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THE LEVISON LETTER
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Action Ideas For Better Direct Mail,
E-mail, Web Sites & Advertising
Published by
Ivan Levison, Direct Response Copywriting
Volume: 14 Number: 5
May, 1999
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How to copywrite an online product tour
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If you're serious about marketing your software, you just can't
settle for a boring, lackluster Web site.
You know
the kind I mean. The ones with the puffed up "Mission
Statements" and 827 links on the home page. Nope. If you want
to get the most from your Web site investment, everything's got
to pull its weight.
One of the
elements of a hot Web site that you might want to
create is an online "tour" of your product. It lets people
quickly
understand what you're selling and get a look at your key product
features. Let's take a look at a specific case history and see how
one
software publisher handled the job.
The company:
Best Software. They're a fast-growing software
publisher based in Reston, Virginia that develops systems for
financial, human resource and payroll departments, and for public
accounting firms.
The challenge:
Best wanted their prospective customers, corporate
executives responsible for payrolls, to find out more about Abra
Payroll, one of Best's core product offerings.
The solution:
Best sent snail mail out to prospects offering a White
Paper and an invitation to visit their Web site and take a tour of
the product. If you want to take the tour yourself and see what
Best's got cookin':
1. Go to:
http://www.bestsoftware.com/pay
2. Choose "I Don't Know" from the list that says "Select
One."
3. Click "Continue."
4. Click "Take A Tour." (This all takes about three seconds.)
When you
arrive at the URL mentioned in step one above, you'll
discover that you are NOT at the company's home page. This is
the right way to do it. You are ready to start the tour without
having to find a link among a bunch of competing home page
items.
The key
point here is that Best handles everything very simply.
There are no choices to make. There is no confusion. Everything
is extremely clear and focused. When you start the tour, which
walks you through some of the software's key features, things are
still kept simple. You'll find buttons titled "Next," "Back,"
"Start
Over," "Stop," and "Free Trial." That's it!
There are no other links
to lead you out of the tour.
The point
to remember. What I think is so outstanding about
Best Software's Mini-Tour is that it is so straightforward. In fact,
they turn the usual thinking about the Web on its head. You
see, the conventional wisdom holds that links let visitors follow
their fancy, interactivity is the key to successful Web sites, etc.
What Best does, in a sense, is just the opposite. They restrict
choice and keep the visitor under control. What they provide,
in effect, is a cyberspace version of a PowerPoint presentation.
The important point is that such simplicity is not to be denigrated!
Presenting complex information in a logical sequence so that it can
be grasped and assimilated can be extremely effective as Best,
I believe, demonstrates in their most recent tour de force.
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See you at Software Marketing '99!
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Rob Shapiro,
an old friend and the Publisher of Software Success,
is holding a terrific conference May 18-20 in San Francisco. Software
Marketing '99 should really be a giant help if you're trying to
maximize your marketing efforts don't miss it. I'll be there and
would love to say hello in person!
I'm enclosing
a flyer about the conference that you ought to check
out. Mention that you heard about the conference in The Levison
Letter and Rob will knock off $100. (By the way, I don't get a penny
for plugging Software Marketing '99. I just think it's a neat event
a
nd I can save my readers $100.)
More next
time . . .
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About Ivan Levison
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I'm a freelance
direct response copywriter who works for high
technology companies like Adobe, Apple, Claris, Hewlett-Packard,
Intuit, Intel, Microsoft, Netscape, and many others. (Terrific small
companies too!) I write direct response sales letters, e-mail letters,
Web pages, and ads.
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How To Get In Touch
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Ivan Levison
Direct Response Copywriting
14 Los Cerros Drive
Greenbrae, CA 94904
Phone: (415) 461-0672
Fax: (415) 461-7738
E-mail: ivan@levison.com
Web Site: http://www.levison.com
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Copyright 1999, by Ivan Levison, All Rights Reserved.
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