Marketing to women: if you show them, they will buy.

At a recent session at AD:TECH, Michael Streefland, vice president of marketing and creative services at iVillage shared one abiding bit of knowledge: Women are busy and use the Internet for solutions--parenting information, meal planning, product and price comparisons--for all kinds of products. "They are coming online to find out what they need right now," he added.

When it comes to cosmetics and hair care, Revlon found that women want a place for "creativity and self-expression--a place to have fun." said Kimberly Lyons, manager of integrated marketing at Revlon.

Also, since 70% of women on the Web are visiting a site for product information, the beauty products company wanted to provide all the help they could to drive customers to the retail store.

For a hair-coloring site, www.highdimensionhair.com, Revlon created a destination where women could experiment and learn so they would feel prepared to buy, Lyons said.

Since some women were experienced with hair color, and others would be first-time experimenters, it was crucial to make it so no one would be disappointed, she said.

One button on the home page was "Your Color Adviser"--for the novice. A personal questionnaire and a shade chart lead the newcomer into the world of hair coloring to help her choose her shade. Personal stories highlight the margins and there's even a way to send your color choice to a friend for her opinion.

Another button, "Expert Tips" enhances the knowledge of the experienced hair color user. New ideas about hair color, doing away with streaks, color maintenance tips and professional hair color commandments are choices here. At the end, the visitor receives a store recommendation. The result? "Web site and page views doubled," said Lyons.

(DirectNewsline, 11/04/03)