Catalog Doctor: A Pep Up Prescription

Patient: Doctor, our creative has always been snappy — our photos vibrant, copy right on, headlines catchy — and our customers always responded. But lately, sales have been sluggish and customers aren’t responding to our creative like they used to. What’s wrong?

Catalog Doctor: Sounds like you folks have a touch of creative lethargy. It can happen to any cataloger. Your creative just needs some pepping up. Let’s run some tests to see which prescription is right for you. It may require a mix of treatments. Let me start by asking (and responding to) a few questions:

1. When’s the last time you updated your catalog’s look?
If you haven’t updated your look in three or four years, you’ve waited too long. Typically, all things being equal, response will decline in the second year of a repeat look, and then some more in the third year. But when you update your creative, response will pep up. Updates needn’t be major, but response will stay ahead if your catalog keeps looking fresh.

2. Have you “webized” your copy?
The Web is training consumers to expect insta-inform, insta-comprehend messages. Your copy’s length doesn’t have to be shorter, but it does have to be a quicker read.

Examine each headline, subhead and first line of body copy. If that’s all your users read, what message will they get? Is it intriguing? Engaging? Is it clear what’s for sale? Is the main benefit there?

For example, say a product’s body copy starts out, “This gift is filled with a fine selection of the most delicious chocolate chip cookies imaginable.” Sounds OK when read as a sentence, but a quick-scanning reader sees only the first line: “This gift is filled with a fine selection of …”

Mighty boring! After it’s webized, however, that sentence could be edited to start something like this: “The most delicious chocolate chip cookies imaginable …”

It’s a more interesting message, so more readers will slow down and keep reading. That’ll certainly help your declining response problem go away.

3. Are your covers too formulaic?
It’s handy to build catalog covers according to a formula. If you’ve been testing covers like you know you should, you know what elements work. Having a cover formula ensures that all the right elements are there, and that brand consistency is there, too.

That’s all well and good. But if your covers are too much alike from issue to issue, your catalogs start looking like remails — even if they’re not! The result? Some customers won’t open enough issues, which lowers response.

My Prescription

When you design a season’s worth of front covers, pin them up in a row; then stand across the room and look at them from a distance. Do they look distinctly different from each other? Think about the various aspects:
• colors;
• camera angles;
• sizing and crop of the product;
• positioning of the messages.

If they look similar from across the room, they’ll look similar to your customers, too. Even if only a little. Around the holidays, your customers are pulling more than a dozen catalogs from their mailboxes every day, and anything that elicits an, “I already saw this one,” promptly will be tossed in the trash without getting opened. Don’t let that catalog be yours.

4. Are your photos out-of-date?
Just like design, photography follows trends and can be outdated. This can drag your catalog down (and response rates with it).

For example, in the ’80s, black Plexiglas surfaces were “in,” and looked very hip. By the ’90s, they’d gotten so overused that they looked dated and behind the times.

Lighting styles, camera angles and crops all follow trends. To see if your catalog’s photos may need an update, look at the photo lighting, backgrounds and angles used in other catalogs that appeal to your customers (such as those catalogers who continuously rent your list).

Certainly stick with what’s appropriate for your audience. For instance, some audiences are uncomfortable with cutting-edge looks and prefer being on the trailing edge of what’s fashionable. But within that appropriateness window, you’re generally better off looking more updated than less.

5. Selling to seniors who are more comfortable with their past than their present?
Update your design anyway.

Many seniors don’t like cutting-edge, but that doesn’t mean you can succeed with 20-, 30- or 40-year-old design, copy and photo techniques. Seniors watch television, read magazines and are on the Web more than you may think. They’re exposed to contemporary design, color palettes, lighting techniques and copy.

Even white-haired ladies buying muumuus aren’t necessarily stuck in the past. You still need to keep your design and copy updated (in a user-friendly, audience-appropriate way).

How? Read the magazines your customers read and the other catalogs they buy from. Look at design techniques, colors, fonts and copy. Don’t have that info? Surveys are quick and easy — start one now.

6. Does your creative look too much like your competitors’?
If you’re a market leader, your competitors probably are copying you. So their catalogs may look too much like yours, confusing customers and making you seem less unique, less the leader. Like the aforementioned symptoms, you wind up with lower response. To stay on top, be innovative with your creative, always staying a step ahead of the pack.

You’re not a leader in your market? Then you may be trying too hard to look similar to the leader. While it’s fine to be “inspired” by your competitors, don’t flat-out copy them. The illusion that you can take market share away usually backfires because now your customers are confusing you with the leader and buying more often from the other guys.

Also, I’ve never seen copying really done well, anyway. It’s almost always done superficially without an understanding of the foundation. Rather than copy, study catalog principles and do a better job of building your own, unique brand.

7. Are you exercising basic catalog creative principals?
For your personal health, drink plenty of fluids, exercise, eat smart. For your catalog creative’s health, I recommend the following:
• use readable typefaces in a not-too-small font;
• make it very easy to find the copy that goes with each image;
• have a “hero” product on each spread to grab the eye;
• design for good eyeflow so the reader sees the entire spread; and
• be sure your copy has features and benefits (if your products are functional, use benefit headlines).

8. Is yours a “happy catalog?”
Following catalog health basics will eliminate customer confusion and irritation. Beyond the basics, your catalog should be a pleasant experience for your users.

Just as your products should offer ways to improve their lives, your catalog’s creative should smooth their way and lift their spirits.

So, In Essence

Watch your colors and your lighting. Keep on top of your design’s proportion and balance, your copy’s tone and rhythm.

You can generate “happy” if you’re upscale, midscale or downscale — or with moody or high-key lighting, short or long copy, high or low density. If your users can come away with a smile and lighter heart, you’ll have higher response rates. «

Susan J. McIntyre is president of McIntyre Direct, a full-service catalog marketing agency and consulting firm based in Portland, Ore. You can reach her at (503) 286-1400 or at susan@mcintyredirect.com.