Print Catalogues Versus Digital Catalogues

Digital Catalogues

• Online catalogues lend themselves to fast and friction free sharing. Prospective customers can easily spread your digital catalogue through multiple channels to a wider audience in a way that print catalogues simply can’t compete. Here are a few:
• Customers can copy and paste your URL into their social media profile. Sharing your catalogue with 1000s of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter connections
• Customers can quickly download a digital copy of your catalogue and email it to all their colleagues.
• When sharing your catalogue with a customer, you can add unique URL tracking parameters in the link you send. This passes vital information to your analytics platform allowing you to see when customers view your catalogue and whether they shared it with colleagues.
• Invest attention in optimising how your digital catalogue appears in social channels with social media markup. Done right, every URL shared creates a powerfully optimised advert for your catalogue.
• Sharing a digital catalogue doesn’t create any additional distribution costs. You won’t need to factor in additional costs of sending another catalogue in the post.

Print Catalogues

• Print catalogues are shareable but are largely a one-to-one exchange. When a customer shares your catalogue they are often parting ways with it for good.
• For B2B catalogues, print is an excellent way to share your catalogue inside an organisation. One catalogue can be shared amongst many colleagues to make purchases across departments.
• The physical sharing of print catalogues has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic:
• With a majority of individuals now working from home, catalogues once shared among many in a single office space must now be individually sent to multiple home addresses. This increases distribution cots and introduces the challenge of securing home addresses for prospective customers.
• Many industries, especially education and healthcare, are now limiting the sharing of print materials as they become a potential carrier in spreading the virus.
• Including a coupon is a simple way of incentivising customers to share your catalogue and encourage additional sign-ups. Unlike with digital catalogues, this again comes at a price when factoring in additional postage costs.

Catalogues as a Sales Tool

A well-designed catalogue is one of the most powerful sales tools you can provide your sales team.

Catalogues are a mobile store front, allowing sales to present your products in the best possible light. They act as a gateway to closing immediate sales while attending client visits. No member of the sales team should leave the office without your catalogue in tow.

The different attributes of print and digital will influence the benefits and how your catalogue is used to drive sales. Let’s compare.

Digital Catalogues

• Digital catalogues can feature built-in purchasing, you can complete sales immediately during client visits.
• Digital provides faster catalogue navigation. You can take your customer directly to the product that sparked their interest. Easy when you have features like advanced search and interactive navigation.
• While a digital catalogue can’t be left behind as a physical reminder, they can’t be lost either. If you have a computer or tablet, then your catalogue is always accessible via the internet anytime, anywhere.
• You're always up to date. With digital, you can sell with confidence knowing your catalogue reflects all the latest products, styles and prices.
• It may be helpful to show different prices to different customers. Online catalogues are dynamic, giving sales the power to deliver alternative pricing when pitching a premium client versus a first-time buyer.
• Digital catalogues are perfect for sales presentations. Interactive elements like 360 product views and video ads impress prospective customers. While built-in product reviews are a powerful way to build trust.
• During a pandemic where sales can’t meet consumers face to face, digital catalogues are a perfect accompaniment to virtual client meetings. Sales can use screen sharing technology to guide clients through your online catalogue.

Print Catalogues

• A big benefit for print catalogues is the fact they can be left behind with the customer, acting as a continual reminder to buy.
• Print catalogues are a powerful way to convert customers to sales during client visits. While they don’t benefit from in-catalogue purchasing available in digital catalogues, you can still transition customers to your ecommerce website to complete purchases.
• An accomplished salesperson can use your print catalogue to help customers explore your product portfolio while highlighting best sellers and new additions.
• There are drawbacks to using print catalogues as a sales tool that digital doesn’t suffer from:
• Print catalogues begin to go out of date before the ink dries. Whilst this doesn’t devastate, it can create friction in the sales cycle when old pricing or discontinued products crop up.
• As a physical asset, it’s possible for sales to forget to bring their print catalogue to a client meeting. Leaving them without a valuable sales asset.
• Print catalogues suffer from wear and tear. To provide the best impression you’ll need to take a new crisp catalogue to every client visit.

The Environmental Impact of Catalogues

If you’re factoring the carbon footprint of your catalogue into the decision-making process, it’s tough to argue online or print having the least environmental impact.

While digital is often claimed to be the greener option, to date, we have not uncovered a single reputable research study that provides a definitive answer. On the question as to whether print or digital is best for the environment, the jury is still out.

Instead, we’ve highlighted the areas you should consider when reducing the environmental impact of your chosen medium.

Digital Catalogues

There’s a lot less to consider when looking at reducing the environmental impact of digital catalogues. You don’t need to think about printing, paper, distribution and disposal. It’s really all about hosting.

• Choose a green hosting provider – the servers that host your digital catalogues can burn electricity in vast amounts. Make sure to avoid providers who opt solely for non-renewable energies. Here at YUDU, we use Amazon Web Services as they are committed to achieving 100% renewable energy for their cloud infrastructure by 2025.
• Only offer the latest catalogue – digital is easy to set and forget. Whilst it might be nice to create an archive of past catalogues for perusal, this consumes terabytes of data that only increase your carbon footprint.

As a provider digital catalogues, you should also factor in how your content is consumed. The explosion of tablets and e-readers is an increasing concern for environmentalists who are seeing these discarded on mass in developing countries.

A study cited by Huffpost highlights a tipping point. With the production of an average e-reader equivalent to 50 books, you need to consume that many in a digital format in order for it to be a greener option. As a concientious company, you should consider where you factor into this equation.

Print Catalogues

• Consider your choice of paper - while it’s tempting to choose a high-gloss, coated paper to make your products pop, it’s not as environmentally friendly as a recycled paper alternative. If you can’t make that compromise, make sure you partner with an ethical provider who invests in reforestation.
• Reflect on your catalogue binding – deciding whether your catalogue is saddle stitched, coil bound, wire bound or glued will influence whether your catalogue is recyclable after use.
• Choose a green printing partner – manufacturing your catalogue at scale will have an environmental impact. Minimise it by choosing a printing partner who runs on renewable energies and opts for digital printing presses that use less power, require fewer chemicals and use biodegradable toner.
• Partner with an environmentally friendly distributor – the burning of fossil fuels to transport your catalogues via planes, trains and automobiles all add to your carbon footprint. You want a forward-thinking distributor delivering with electric cars and optimising their journeys. UPS are a perfect example, using their vehicle routing software and eliminating left turns to minimise their carbon footprint. It sounds mad, but this reduced their fuel usage by 10 million gallons and their CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnes.
• Dispose of your catalogues conscientiously – once a catalogue is out of season, it’s rendered useless. Make sure it doesn’t end up in a landfill. This means ensuring your catalogue is fully recyclable and encouraging your customers to recycle past catalogues.
• Only print what you need – choosing how many catalogues to print is a mathematical nightmare. Air on the side of caution to avoid printing 1000s of catalogues which may end up never being used.

Avoid greenwashing at all costs

Shamel Naguib, president at Paperless Productivity, which helps large companies go paperless, thinks the rush to digital has little to do with being green and much more to do with the bottom line.

He said: “For 99.9% of projects, the green initiative has nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with saving money. Money is so tight with organisations and costs are such a critical part of the puzzle”.

No company wants to be accused of greenwash by promoting green credentials that don’t exist. By the same token, claiming to be offering an environmentally friendly service when in reality your actions are all about cutting costs might be an unwise move on the part of the marketing department.

Navigating Your Catalogue

Navigation is one of the most critical factors in the success of your catalogue.

A good navigation will make finding your products quick and easy. Improving your customers user experience, helping to drive increased product sales and revenue.

Both print and digital catalogues share a number of navigation features. However, the digital space offers a range of additional functionality that makes navigating online catalogues faster and more effective.

Let’s explore these features more closely:

Digital Catalogues

Publishing online unlocks a range of functionality to accelerate and improve user experience when navigating your catalogue. You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to find the products they are looking for.

• Navigation menus – a well-structured primary navigation, complete with main product categories and subcategories, allows your customer to instantly jump between product sections in a single click.
• Floating menus – much like the primary navigation, these offer your customer the ability to quickly navigate within a specific product category, or to different sectionsof the catalogue. It has the added benefit of always being visible as the customer scrolls.
• Hyperlinks – digital catalogues have the added benefit of hyperlinks. Including these throughout your catalogue allows customers to quickly navigate to other products, pages or categories in a single click. No need to flick through 100s of pages.
• Multiple browser tabs and windows – with a digital catalogue, customers can easily open multiple browser tabs or windows to simultaneously view and compare a range of your products.
• Advanced search – this is one of the most powerful navigation advantages digital delivers above and beyond print. Empower your customers to find your products with the following advanced search functionality:
• Free-text search – the most common form of search, it allows your customers to type keywords to identify a range of products inside your catalogue. They can then click directly through to their desired product.
• Autocomplete – this is a powerful tool withing free-text search which predicts the customers complete search based on what they’ve already typed in. It helps narrow down the customers search, speeding up the process while avoiding misspellings and making the search more accurate.
• Similar products – by categorising your products in search, you can offer customers alternative or complimentary products alongside their search results. This is a great way to generate multiple product purchases through a single search. Like showing the compatible print cartridge alongside a printer.
• Faceted search – this is a great tool for accelerating product discovery. Through faceted search, customers can quickly browse, filter and shop based on their specific choices. Shoes for example – using filters across size, type, colour and price you can quickly return a focussed set of products for the customer to choose from.

Print Catalogues

It’s simply not possible to create a navigation experience that matches the speed and accuracy found in digital catalogues. Even when comparing similar features like for like, customers still have the added effort of flipping through the pages to find what they are looking for.

This can create missed opportunities, where your customers can’t find the product they are looking for. Or, they simply don’t have the additional time it takes to navigate your print catalogue.

However, you can still offer a smooth navigation process by implementing the following:

• Index and table of contents – these two sections are critical to the success of your print catalogue. For many, they offer the only direction for customers in navigating your catalogue. Build for success by considering:
• Clear headings – make sure there is a clear differentiation of product categories through use of different headings and font size.
• Product grouping – decide whether you’re going to list all products in alphabetical order, or group them under category headings.
• Product titles – make sure your product titles are accurate, and consider alternate naming to offer customers the greatest chance of finding and navigating to your product.
• Tab cutting or indexing – this is the physical process of including a small stepped cut out to the right-hand edge of pages in your print catalogue. Including tab cutting for each product category allows customers to flick through sections of your print catalogue more easily.

Interacting With Your Catalogue

The inclusion of interactive elements will have a direct influence on how customers engage with your catalogue. Interactivity invites your customers to explore and has the ability to trigger interest and emotional responses which convert into sales.

When it comes to interactivity, there is a big difference between how print and digital catalogues operate. With each medium offering its own set of unique attributes and benefits.

Digital Catalogues

The dynamic nature of online catalogues allow the inclusion of interactive features which cannot be replicated in print. Let’s explore the different types of interactive elements unique to digital catalogues.

• Click to interact – you can add interactive clickable links anywhere on the page in your digital catalogue. Including these in your product listings, menus and index, deliver quick and easy information gathering and navigation between products, pages and sections.
• Video content – digital allows for the inclusion of video content. Offering your customers a completely different way to engage with your catalogue and products. You can create video adverts to trigger an emotional response and bring higher levels of interest and engagement from the customer.
• Interactive elements - the digital space lets you create interactive elements offering a unique and engaging experience. Customers can interact with 360-degree product views, product customisation and the ability to make instant purchases via an in-catalogue shopping cart and checkout system.
• Pop-ups – this feature gives customers the experience of clicking a product listing and expanding it for more detail. This dynamic mechanism - not available in print - facilitates greater interaction. Customers can read product reviews, view additional product imagery, or discover complimentary products. This also expands your advertising real-estate without needing to turn or add additional pages.
• Digital annotations and sharing – while they don’t offer the same tactile feeling of creating real-life physical annotations, digital catalogues offer the virtual equivalent. Your prospects can use bookmarking, digital highlights and notes to customise and annotate their catalogue. Or share your products direct to their social media channels, increasing your reach.
• Page turn graphics and sounds – it may seem redundant for some, but select customers still seek out the equivalent virtual experience of flipping through pages and hearing them turn. Offer these graphical options for your customers still craving a traditional touch.

Print Catalogues

You can't deny print catalogues invoke a greater emotional response from customers thanks to the physical touch element. An experience digital catalogues simply can’t replicate.

Here’s just a few unique interactive elements offered by print catalogues:

• The Tactile Touch – you can touch and feel catalogues. This has the power to create a strong emotional response. Consider the physical texture of the paper you use in magazines, and how you vary it within the magazine to boost interactivity.
• Selling with Smell – the inclusion of scented materials, or free samples (like perfume), in your print catalogue are another powerful interactive element to engage readers. And a great way of triggering an emotional response.
• Catalogue Inserts – a great way of making your print catalogue more interactive is the inclusion of an insert. Get creative. Posters, postcards, calendars, business cards and coupons are all different insert types that can trigger different types of interaction. Whether it’s the pleasure of getting money off, a direct line of contact to the sales person, or the constant brand reminder a poster might bring.
• Personalised Annotations – print catalogues offer the unique ability to add physical annotations that invite interactivity. Encouraging highlighting, or the inclusion of post-it notes, are different annotation techniques that can invite increased interactivity with your catalogue.Distributing Your Catalogue

Distributing Your Catalogue

Distribution will have a big influence on the sales success of your catalogue. Getting your catalogue seen by more of the right people will increase the likelihood of you selling more product.

The inherent characteristics of print and digital catalogues creates vast differences in how they are distributed.

Taking a high level look, digital catalogues are typically easier to distribute to a wider audience at a lower cost. While print catalogues offer greater control and a more targeted distribution, ensuring the right people see your catalogue.

Let’s explore print catalogue vs digital catalogue distribution in more detail.

Digital Catalogues

• Search engines love catalogues – one big benefit of going digital is your catalogue being indexed in leading search engines like Google and Bing. A well optimised digital catalogue offers the opportunity for a global search audience to find your products, drastically increasing your distribution.
• Company and job role targeting through paid social – social media sites, especially LinkedIn, offer you powerful functionality to target your catalogue advertising to specific companies and job roles. This offers you the capability to significantly increase your distribution, only paying when customers click through to your catalogue. And, with lead capture forms built into the ads, it’s also possible to collect vital customer information.
• Digital distribution costs less – in most situations, it costs less to distribute digital catalogues versus print catalogues. For example, the cost of sending your digital catalogue to an existing customer via email is £0.003. While the equivalent cost of sending a print catalogue via post can be upwards of £2.14. That’s before you even factor in the additional cost of each print catalogue you send. Now, not all digital distribution channels are cheap, especially when marketing to a potential audience. Highly targeted paid social and paid search campaigns can cost upwards of £20 a click, costing significatnly more than a targetted postal campaign to expose you print catalogue to a new audience. Do your research to ensure distribution costs fit withing your cost per acquisition model.
• Satisfy customer intent with keyword targeted paid search – Google Ads and Bing Ads give you the power to tap their global search audience. Today, search engines are typically first port of call when researching a product. Hijack this process and put your digital catalogue front and centre with a highly targeted keyword campaign. Create enticing ads that deliver your customer straight to the page and product they are seeking in your digital catalogue.
• Recapture customer interest with push notifications – a digital catalogue gives you the ability to redistribute your catalogue direct to customers through push notifications. A process that differs depending on device:
• Web push notifications – when a customer visits your digital catalogue via a web browser, they can opt in to recieve web push notifications. Once opted in, you can send pop-up alerts direct to their mobile or desktop device anytime their browser is open. Ideal for re-distributing your catalogue for discount campaigns, new products, or new catalogue editions.
• Mobile push notifications – going online means you have the option to convert your digital catalogue into a mobile app. Once downloaded you unlock the ability to send mobile push notifications direct to your customer to bring them back to the catalogue. Letting them know about new products or the release of the latest edition.
• Distribute your online catalogue through multiple marketing channels – once your enter the digital realm, you unlock a wide range of distribution channels. You can distribute your digital catalogue via email, search engines, paid search, remarketing, social media, paid social, affiliate programs, SMS messaging, app stores, directories, messenger apps, trade and industry websites. The list of marketing channels goes on, giving you any number of ways to share and target your catalogue to a wider audience.

Print Catalogues

• Place your catalogue in the right hands – printed catalogues give you greater control over distribution. You know your catalogue is going direct to your targeted audience. Of course, you also have an element of control in the digital realm, but there is greater risk of your digital catalogue appearing on disreputable sites, or being shared in a unflattering format.
• Increase your distribution through multiple channels – while print doesn’t offer the same breadth of distribution channels, you’re not short of options. Expand the distribution of your print catalogue through direct mail, shopping centres and news outlets, inserts in magazines and newspapers, tradeshows, exhibitions and events.
• Distribution costs for print catalogues can be prohibitive – as we’ve already touched on, it typically costs significantly more to distribute print catalogues versus digital catalogues. If budget is a limitation, going digital will often allow your catalogue to be distributed to more people than print for the same cost.
• Leverage digital channels to increase distribution – just because your catalogue is in print, doesn't mean you can't leverage digital channels to increase distribution. If you offer digital sign-up to your print catalogue, you can tap digital marketing channels. Use the power of paid search or social to market your print catalogue to a wider audience. But consider the additional step of sign-up before receiving the catalogue will likely offer lower conversion versus digital, so will be comparatively more expensive.