It’s a bit of a bugbear with us here at JG Towers that we regularly find ourselves on websites where the business, charity or organisation doesn’t explain who they are before launching into what they’re up to and what you can BUY NOW or how you can help.
Frankly it’s rude.
It’s the equivalent of that person at a party you’ve met a few times before and who comes over, probably stands too close, and start’s talking about their awful journey. All while you’re trying desperately to remember their name and where you’ve seen them before!
Take a moment.
Use some of that precious space at the top of your website, or opening paragraph of your email or leaflet to say hello.
Remind the reader of your name and what you do. Even better, remind them of your relationship – as a valued customer, as someone who’s donated before, as a member. Then tell them why you’re contacting them or ask them how you can help.
Remember that they’re busy, that they’ve got lots of other things going on in their head at the same time as seeing your message and make it easy for them. I promise, it will never be a waste of space.
Here are some good examples of saying ‘hello’ well. And yes, we designed them, because it’s important to us.
PANDAS Foundation website
The logo is shown at a good size to clearly communicate the charities name and strapline – ‘PANDAS, PND Awareness and Support’.
Then there is a really prominent message to introduce what they do. It says ‘We are here, whatever the weather, to offer hope, empathy and support for every parent or network affected by perinatal mental illness.’
Their is then a sentence to further clarify who they are – ‘PANDAS is a community offering peer-to-peer support for you, your family and your network.’
Finally they make it really easy to see how they can help you, including clear links AND short descriptions to areas of support.
Disability Positive Services Leaflet
As soon as you open the leaflet they introduce themselves – ‘We are Disability Positive’. Then they clearly and succinctly say what they do and who they are before explaining what the leaflet is going to tell them and where to go for more information.
A great example of how to say hello well!
Flash Masters website
This site lets the images do the talking but they still take the time to be clear about who they are!
They use the animated copy over the main image to tease. Several ‘We are…’ statements appear, ending with ‘We are Flash Masters.
Then there is friendly hello in a static font saying ‘Welcome to Flash Masters’, followed by a clarifying statement ‘Recognising and celebrating the world’s best flash photography.
A great example of how a little can go a long way.
Email newsletters – from AIM and TalkED
I think it’s ok to assume that if someone is signed up to your newsletter they know who you are as they’ve actively asked to be sent more info. That being said an email inbox is a busy place and it’s still worth saying hello!
These two examples let their logo and straplines do a lot of this work for them. In a good size and prominent location with nothing else cluttering it up.
Please do think about your ‘from’ name and email too and make sure it comes from, for example, ‘JG Creative’ rather than ‘Joanne Grubb’. When someone can only see your from address and subject line you, want to make it really easy for them to know who you are.
I hope that has been useful. I’m sure it might sound very simplistic but, believe me, it really doesn’t happen as often as it should and it really does make a difference!
Jo Grubb
Managing Director, JG Creative