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Do Not Let Your Catalogs Suffer

The first issue I am going to discuss have to do with product descriptions, and both are the opposite sides of the same issue.

Just how much information do you put in your product descriptions when you get catalog printing done? Are you using a solid paragraph to make your point, or are you branching out into multiple paragraphs to try to say everything? How many of those details are really necessary and how much of it can be cut out without harming the description?

I come across a lot of product descriptions that are far too long and say much more than they really have to. I end up quitting before I’m done reading it because I just get so bored with what the thing is trying to say. Sometimes I just get the point rather quickly and I am instead looking for some technical details about the product, or how I am supposed to order it.

The other side of it is a scarce description that does not say nearly enough. I see the product in the picture but I can’t understand exactly what it does. There might be some prime feature that I would have loved that the description never even mentioned. I have had this happen plenty of times, and I only found out about the features long after the fact when I saw someone else who had it.

Next consider the placement of the different products in your catalogs against how popular they are. This is a common practice for catalog printing, but something that still gets ignored too often. If you have a product that sells a lot than put it up front and give it more space to work with.

You want to showcase your best products so people are going to be immediately interested when they first pick up your catalog, and they will be encouraged to continue flipping through it.

Another thing to do is space out your good products so people will not get all of the nicely designed pages in the front, and a whole slew of simple, basic looking pages for the second half of the catalog. Divide up all of your products across the entire catalog and begin each new section of the catalog with the best products for that particular section.

Lastly consider where the contact and order information is in your catalog. This is a particular pet peeve of mine because I just see it so often. I get a catalog, find something I like, and cannot for the life of me figure out how I am supposed to order it. Maybe I am just dense, but that does not change the fact that the company just lost a sale because I am too frustrated to care anymore about making any kind of purchase.

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Catalog Printing

Submitted on Sunday, November 30, 2008
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