Classifications of Online Marketing


Communicating

An important use of Web sites and marketer-initiated e-mail is communication, and more specifically , promotion. As with the mass media, the online marketing expense is justified because it presumably yields increased online and off-line sales. Unlike other media however, log files inexpensively help uncover relationships between communications and sales.

While mass media use unidirectional communication, marketer-to-consumer, software- based Internet communication is more flexible (Hoffman & Novak, 1996; Kotler et al., 2002). Customers communicate with firms and firms communicate with customers. Firms also encourage customer-to-customer dialogue in order to tap the power of online word- of-mouth communication (Chiou & Cheng, 2003; Ha, 2002). This enhanced and expanded communication via the Internet is ideal for nurturing customer relationships (Barwise, Elberse, & Hammond, 2002; Holland & Baker, 2001; Newell, 2000; Reichheld & Shefter, 2000; Romano, 2003; Romano & Fjermestad, 2002).

Due to the Internet's accountability, one can measure how an e-mail or Web site manages the customer relationship, if not the ultimate relationship - sales. Success measures for a communication site, indeed most Web sites, are paradoxical (Johnson, Bellman, & Lohse, 2003). The longer the visitor stays on the site, the better the relationship (Ilfeld & Winer, 2002; M ¼ller & Chandon, 2003). Yet experience and familiarity with a site usually lead to proficient and satisfied visitors spending less time on the site (Johnson et al., 2003). Thus the research focus, given management goals of communication or promotion, includes navigation paths through the site, time on site and site depth, i.e., the number of pages a visitor views.

Selling

Firms also use the Internet for direct sales, especially in the business-to-business arena (Barwise et al., 2002; Hanson, 2000). Compared to communication where a sticky site - visitors enjoy the site and stay a long time - enhances the relationship, selling requires a more focused approach. Selling sites filter visitors.

Assuming that visitors arrive on the home page and need three clicks to purchase a product, some percentage of visitors clicks on the first link while the rest exit. Some of the survivors then click on the second link, and so forth. In effect, a good selling site has a high conversion efficiency (Berthon, Pitt, & Watson, 1996; Hanson, 2000) at each of the key links that filter visitors. Here the research focuses on these key links, and on the pages that form the context for them. The page's context influences the click-through rate on these links. Rather than time on site, for selling sites the researcher concentrates on the click-through rates of key links.

Providing Content

The previous two sections implied that the firm delivers off-line goods or services. In other cases, the site itself - a content provider - is the product. An online news service such as slate.com generates revenue from exposing visitors to ads or having visitors click on the ads. The latter case presents a dilemma to the firm: to earn revenue the visitor must leave the firm's site (Hofacker & Murphy, 2000).

For content sites, the objectives may resemble those of a selling site, specific clicks. The goal is to generate revenue by inducing the visitor to click on ad banners. If the firm receives revenue for exposing visitors to ads, the more pages seen, the more revenue accrued. In this latter case, the goal is to optimize site depth and pages viewed .

Providing a Service

A final category of site is, like the content site, virtual. Rather than content, service-based sites provide networks for users. For example, eBay <www.ebay.com> is a virtual meeting space for buyers and sellers. Similarly, search engines such as Google <www.google.com> provide a mechanism for site owners to register their site in order to attract visitors, and for visitors to find sites. In both examples, the site makes the market. With eBay, the market is between sellers and buyers of myriad, oftentimes hard-to-find objects. Google makes a market between site owners seeking visitors and visitors seeking relevant sites.

A different example of a service-based site is Hotmail <www.hotmail.com>, a firm that provides a platform for visitors to use e-mail and other virtual services. The goals for these three types of sites vary. eBay would optimize the number of transactions, which have a direct relationship to eBay's revenue. The other sites would have goals similar to a content provider; revenue stems from hosting advertising and relates to pages viewed or ads clicked.

In summary, several site-based metrics should interest the Web master, including clicks on particular links, time on site, and how many pages visitors request. Thanks to the Internet's digital nature, the Web server software that dishes out pages in response to user requests automatically stores such information. Marketers can access these data to evaluate visitor behavior on individual links, particular pages, or an entire site.




Contemporary Research in E-marketing (Vol. 1)
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP
ISBN: B004V9MS42
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

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