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Drive Your Customers Online

Thanks to lower costs and fast turnaround, most websites contain many more products than a merchant can afford to include in a single catalog. So I was shocked to learn from a customer panel at the recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference that customers assume that most websites simply replicate catalog offerings.

Assuming you offer more products on your website than in your catalog, make sure your customers know it. Say “More plants at www.OurCompany.com” on every page of your catalog, include “More Plants Online” bursts in your catalog, or include lists of plants that can only be bought online.

Pet Peeves of Garden Catalog Customers

The Summer 2008 Mailorder Gardening Conference included an informative customer panel moderated by Kip Creel of Standpoint Marketing. The panel included 10 people from member companies’ house lists, and represented a wide range of gardening interests and expertise. Almost without exception, they expressed the same pet peeves with many garden catalogs.

“Show us what the plant looks like!” they cried. “Not just the bloom that appears for one week a year. We want to know what the whole plant will look like for the other 51 weeks of the year.”

They were even more adamant on the subject of shipping fees. All panelists said they looked at the total cost before deciding whether to order or where to order from. Burying shipping rates on the final page of checkout was considered an annoyance at best, and an attempt to obfuscate at worst.

What surprised me was the lack of weight the panelists gave to a strong guarantee. Personally, I consider guarantees a big plus for mail order nurseries. To our panelists, it was a small consideration when deciding where to buy.

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Contact

Val Gosset
Evergreen Marketing
60 Treeland Road
Shelton, CT 06484
Phone: 203-513-8911
Val@GrowWithEvergreen.com

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