You contact good people, throw down some cash, and voila - you've got a good lookin' website. 

There's just one problem.   You're not getting any results from it.

I know.  I've heard from all sorts of women (and men) who are just as frustrated as you are.   So in a series of posts, I'm going to look at some of the most common problems when creating a website targeting women (since most of you ARE targeting women), and how to fix those problems.

Jean Johnson at All Moms Go To Heaven has bravely volunteered to be our case study.  Her site has many of the most common problems I see, so it's the perfect example to work with.

Websites for Women - Common Mistakes - Part 1 - The Home page

All Mom's Go To Heaven suffers from an ineffective home page.  Visitors see nothing but images and very little copy.  (see example to left as the actual page may have changed by the time you view this) Your home page must do two things....... 

Do Your Customers Feel Stalked?

I was at a concert last weekend, shaking my booty and singing badly.    I try to make up for talent with enthusiasm. 

Several sponsors were there doing their best to promote their brands and gather email addresses.    The Finlandia Vodka girls were working the crowd passing out cards to fill out with your information.   In return for your email address, zip code and age, you were rewarded with.....a straw.   I passed.

Lots of other groups came around with various giveaways.   All were trying to collect email addresses.  The only one who got my info was, actually, the Finlandia girls on round two when they had really cool beach towels.  And then, they got a fake age and my throw-away aol address.

You want my real email address?  One I actually check?   You have to build a relationship with me first.   My email is sacred space.   I actively comb it for unwanted messages and report spam diligently.

If we've actually started a relationship, and I agree to let you send me email, you have to respect that relationship.   Too many companies take advantage of my permission.  They bombard me with emails day after day after day.   I feel smothered.  I feel taken advantage of.  Especially since the vast majority of these emails are pushing me to take an action I don't want to take.   What part of "no" do you not understand?

Are you stalking your customers? 

 

Do You Comment on Blogs?

Do you comment on blogs?  If so, why?  if not, why?   That's the question Bryan Eisenberg asked.   The responses are fascinating.   

I've written before about why women do and don't comment on blogs.   I was curious to see if women and men had different responses and if there were any patterns.  Now, I didn't use any scientific processes, but did notice a few things....

It seems the female respondents were more likely to add positive "great post" supportive comments.  Some of the guys felt that was a waste of time.   

Some of the guys felt comments as a whole were a waste of time and didn't bother reading them.

This one response from a woman struck me as especially representative of female communication style

Why don't I add comments more often?
a) when a blog hits a hot button, an issue that I'm passionate about and I feel that I should stand up for it or stand against it I will comment.
b) I generally do not add comments because it isn't that important for me to look really smart or really dumb.
c) I responded to this because it asked specific questions and asked for my opinion.

I think that may be on of the best insights from this post - if you want someone to comment, if you want them to share their opinion - just ask.   It certainly worked for Bryan.

Women and Gift Giving

Some of the best gifts I've ever gotten in my life were from men.   I'll never forget my boyfriend in college who showed up for our first date with a lovely bottle of champagne...in a garbage can.   He didn't have any other way to chill it, so he emptied out his waste paper basket, filled it with ice and bubbly, and walked across campus ignoring the jeers... "Did you have to get so dressed up just to empty your garbage?"  But when he arrived at my doorstep, the champagne was cold.  Romantic and resourceful - you gotta love it.

But while men can be wonderful gift givers, even in our modern world, it appears women are responsible for the majority of gift giving.   A good friend once commented that she has the Rolodex of all her husband's family and regularly sends out the birthday and holiday gifts.   She simply puts the card in front of him and tells him to sign it.   "Who is this for?" he may inquire. 

"Angela Denny"

"Who's that?"

"That's your aunt, honey."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes - she got remarried last year, remember?  Denny is her new last name."

Women know the gift is important, but so is the presentation.  One of the best reasons to shop online is the ease of shipping gifts.    No post office visits.  No extra steps.

But why do so many online retailers fail to let you know what your gift options are until you're in the check out process?   The gift options might even influence the sale.  In other words, if she knows you offer gift wrapping and a customized card, that might influence her to buy from you instead of another retailer offering the same product.

Here's an example - magazines.com clearly points out that they have gift options on the product page - BEFORE you add to cart.    I wanted to order Gourmet magazine as a gift.  Right on the product page, they have a gift box icon with two links - "Print a Gift Announcement" and "View all Gift Announcement Options".  And they have lots of options, including the ability to choose when you want your gift card delivered. 

When To Create Discussion Forums

One of the best ways to generate word of mouth and create brand evangelists is to create a discussion forum.   What could be better than giving hundreds, thousands, or even millions of your customers or potential customers a forum where they can talk about your products day night?  They can swap stories and passions and ideas.   

Many companies think creating a discussion forum is a great idea.  They think, "of course - people love us and our products - they'd like nothing better than to have a place where they can meet and talk about us for hours".

I wonder what would happen if I, Holly Buchanan, created my own discussion forum.  All my fans could congregate and talk about me and all the things I'm passionate about, from marketing to women, to addictions to Swedish Fish , to what to do about your Boston Terrier's snoring problem.

There's just one problem - no one cares about Holly Buchanan.   (Ok, my mom does, but.....)   

Do people share some of my same passions?  Sure they do.    I know I have more than one reader, so someone other than my mother is reading the blog.   But is my brand strong enough that people really want to talk about me?   No, it's not.

Yet many companies think their customers are so passionate about the company and what it sells that, of course, they need a discussion forum.    Apple needs a discussion forum - you probably don't.......unless......

Women and Word of Mouth - Good and Bad

I attended the Women's Internet Marketing Summit this weekend put on by the Women's ECommerce Association International.    There was lots of great stuff, but by far the highlight was the heated discussion about ethics in blogging.   The "Harnessing the Blogosphere" panel featured several top women bloggers. 

The key question was - is it ok to get paid to blog and what do you need to disclose. 

the overwhelming response was - keep it authentic and true.  If you absolutely must do a blog that is paid for by an advertiser - you must be incredible explicit and offer full disclosure.

One of the panelists writes a blog that is sponsored by an advertiser.  She gets paid to write the blog.  But she is very specific and up front about her relationship with the advertiser.   

I still sensed some squirming.    This is a subject these women are really really passionate about.   Authenticity and transparency in blogging is something many bloggers, including myself, hold sacred.   I'll just say, from the panel discussion, it's a really really sensitive subject.

Women and Word of Mouth - Bad

payperpost.com is a website that pays people to blog.   More specifically - they pay you to write about their advertisers' products.   

Here's what they say on their site:

Get Paid for Blogging. You've been writing about Web sites, products, services and companies you love for years and you have yet to benefit from all the sales and traffic you have helped generate. That's about to change. With PayPerPost advertisers are willing to pay you for your opinion on various topics.

But what if you have a negative opinion?    Will they pay you for that?  In an Ad Age article about payperpost.com - they say this:

a "Postie" (PayPerPost's term for its 6,000 bloggers) can't criticize the product, in this case. The tone required by the opp is neutral.

Payperpost.com is working on "disclosure" issues - but - I don't know about you, but this whole thing creeps me out.