Analysis Makes B-to-B Catalog Pages Work Harder

EVEN THOUGH NEARLY HALF OF ITS ORDERS now come in via the Web, a print catalog is still an essential vehicle for generating sales for Trainers Warehouse.

But because that print book eats up such a large portion of the corporate training product marketer's budget, the company must make the B-to-B catalog as efficient as possible.

That means a number of things, including an intensive square-inch analysis to determine which products pull the best in print, says Susan Landay, president of the Natick, MA, company, who spoke at the recent New England Mail Order Association Conference. For example, things like books, videos and props for presentations are best represented with a “find more online” box and a URL.

The company now also produces a digital version of the catalog. This is promoted in numerous e-mail promotions throughout the month, and allows readers to click through to things like videos illustrating how products are used. The videos are fairly DIY, says Landay, noting they're typically shot by employees with their own cameras.

The additional cost of the digital edition was only about $7 to $15 extra per page, so it seemed like “a no brainer” to try it, says Landay.