Keep Marketing Dumb

Members of the ISP-Marketing list discuss designing marketing materials for a customer who does not know that "ISP" stands for "Internet Service Provider."

[April 3, 2002]

On the ISP-Marketing list in March, AG complained,

"I just showed my marketing stuff to a half dozen people, and 'Internet and Technology Service Provider' meant absolutely nothing to them, even though they all use an ISP. Their response was that it must be some high-tech business catering to other high-tech businesses, and they would throw the piece in the trash if it came in the mail. Is even the word 'technology' daunting to the average consumer?"

A number of respondents suggested that it's crucial to 'de-geek' all aspects of your service:

[BS recalled] "When we first started up, my father, who was a very successful sales professional, came up for a couple of weeks to help get things going. The entire time he was here, he'd literally smack me every time he heard me using any technical terms while speaking with a potential client. He made us remove most all of the geek stuff from our website, too. Today we're doing surprisingly well, and I believe a great deal of the success we're enjoying is the result of our focusing on the benefits that the average client understands and wants, rather than the bells and whistles that turn geeks on."

[JG agreed] "A good copywriter makes sure that non-technical copy will be understandable to at least 90 percent of the people who receive the piece. In the case of a piece for the general public, that means that it has to be written for an eighth grade reading level."

[AG added] "After hearing comments like, 'Technical support? That's something you get at work' and 'Tech support is for when your computer is broken, not for e-mail help,' I just changed it to plain old 'Help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.'"

Others observed that this is, in a nutshell, the source of AOL's success:

[BH noted] "Your typical customer is very basic in their understanding of computers and the Internet. That's why AOL has had such success: they keep everything extremely simple, with lots of pretty, eye-catching colors, and they've done all the work for the individual."

[BB agreed] "The average Joe has no idea what an ISP is, and so AOL wins because they make it so simple to do it all."

BH contended that this is a great example of why focus groups are a great resource:

"Your customer is not you. Too many of our websites are designed for us, not for the techno-shy. I think most of us would learn a lot if we took a few typical customers out for pizza and let them talk about what they like and how they use the Internet. It's always quite a learning experience."

—End