To determine the extent to which your site’s marketing materials work on the Web.
The tactics for creating effective marketing materials appear here as a set of guidelines based on research and actual experience, documented in books, journal articles, and online styleguides. (References appear at the end of the evaluation instrument). Each guideline, then, provides a method for a writer to follow, or a heuristic.
In this evaluation we test the text against these guidelines. You are, then, performing a heuristic evaluation.
Here’s how to perform a Heuristic Online Text (HOT) evaluation.
1. Save this file with a name that includes
q The site you are analyzing
q The aspect you are evaluating (marketing material, in this case)
q Initials
q A period
q A suffix indicating the file type (doc for Word files, htm for HTML files)
Examples: ibmmenusjp.doc,
yahoomenusds.htm
2. Go to your site, and locate 5 different pages
with marketing information.
Look for pages that praise the company itself, or its products and services.
3. Copy the marketing text from each page and paste
it into this document.
4. Copy the URL for that page, then paste that into
this file, in the line right after the marketing text.
The URL is the address of the home page.
5. Type today’s date on the next line, to show when
you collected the marketing text.
6. Apply the HOT Evaluation to the materials you
have collected, filling out the evaluation form.
If a strategy or tactic seems irrelevant, omit it from your evaluation. Note that this will change the total possible points.
At the end, total up the points you have issued, draw conclusions, and make recommendations.
Tests
The site organizes marketing information around the
customer’s tasks or activities.
YES=1, NO=0.
In general, the site describes customer experiences
first, bringing in the product afterward.
YES=1, NO=0.
The site makes an attempt to define niche audiences,
and addresses them directly, or describes them explicitly.
YES=1, NO=0.
The marketing material sometimes starts with a
statement of a common problem faced by their customers, or a need, or desire
they share, before showing how the company’s products or services solve the
problem, satisfy the need, or fulfill the desire.
YES=1, NO=0.
The site includes stories about real customers using
their products or services (case studies or success stories).
YES=1, NO=0.
The site includes quotes from named customers.
YES=1, NO=0.
Analysis
If the site starts its pitch with the customer, how
exactly does it do that? If the site
seems to ignore the customer as a subject, what does the marketing material
focus on, instead?
Conclusion
How would you sum up the degree to which the marketing
text seems to center around the customer?
Tests
The pitch gets at the emotional heart of the issue.
YES=1, NO=0.
The marketing material avoids strings of pat phrases
intended to shorthand a series of benefits (world-class enterprise-wide
solutions bundle).
YES=1, NO=0.
The marketing text is built, mostly, out of nouns and
verbs, keeping adverbs and adjectives to a minimum.
YES=1, NO=0.
The mission statement has been banned from the home page, demoted to some minor sub-section, or completely deleted.
YES=1, NO=0.
Analysis
In what ways, exactly, does the site indulge in
fluff? If the site is fluff-free, how
does the site manage that, concretely?
Conclusion
How would you sum up the degree to which the marketing
text seems straight-forward, and fluff-free?
Tests
The marketing writers sound like real people.
YES=1, NO=0.
The marketing writers seem earnest, because they are
not too polished, they ramble at times, they have to repeat their main point.
YES=1, NO=0.
The marketing writers mention details from their own
lives.
YES=1, NO=0.
The marketing people have faces. (Photos of the people speaking to us).
YES=1, NO=0.
The tone is informative, realistic, and enthusiastic,
so that I feel as if you are honestly excited by your product.
YES=1, NO=0.
The writers admit problems or drawbacks
matter-of-factly, offering workarounds as kludges, not fantastic benefits.
YES=1, NO=0.
The writers make promises that their companies can
realistically expect to keep.
Analysis
How personal does it get? How honest? If the site is resolutely corporate, what is the
overall tone? Quote specific phrases,
to show what makes you react in this way.
Conclusion
How would you sum up the tone of the marketing
materials?
Tests
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
Analysis
How persuasive is the material? Quote specific
phrases, to show what makes you react in this way.
Conclusion
How well would this material persuade target
audiences?
Tests
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
YES=1, NO=0.
Analysis
How clear is the invitation to action? How likely is it that someone in the target
audience will make the purchase?
Conclusion
How well does this material close the sale?
See: Hansell (2001), Henning (2000a, 2000b, 2001a), Knowledge Capital Group (2001), Locke (2001), Price and Price (1999), Sawhney (2001), Sawhney and Parikh (2000), Sawhney and Zabin (2001), Usborne (2001a, 2001b, 2001c) in the bibliography at http://www.webwritingthatworks.com/HTres2cbiblio.pdf.pdf .
.
Assigning a grade to a set of texts is always a bit arbitrary. But counting up the points for these sample texts, we reach this diagnosis:
Total Points:
Total Possible:
Percentage:
90-100%: Excellent marketing.
75-89%: Pretty persuasive.
60-74%: Could use some rewrites.
45-59%: A mess.
25-44%: Sure to repel some visitors.
0-24: Guaranteed to make visitors reach for the Back button.
In a few paragraphs, summarize your most important observations—both
positive and negative.
List the top three problems with the marketing material, and in a
sentence or two, summarize what you would recommend as solutions.