Give Proper Care and Placement to B-to-B Inserts

As a consultant, one of the things I love to do when touring a B-to-B catalog company is to take a look at the customer order just before it gets sealed. I usually make a point of doing it during the first tour of the operation. What I find usually astounds me.

Most often, standard marketing materials — a catalog, a flyer or two, maybe a thank-you card or survey — are tossed helter-skelter in the bottom of the box, covered by the items being ordered and the void fill of choice. Imagine what happens when customers open that box presuming, of course, that there’s an adequately marked “top” and “bottom” of the box, and they can read and follow instructions. Customers take out the goods they ordered and toss the rest. They’re so eager to see their new goods that they’re not really interested in “the other paper stuff in there.”