Friday, October 28, 2005

Close counts in horseshoes, not marketing

We were at Old Navy tonight shopping. In the dressing room was something fairly smart, the form to signup for an Old Navy credit card. That's good, right? After all, you are putting your customer's gray time to use (sitting around while your friend is trying on clothes) and you are breaking down all possible barriers to people signing up (you put the form in every possible place).

But, the effort was *close* and not quite right. If I were them, to make this effor go all the way, I would:

(1) Include a pen with the form. How can you expect folks to fill out the form without a pen? Spend a few pennies and make the pens branded as Old Navy pens. Then encourage folks to take the pens with them. As a result, they will be carrying the Old Navy brand around with them.

(2) Have the application and clipboard placed in a nice holder. I checked two different changing rooms and both of them had a clipboard and form just sitting on the bench in the room. It almost looked like someone left the clipboard there accidently. Instead, the display should be obvious and explicit. You want people to notice the display and use it, not just look at the clipboard and ignore it.

(3) Include some marketing copy with the form. Maybe something like: "Got a minute to save a buck? Here are 5 good reasons you should apply for an Old Navy Card ..." The copy will help to sell people why they wait. And, if you make the copy context sensitive (knowing people are looking at this form in a dressing room: "the outfit you just tried on didn't fit, but our card does" kinda thing) it should be more effective.

It looks to me like Old Navy could spend a few dollars and take the beginning of a marketing idea all the way to success.

--Ben

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