Marketing to Women Online

Graphics - Where Are You Directing Your Visitors' Eyes

In another interesting test from Which Test Won a company tested two graphics with very minor differences.   Look at Version A then Version B and guess which one got a 26% lift in free trial sign-ups.

Version A

Version B

Which did you guess? 

Use Video to Sell Your Product

I'm a long time fan of using video to sell products.  Women especially want more information before they're ready to buy.  While many people won't read a block of text, they will watch a video.

Invodo specializes in creating just such videos. They recently shared information about their work with Summit Toy:

Invodo creates high-quality product video content at scale and develops leading technology to implement and deliver the content to retail sites and other points of consumer influence. For manufacturers like Summit Toy, Invodo’s vast syndication network enables delivery of the custom videos to retail partners that are also selling the products. The videos drive sales and reduce returns by highlighting key features of merchandise and aiding the consumer buying decision process.

“Manufacturers are always seeking tools to help retail partners sell more merchandise, and video optimized for conversion lift makes that possible,” said Craig Wax, Invodo CEO.

Here's an example of a video Invodo created for Summit Toy.

Effective Engaging About Us Pages

Who says About Us pages need to be boring?  Who says they need to be full of corporate speak and cliche filled drivel talking about "Providing cutting edge turnkey solutions for our clients" and "Friendly knowledgeable service" and "our mission is......."

Mideastyouth.com uses comics on their About Us page to communicate to a young audience who doesn't want to read lots of boring text. 

How else could you convey your story on your About Us page? 

Using Video to Sell Products to Women

 

 I am a huge fan of using online video, especially if you are marketing or selling to women. 

The fabulous folks at Invodo have proof positive that adding video increases conversion and SEO.    Take a look at their new video, promoting video - Video Fills the Shopping Cart Up.

Why is video especially important when marketing to women?

1. People vs. text - Women can see body language, facial expressions, and other emotional details text can't convey.
2. Scenarios vs. features - Women don't just care about features, they want to know what the features can do for them.  Women look ahead to the multiple scenarios where they might use a product. 

Here's an example from the Girlfriend Getaway promotion sponsored by Southern Chevy Dealers.    It's a video from a woman demonstrating the Malibu docking station for her iPod.  See how much more effective this video is (how much more of an emotional connection there is) than simply listing this as a feature on your website.

Online video is where it's at people.  Add it to your websites and product pages and increase conversion.

Great Example of a Website Designed for Women

Do men and women engage with websites the same way?  That's a question I've been studying for the last six years.   I've done extensive research on the differences between men and women focusing on:

• Their communication styles
• Their decision making processes
• Their design aesthetics (images, graphics, colors, etc.)

All of this affects how men and women interact with websites.   There are specific website elements that are especially effective for engaging women visitors.  

U by Kotex uses several of those elements.   Let's take a look.

MSN's New Home Page Embraces Female Friendly Design

MSN is rolling out a new home page design.  I checked out a preview. What I find most interesting is that the new home page includes many design elements that appeal to women.

Here's the new MSN home page design

Here's the old MSN homepage design

 

How the new MSN home page design is female friendly

Research has shown there are certain design elements that are persuasive and pleasing to women.   The new MSN home page has tapped into some of those design aesthetics.

What Images Increase Sales to Today's Women?

What are the most important elements in advertisements targeting women?  Quite often - the images.

As we've seen, women sometimes don't respond to/relate to the same images that men do.

So what images do women respond to?

I asked Sally Bjornsen that question.   Sally runs Sally Bjornsen Represents where she represents a select group of photographers.  Ad agencies hire these photographers to do photo-shoots for their clients.  I wanted to talk to Sally for two reasons:

1. She has an extensive advertising background working for companies like Nike and Nordstrom as well as running her own women-focused ad agency.
2. With her current business, she sees firsthand what types of images agencies are looking for today.  

Sally has seen some trends as to what types of images are connecting with consumers, especially female consumers.

Partybeans.com - A Website Designed For Women

I'm always on the lookout for websites that work especially well for women.  I use a set of criteria to rate websites based on research on how women use the Internet and shop online.

Partybeans.com does a great job. 

Here are the reasons why this website does well with women.

Design - This is a clean simple design - not cluttered.  The site uses softer rounded corners which is a design aesthetic women like.  And the color scheme uses female friendly colors. 

Images - The site features positive images of people.  Women want to see not only products, but how people use/react to the product.  The banners flash different occasions giving her ideas of what types of occasions/parties the product can be used for. 

When Should You Offer Free Shipping?

It's a question I'm often asked - Should I offer free shipping?    Is that a smart business decision?

Bottom line, it's a good business decision if it helps you earn more money. 

Yes, there's also the appreciation from customers, especially women, who love free shipping.   But I'm in the business of helping businesses who market to women earn more money.

One reason why you add free shipping is to increase your average order size.  Is your average order size $50?  Than why not offer free shipping for orders over $55.

What I Learned About Women and Design at an Art Show

For the past several months I've been doing a lot of work/research on women and design to see which design elements are most persuasive for women.

After reading Gender, Design and Marketing by Gloria Moss, I thought I'd take my new knowledge based on her book plus my own research and do a completely unscientific test at an art show.

My test was simple -look at a painting and guess whether the artist was male or female. (Then look at the caption to see if the name was male or female). The great thing about this art show was, all the paintings were the same size - so there was some uniformity, which made the research a little easier.  (Rather than trying to take size, material, etc. into consideration).

I wasn't enough of a geek to keep an actual tally of how many I got right or wrong. It was a spur of the moment idea. But it felt like my success rate was better than 50/50.