When Microsites Attack.

The sun shines:
So you have a campaign about to begin, promoting a special offer on one of the products your company supplies. To tie in with this you decide to run online advertising, on brand, with the offline campaign. As well as the normal online advertising means you also decide to create a microsite, or as some would like to describe it a ‘landing pad’ allowing the targeted customers to remain within the feel of the campaign, and hopefully driving them through to a sale quickly. Everyone is happy, the creative bods get to play around with some rich media techniques and as long as we can track sales then it is an experiment worth doing…..

A cloud appears:
However the microsite does not comply with the rules that the main Website adheres to. For a start because of its’ branding it has a completely different look and feel. It has fewer options, less functionality and less information. How therefore can it be as good at selling as the main site? Not only that, but we spent X on usability, X months on development and if this microsite is going to be taking the bulk traffic of our biggest campaign what is the point in having a main site that carries all of this information as well!?

The weather forecast:
And so the dilemma appears. Many would say it is an easy one. A microsite is a separately promoted part of a larger Web site, designed to meet separate objectives. However what happens when you think most traffic is going to be generated through this microsite? You are in danger of the micro overtaking the macro. All of a sudden people think that your main branding is that of the microsite, and when it finally is removed they are left with a generalised site, which does not offer the warm friendly atmosphere and bargain deals that the other did. “I want the Microsite!”

OK so this may be an exaggeration, but I am interested to know people’s opinion on how to handle development of a microsite and whether if it is going to last for a long period and perhaps handle the bulk of traffic it has outgrown its’ purpose? Oh and if you can let me know by 2.30 today that would be good.

Thanks, and don’t ask me why I used the weather references.

Thanks D,

Well you will be glad to hear that most of what you wrote went along the lines of our final decisions.

The website is done by the Ecommerce group and all the promotional material is done by the marketing department. So in terms of co-ordination of brief and brand, I think we have learnt some valuable lessons! However we did introduce changes, which we hope will avoid any cannibalisation of the main site's traffic and improve the Microsite offering as a whole.

Primarily, we decided to remove aspects from the Microsite that were not purely campaign specific. This included taking out additional product links and features that were not related.

Secondly, we have decided to reduce the length of the Microsite’s existence. From doing this I think we will introduce a precedence for life expectancy of campaign specific material, which in turn will hopefully drive people to look to use the main site to a greater degree to fulfil campaign goals. This is not to say that Microsites can’t always exist in addition to the main site, but when you have a single Microsite lasting for a large % of the year you have to question duplication of purpose.

Finally tracking tracking tracking. We decided the only way to truly answer the big questions at the end of the day, was to look at statistics in line with the success criteria that we had defined for this piece of work. If the Microsite is fantastically successful and really is increasing sales by reducing time to buy etc..then we will identify what needs to be altered on the main site to bring it more in line with this. Vice versa if overall sales are down (inline with increased marketing spend) then we will address how we do campaign specific promotions in the future.

At the heart of this the following lessons are what I would pass on:

- Just because you are promoting a new/ different type of campaign, don’t forget the hard learnt lessons that have gone before with the main site. This is in terms of usability, copy, functionality etc..

- Co-ordinate a promotional campaign to the same degree you would an additional section/ function to the main site. Make sure you are aware of the technical requirements that the main site adheres to, the sign off procedures in place, the testing and implementation requirements.

- And lastly you don’t know till you try. At the end of the day you have to be prepared to take a few risks along the way, and if nothing else it brings the benefit of experience for future requirements of talking with hindsight!

On 17:00:44 22 November 2001 dcjarvis wrote:
>Hey Bart,
>
>Nice post, and sorry this isn't in before your deadline!
>
>As an IA type of person, the obvious
>"told-you-so" thing to say is:
>"Didn't you plan micro-sites into the structure when
>you developed the main site?" You didn't? Shame on
>you!
>
>Another one is from a branding point of view: "Surely
>the branding for the micro-site must bear *some* relation
>to the company/main site's branding? After all they are
>coming from the same organisation." Er, perhaps they
>don't...
>
>If you're in the situation I've described above, then to a
>certain extent you should try to learn these lessons for
>next time. The "project brief" ("creative
>brief" or whatever you want to call it) should
>hammer home these types of issues even to the wackiest of
>designers. And there should be documentation or prototypes
>to support how micro-sites work within the structure of
>the site. There isn't? Ho hum!
>
>My approach to a microsite would be to ensure that the
>goals/objectives are clearly defined (as you say). If it
>is to promote, then that's all it needs to do. Any
>shopping or buying or *anything else at all* should be
>done by the main site. After all that's why you spent that
>hard-fought marketing budget developing it! There should
>be very little crossover with the main site in terms of
>functionality and content - otherwise it means your main
>site doesn't do its job well enough and you are throwing
>good money after bad.
>
>If the micro-site becomes overwhelmingly popular then you
>need to consider why this is the case. Is it because it
>talks to the particular audience better? If so, then why
>doesn't the main site do this well? Perhaps the structure
>& navigation of the main site could do a better job of
>segmenting the audiences so that the right people get the
>right message at the right time? Perhaps the use of rich
>media is a real differentiator?
>
>If all these things are true then you don't have a problem
>with the success of the micro-site, you have a problem
>with the ineffective main site! It's true what they say:
>"success breeds success". You need to keep the
>main site in line with the successes of your micro-site
>developments.
>
>Not sure if this helps. It's past your deadline and it
>doesn't offer much in the way of short term solutions. But
>would welcome your thoughts.
>
>Cheers, d
>
>
>On 11:28:33 16 November 2001 bartjudd wrote:
>>The sun shines:
>>So you have a campaign about to begin, promoting a
>special
>>offer on one of the products your company supplies. To
>tie
>>in with this you decide to run online advertising, on
>>brand, with the offline campaign. As well as the
>normal
>>online advertising means you also decide to create a
>>microsite, or as some would like to describe it a
>>‘landing pad’ allowing the targeted
>customers
>>to remain within the feel of the campaign, and
>hopefully
>>driving them through to a sale quickly. Everyone is
>happy,
>>the creative bods get to play around with some rich
>media
>>techniques and as long as we can track sales then it
>is an
>>experiment worth doing…..
>>
>>A cloud appears:
>>However the microsite does not comply with the rules
>that
>>the main Website adheres to. For a start because of
>>its’ branding it has a completely different look
>and
>>feel. It has fewer options, less functionality and
>less
>>information. How therefore can it be as good at
>selling
>>as the main site? Not only that, but we spent X on
>>usability, X months on development and if this
>microsite
>>is going to be taking the bulk traffic of our biggest
>>campaign what is the point in having a main site that
>>carries all of this information as well!?
>>
>>The weather forecast:
>>And so the dilemma appears. Many would say it is an
>easy
>>one. A microsite is a separately promoted part of a
>larger
>>Web site, designed to meet separate objectives.
>However
>>what happens when you think most traffic is going to
>be
>>generated through this microsite? You are in danger of
>the
>>micro overtaking the macro. All of a sudden people
>think
>>that your main branding is that of the microsite, and
>when
>>it finally is removed they are left with a generalised
>>site, which does not offer the warm friendly
>atmosphere
>>and bargain deals that the other did. “I want
>the
>>Microsite!”
>>
>>OK so this may be an exaggeration, but I am interested
>to
>>know people’s opinion on how to handle
>development
>>of a microsite and whether if it is going to last for
>a
>>long period and perhaps handle the bulk of traffic it
>has
>>outgrown its’ purpose? Oh and if you can let me
>know
>>by 2.30 today that would be good.
>>
>>Thanks, and don’t ask me why I used the weather
>>references.