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Handselling Goes Virtual
05/01/09
The challenge of training and keeping good employees, coupled with shrinking customer attention spans and loyalty, could spell an end to traditional handselling for college stores. At least that's the scenario that was envisioned in the CAMEX session Apocalyptic Bookselling.
Whether you agree with that prognosis or not, the next step, which the presenters referred to as "virtual handselling," is something every store should be doing.
"It's becoming almost impossible to reach a target through one channel," said Donna Shapiro, director, Titles, McMaster University Bookstore, Hamilton, ON, Canada. "You have to hit them multiple times. There's so much noise out there, so many people trying to reach those same people you're reaching."
Traditional media, such as signage and print ads, can still connect your store with your customers, but they're not enough on their own.
A campaign no longer starts with a simple sign. It begins instead with a dedicated web page, branching out from there into one or more blogs, e-mail blasts, YouTube videos, a Facebook page, and other electronic pathways.
But before anything goes live online, choose your overall message and determine how you're going to coordinate your efforts so all those different delivery methods mesh toward the common goal.
Building partnerships and a sense of community should be primary goals. "We're on campus, so we already have some of that community going," said Shapiro. "It's really how do we take that community and move it online and then back to our web site so we can get their eyes on what we have to sell and hopefully get their feet inside the store.
"The biggest thing is to know your audience," she added. "Your message to alumni is going to be different from your message to faculty which is going to be different from the message to the students."
Those diverse messages should be pulled together by a common graphic design to create visual associations for customers. With everything sharing a "family" look, a poster will remind customers of information they saw in an e-mail blast or on the school's RSS feed, reinforcing the message in their consciousness.
Tailor content appropriately. Don't try to fill a single e-mail with all the information on a sale or store contest. Your core message will get lost in the clutter and the recipient won't respond. Keep the message concise and let recipients click through to a web page for further details.
Titles sends out about a dozen permission-based, electronic newsletters. One covers health-sciences books, one targets alumni and parents, and another is dedicated to the store's secret sales. Some are monthly, while others only get sent twice a year. But each is focused on a specific target audience.
"People will just sign up exactly for what they want so they're not getting garbage into their in-box," said Stacy Gabitous, web and marketing specialist, Titles.
Shapiro pointed out that once you gain permission to e-mail someone, you have a responsibility to protect their privacy. Don't abuse their trust by constantly bombarding them with messages. Focus your content so once is enough. "They are granting you access to them and you really need to respect that," she stressed. "It's not trying to put on your retailer hat; it's trying to put on your customer hat: What would motivate me to buy this product?
"Instead of talking at people, talk with people and start a dialogue." Building relationships is the ultimate goal. Increasing the interaction with your customers creates a natural recontact strategy.
When you send out an e-mail blast, include a "Tell a friend" button so recipients can easily enter a friend's e-mail address and pass the word. "Try to think of ways to make it easier for your customer to be your sales clerk," Shapiro advised.
"Let them market it for you," agreed Gabitous. She noted that everybody loves to get their picture taken. Have a staffer on duty with a digital camera one day a week (or more). When a shopper is trying on an outfit or even just browsing the shelves, get permission to snap their picture. "I take the picture, I write your name down," explained Gabitous. "You're up on Facebook. I tag you and then you're notified on your Facebook page that you're on my Facebook page." The customer then sends all his or her friends to the store's page to check out the image you shot and posted. Maybe that will lure the friends do some browsing of their own online, or even to head into the store.
"We are still handselling," said Gabitous. "We're just using various different techniques and many more channels. We're reaching out really actively to the students, to faculty, and trying to engage them on their own terms."
—Michael von Glahn
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