Marketing Nitwit: Graphic Controls

I received a postcard from Graphic Controls yesterday. It was addressed to our company without a name or title to go to. Apparently the receptionist assumed it was for printing services and put it in my mail. That may be the biggest problem with this nitwit...sending a mailer without directing it anyone. (And after a little investigation, I find they are a vendor of ours--you'd think they'd have a name to send it to.)

Here's the headline of the card. Can you guess what their second error is?

Got it? They don't tell you what they do, or give any scent of information to get you to read the card. The list of bullet points below the head just give the benefits of the website, with no indication of what they sell (see the card here). If you squint at the screen shot you might figure out what they do, but it isn't until the back of the card that you read that they make "quality precision charts and marking systems".

The list of benefit bullets is lame, stuff like "Place Orders on-line" (without clarifying if they will accept PO numbers online). They bury the biggest benefit in the last bullet...the ability to search for products by OEM part numbers.

Their lastly, their special offer:
"Special for On-line orders only: $100 minimum reduced to $25 now through 12/31/05"
Okay, as I think about it, this isn't that bad a deal, but should it be a 'special'? Isn't part of the benefits of an e-commerce website is the reduced cost to handle orders? Wouldn't this serve better as a permanent change?

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are testing a shift in the minimum order. But with a lousy card like this, they are going to be struggling to get much traffic at all on their new site.