Landing Pages and SEO for DRTV Campaigns - Customer Acquisition Chain Link 5

[Editor's note: This is the fifth "link" in a 10-part series. The first, Do You Have Broken Links?, appeared on Mar. 23. Check back Friday, April 27, for link Six: The Search Acquisiiton Chain.]

To investigate the DRTV-to-online acquisition chain, we looked at eight infomercials and short-forms during January and February, 2012. Consumers who watch TV commercials respond in three ways: (a) calling the 800 number, (b) going to the URL on the screen, and (c) typing product names and search terms into search engines like Google and Bing. For this analysis, we looked at both the website link and what the advertisers were doing in search:

DRTV Commercial No. 1: Blue Buffalo Pet Food. Link: www.truebluetest.com. This high production value commercial talks about the values of Blue Buffalo pet food and invites consumers to compare it with their current pet food. Once online, consumers see a very well designed screen where they can start the test—well done. In terms of search, they are present for the keyword “true blue test” and for “blue buffalo” but not for “true blue.” They might consider building out their keyword program to include all variations on the company name, product name and key search terms.

DRTV Commercial No. 2: SelectQuote. Link: www.selectquote.com. A very visually attractive short-form driving home SelectQuote’s value proposition is reinforced on their website with the same look and feel and easy navigation, which encourages the consumer to choose from three options. They are present on a number of search terms that we looked at, so this is a good example of a CAC well done.

DRTV Commercial No. 3: The AARP Automobile Insurance Program from The Hartford. Link: www.aarphartford.com. The straightforward commercial urges consumers to contact the company to get an auto insurance rate quote. The very simple (good!) site asks for the consumer’s ZIP code in order to get the quote process started. Perfect DRTV-to-Web linkage. They are present on some search terms but not all, so paid search could be enhanced.

DRTV Commercial No. 4: NutriSystem food delivery service. Link: www.nutrisystemcom/40offmen. Former quarterback Terry Bradshaw pitches the 40th anniversary sales event with a 40 percent off offer, aimed at men. The website carries through with a photo of Bradshaw and the large 40 percent off offer. An online chat box pops up after landing on the site–a good feature. Their search program is 100 percent aligned with the DRTV spot and Web page. This is an extremely good example of a well done CAC!

DRTV Commercial No. 5: Regus professional office space. Link: www.regus.com/tv. This short-form pitches professional office space and encourages businesses of all sizes to contact the company for more information. The website parallels the spot and offers a “two months free” deal. They are present on some keywords; they could be doing more search, based on the words in the commercial.

DRTV Commercial No. 6: Merit Financial gold and silver sales. Link: www.meritfinancial.com. This long-running spot features Merit’s “1% over dealer cost” offer and espouses the value in gold and silver as an investment. The well designed site is a good CAC example, as it mirrors the commercial—including free, insured delivery on in-stock items. For the search terms we evaluated, Merit was bidding on all of them and the search copy included the 1 percent offer and the free insured delivery copy. Well done.

DRTV Commercial No. 7: EZ Eyes large print computer keyboard. Link: www.getEZEyes.com. A traditional DR short-form features a keyboard with yellow keys and large print, making it easy for people to see the keys. The typical DRTV offer features a second keyboard for free (pay separate shipping and handling). The site drives home the value proposition and the commercial plays automatically. While they are bidding on the “ez eyes” search term, they are not (on Feb. 1, 2012) bidding on “large print keyboard.” So their paid search program may need more keywords. Good CAC for DRTV-to-Web, but it needs more work on DRTV-to-paid search.

DRTV Commercial No. 8: Seat Belt Mate, seat belt extender. Link: www.seatbeltmate.com. This is another traditional DR spot, featuring a product that extends a seat belt so that the strap is more comfortable. The site is very well done and includes the commercial and before/after photos. It’s completely relevant to the commercial and is another well done CAC. While this company doesn't appear to be doing anything in paid search, it’s probably not necessary as their brand name results in them coming up first in organic results.

Summary and Conclusion: Our experience shows that there is a tremendous symbiotic relationship between DRTV and what happens online. Because launching a DRTV campaign often runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, having a problematical website or a non-existent search program puts the entire infomercial in jeopardy. The site, search program and other online tactics are often overlooked by advertisers—to their detriment.

Carrie Burns and Cynthia Tully are vice president account directors and Dorothy Weaver is a vice president of digital marketing services at St. Petersburg, Fla.-based advertising agency acquirgy. Burns can be reached at cburns@acquirgy.com, Tully via ctully@acquirgy.com and Weaver can be contacted at dweaver@acquirgy.com.