This has been a mystery for me for some time. From the voiceover content on their TV commercials I understand that you can send money with Western Union. So what? I can send money through the mail. I can send money with a bank draft or with PayPal. Why use Western Union instead of the dozens of other methods for sending money?
Befuddled by a multimillion dollar company that’s wasting at least tens of thousands of dollars a year on TV spots that say nothing more than, “Send money with Western Union,” I went to their website. Maybe that would clear up why I should use this company to send money.
Keep in mind, their commercials didn’t direct me to their website. I was just curious and decided to see if the site would fill me in.
Home Page
Home page has virtually nothing on it. But I did find out they’ve been open 150 years, they are a money transfer company and I can send money to over 245,000 Western Union offices worldwide. Uh, nope. Not much help there. In fact, I was rather taken aback when it said the money had to go to a Western Union office. That would be a pain. Why not just send it via bank transfer and have it land right in the person’s account?
I chose the United States from a drop down menu titled “Learn More About Western Union.” Ah ha! Now we were getting somewhere. This page explained that I could send money straight to a bank account or to a Western Union office. I can send money online or at one of the agent locations. Also, I can decide when the money gets there… in minutes, hours, days or so on.
What They Need to Say
So, instead of just, “send money,” what Western Union should be saying, in my opinion, is that they can get money to people in minutes. Also it would be important to know that the recipient doesn’t have to go to a local office to pick up the cash. It can go directly into their bank account.
I also think they’d be wise to include more benefits of sending birthday money (as one of their TV commercials depicts) and to include more details about the money in minutes offer. One spot simply states their slogan “Money in Minutes,” but gives no further information.
One of the best commercials I believe they’ve run is an old one starring Seinfied’s Jason Alexander. Jason is at a police station making his one phone call. He asks his father if he can send the money today. They voiceover then gives a brief explanation about the same-day service. Or, better yet, skip the cute stuff and just do a commercial that delivers straight-up info. Countless case studies have proven that cute really doesn’t sell anyway.
Back Up TV With the Web
If you’re running TV spots and can only give limited information, make sure to include your URL in easy-to-read lettering superimposed on the screen. On your website, immediately give useful information right on the home page. Yes, you can absolutely funnel people through to internal pages with more detail, but you want to make sure they “get it” as soon as they click to your site.
Clarity in Copywriting
To me, it would be a more savvy strategy to create commercials that explained why Aunt Sara was sending money via Western Union to a college student. Perhaps he doesn’t have a bank account and, therefore, no way to cash a check. Maybe she wanted it to arrive the same day. It could be that she wired the money to the music store to pay for the guitar so her nephew could just stop in and pick it up. Make it clear what the benefits and end results of using this service will be and more people are likely to embrace the idea.
In a world full of debit cards, Internet transfers and instant bank drafts, Western Union needs to be much clearer about why they should be my first choice when I need to send money.
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