INDUSTRY TRACK

Case Study: Moving from Paper to Online

How ThomasNet reinvented itself after 100 years

Today’s agenda

A little history Staying true to core business objectives

Buyer centricityBuilding and improving products and servicesMeasure everythingPromote and marketContinually improve w/ testing

The VSET principleContinuing challengesKey take-aways

A Little History

Who is ThomasNet?

Part of Thomas Industrial Network, a wholly-owned division of Thomas Publishing Co; founded in1898

Family-owned, operated

350 employees at NYC headquarters; 400+ sales reps nationwide

Online since 1995; 100% focus on Industrial Marketplace

Mission: Bringing Industrial Buyers together with Sellers

A Little History

1898 1918-1995 1996-Present

“We’ve grown more in the past 10 years than in our first 100 years.”

Eileen Markowitz

President, ThomasNet

Today…The World’s largest Industrial Destination Site

Over 650,000 companies listed indexed by 67,000 product and service categories.Access to over 20 million CAD drawings and hundreds of searchable product catalogs.September highlights

3,170,383 user sessions this month5,149,451 product/service searches2,314,137 links to suppliers’ websites from ThomasNet51,273 drawings were downloaded/inserted from suppliers

The Stats…

“(ThomasNet)…for a historically print-based service with an over 100-year history to have converted to online so successfully is a significant accomplishment and positions the company to continuedelivering attractive growth online.”

Outsell“…ThomasNet.com is one of the early pioneers of vertical search in the Business-to-business segment…”

DM News

“ThomasNet.com is the place to go if you’re in the market for industrial and manufacturing good and services.”

Entrepreneur.com

To be a destination site, you need to bea trusted authority…

Staying true to corebusiness objectives

Goal: Connect Buyers with Sellers

Purchasing Agents

Engineers

MRO

Manufacturers

Distributors

Custom/Service Providers

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

How we stayed true to our core objectives…

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

Understand our buyers/users: ResearchUser-centered design is core to all product development at ThomasNet

A Day in the Life of…

1. Where do they currently look for products/services?

2. What information is important to them when sourcing?

3. What level of detail are they looking for?

4. What frustrates them?

Traditional vs. Online

Different types of research

Direct mail surveys On-site/online and email surveys

Focus groups Online focus groups

In-person surveys (one-on-one) Webcast surveys

One that has dramatically changed…

then vs. now

Then: Traditional Focus Groups

Now: Online Focus Groups

Key benefit:Rapid proto-typing – faster to market

ThomasNet debuted its new Supplier Comparison Functionality in record time

Online surveys help us to understand our audience

9 out of 10 buyers start with the Internet to source products and services

Industrial buyers spend 8 hours a week looking for products and services online• 60% expect this number to grow next year

Online Activities

55%

81%

89%

93%ResearchedProducts/Services

Looked forCompanies

Sourced or Compared

Products

PurchasedProducts

Amount of Time Spent Researching Products & Services

Time Spent Searching for

Products & Services Online

Rest of Work Week

90%

84%

72%

64%

61%

59%

42%

Product descriptions/specs

Product pricing

Product applications/uses

Locations/distributors-Local

Details on tech support

Information about product suppliers

CAD drawings/plans

What industrial buyers look for online

On our client’s website, product descriptions/specs and pricing are critical

86%

59%

56%Sent an RFQ to a Supplier

Sent a Purchase Order

Made a Recommendation

Buyers After Conducting Research & Comparison Phases Online…

97% of buyers who researched or compared products online took one or more actions either online or offline

Online sourcing leads to purchase

Key finding: disconnect in marketplace

72%

67%

64%

64%

58%

56%

54%

50%

74%23%

38%

36%

17%

32%

13%

24%

37%

29%

Product pricing

Details on tech support

Locations in my city

Shipping information

Online ordering

CAD drawings

Information about suppliers

Product articles

Product reviews

Buyers expect to find on supplier websites Suppliers providing on their sites

What buyers need vs. what suppliers offer

Here’s what our research told us…Situation Opportunities

Use

r/Buy

er

Spending more time sourcing online

Sourcing online is not easy when looking for complex information

Difficulty accessing relevant suppliers

Detailed information missing

Sites difficult to navigate, take action

Anonymity critical

Increase speed and efficiency of site

Provide more company information in relevant categories.

Develop products/services that enable suppliers to help buyers display information and easily navigate.

Audit site – keep Privacy key

Here’s what our research told us…Situation Opportunities

Clie

nt/S

uppl

ier

Knowing key places buyers source online

Website falls short of detailed specs and navigation

Help supplier build websites, catalogs and CAD drawings that buyers want

Proving ROI – understanding metrics

Produce tool to help suppliers identify conversion actions and measure activity

Inexperience online

Educate suppliers on where buyers go first – reps, workshops, etc.

Educate through sales force and regular communication

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

Back in 1905…

“Local search”100 years ago

Content is

KING

Moving into the 80’s…

We did it all in the 80’s but look what it cost us!

Today….Users are online and demand more current, complete, and specificinformation. This need continues to grow.

And…that’s exactly what we’re delivering

Today…. Choice of search by product, company, brand or CAD model

Network, talk shop in Forums

Search by product or browse categories --- nationwide or local

Compare and select suppliers instantly

Modify results within a category

Narrow down by companies with online catalogs

Identify suppliers by state or within miles of your location

Identify suppliers by type of certification

Search by type of company in addition to minority or disadvantaged business classification

Browse related categories

Additional growth areas…

An online newsroom with an average 100 new product articles posted daily

Available by RSS feeds, Google, Yahoo, etcDaily, weekly, monthly product alerts in nearly 100

industrial categoriesBi-weekly blogBi-weekly industry newsletter

Expand internationally, site translation

The Disconnect identified from research helped us develop a suite of web solution offerings to help connect buyers and sellers

#1 Website Design and Development (Custom and template)

#2 Online catalog and e-commerce publishing tools --- all custom designed.

#3 Online CAD Drawings-- Online CAD Viewing Solutions-- Dynamic Online CAD Solutions

#4 Website Tracking

Web Traxs:Market Intelligence to help clients manage their site’s performance

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

Measure everything “Does the product meet business objectives?”

1. Quantitative user online surveys

2. Traditional and online user focus groups

3. Web Analytics1. Client side2. User side

Measure everything “Does the product meet business objectives?”

Reader service cards On-site surveys

Direct mail surveys Email surveys

Focus groups Online focus groups

Dedicated 800# Dedicated 800#

Web analytics: online tracking tools*Eye tracking studies

*Know Conversion actions up front so you know what to measure

Print Online

Examples of online measurement tools

Internal analytics with WebTrends

Off-site analyticsTracking 5,000 sites with Web Traxs

User satisfaction surveys

Eye tracking studies

Web Trends used for inside analytics

Web Traxs used for off-site analytics –used to measure ROI with clients

Custom built for andby industrial companies

EyeTrackingStudies

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

Promote and Market

Direct mailFax blasts

E-mail and newsletters (RSS feeds, Product news alerts)

Print Magazine/directory ads

Online Banner, Tile ads

Trade Shows Virtual trade shows

TelemarketingVoice Recordings

SEM:Search engine optimizationPay per clickOnline auctions

Catalogs/Brochures Interactive catalog/Videos

Product inserts/samples Full specs and drawings

Testimonials Online video clips

Traditional Online

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

Continually improve through testingand usability studies

Keep asking what makesyour users click?

A

B

D

E

F

G

H

K

C

I

J

Multivariate testing andsearch page analysis

Testing creativePrinciples employed:1. Must not compromise user

experience or traffic2. Must improve conversions3. Must be measurable

Experiment conducted from 6/19/07 to 8/6/07

• 43 tests performed • 16 variables• 85 values• Over 1 billion template permutations analyzed

Winning creative outperformed control by 16.2%

Control (Creative 420) Winner (Creative 506)

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

A powerful example of how understanding buyer’s needs leads

to development of expertise

VERIFY Can buyers instantly Verify they are on a site that has the information they want?

SEARCH Can buyers quickly Search for the exact products, services and specifications they need?

EVALUATE Can buyers easily Evaluate the information so they can make a decision?

TAKE ACTION

Can buyers Take action at every step of the way – to call, e-mail, send an RFQ or order?

Buying actions provide guidance to suppliers

Verify: Can easily find the different types of relays

(847) 441-2526

Narrow down your search, evaluate based on your needs….

(847) 441-2526

Ability to evaluate different relays = EXCELLENT

(847) 441-2526

Ability to evaluate even further, by comparing side by side

(847) 441-2526

Evaluate: All the tools needed to research the products

(847) 441-2526

Take Action: Multiple ways to contact you

(847) 441-2526

ThomasNetProducts/Services

Understand Buyer/UserResearch

Continually improvew/ testing

Measure Everything

Build relevant products/Services to fill need

Promote and Market

Continuing challenges

Attracting even more usersContinuing to understand the userAdding new distribution channelsAdding new products and services

Key take-aways

Keep focused on core business objectives

It’s all about users and understanding their needs

The internet is not a product – it’s a 24/7 sales channel

Research should dictate improvements and new offerings

You cannot manage what you don’t measure

Don’t adopt technology for the sake of being “cool”; focus on actionable improvements

It’s constantly changing

Thank You