I’ve been meaning to share some practical examples of how marketing should work as an integral part of all areas of a business. Too often people perceive marketing as a cousin of advertising, whereas it should span from initial product or service design and build through to customer use and interaction.
One great example, particularly for anyone selling products online, is what happens when your customer gets a package delivered to their door. Yesterday I happened to receive my first order from the awesome Last Exit to Nowhere, who specialise in T-shirts ‘inspired’ by cool films. Firstly the ordering experience was easy and their website is pretty well designed to display their range and go through the ordering process.
It’s a pretty good package. The outer envelope features their logo, and in addition to the ordered shirts, there are two free Last Exit stickers, a form for sorting any returns, and a fold-out pamphlet I can hand to someone to hint at what presents might be well received.
So this definitely isn’t a criticism, or an example of bad practice, but as with anything, there’s always room for improvement, so I figured it’s worth sharing some suggestions.
First up – the logo and strapline on the outer packaging does mention that the company sells ‘T-shirts and other apparel inspired by killer films’. Whilst I trust 99.99% of all postal and courier staff, I do wonder whether someone might be tempted by that to possibly misplace the contents en route.
Inside is a clear plastic bag containing the shirts, stickers and pamphlet. Having seen the cool outer package, there’s more scope with the inner bag for branding, or for some cool imagery etc. It’s the unwrapping that’s fun, not the postage, and the more it feels like a celebration during that process, the more I’ll be rushing to make another purchase to feel that same excitement again.
The stickers are definitely a good touch – for a low cost in printing and shipping there’s a decent chance the customer will share the brand name with others. The only tweak here is that there’s no need for a quote praising the store, even when it’s from a film director. If I’m plastering my laptop, fridge or anything else with a cool quote or a brand name, I want to be the one who gets to be cool and explain to my friends what it is – too much explanation means I don’t get that pleasure.
The pamphlet is alright – it mentions the ‘Picture of the Month’ competition to win more shirts, social media links and an email address for ideas and suggestions. Plus a phone number so I can get those people who don’t shop online to still buy me something. About the only slight flaw is that the selection was taken as correct of January 2012 – it’s now August 2012, and I know from my own shopping that the range is pretty much identical, so updating that information every quarter would help make it feel a lot more up-to-date.
Good job Last Exit people:
Just to reiterate – Last Exit to Nowhere do a pretty good job of making receiving your order a pleasant experience, and I wrote this to highlight how even a good experience can still be tweaked and improved.
Having yet to actually model my new clothing, I’m pretty confident I’ll be taking a look on a regular basis as I try and purge my wardrobe of old and crap shirts, and I’ve already picked out 2 or 3 for a future order.