GoDaddy Needs to Learn How To Think Like Consumers

While waiting in line at Safeway, I noticed there were Macy's, REI and RadioShack gift cards on display next to the cash register. It reminded me of the following two emails I got right before Christmas.

Message #1: The malls are packed and you need a last minute gift. A GoDaddy gift card is the easy, affordable answer to this dilemma! They're available in any amount from $2 to $1000, and the lucky recipient can use the funds on their choice of 35 GoDaddy products.

Message #2: The malls are packed and you need a last minute gift. But there's still time for an Amazon gift certificate in e-card form!

If Safeway can leverage its store traffic to sell RadioShack gift cards, why can't GoDaddy use its mailing list to sell products from Amazon or other retailers?

GoDaddy's email mentions that Americans spent $35 billion on gift cards last year. The company wants to profit from this trend, of course. But my guess is, most of its customers don't have  grandmothers and nephews who'd want web hosting accounts for Christmas. On the other hand, even the least technically inclined recipient might appreciate a digital camera bundled with GoDaddy's new Online Photo Filer. Or a TheirName.com t-shirt. And in those rare situations where $1000 of hosting would be appropriate, why not throw in a book on building scalable websites?

By bundling items beyond its own product catalog, GoDaddy would put itself in a position to create much more compelling offers - and maximize its marketing ROI. Check out this graph from Compete.com: the traffic spike from last year's Super Bowl dissipated before long, because all those unconverted website visitors didn't need domain names right then and there. Same goes for the pre-Christmas email campaign. Most of those ad impressions were wasted on people who had no plans to buy web hosting for their relatives.

Here's one last example of another lost opportunity from GoDaddy's December newsletter:

"We recently told you that IndyCar(R) star Danica Patrick had joined the Go Daddy(R) team. Her innovation, power and pursuit of excellence were a perfect match for us. That relationship is now official and we're in the mood to celebrate. So for the remainder of 2006, register a new .COM domain name at GoDaddy.com(R) for just $5.99/year!"

Sorry, Bob, but there's no obvious correlation between your new spokesmodel and my need to register domain names. On the other hand, you could help create a connection by offering Danica gift sets complete with autographed pics in new customers' Online Photo Filer accounts, or IndyCar replicas imprinted with TheirName.com.

It takes more than hot girls and expensive ads to create a consumer brand. What GoDaddy really needs is to stop thinking like a hoster and start seeing the big picture.

Comments

[Rich Miller]

Hi Isabel,

Interestingly, Amazon and Go Daddy have done some cross-marketing in the past. I buy from Amazon a lot, and for a while they included Go Daddy bookmarks with every purchase, complete with a discount code.

I suspect the Danica Patrick deal is all about the Super Bowl.

[Isabel Wang]

But what good is cross marketing - or the Super Bowl, for that matter - when there's no context? Yes, a small % of the Amazon customers/TV viewers will need web hosting, and GoDaddy might get their business. But what about the remaining majority? Instead of letting those ad impressions go to waste, why not sell them items beyond GoDaddy's product catalog and get a cut? RyanAir does that, and on average it generates $1.80 per website visitor (or $300 million+ last year), whether or not they buy an air ticket.