Catalog Doctor: The Lost Art of Effective Cataloging
Four true catalog case studies:
1. circulation down 31 percent, sales up 27 percent;
2. circulation flat, sales up 37 percent;
3. circulation down 7 percent, sales up 15 percent; and
4. circulation down 17 percent, sales up 19 percent.
Are these historic sales from 2005's good old days? No, they're real numbers from real companies in today's challenging economic environment.
Are these merger and acquisition companies, combining titles and lists? No, these are single-title, small- to medium-sized companies with long-term ownership.
Huge page count increases? No, flat or reduced page counts.
Big web expansion, with pay-per-click, search engine optimization, mobile, YouTube and email initiatives? No, flat or reduced online investment.
Then where are these sales increases coming from? What do these catalogers have in common?
They're all producing catalogs using what used to be catalog best practices — and now are almost a lost art. Can I cover the lost art of cataloging for you in 1,000 words? No way. But I can lay out some best practices to help lead the way.
1. You Must Work Really, Really Hard so Your Customer Doesn't Have to
This hard work is mostly hard thinking: study, analysis, logic, devil's advocating. Apply it to every facet of your multichannel marketing scheme to eliminate all barriers between your customer and getting a sale. Barriers stand in the way of sales, lowering response rates. Therefore, removing barriers opens the way to sales, lifting response. Barriers include catalog copy that forces consumers to go online to get their product questions answered; difficult or confusing return policies; a website that forces consumers to sign up before they can place an order; an email program that's hard to opt out of; unclear or hard-to-scan design and copy (see below); and too few or too many catalog contacts.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. It's your job to think of your list and to constantly monitor and improve it. Tight budget? Limited resources? Too bad. We've all had to live with budget cuts; that's no excuse for thinking cuts.
"Put it on the page and they will come" sounds easy, but it never worked and still doesn't. That's not marketing, it's not product analysis, it's not audience analysis. It's not the blood, toil, tears and sweat that are required (yes, required) to actually put a sales-flooding-in catalog in the mail. Hard thinking is your lifeline to improved response. Do it.
2. Be Very Clear in Design and Copy
It's a courtesy to your readers and increases sales for you. Clarity makes it fast and easy for your readers to focus on products and buying them, not on finding products or figuring them out. Clarity is truly important. It includes simple, but increasingly rare techniques like keeping your copy close to its image; product photos that show clearly how the product looks/fits/works; and copy that clearly answers questions readers have so they can make a buying decision.
3. Quickly and Easily Scannable Design
and Copy
This is a companion to No. 2. Scannability means that as your reader flips through a catalog or scans a spread, they can find what they're interested in quickly. Slowing your reader down or forcing them to study a catalog (instead of your products) robs valuable time they could have focused on deciding to buy. Good scannability includes things like having a visual anchor product on a spread to grab attention; layered copy (classic journalism style) where the primary benefit is in the headline or subhead and the secondary benefit opens the body copy; spread headlines that orient readers to the grouping's category and benefit; and inset photos where needed, with captions.
4. Strive for High Readability
Use highly readable fonts and font treatments. Avoid poor readability: e.g., type over textures; fonts too small for your audience to read; italics reversed from a color; gray type; etc. (For more details on readability, check out "Good Readability Makes a Healthy Catalog" in the May 2010 issue of Retail Online Integration.)
5. Analyze and Communicate Benefits, Benefits, Benefits
Possibly the most important and most broken rule. Why? It requires thinking (which I see displayed less and less nowadays). But the more thinking you do, the more your copy can zero in on relevant benefits — and the better your sales. First-thought copy doesn't sell as well as deeply thought-out copy. Merchants and marketers must think about:
- why their audience wants and needs each product;
- what makes each product different from or better than similar products in their own catalog; and
- what makes each product different from or better than the competition?
6. Strong Visual Brand
View a bunch of different catalogs all competing in the same marketplace. You'll find lots of them looking so much alike that a layperson couldn't differentiate one from the other. This isn't a good path for building brand loyalty. Sure, your designer will point out details that makes the design different from the competition, but if a gal bought a dress three months ago and can't remember from whom, will the next catalog in the mail look enough alike that she'll think that's where she bought it from and place another order? Mistaken identity happens frequently; don't let it happen to you.
7. A Strong, Differentiated USP, Communicated Well
Does your unique selling proposition (USP) make your catalog and brand different from and better than the competition? Here's another topic for deep thinking: Once your USP is pinned down, communicate it in a customer-relevant way. This goes beyond an "About Us" page on your website. Thread your USP throughout your branding design and copy. If you're the best, your design and copy should look and read the best. If you're the cheapest, ditto. Don't shy away from short support editorial (e.g., recipes, histories, tips, backgrounders, designer profiles — whatever is right for your brand). "Horrors" some will say, "a misuse of space that could be used to sell products!" Wrong. If you can craft meaningful editorial that helps consumers buy your products, you're employing one more tool to lift response.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.