I love it when stuff jumps from the web into the real world. It’s great when I receive an email from my website with an inquiry, but it’s even better when someone picks up the phone and calls me.

I means I have persuaded visitors to call using just the text and pictures on my site.

A recent web site I designed is experiencing quite a lot of traffic. My customer is reporting plenty of purchases, contacts from the on-line mail form and phone calls. It’s great to see a site doing the job I designed it for!

But do you know what one of the top inquiries is (after on-line sales)?

“Can you send me a brochure please?”

This is despite the whole ethos of the site offering the visitor the ability to customise a bespoke product on-line, live right before their eyes. It’s despite there being over 15 million possible combinations of the product, customers still want a physical brochure.

I don’t know exactly why but here’s what I think…

1. A Brochure Makes it Real

It’s not too tricky for anyone to set themselves up with a web name and site, with a dearth of on-line tools de-skilling the basic launch of a static site and even small simple web shops. Throw a bit of cash at Google ads and you’ve got traffic to the site.

It can be difficult to tell the difference between the part time evening kind of on-line business and the full time professional. Getting your hands on a physical brochure can separate the two, having printed literature puts your professional foot forward and helps your on-line business stand out.

2. A Brochure Helps Build Trust

The product my client is selling isn’t cheap, it’s not a pack of Biro’s, I guess the average sale is about £370 and the purchaser wouldn’t get the product for at least a month (it’s handmade in the UK). It’s not a snap decision kind of purchase. Spending £370+ up front isn’t the kind of thing you do without some thought.

Getting a brochure can help build trust, this is a real business that delivers, so it will deliver my order.

3. A Brochure Gives you Time to Think

People buy in different ways, some see what they like and buy quickly, we like this kind of customer. Others need more time, especially on larger purchases, we like this customer too. By receiving a brochure they can consider their choices and as they have your contact details in hand, they’ll be able to contact you quickly.

I think the demand is enough that the client should get a brochure printed and then advertise it on-line, getting visitors to fill in their details in return for the brochure. Not only would this get the brand in front of the customer in their house, but they also have their address which to use in future.

I’m going to tell him so later, I’ll let you know what he says.

Taking the on-line offline by getting some literature printed and encouraging web site visitors to request it is great, so if you want to get some sorted and stand out from the competition, do get in touch, call 01332 416446 or contact me online to chat it over.