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From the first sentence on its home page’s
main text – "Life’s complexities should
end at the water’s edge" – to the personalized "Ask
Alice" format for its FAQs area, this dealer Website
exemplifies the direction spa marketing should be taking.
Apparently, Alice Cunningham, the founder of Olympic
Hot Tub Company, for whom the "Ask Alice" section
of the site’s Buyer’s Guide is named, has
done her homework. According to research by NSPI and
various manufacturers, relaxation is the goal for spa
shoppers and owners, with family togetherness and making
the most of limited leisure time also scoring high on
consumers’ wish lists.
Site visitors may not be geographically
close enough to this Puget Sound, Wash.-area dealership
to take advantage
of its free in-home consultations and other attractive
offers (its spring sale on new spas is well publicized
with red type and a moving banner), but any Web surfer
can appreciate the photographs, comments and children’s
drawings provided by Olympic Hot Tub customers.
For example, one of the most amusing
and engaging features of the site is the "Nude or Not Nude in Spas" page.
Stemming from a poetry competition among customers, this
page presents the winning verses about spa use preferences.
It’s enough to get spa owners and prospects alike
to envision how appealing a spa can be.
These personal touches – and nearly every other
feature of this site – convey the idea that spa
ownership is a relaxing way to bring together family
members and friends.
It’s also user-friendly, even
for Web surfers with slow modems. While the site offers
extensive details
about spa ownership, graphics (e.g., water drop icons
to highlight bulleted points) are used sparingly, minimizing
download time.
Olympic Hot Tub Web site is developed and
managed by InfoAdvantage.
Reprinted
with permission from AQUA
Magazine, copyright 1998.
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