How refreshing!

Posted by Bobbie on Feb 22 - 2016

How to refresh your catalogue: Tips from the TA Team

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First impressions count

Could your cover benefit from a change of style? Perhaps instead of featuring star products you could use an aspirational image and go for more of a magalogue look - or how about a quirky lifestyle image of a top product in situ, rather than several products fighting for space? Your cover is your shop window, particularly to prospective customers, and you want to grab them from the off and excite and inspire them into a purchase.

First impressions
Navigation

Navigation

Have a look at how easy it is for customers to navigate through your catalogue. For example, do you have a clear contents and / or index? Section headers work to clearly introduce the customer to the products they will view on the next few pages. And Cross-sells (pointing the customer towards additional products from other categories, that relate to the product being considered) and Upsells (offering a more expensive model or added features) can be excellent methods to up the spend.

The gift of the gab

How is your current dialogue with your customers? Do you speak to them via an introductory letter on a friendly and personable level? Your brand’s tone of voice sets you apart from your competitors and is an expression of the people behind the brand.

 

Gift of the gab 1

Boden is an example of a particularly successful brand voice.

Copywriter Isla McKetta elaborates that:

“What makes Boden’s content so wonderful is that they really know their customer and speak to them in a voice that resonates with that core audience. This voice is pulled-together, British, and a little quirky. Note that no one ever wrote phrases like “fluttery feeling” or “big things for little people” for SEO purposes. No, these phrases are written to connect with the customer (as they should be).” 

So make the most of every opportunity within your catalogue to speak to your customers and project your unique voice. Even returns information can reflect some personality that will make the shopping experience appear more personal to your customer. Using a consistent tone of voice throughout the catalogue will breed familiarity and trust, which helps to encourage brand loyalty and those all important orders. 

Size Matters

Perhaps your catalogue would benefit from a shake up size-wise – this will increase your uniqueness and stand out from your competition, but be aware that unusual catalogue sizes will usually incur higher printing and postage costs. 

Size matters
CallToAction

Call to action

Do you feature frequent calls to action within your catalogue, encouraging the customer to look online for even more variety, or to call up and order? It’s well-documented that catalogues and other printed media drive online traffic, so use every opportunity to ensure your contact details and web address are highly visible throughout the catalogue.

Testimonials

You probably use testimonials already, but a good testimonial can wield more selling power than some of the best sales copy out there. Choose product-specific testimonials that are filled with benefits - these tell your customer what the product can actually do for them. Accompany each testimonial with the first name, last name and hometown to show that your endorsements come from real people. 

Testimonial

And remember, your catalogue could well be kept, shared and displayed, so let’s make your 2016 catalogue the best yet!

For more advice and an invaluable FREE critique of your catalogue, get in touch with us at tadesign.co.uk or call us on 01273 72 40 40, we’d love to have a chat about how we could help you make your catalogue exceed your wildest expectations!

 

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