Business online has invested billions of dollars in the technology that delivers its messages. The trouble is, it has invested almost nothing in the messages themselves.
Here's an example of how that plays out. An online retailer, anxious to connect with its customers on a one-to-one basis, does some homework and then invests four hundred thousand dollars in personalization software. The IT guys are delighted, senior management feels confident and the marketing folks cross their fingers and hope that this 'solution' is all it's cracked up to be.
Of course, this personalization software does some great things in terms of slicing and dicing the audience and firing off personalized, customized emails to a number of different segments. The system hits the right people at the right times.
But does it hit these carefully and very expensively targeted people with the right message? All too often, the answer to this final question is no. A huge amount of effort and expense has gone into targeting the customer and delivering the message. But very little attention is paid to crafting that message itself. And it's not just about crafting the message in the right way. It's also about saying the right thing.
And the problem isn't confined just to email messages delivered by high-cost CRM software packages. Too little attention is also paid at key points within websites and text-based customer service events.
For any business online there are a number of key customer action or interaction points within the process.
You might want visitors at your site to sign up for a newsletter. But how much attention have you paid to the words that attempt to capture their email addresses?
You might want a visitor to purchase a product from one of your inside screens. But how hard does the copy work to close that sale?
You might be worried about the number of visitors you are losing between one screen and another. But how often do you walk past the designers and usability experts, tap the copywriter on the shoulder and say, "You know, I think stronger copy could make all the difference"?
There's a common theme here. There are numerous key interaction points within the online experience. At each of these points, strong, smart copy can increase conversion rates, build stronger relationships and differentiate your company from your competition.
But, as a proportion of your investment in technology, software and design, how much are you investing in the quality of copy on your site and in your emails?
What do I mean by 'copy'? By copy, I mean the words that are written with a view to driving actions and making impressions - making sales and building friendships.
Why great copy doesn't get the attention is deserves online.
You have only to look at the origins of the Web to see why the written word is given so little attention. The Net wasn't born on Madison Avenue. The Web was not the brainchild of Readers Digest or McDonalds. The Internet, and then the Web, were created by scientists, technologists and software engineers. After them, to put a friendly 'face' on the Web, came designers and usability experts from the software industry.
But the Web, in its formative years, was not about commerce. There was no place on the team for copywriters. Indeed, selling online was considered to be the height of vulgarity right up until the mid-nineties.
By then, the key influencers in the design of the online experience had been chosen. The high table, the chosen experts, comprised a number of IT related skills. But there were and are no skilled copywriters in those key positions of influence. The Web is still about technology. It's still about design and usability. It's about getting the messages out there - but it isn't about focusing on what those messages should be.
Why now is the time to pay more attention to online copy.
A number of high-profile disasters, such as the hopelessly technology-heavy Boo.com site, have highlighted the dangers of depending too heavily on hi-tech wizardry as part of the customer experience online. Technology may frame the environment online, but it can't engage the interest of customers. It can't build relationships. It can't engender trust. It can't make you smile or laugh. It can't make you feel good. And it can't make you reach for your credit card and complete a purchase. Only words can do that.
Right now, with many companies taking a much more sober look at their presence online, it's time to pay closer attention to the power of words.
There's no mystery here. Nothing revolutionary. Words are already the favored currency of communication online. Hundreds of millions of users are out there sending billions of emails, instant messages and discussion list posts. Text is what regular users work with every day online. Text is what they know and what they are comfortable with.
In addition, a century or so of marketing and direct marketing in the offline world has provided undisputed evidence of the power of great copy to close sales and build relationships.
In short, it's known that strong copy is a key component to marketing. It's known that regular users online are very comfortable and fluent with a text-based environment.
So how much longer do we have to wait before business online starts making a serious investment in the quality of the copy on their sites and in their emails?
