Wresting Customers from the Competition

Growing the value of your company means growing your customer base—both by attracting Internet newbies, and by "upgrading" users from other providers.

by Doug McDonald Director, Affiliate Programs, The TUCOWS Network courtesy of HowToSell.net [October 21, 1999]

So, now that you've started your preparations for your next wave of new-to-the-Internet customers [see Part 1 of this series], you should be ready to spend some focus on taking away some of your competition's clientele. Marketing to the existing subscriber bases of your largest local competitors is much easier than you think, but is likely not something you are doing well right now—if at all. You need to change this, sooner rather than later.

Do I hear you muttering complaints about unethical business practices? Are you thinking "There's plenty of business to go around; there's no need for me to be stealing someone else's livelihood"? Well, if you think for one moment that the larger players in this game would hesitate a heartbeat before putting you out of business, think again. The folks in your competitors' marketing departments are out to eat your lunch whenever they get the chance. So, why should you allow them a luxury they'd never allow you? The answer is, don't. The issue is where to start.

Stealing a march
Start where they do, on your own homepage. Since I am not one of your customers, if I were to visit your homepage, what would I see? What I should be seeing is exactly what you would choose to display to a prospective client.

In other words, "outside" visitors should encounter not your normal homepage, but rather a comparative analysis of why your service is superior or a better value. Something as simple as a table comparing your package options versus theirs with some selectively chosen marketing copy will suffice. You need not concern yourself with selling them on the Internet (because the are already connected); you simply need to point out why connections through your company are better.

These points of differentiation can include speed issues, products like WebMail, or other services, such as multiple email accounts, additional webspace, multiple smaller webspaces for family accounts, or maybe certain software collections. Be sure to include whatever options you offer.

If you've been in business for a reasonable length of time, brag about it a little. On the other hand, if you are just getting started, you have developed your business to fulfill a defined need in the community, employing the latest technologies and hardware to provide premium service for your valued customers. (Right?) Regardless of the spin, your message of quality is the same.

Going toe to toe
If you want to get highly specific in your messages, you can redirect customers from certain competitors to sites specifically designed to show them why you are better than the provider they are with now. At the very least, targeting specific messages to AOL customers is probably a good move. Many AOL users seem to believe that the only way to get email and use AOL Instant Messenger is to be an AOL customer. Many even seem to be under the impression that AOL is the Internet and other people just link to AOL.(I'll never forget the first time I heard that one.) It's important to point out to them that they will have access to AOL-IM and email—and virtually everything else the Internet has to offer, including search engines—from your service. As simplistic as that may sound, you'll be surprised at the response. You might want to prepare your Technical Support and Sales departments by having them check out Jason Zigmont's article Switching users from AOL (http://www.howtosell.net/html/aol.html) .

Draw them into the fold
While trying to sell them right up front will catch their attention, ultimately they'll want to see your homepage before making that final move. So, be sure to provide a handy link past the pitch to a version of your real homepage. This gives them a taste of what they'll see when they become customers; it also lets you easily track how many visitors you are getting from other ISPs. Before undertaking any of this you will need to put a couple of other pieces in place first.

Your homepage is who you are; it's your "face" to those who don't know you. Even though your organization may be extremely well organized and diligent in its operations, one broken link on your homepage and your image becomes one of "sloppy" or "no attention to detail." There are key components to a good homepage that have been well documented. Jason Zigmont's The ISP Web Site as Marketing Asset provides more information.

Nail 'em down
Once you've got them interested in you, how do they sign up? Do they need to disconnect and then call you, or can they make the decision, pay, and get changed over to your service in real time? If you said the former, start looking into the latter. Once you have their interest and they're willing to consider the fateful move, the last thing you want to do is put barriers in their way. Regardless of whether you build it yourself or use one of the web interfaces provided by your billing software vendor, online sign-up is something that I firmly believe that every ISP should be doing now. (Actually it is something that I firmly believe that you should have been doing from day one.)

With these simple pieces in place, any of the other marketing materials, advertising copy, or online sponsorship messages that includes your URL will start to become more effective. When all of the outside visitors to your site start seeing why you offer better of service or a less expensive option and can go and immediately sign up to your service, the dream of immediate monetary return on your advertising dollars takes a few steps toward becoming reality.

Stay tuned
Now that you've improved your growth rate both in new customers and in those you've attracted from other providers, in our next column, we'll look at how to increase per-customer revenues.

I welcome your comments and inquiries.
Best regards,
Doug McDonald

—End

Read Part 1 of Doug McDonald's series: Valuing Your ISP