Transcript elc 310 day 9

ELC 310
Day 9
Agenda
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Questions?
Assignment #2 Corrected
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Marketing Plans due October 22 (3 weeks from now)
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3 A’s and 2 B’s
Some confusion about Privacy and Intellectual Property
Rights
Should be working on them
20% of final grade
Finish Discussion on Marketing Knowledge
Begin Discussion on Consumer Behaviors
Overview
Data Drives Strategy
The Learning Organization
From Data to Knowledge
Marketing Knowledge Management
The Electronic Marketing Information System
Source 1: Internal Records
Source 2: Secondary Data
Source 3: Primary Data
Other Technology-Enabled Approaches
Real-Space Approaches
Marketing Databases and Data Warehouses
Data Analysis and Distribution
Knowledge Management Metrics
Source 3: Primary Data
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Primary data = information gathered for the first time to solve a
particular problem.
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When secondary data are not available managers may decide to collect
their own information.
They are more expensive and time-consuming to gather than secondary
data.
They are current and more relevant to the marketer’s specific problem.
They are proprietary = unavailable to competitors.
Each primary data collection method can provide important information,
as long as e-marketers understand the limitations. Remember that
Internet research can only collect information from people who use the
Internet, which leaves out a huge portion of the population.
Source 3: Primary Data
Electronic sources of primary data collection:
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The Internet:
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Focus groups, observation, in-depth interviews (IDI), and survey
research.
Online panels: popular survey research method _ single-source
research.
Real-time profiling at Web sites and computer client-side or
server-side automated data collection.
The real-space
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Refers to technology-enabled approaches to gather information offline
that is subsequently stored and used in marketing databases.
Techniques = bar code scanners and credit card terminals at brick-andmortar retail stores, computer entry by customer service reps while
talking on the telephone with customers.
Primary Research Steps
1.
Research problem. Specificity is vital.
2.
Research plan.
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Research approach. Choose from experiments, focus groups,
observation techniques, in-depth interviews, and survey research,
or nontraditional real-time and real-space techniques.
Sample design. Select the sample source and number of desired
respondents.
Contact method. Telephone, mail, in person, via the Internet.
Instrument design. For survey = a questionnaire. For other
methods = a protocol to guide the data collection.
Primary Research Steps
3.
Data collection. Gather the information according to plan.
4.
Data analysis: Analyze the results in light of the original problem.
5.
Distribute finding / add to the MIS. Research data might be
Use statistical software packages for traditional survey data analysis
or data mining to find patterns and other information in databases.
placed in the MIS database and be presented in written or oral form
to marketing managers.
5 Steps for Primary Research
Research
Problem
Primary Research Steps
Research
Plan
Data
Collection
Data
Analysis
Distribute
Results
Some typical e-marketing research problems
that electronic data can help solve.
Online Retailers
Web Sites
Improve online merchandising
Forecast product demand
Test new products
Test various price points
Test co-brand and partnership
effectiveness
Measure affiliate program effectiveness
Pages viewed most often
Increase site “stickiness” (stay longer)
Test site icons and organization
Path users take through the site—is it
efficient?
Site visit overall satisfaction
Customers and Prospects
Promotions
Identify new market segments
Test shopping satisfaction
Profile current customers
Test site customization techniques
Test advertising copy
Test new promotions
Check coupon effectiveness
Measure banner ad click-through
Typical Research Problems for E-Marketers
Internet-Based Research Approaches
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The Internet is fertile ground for primary data collection.
Why? Declining cooperation from consumers using
traditional research approaches. Telephone survey refusal
rates = 40- 60%.
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Increasing number of consumers online:
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Appropriate to conduce research using this inexpensive and quick
method makes sense.
In North America, 71% of all research firms use various online
methodologies.
Proportion Using
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Online
surveys
E-mail
surveys
Online
focus
groups
Bulletin
Web site
board focus
use
groups
measures
Proportion of 200 Firms Using Online Primary Research Source: “Big Bytes” (2001)
Internet-Based Research Approaches
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Marketers are learning how to combine online and offline
data effectively and efficiently.
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This involves merging data from:
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Older legacy systems,
Incoming call centers,
Retailer bar code scanners,
Government statistics, and many other places.
Internet-Based Research Approaches
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Web data = exposure to ads, sites visited, and surfing and
purchasing frequency and patterns.
TO COMBINE WITH: Offline panel data
= Actual packaged goods purchased at brick-and-mortar
grocery stores, as well as volume purchased, timing of
purchases, promotional effectiveness, and brand loyalty.
Primary data are collected online using experiments, focus
groups, observations, in-depth interviews, and survey
research, as discussed in the following sections.
Online Experiments
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Experimental research attempts to test cause-and-effect
relationships:
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A researcher will select subjects,
Randomly put them into two or more groups,
Expose each group to different stimuli.
Measures responses to the stimuli = a questionnaire, to
determine if differences exist among the groups.
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If the experiment has been carefully controlled, group
differences can be attributed to the stimuli.
These effects must be tested in other situations and with other
subjects to determine their degree of generalizability.
Marketers can easily test alternative Web pages, banner ads,
and promotional offers online.
Online Focus Groups
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Focus group research:
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A qualitative methodology that attempts to collect indepth information from a small number of participants.
Used to help marketers understand important feelings
and behaviors prior to designing survey research. 1530% of advertising agencies and market research firms
use the Internet to conduct online focus groups.
Online Focus Groups
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Advantages over traditional focus groups:
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The Internet can bring together people who do not live in the same
geographic area.
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Because participants type their answers at the same time, they are
not influenced as much by what others say.
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Researchers can show participants animated ads, demonstrate
software, or use other multimedia stimuli to prompt group
discussion.
Quicker and less expensive to operate than offline versions.
Online Focus Groups
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Disadvantages:
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Can accommodate only four to eight participants at a time
(traditional groups 10 – 12).
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Nonverbal communication is lost online.
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The authenticity problem = Without seeing people in person, it is
difficult to be sure they are who they say they are (need to verify
respondent authenticity).
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Technical problems can also stall an online group.
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Subjects use stronger positive and negative words online than in
other modalities.
Online Focus Groups
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Procedure for online focus groups:
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Contact potential participants via e-mail, asking them to go to a Web site
and answer screening questions.
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Send e-mail messages to qualified users, offering them money to
participate in the group.
3.
Have clients and four to eight participants appear at an online site at the
appointed time and day, and have all greeted electronically by the
moderator.
4.
Split the screen into two vertical portions: On the right, the moderator
types questions and the participants type responses. Multimedia can also
be presented on the right side. The left side is a “back room” where
clients can communicate with each other and the moderator through
their keyboards as the group progresses.
Online Observation
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Observation research monitors people’s behavior by watching them in
relevant situations.
BUT observations of a small number of people cannot be used to
describe how all people might act.
Important form of observational research = monitoring consumer
chatting and e-mail posting through chat rooms, bulletin boards, or
mailing lists.
The Usenet = 35,000 newsgroups, each a forum for public discussion
on a specific topic.
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People post articles to newsgroups for others to read.
Discussions range from the meaningful to the absurd, but marketing
planners can learn about products and industries by monitoring discussions.
To monitor customer chat are to provide space on the firm’s Web site or
to subscribe to e-mail lists on product-related topics.
Consumers Discussing Product in the Usenet Source: www.deja.com
Online In-Depth Interviews (IDIs)
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Semi-structured conversation with a small number of subjects:
 The interviewer develops a set of questions
 Encourages the subject to speak at length on particular issues
through careful probing techniques.
Web site usability studies to watch users as they click through the
firm’s Web site:
 The subject and interviewer are in the same room while the
subject performs specified tasks on the computer.
IDIs are better conducted in person; BUT e-mail can facilitate
communication when subjects live far from the researcher.
Online Survey Research
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E-marketers conduct surveys by:
 Sending questionnaires to individuals via e-mail,
 Posting a survey form on the Web or an electronic bulletin board.
E-Mail Surveys
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To prepare an e-mail survey, an organization can:
 Draw a sample of e-mail addresses from its database,
 Purchase a list,
 Gather e-mail addresses from the Web or Usenet newsgroups.
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Select a specialized + representative group to research to control
who gets the questionnaire.
After sending a questionnaire, the researcher can send e-mail
reminders to participants who have not yet responded: response
rates are just as high for e-mail surveys as for traditional contact
methods.
Online Survey Research
Problem with e-mail survey:
= Consumers do not type their answers in the appropriate places
= Increase the chance of error
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E-mail survey research:
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Is diminishing in use as a contact method in favor of Webbased surveys,
Is still preferable in countries where users pay by the hour for
Internet connection because e-mail may be answered offline
whereas a user must be online to complete a multipage Web
form survey.
Online Survey Research
Web Surveys
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Many companies post questionnaires on their Web pages.
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Purpose:
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Gather statistics about a site’s visitors (e.g., Web site registration);
More formal survey research.
When not sampling Web site users, researchers:
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Post a Web survey
Send e-mail and use other forms of publicity to direct respondents
to the Web site.
Online Survey Research
Web Surveys
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The best response rates come from:
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Members of e-mail lists = have a special interest in the topic.
Customers and prospects on e-mail lists.
Advertising on electronic bulletin boards or via banner ads
and links from other Web sites will drive a very small
amount of traffic to a Web survey.
Response rates to online surveys are as good as or better
than surveys using traditional approaches, sometimes
reaching as much as 40%.
An example of Web Survey
Open ended
Radio buttons: Choose one
Mitchell and Strauss Web Survey
Radio buttons:
Choose all
that apply
Mitchell and Strauss Web Survey
Online Survey Research Advantages
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Fast and inexpensive:
 Instantaneously worldwide delivery of questionnaires,
 No cost for postage or an interviewer,
 No printing, collating, and mailing time,
 Those who complete the questionnaires = in the first three days,
 Easy to send multiple reminders if using e-mail invitations.
Web surveys reduce errors:
 Technique reduces the complexity and time involved for
respondents,
 Respondents enter their answers= eliminates data entry errors
found in traditional methods when converting answers from paper
questionnaires.
Respondents answer questions more honestly and openly on a
computer than when an interviewer is present.
Online Survey Research Disadvantages
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Sample representativeness and measurement validity
= No ability to draw a random sample
= Researchers cannot generalize results to the entire population being
studied.
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Online research entails several measurement issues:
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Different browsers, computer screen sizes, and resolution settings
= researchers worry that colors will look different and measurement
scales will not display properly online.
A comparison study between telephone and online surveys found
that online users were less likely to use the two extreme scale points
on a five-point scale.
Online Survey Research Disadvantages
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Researchers have not yet found proof to support the
explanation of differences among the various survey
methodologies (demographic and other differences between
online and offline populations).
The firm has no control over who responds (for Web surveys
and questionnaires posted on bulletin boards).
Respondent authenticity: 20-50% of Web users have posed
as the opposite sex on the Internet, and children often pose
as adults online.
Duplicate responses to online surveys.
Survey forms are not nearly as easy to create as most other
types of Web pages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Fast and inexpensive
Sample selection / generalizability
Diverse, large group of Net users
worldwide to small specialized niche
Measurement validity
Self-selection bias
Computer entry reduces researcher
data entry errors
Respondent authenticity uncertain
Honest responses to sensitive
questions
Frivolous or dishonest responses
Anyone-can-answer, invitation-only,
or password protected
Duplicate submissions
Electronic data are easy to tabulate
Steep learning curve
Less interviewer bias
Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Survey Research
Online Panels
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Used to combat sampling and response problems.
Called opt-in communities = a panel of people
who have agreed to be the subject of marketing
research (paid +receive free products).
Panel participants complete extensive
questionnaires to have information about their
characteristics and behavior.
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When panel members are asked to test product, or are
given questionnaires to complete, researchers can
correlate results with already collected demographic
data.
Online Panels
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An advantage to large panels
= smaller groups of members can be targeted based on
behavior or demographics.
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Disadvantage:
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Panel is usually more expensive than traditional methods
of sample generation.
Sometime the generalizability of survey results is
questionable.
Ethics of Online Research
A “gift culture”
= give something to respondents as appreciation for
participating to increase the response rate:
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Offer free products or cash.
Donate money to charities selected by respondents
Ethics of Online Research
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Ethical concerns regarding survey research on the Internet:
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Respondents are increasingly upset with unsolicited e-mail
requesting survey participation,
Some researchers “harvest” e-mail addresses from newsgroups
without permission,
Some companies conduct “surveys” for the purpose of building a
database for later solicitation (marketing research is different from
marketing promotion),
Privacy of user data is a huge issue in this medium, because it is
relatively easy and profitable to send electronic data to others via
the Internet.
Overview
Data Drives Strategy
The Learning Organization
From Data to Knowledge
Marketing Knowledge Management
The Electronic Marketing Information System
Source 1: Internal Records
Source 2: Secondary Data
Source 3: Primary Data
Other Technology-Enabled Approaches
Real-Space Approaches
Marketing Databases and Data Warehouses
Data Analysis and Distribution
Knowledge Management Metrics
Other Technology-Enabled
Approaches
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The Internet is an excellent place to observe user behavior
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The technology automatically records actions in a format that can be
easily, quickly, and mathematically manipulated for analysis.
Nontraditional technology-enabled approaches:
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Client-side data collection
Server-side data collection:
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Real-time profiling at Web sites
These techniques = interesting + unusual
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They did not exist prior to the Internet.
They allow marketers to make quick and responsive changes in Web
pages, promotions, and pricing.
Client-Side Data Collection
= Collecting information about consumer surfing right at
the user’s PC.
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Use cookies when a user visits a Web site.
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They track user surfing.
They help marketers present appropriate promotions and Web
pages to individual users.
Measuring user surfing patterns by installing a PC Meter on
the computers of a panel of users and tracking the user
clickstream.
Server-Side Data Collection
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Web site log software generates reports on:
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Numbers of users who view each page,
Location of site visited prior to the firm’s site,
What users buy at a site.
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Use = to make frequent changes in Web pages and promotional
offers.
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Real-time profiling = special software:
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Tracks a user’s movements through a Web site,
Compiles and reports on the data at a moment’s notice.
Allows marketers to analyze consumer online behavior and make
instantaneous adjustments to site promotional offers and Web pages.
Real-time profiling is not cheap—one estimate puts the software at
$150,000 to start and $10,000 a month thereafter.
Overview
Data Drives Strategy
The Learning Organization
From Data to Knowledge
Marketing Knowledge Management
The Electronic Marketing Information System
Source 1: Internal Records
Source 2: Secondary Data
Source 3: Primary Data
Other Technology-Enabled Approaches
Real-Space Approaches
Marketing Databases and Data Warehouses
Data Analysis and Distribution
Knowledge Management Metrics
Real-Space Approaches
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Real-space primary data collection occurs at offline points
of purchase with:
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Smart card and credit card readers, interactive point of sale
machines (iPOS), and bar code scanners are mechanisms for
collecting real-space consumer data.
Offline data, when combined with online data, paint a
complete picture of consumer behavior for individual retail
firms.
UPC used primarily for inventory management to:
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Reduce accounting inventory levels automatically
Send communication to suppliers for replenishment of physical
goods.
Overview
Data Drives Strategy
The Learning Organization
From Data to Knowledge
Marketing Knowledge Management
The Electronic Marketing Information System
Source 1: Internal Records
Source 2: Secondary Data
Source 3: Primary Data
Other Technology-Enabled Approaches
Real-Space Approaches
Marketing Databases and Data Warehouses
Data Analysis and Distribution
Knowledge Management Metrics
Marketing Databases and
Data Warehouses
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Regardless of whether data are collected online or offline, they
are moved to various marketing databases.
 Product databases = product features, prices, and inventory
levels.
 Customer databases = customer characteristics and behavior.
 Transaction processing databases are important for
moving data from other databases into a data warehouse.
Data warehouses:
 Store entire organization’s historical data.
 Designed specifically to support analyses necessary for
decision making.
 The data in a warehouse are separated into more specific
subject areas (called data marts) and indexed for easy use.
Marketing Databases and
Data Warehouses
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Web sites content management is a hot new area:
 Web sites are complex, including tens of thousands of pages
from or for many different corporate departments.
 Software vendors are attempting to solve the Web site
maintenance problem. These programs have features such as
press release databases that automatically put the newest
stories on a designated page and archive older stories,
deleting them on a specified date.
UPC Scanner
Product Database
Transaction Database
Data Warehouse
Customer Database
Real-Space Data Collection and Storage Example
Overview
Data Drives Strategy
The Learning Organization
From Data to Knowledge
Marketing Knowledge Management
The Electronic Marketing Information System
Source 1: Internal Records
Source 2: Secondary Data
Source 3: Primary Data
Other Technology-Enabled Approaches
Real-Space Approaches
Marketing Databases and Data Warehouses
Data Analysis and Distribution
Knowledge Management Metrics
Data Analysis and Distribution
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Data collected from all customer touch points are:
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Stored in the data warehouse,
Available for analysis and distribution to marketing
decision makers.
Analysis for marketing decision making:
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Data mining = extraction of hidden predictive
information in large databases through statistical
analysis. Here, marketers don’t need to approach the
database with any hypotheses other than an interest in
finding patterns among the data.
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Patterns uncovered by marketers help them to:
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Refine marketing mix strategies,
Identify new product opportunities,
Predict consumer behavior.
Data Analysis and Distribution
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Customer profiling = uses data warehouse information to help
marketers understand the characteristics and behavior of specific
target groups.
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Understand who buys particular products,
How customers react to promotional offers and pricing changes,
Select target groups for promotional appeals,
Find and keep customers with a higher lifetime value to the firm,
Understand the important characteristics of heavy product users,
Direct cross-selling activities to appropriate customers;
Reduce direct mailing costs by targeting high-response customers.
Data Analysis and Distribution
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RFM analysis (recency, frequency, monetary) = scans the database
for three criteria.
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When did the customer last purchase (recency)?
How often has the customer purchased products (frequency)?
How much has the customer spent on product purchases (monetary
value)?
=> Allows firms to target offers to the customers who are most
responsive, saving promotional costs and increasing sales.
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Report generators:
automatically create easy-to-read, high-quality reports from data
warehouse information on a regular basis.
Possible to specify information that should appear in these
automatic reports and the time intervals for distribution.
Overview
Data Drives Strategy
The Learning Organization
From Data to Knowledge
Marketing Knowledge Management
The Electronic Marketing Information System
Source 1: Internal Records
Source 2: Secondary Data
Source 3: Primary Data
Other Technology-Enabled Approaches
Real-Space Approaches
Marketing Databases and Data Warehouses
Data Analysis and Distribution
Knowledge Management Metrics
Knowledge Management Metrics
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Marketing research is not cheap:
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Need to weigh the cost of gaining additional information against the
value of potential opportunities or the risk of possible errors from
decisions made with incomplete information.
Storage cost of all those terabytes of data coming from the Web.
Two metrics are currently in widespread use:
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ROI. Companies want to know:
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Why they should save all those data.
How will they be used, and will the benefits in additional revenues or
lowered costs return an acceptable rate on the storage space
investment?
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Includes:
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Cost of hardware, software, and labor for data storage.
Cost savings by reducing Web server downtime and reduced labor
requirements.
E-Marketing, 3rd edition
Judy Strauss, Adel I. El-Ansary, and Raymond Frost
Chapter 7: Consumer Behavior
© Prentice Hall 2003
Overview
Consumers in the 21st Century
The Numbers
Where Are the Other 5.5 Billion People?
Social and Cultural Issues
Technological Issues
Legal and Political Issues
Inside the Internet Exchange Process
Context
Individual Characteristics and Resources
Internet Exchange
Exchange Outcomes
Consumers in the 21st Century
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Internet usage is still growing.
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Marketers have turned their attention to practical
questions such as:
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Whether a firm’s target market is online,
What these customers do online,
What determines whether they’ll buy from a site,
How much of the marketing effort should be devoted to online
channels.
Understanding online consumer behavior helps marketers
design marketing mixes that provide value and thus attract
and retain customers.
Overview
Consumers in the 21st Century
The Numbers
Where Are the Other 5.5 Billion People?
Social and Cultural Issues
Technological Issues
Legal and Political Issues
Inside the Internet Exchange Process
Context
Individual Characteristics and Resources
Internet Exchange
Exchange Outcomes
The Numbers
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1980s: The Internet population was very small.
Until 1994: Slow but steady growth due to an increasing
number of text-based users.
With the introduction of the WWW + multimedia content
expansion: the number of Net users exploded.
In 2002: 531 million people had access to the Internet
= 8.5% of the global population.
Developed nations = 15% of the world’s population
= 88% of all Internet users
Rest of World
83.5 (16%)
Latin America
13.4 (3%)
U.S./Canada
182.8 (33%)
Asia Pacific
110.0 (21%)
Europe/Middle
East
141.6 (27%)
Millions of People With Home Internet Access by Region in 2002
Source: Data from Nielsen//NetRatings
Where Are the Other 5.5 Billion People?
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Not online!
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In survey of non-Internet users:40% said they have no need for the
Internet.
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Main reasons why consumers do not use the Internet: Social, cultural,
technological, legal, and political issues.
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E-marketers’ are digging deeper for a more thorough understanding of
consumer preferences online and offline.
Without major shifts some countries may not achieve high levels of
Internet adoption among individual consumers for many years.
In these countries the B2B market will lead consumers to the Net
where a fast-growing consumer market enticed businesses online.
Reason
% Reason
No need for it
40 Content not
relevance
Don’t have a computer
33 Not my choice/decision at work
2
Not interested in it
25 Content not in my language
1
Don’t know how to use it
16 Cost for ISP/access cost
1
Cost (general)
12 Cost for local telephone and toll
service charges
8
1
Not enough time to use it
%
of
interest
/
2
Don’t know how to get it
3 Other
4
Current PC can’t access Web
2 Unsure
2
Biggest Reasons for Not Using the Internet Source: Pastore (2001) citing Ipsos-Reid study
Social and Cultural Issues
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Consumers are accustomed to touching merchandise before buying
(Egypt and Mexico).
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The marketplace (bazaar) = a social meeting place (Arab countries).
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Consumers often have security and privacy concerns.
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Payment = a problem in countries where the credit-card processing
infrastructure is weak.
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Most consumers in such countries have no credit cards or bank accounts,
and local retailers accept only cash.
Lack of Internet education.
Technological Issues
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Biggest barriers to Internet adoption:
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Low PC penetration.
Communications infrastructure problems.
Arab countries, have only 49 telephones per thousand people
versus 133 phones per thousand people worldwide.
Internet connections, where they exist, are often slow and
unreliable.
Phone companies charge:
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A per minute charge for local calls.
ISP charges for Internet access.
Postal services are not reliable in many countries.
Legal and Political Issues
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Government censorship and regulation = slow Internet
adoption.
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The Chinese government authorizes Web sites for citizen access
and keeps a tight reign on Internet cafés.
Egyptian government agencies block Internet ventures due to fear
of losing tax money on direct sales to customers outside the
country.
Barriers to exporting (tariffs + costly distribution channels) are
slowing the adoption of e-commerce.
BUT a global community connected by the Internet should
emerge over time, fueled by:
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The benefits of connecting multinational businesses,
The lure of B2B e-business activity,
Increasing consumer demand led by the younger generation.
Overview
Consumers in the 21st Century
The Numbers
Where Are the Other 5.5 Billion People?
Social and Cultural Issues
Technological Issues
Legal and Political Issues
Inside the Internet Exchange Process
Context
Individual Characteristics and Resources
Internet Exchange
Exchange Outcomes
Inside the Internet Exchange Process
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What explain consumer buying behavior?
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Stimuli = marketing communication messages and
cultural, political, economic, and technological factors.
Individual buyer characteristics = income level,
personality, psychological, social, and personal aspects.
Consumers move through a variety of decision
processes based on situational and product attributes.
To create effective marketing strategies, e-marketers need
to understand what motivates people to buy goods and
services, both in the short and long term.
Inside the Internet Exchange Process
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The e-marketing: “...creating exchanges that satisfy
individual consumer and organizational customers’
objectives.”
Exchange = act of obtaining a desired object from
someone by offering something in return.
Individuals bring their own characteristics + personal
resources (within a social, cultural, and technological
context) to the process as they seek specific outcomes
from an exchange.
Cultural, Social, and Technological Contexts
Individual
Characteristics
Resources
The Online Exchange Process
Internet
Exchange
Outcomes
Relationships
Entertainment
Media Consumption
Information
Transactions
Context
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Broad technological, social, and cultural forces affect
online consumer behavior.
Marketers need to study the consumer’s environment or
context and how their influence the purchasing process.
Technological Context

The Internet = a utility in most developed nations.

E-marketers need to consider home connection speeds +
the changing landscape of digital receiving devices:
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Connection with broadband (fast) = 20% of
Americans: These users enjoy multimedia games, music
and entertainment because these download quickly.
Access from a narrow band mobile handheld
device (or 56k modem in a PC): access news,
weather, stock quotes, and other data services that are
low in graphics.
Technological Context

PC is not anymore the only ways to communicate with
customers:
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Digital receiving devices = PC, electronic pager, FAX
machine, iTV (interactive TV), voice mail, handheld
PDA, cell phone, and a other devices.
Need to learn which devices a firm’s customers and
prospects own and prefer to use for various purposes,
from communication through purchase and post
purchase service.
Social and Cultural Context

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The Web is training individuals and organizations to help
themselves to information, products, and virtually
everything they want when and where they please =
power is shifting to consumers.
U.S. trends are affecting online exchanges:
 Information overload overwhelms consumers.
 Bunkering means people are staying at home more.
 Security and privacy are major concerns.
 Home and work boundaries are dissolving.
 Anywhere, anytime convenience is critical for busy
people.
Social and Cultural Context

U.S. trends are affecting online exchanges:
 Time poverty creates multitasking and speeds up
normal processes.
 Demanding expectations.
 Self-service is required.
 Sophisticated consumers know they are in control
and have choices.
 Personalization is becoming expected.
 Easy does it, especially when it comes to the
frustrations of technology.
 Multiple channel shopping has become the norm.