Marketing to Women Online

Answer Her Questions

What questions are your customers asking?  Do you know? Are you answering their questions? 

Take a 38 year old mother of 4. She has a big family.  She does A LOT of laundry – but she genuinely loves her family and takes pride in a job well done.  Her question is, “Is there a towel that can be washed day in and day out, but still remain soft?”

Most towel companies say their towels are soft, but do they remain soft after multiple washings?  Lands End answers her question.

Unlike “Treated Towels” Ours Start Out Soft and Become Softer with Every Wash.

Lots of towels are coated with chemicals to make them feel soft on the store shelf. But wash them a couple times and their softness goes down the drain. Not ours! Because we use better cotton and superior construction, our towels get plumper and softer with every wash, Guaranteed.

If she were on a website and saw a link that said “Choose a towel that remains soft through lots of laundering.” Do you think she’d click on it?

Lands End goes on to describe the towel further, which is great. You always want to back up your claim. But most website product copy would start with this copy – it’s typical features/benefit copy you see everywhere.

We use only the top 3% of cotton grown in the United States.. Farmed for its extra-long, strong fibers, Supima cotton feels softer, lasts longer and pills far less. Start with better cotton and you end up with a better towel.

Most companies are so focused on their selling points, they fail to answer her questions.  You can give her your selling points once you’ve answered her question – but always answer her questions first.  If you’re answering her questions, and your competition’s website isn’t…who is she going to feel better about and ultimately give her money to? 

Bad Haircuts

When women aren't happy with your product or service – many times we don’t say anything.  We simply never come back.

How many times have you gone to a hairdresser – asked for a trim and gotten half your hair cut off, a perm and a style that doesn’t look anything like the fashion magazine cut out you brought in.

Do you complain?  Ask to see the manger?  NO – you thank the Italian hairdresser, tip him handsomely, and run home to try to shampoo and fix your hair. 

Then, when you see your hairdresser in the grocery store, you hide behind the Pirate's Booty display so you want have to answer his questions about why he hasn’t seen you lately.

Women aren't very comfortable with confrontation.  Just because you don’t get complaints about your bad website – don’t assume everything’s fine.  Mine your data and see if you have a high abandonment rate on your web pages.  See if the number of returning visitors and repeat purchases is not as high as it should be.  She’s doing the walking with her mouse.

What Women Want from Men

There is a debate raging among my colleagues as to the value of focus groups.  One camp says they are worthless – group bias, sterile settings, deceitful participants, ignorance, poor moderators, etc. make any information gathered too tainted to be of real use. 

The other camp maintains that focus groups, with proper screening and a talented moderator, can produce useful, relevant insights.

I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. But I will say this. If you’re a small to medium business or a marketer who wants to learn something about how your customers really think – there is value in gathering together a group, in a natural setting, and letting them loose, talking freely about a subject. 

I know a writer who put together an article for Best Life (a division of Men’s Health). Her subject? “What do women really want from men.” The magazine sprang for a swanky hotel suite, lots of free flowing wine, and gathered seven women from very different backgrounds – from a rock singer, to a pregnant actress, to a high powered stock broker - for a frank discussion. My writer pal turned on the tape recorder, posed the questions and let the group go. 

So what do women really want from men? Some of the answers you might expect – many were surprising.

What turns you on?

- "360 thread count sheets. Some guys still have the same bedding from college"

- "Good shoes are a turn on"

- "Good hygiene"

- "The way men treat people on the phone.  I fell in love with a guy because of the way he spoke to the operator."

- "You know what’s a total turn on – when a man says 'I want to spend time with you.'  Time is a valuable commodity these days and it’s sexy to know you’re a priority."

What’s the smartest thing a guy has ever said to you in bed?

- “You’re the thinnest woman I’ve ever been with”

- “You are my best friend”

- “Let’s talk about safe sex” - It’s easier to have sex than talk about it.

- “You look so sexy pregnant” -  Don’t change your view of me sexually because I’m the mother of your child.

- "Calling me by the right name"

Have you ever cheated?

- "Never"

- "I’ve cheated on every man I’ve ever dated"

- "Only when I’m in a foreign country"

- "Only at the end of a relationship when I’m looking to make the switch"

- "Women are just as afraid of monogamy in marriage as men.  But if you still want to date – you shouldn’t get married"

There’s a lot more juicy stuff – but much of it is a little too racy for this blog.  My point here is – gathering some women together for some honest open dialogue can be really mind opening.   

If you were selling a product that was related to what women want from men – would the above discussion spark some ideas? 

This technique should be used for gathering qualitative information, not quantitative information. In other words – don’t use the information to decide on your product line.  But you can use it for insight that could spark some interesting creative ideas, marketing discussion, etc.   Just getting outside of your perspective and seeing your business/product/subject through someone else’s eyes can be a valuable learning experience.

Besides…..you just can’t make this stuff up.

Danica Patrick - Indy 500 Rookie of the Year

Even if you're not a racing fan, you'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Danica Patrick - the female driver who made history by placing fourth in the Indianapolis 500 and winning the "Indy 500 Rookie of the Year" title.   

When I first heard of Danica, I thougth her name was "5footoneonehundredpound Danica Patrick."   No kidding.   I never heard her name without her height and weight stat attached.   Thank God that's not how I'm introduced.   

In an inteview with Danica, the reporter asked her "What's exciting about speed?"   I sat back and waited for her obvious answer "What's not exciting about speed?"  But her actual reply caught me off guard. 

Reporter - "What's exciting about speed?"

Danica - "Nothing." 

Didn't see that coming. She did go on to explain that what was exciting was "going faster than everyone else."

Imagine if you were creating a shampoo commercial. (c'mon - that beatiful brunette hair - you know it's coming)  The camera would focus on Danica standing by her car.  She carelessly tosses her hair over her shoulder as she starts to put on her helmet.   The reporter calls out to her from the crowd - "Danica - what's exciting about speed?"  If I were the copywriter, I could easily have come up with the line "What's not exciting about speed?"   But how much more effective, real, and engaging it would be if she answered "Nothing.  What's exciting is going faster than everyone else." 

All too often in our ad copy we fall back on the cliche line - the first thing that comes into our heads - the line that makes the most sense-  What we think a woman would say.   But how much more effective and interesting our ads would be if we dug deeper into the fascinating female mind?   If we discovered what she really thinks and says?