Scientists want to see what they are buying

In lab meeting yesterday and we had a 10 min conversation about a kit that came in the blue and purple box (some thought it was yellow). A few hours later, my labmate Jon starts laughing and points to the old Promega Wizard Prep box on top of the freezer. Classic!

Science products have complicated names often with made-up words in them. For example, on one page of the Bio-rad website I found iProof High Fidelity DNA Polymerase and iTaq DNA Polymerase.  What the heck is iProof? I've used Taq, but iTaq?  Luckily for me, I knew I used the kit with one red and one green tube that came in the green box with a yellow sticker on it.

 Notice how Bio-Rad uses large images of the kit with the components displayed clearly on their product display pages.

This same principle should be applied to all your marketing tactics including product webpages, front covers of product literature, and (gasp) the hated email blast.  

I encourage you to take a look at your materials today and see if you can figure out what products you are selling without reading a word. Its a lot easier to sell something to someone that has already bought it!

Related articles in this series include ABCO and Your Website is Your Face.