Case Study - ELECTRONICS
Sumitronics Corporation
Sumitronics supplies advanced materials sourced from Japan to Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing sector.
They built a new website and needed copy for all pages, starting with the home page.
English was to be the base language, with Chinese and Japanese translations.
The original copy (all in Chinese) focused on the company, not their potential customer, reflecting a common approach to marketing amongst companies the world over.
Copywriting focuses like a laser beam on the fears and desires of a potential customer.
Prospects are preoccupied with the problem they need to solve.
They are on your company website to find out
- if you can help them
- how much that help will cost
They will only be interested in your company’s history and achievements — maybe — when they are about to make a purchase, or some time afterwards.
Or, never.
That is truly the way it is.
The other problem was that the copy was not easy to read and also poorly organized.
Thus the redesign rationale was to reverse the marketing focus and place a much greater emphasis on the needs and concerns of the prospects visiting the page.
Method
I conducted in depth interviews of the company’s six department heads, including the CEO, in order to understand how Sumitronics uniquely solves their customers problems.
In other words, I sought to understand the company’s Unique Selling Proposition in great detail.
More than seven hours of interviews delivered a massive amount of information that revealed that information.
The homepage redesign, then, focused on the USP and the several products that the company uniquely supplies from within the Japanese semiconductor materials supply chain.
I placed that copy above the fold.
The image I selected also relates directly to the company’s main area of technical expertise.
The next section, the first below the fold, lays out the ways in which Sumitronics is a unique player in this space.
Their unique “total solution” is the reason other companies partner with them.
BenQ Corporation
BenQ periodically gives me assignments to write copy for the sales pages for new products.
In this example I focus on the sub-heading and the first two of five bullet points for a new interactive information display, the kind you find in shopping malls.
Like many big companies, BenQ’s website product pages follow a set format, a template into which copy must fit.
In order for copy to sit neatly in perfect balance in the page containers, character limits must be strictly observed (indicated in parentheses at the end of each line).
The column on the left contains the prompt that BenQ’s marketing personnel thought best; the central column contains my suggestions; the last column provides advice and clarifications.
My first task was to get as much background information on the product as the company could give me.
My goal was to determine the key benefit of the new display: that turned out to be an anti-viral/bacterial coating which destroys pathogens transferred to the surface of the display by mall customers’ fingers on the screen.
It was also unique which gave the product it’s Unique Selling Proposition.
I rank my preferences in order even as I keep in mind what my client is most likely to prefer.
I assign the same number to suggestions I thought were equally appropriate at that level.
A key piece of research came from BenQ’s European division, providing strong proof of the screen coating’s effectiveness.
Scientific tests showed that the active ingredient, nano-ionic silver, destroyed 99% of viruses and bacteria.
I therefore made it central to the sub-heading (“sub-title”).
BenQ ultimately decided on the following subtitle and bullet points
Subtitle: Germ-Resistant screen where every touch is safe
BP1: Safe to the touch for 100% peace of mind browsing
BP2: Anti-fingerprint coating keeps the screen clean
Not the best choices in my view.
But it is your prerogative as my client to decide what to use.
My job is to work with you to give you what you want, whether I agree with it nor not.
Here’s a bicycle industry case study for contrast.
If you’ve got a project you’d like to discuss, get in touch with me here.
To YOUR massive direct response marketing success,
Glenn Reeves
Copywriter