Enterprise features
Digital Catalogs, also known as Flip Books or Flipping Books, are essentially an online representation of your print catalog but with all the benefits of digital. Unlike a static PDF, which someone needs to fully download and then open it with special software that allows them to read it on the screen, a Flip Book is instantly available. Customers can quickly flip pages and browse to products that interest them. They are also able to get more detailed information using callouts (aka “tags”) which are essentially hyperlinks within the Flip Book.
PDF’s, being older technology, require that you download the PDF file first before you can read it. While PDF’s can employ compression, a large catalog with high-quality images can still be upwards of 100MB. Even with a fast connection, that will take some time to download. Once you have the file, you now need to have an application such as Acrobat Reader to “read” the file and display it on the screen.
Flip Books are instantly available because the pages that aren’t currently displayed are loaded behind the scenes, making it a far more efficient design. Even if a PDF only delays you by a minute, that’s still 60 seconds wasted. Given an alternative where the catalog is instantly available, a user will take the easy choice every time. Because it is also natively handled by the same web browser, there is no extraneous software or mechanism that needs to be in place before the content can be shown.
Because a Flip Book doesn’t require special software to read it (like a PDF does), it doesn’t place any limitations on hardware or operating system. Any device that can browse to a website can natively view Flip Books already and handle the callouts and tags, since they are essentially hyperlinks. Whether your customers are on a Mac, a PC, a laptop, a tablet, mobile device or other, they are ready to enjoy your Flip Books.
When it comes to quality and the “wow” factor, there really is no beating Print. It’s part of the reason it continues to play a significant role in marketing: there is just no 100% replacement for being able to hold a catalog with those glossy pages and brilliant, rich photos. Flip Books take this emotional response to heart, which is why they emulate the page-flip feel of viewing spreads as individual art pieces. You enjoy a particular spread, soak it in, and hopefully something catches your eye and inspires you to delve deeper. If not, you flip the page and the adventure begins again with yet another art piece presentation. More than simply using high-resolution digital imagery, a Flip Book tries to capture the feeling of excitement you get when flipping through a truly great catalog.
At the same time, it would be silly not to take advantage of the digital side of things. A print catalog is a document locked in time. That is to say, at the moment it was published, whether 5 months or 5 years ago, the specifics have changed but the catalog will NEVER reflect it. If a better photograph of the product on page 197 was taken, you won’t know about it until you get the next edition of the print catalog. With Flip Books, they’re always plugged in to the beating heart of your content database. When images go out of date and new ones take their place, the next time the Flip Book is opened, they’ll see the new images. When marketing copy is updated or added, it is instantly available as well. The same goes for pricing, if you elect to show that in your catalog.
Similarly, when dealing with Print, if you have additional questions or require more information on a particular product, you most likely need to call in or search for it on the web version of the catalog. With a Flip Book, you can insert callouts and tags within the pages which will link readers to extended information, images, and details. You aren’t dealing with the same kind of page constraints of a physical catalog.
Likewise, since a Flip Book is essentially an online entity, you can make full use of backlinks and other SEO enhancements to drive more people to your site. Search engines will automatically trawl and index your digital flip book catalog and make it that much easier for people to find you. The callouts and tags we mentioned earlier are another great way to naturally enhance your SEO. These links are full of further rich info that you simply can’t fit on the individual flip book catalog pages. All of this extended information and media (such as additional photos, product videos, specification sheets, and more) link back to your site and alert search engines that your content is richer than a competitor’s that perhaps is stuck using just a simple flat text design. Content is king, and SEO takes this concept to the extreme.
“Time is Money and Money is Time.” Modern-day web users are spoiled. They get impatient when they click on a link or a page and don’t get their result in a manner of nanoseconds. If you are trying to put your best foot forward given this fact, would you rather present your catalog in a PDF format that requires them to completely download a (most likely) large file before they can even begin to read it? Or, would you rather they can instantly have the catalog spread available, and allow them to flip through it as though they had a physical print catalog in their hands?
Besides the obvious time factor, you also have the logic of “Simpler is Better”. PDF requires special software to read it, and if the user doesn’t happen to have it installed, now they’re even more frustrated because they have to go find and download an app. With a Flip Book catalog, there is no fuss and no moving parts that can go bad. The less moving parts you can have between your catalog readers and the order page, the more likely you are to get a conversion. Isn’t that what it’s ultimately all about?
