INTRODUCTION

As we already noticed, defining E- Marketing is still highly problematic. Still, what do we

mean when we use this term? As many other English words, the term was born by adding
the prefix e- to a term already known and used, in this case marketing. The prefix e- is
actually the extreme contraction of the word electronic and is quite omnipresent in todays
language of many people: E- Marketing, e-business, e-mail, e-learning, ecommerce,
The simpliest definition of E- Marketing could be that suggested by Mark Sceats: the
marketing that uses E- as manifestation channel.
A more comprehensive, practical definition is the one formulated by specialists of CISCO
company: E- Marketing is a generic term utilized for a wide range of activities
advertising, customer communications, branding, fidelity programs etc. using the E-.
More than the simple development of a website, the E- Marketing focuses on Ecommunications, direct dialog with consumers who thus participate to the creation of new
products, finding efficient methods to win customers fidelity and ease their businessmaking process. E- Marketing is the sum of activities a company makes with the purpose of
finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers.
At last, for those of you interested in a more scientific approach, we could say that EMarketing allows relational exchanges in digital, networked and interactive environments
(acronym: DNI environments). Earlier in the history of E- Marketing, it was conceptualized
as being focused upon the exchanges, but todays theoreticians suggest the exchange
paradigm is a limited modality to define E- Marketing.

In early 90s, the marketing theory re-oriented towards the relational exchanges paradigm,
mainly because marketing used to give more importance to gaining new customers rather
than retaining the existing ones. Studies performed have indicated that the major economic
benefits come from raising fidelity among customers as a result of customer retention. This
is the perspective that led to the apparition of the relational marketing, which is based on the
necessity of developing interactions with individual customers. The marketing management
advanced by Philip Kotler promotes the idea of the transactional marketing being included
into a larger concept, that of relational marketing. Such an enlarged perspective would see
marketing as a relation made of continuous series of interactive collaborations with each
individual customer.
A second impact upon the marketing philosophy would be the reality of the E--based
interactions. In the E- world, consumers are able to initiate interactions at any time, from
anywhere, before or after the act of exchange itself, which means, in other words, that the
exchange paradigm is highly restrictive as far as E- Marketing is concerned. Additionally,
most interactions generated from websites tend to be personalized, at least at a minimal
level such as recognizing a visitor by using cookies (cookie = specialized file resident in
the computers memory, containing information about the websites accessed). The relational
marketing became efficient on a large scale due to the relatively low cost of the new
database technologies and the multitude of applications designed to work over the E-.
In conclusion, the tendencies concerning the relational character of the E- Marketing show
that, from now on, marketing should be defined from a relational perspective rather than
transactional.

The E- and the World Wide Web provide marketers with new tools and added
convenience that can increase the success of their marketing efforts. The Web offers several
technologies and applications that could enhance customer service, marketing and
advertising efforts with a reasonable cost. The Web could improve customer service by
sending e-mail for order confirmation, product announcements, and order tracking. The
Web provides customer service through corporate web sites, integrated call centers, E- help
desks, and E- customer service.
In recent years, customers have used business web sites for many different applications:
downloading forms, software patches, printer drivers, minor upgrades to an existing
software, and receiving on time answers to frequently asked questions. All of these features
have improved customer service and lowered costs for both the business and its customers.
E- marketing should be used with traditional marketing to create the most effective
corporate marketing strategy. This strategy includes a focus on attracting new customers to
the Web site of your work and bringing them back repeatedly.
By discovering the group of people toward whom it is most profitable to aim your
marketing campaign target market you can focus your campaign and increase the
number of visits, responses and purchases. Keeping user profiles, recording visits and
analyzing promotional and advertising results are keys to measuring the effectiveness of
marketing campaigns.
Generating Web-site traffic is also important to the success of an e-business. Most web
surfers use search engines to find what they are looking for on the Web. Therefore,
registering an ecommerce site with popular search engines and using the right keyword in
the page (body and title) is vital. If the web masters and web designers do not use the right
keyword, the site may not show up among the top listings; therefore, the page may not be
seen by a potential visitor.
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If you use well, actually Web is an effective marketing instrument. Different advertising and
marketing tools on the Web include banner advertisements, discussion lists, e-mail and
registering e-mail, links on other web sites, newsgroups, E- classified advertisements,
message boards and special interest shopping centers, display screens, spot leasing,
intelligent agents.
The Web helps in E- customer research. Customers by using E- catalogs are able to conduct
product searches and compare and contrast different features of different products.
Legal data about customers can also be collected directly or indirectly through cookies,
intelligent agents and E- questionnaires. E- customer data can be collected very fast and
with minimum cost. Intelligent agents are rule based software that can be used effectively in
the e-commerce environment. Intelligent agents and shopping bots are increasingly used in
the ecommerce world to assist customers in finding the cheapest possible prices for
customer.
They are also a marketing tool for collecting relevant information regarding customers
purchasing habits and the sites they usually visit.

To better understand Web marketing and advertising some commonly used terminology can
found in Appendix II at the end of this chapter.
The Web as a Marketing Tool

The Web puts large and small organizations on the same foothold. Regardless of size or
financial strengths, any business can sell goods and services through the Web. Users have
already divided themselves into interest or newsgroups entire with e-mail addresses.
Because of the democratic atmosphere consumers are on the plus side of the power balance.
They can respond individually to a marketing attempt or they can spread the word to their
associates. If they support, everything is fine; however, if they dislike, consumers have the
power in this medium to cause chaos with an ill-fated marketing attempt.

Users unhappy at receiving material from catalog companies have busy them with messages
not to do it again. Marketers, therefore, should only post brief messages to related
newsgroups that are relevant to a companys campaign. Suitable newsgroups should be
identified before attempting contact. Martin Nisenholtz has suggested the following six
guidelines for E- advertising

Advertise only in selected newsgroups.

Never send disturbing messages.

Use full agreement to conduct direct selling or promotions.

Obtain the consumers permission when carrying out research.

Take permission of the user prior to selling consumer data.

Never use E- communications to hide real activities of the business.

Businesses successfully use passive advertising by setting up bulletin boards. This requires
minimal investment to cover the hardware and software costs. An alternative would be to
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publish advertisements through an E- service provider (ISP) such as SuperE- or EKolay, a

directory such as Yahoo!, or a search engine such as Google. However, if you plan to deal
with E- Marketing, a home page is the medium perhaps best suited for advertising on the
World Wide Web.
Many companies have established home pages for business advertising. Here, the advantage
is that marketing messages can be individually customized for each customer. Companies
are generally making product information, press releases, e-mail index, and financial
information available via the Web. Some manufacturers now start to include a URL address
on their cans or bottles or packets that a customer can access for additional information on
the product, such as information related to the ingredients, nutritional facts, and so forth.
Newsgroups are other advertising areas on the Web. For example, if a business wanted to
advertise a cat food, (hey could post their advertisement in newsgroups that are interested in
cats.Business use of the Web is still very much in the introductory stage, thus, small
advertisers are producing the majority of E- advertising. The present situation can be
compared to the early days of cable TV. On the other hand, the introduction of cable
modems and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) - form of DSL- will result in
increased popularity and business usage of the Web.
Any organization using the Web can advertise all over the world and sell 7-days a week, 24hours a day. The Web serves is a strong marketing tool for all types of organizations
regardless of their size and the types of products and services that they sell.

The Web as a marketing tool

Collecting marketing data through the Web could improve the marketing efforts of any
organization. An organization using these data will be able to customize a particular product
or service to the specific needs and requirements of a potential buyer. Marketing data can be
collected through various tools available on the Web with reasonable cost. E-mail, E- forms,
E- questionnaires, discussion lists, newsgroups, cookies, and intelligent agents are among
the popular tools that can be used for this purpose. The businesses can utilize these data and
do different types of analyses including determining the status of the subscriber (if the taken
data is E-), the accuracy of the data and so forth.
Advertising traditional products through the Web to sell has become popular in recent
years.E- stores are able to offer a variety of choices and in many cases lower prices. With
the introduction of e-wallets, e-cash, and other electronic payment systems (EPSs),
customers are able to pay for these products and services with improved security and
convenience. This is basically transferring the old trade model to the Web and taking
advantage of all the technologies and applications that the Web offers.
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Advertising digital products to sell is a new way that businesses can generate revenue with
reasonable expenses. Downloading a piece of software, a song, a magazine article, or a
movie are some examples. These applications are expected to increase dramatically, with
the increased popularity of cable modems, ADSL that can allow higher bandwidth, and
tightersecurity measures.
E- marketing is becoming popular applications of Web marketing. Marketers are able le
reach a wide geographic base and collect marketing data with no or reasonable cost. These
marketing data can be used for testing various experiments, such as the attractiveness of an
advertising campaign or the strengths and weaknesses of a marketing medium, with
moderate costs.
Supporting marketing 4P can be done by the help of the Web. Marketing is related with
product, price, promotion, and place (4P). The data related to the four factors of marketing
can be collected very rapidly with moderate cost. The Web provides unparalleled support
for these 4P.
The

product factor is concerned with the type of products and services that an ebusiness
plans to sell. These products and services could be new brand or a
development over existing products and services. The improvements might be price,
features and/or usability.
The

price factor is concerned with the most suitable price for the product or service.
Overpricing and under pricing are both undesirable. Collecting E- data and analyzing a
competitors offerings could help the e-business to establish a reasonable price for its
products or services.
The

promotion factor aims to inform, convince, and remind customers regarding new
products and services and encourage repeat sales. Web technology could be able to do this
with reasonable costs.
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The

place factor is concerned with the mechanisms that the e-business uses to get
products and services to customer. In many cases, the Web provides virtual storefronts for
some customers that otherwise could not have been able to do any transaction with a
particular e-business. Customers in remote or rural areas or customers who are immobile
and unable to shop in traditional stores are some examples.
Appendix I gives some Web resources for conducting successful Web marketing and
advertising.
Customization can be provided by the Web with moderate cost. For example, Amazon.com
displays specific recommendations based on the customers previous purchases. These
kinds of services are very expensive in traditional marketing. The e-business can move from
providing general products or services to providing products or services customized to a
customers needs, tastes and preferences by the help of the Web. The following two
technologies are commonly used to provide customization/personalization:
Push

technology: The customer is automatically offered with information by being sent to

the right place. The Web can send relevant information to the customer workstation.
Pull

technology: The customer must express a need in order to receive information.

The Web is able to implement this strategy very effectively with moderate cost. Virtual
storefronts -the Web servers- help the businesses to attract the customers. This virtual site of
a business can effectively express the unique offerings of an e-commerce site to potential
visitors and can be easily modified to reflect the new offerings. Customers can browse
through the site at their own speed to find special products and services. Figure 2.2,
Figure 2.3 and Figure 2.4 demonstrate the opening page of biletix.com, hepsiburada.com
and ebay.com, respectively. Each storefront has diverse goals and purposes, and each one
express a different message to its customers. Browse through these sites to see how
effectively they are using the Web for diverse business purposes.
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10

Matching products and services to customers needs is a powerful feature of Web marketing.
The internal search engines available on many of e-commerce sites allow the customer to
search for a particular product and service. For Example, sites such as Amazon.com display
recommendations onto the site based on your earlier purchases.
Contact with customers is allowed by the Web to the e-businesses. Using e-mail and the
company web site, customers can freely state their opinions regarding the products and
services sold by a potential e-commerce site, as the e-business and its customers are in close
contact. In other words, the Web offers an open forum for customers.
E- Marketing must be defined to include the management of the consumers E- experience
of the product, from first encounter through purchase to delivery and beyond. Digital
marketers should care about the consumers E- experiences for the simple reason that all of
them -- good, bad, or indifferent -- influence consumer perceptions of a product or a brand.

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The web offers companies ownership and control of all interactions with customers and
thus creates both the ability and the need to improve their overall experience.
There are two reasons for building the concept of E- Marketing around consumer
experiences. First, this approach forces marketers to adopt the consumers point of view.
Second, it forces managers to pay attention to all aspects of their digital brands interactions
with the consumer, from the design of the product or service to the marketing message, the
sales and fulfillment processes, and the after-sales customer service effort.
The E- allows for the entire sales cycle to be conducted on one medium, nearly
instantaneously. From making the consumer aware of the product to providing additional
information to transacting the final purchase, the E- can accomplish it all. The E- is like one
big point-of-sales display, with easy access to products and the ability for impulse shopping.
Impulse shoppers have found a true friend in the E-. Within seconds from being made aware
of a product, consumers can purchase it E-. Further, with the targeting techniques available
to advertisers, consumers who turn down a product because of the price can be identified
and served a special offer more likely to result in a purchase. In the right hands, with the
right tools, the E- really is an advertisers dream come true.
As opposed to the 4 Ps of brick-and-mortar marketing, the changing outlook in the area of
E- Marketing can be explained on the basis of 7 Cs of E- Marketing.
Contract: The e-marketers first goal is to communicate a core promise for a truly
distinctive value proposition appealing to the target customers.
Content: refers to whatever appears on the website itself and on hot linked websites. If
chosen appropriately, it can increase both the rates at which browsers are converted into
buyers and their transactions.

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Construction: The promises made by e-marketers are not unique to the E-, but the
mediums interactive capabilities make it easier for them to deliver on their promises
quickly, reliably, and rewardingly.
In practice, this means that promises must be translated into specific interactive functions
and Web design features collectively giving consumers a seamless experience. Such design
features as one-click ordering and automated shopping help deliver the promise of
convenience.
Community: Through site-to-user and user-to-user forms of interactivity (such as chat
rooms), e-marketers can develop a core of dedicated customers who become avid marketers
of the site too.
Concentration: Targeting through E- behavioral profiling. Advertisers have known for
some time that behavioral targeting (a.k.a., profiling) is vastly superior to simple
demographic targeting. Knowledge of a consumers past purchases interests, likes/dislikes,
and behavior in general allows an advertiser to target an advertisement much more
effectively. Department stores have long
kept track of consumers past purchases. They are thus able to project what other types of
products a consumer might be interested in and then send an appropriate coupon or sale
offer. Credit card companies are the ultimate gatherers of behavioral targeting information.
They maintain vast databases of cardholders past transactions, and they sell lists of this data
to advertisers. The same type of behavioral model is forming on the E-. Publishers and
advertisement networks monitor the items that a consumer has expressed interest in or
purchased on a site (or network of sites) in the past and target
advertisements based on this information.
Convergence: We will soon enter the next round of the E- Marketing battle as broadband
reaches the masses. The E- will become more ubiquitous and wireless; televisions will
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become more interactive; video/data/voice appliances will converge; brand advertising and
direct marketing practices will integrate; domestic brands, commerce and marketing will
become even more global; and
big marketing spenders will spend more money E-. Many companies that are well
positioned today will need to continue to evolve to take advantage of the opportunities. The
success of E- advertising companies will largely be driven by how they maneuver among
the coming developments. Rich media, brought on by broadband, will allow advertisers
much greater creativity by bringing in new types of advertising to the E-, as well as
enhancing some of the more traditional forms. Broadband technology will allow the
convergence of television and the E-.
Dubbed interactive TV, in its simplest form, will consist of a television with some
interactive capabilities. Basically, a user will see a television screen that is three-quarters
traditional television, but with a frame that has E- capabilities. This frame will allow users
to access up-to-the-minute sports scores or news on the Web, for example. More
importantly for E- marketers, it would allow viewers to immediately leap to the website of
an advertiser whose ad was being shown. The user could find out more information or order
the product right there.
Commerce: The last emerging fundamental of E- Marketing is commerce, whether it
includes offering goods and services directly, or marketing those of another company for a
fee, thus helping to cover the fixed costs of site operations and to offset customer
acquisition costs.
To be successful on the E-, e-marketers will have to do more than reproduce their off-line
business models on line because these business models work only at considerable scale.
Interestingly, It is possible for E- marketers to be profitable even at lower sales volume if

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they exploit efficiencies in e-Emarketing and synergies with the off-line business, with
examples as follows.
Exploiting more than one channel to close the transaction:
Although early winners on the web might belong to an exclusive club of E- start-up
companies, established players in the off-line industry can catch them and even overtake
them by offering a choice of channels.
Leveraging low customer acquisition costs: Traditional brick-andmortar companies can
bring their existing customers E- at a much lesser cost than E- start-up companies who must
lay out a hefty amount per head to acquire customers.
Exploiting alternative revenue streams: An E- presence offers an E-marketer a wider
variety of sales opportunities. For web-based retailers, acting as an agent on behalf of the
customer can become a revenue source in the future.
Purchasing scale at low volumes: E-marketers can cut down on their purchasing cost and
shorten their procurement cycle by replacing EDI tools with E- based ones that facilitate
product comparison, streamline logistics, and help B2B vendors aggregate their retailers
back office purchases.
Reducing customer churn: Given the high cost of replacing established customers, losing
them is expensive. A web presence supplies the personalized attention that could keep
customers loyal.
Maximizing the pricing potential: It has been reported by consumer researchers that
buyers shop E- more for convenience than for cost. In view of this relative indifference to
price, e-marketers can capture some margin premium, at least in the early days of their sites.
Challenges in E- Marketing: Every E- fulfillment operation, large or small, faces four
main challenges: controlling customer data, integrating on- and off-line orders, delivering
the goods costeffectively, and handling returns.
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Controlling customer data: As outsourcing arrangements proliferate and delivery services

become more expert in using information technology, e-marketers risk losing their lock on
consumer data. In an economy where knowledge is revenue as well as power, e-marketers
must consider how to strike a balance between the efficiencies offered by the out-sourcing
of fulfillment and the confidentiality that keeping data in-house preserves.
Integrating on and off-line orders: When the volume of orders is high, companies must
decide how much integration they need. In a totally integrated system, E- orders would be
automatically transmitted through a processing center and transferred to the suppliers
manifest. An integrated system with full ERP (enterprise resource-planning) capabilities, for
example, can ensure that surges in demand dont retard key fulfillment operations such as
data entry, inventory, and packing.
Although the problems of rapid growth are complex in themselves, the lack of a fully
integrated order management system compounds them. In the future evolution of the Web,
however, integration will become essential for building effective customer service and
package-tracking systems.
Delivering the goods cost-effectively: At present, every single transaction challenges emarketers to deliver the goods quickly, cheaply, and conveniently. But this is largely a
technical and logistical problem, and it will be possible (though perhaps expensive) to solve
it by developing new sorting and scanning equipment and by deploying larger delivery
vehicles. Making contact with the recipient is a trickier problem but one that must be
resolved if the full potential of eimpulse orders is to be realized, for an impulse purchase
loses its power to gratify if the product or service takes too long to appear. But since each
missed delivery adds as much as a full day to the fulfillment process, spanning that final
mile to the home can take longer than
traveling the rest of the fulfillment loop.
16

Handling returns: E- marketers, with their emphasis on convenience and customization,

must match the high standard of service exhibited by some physical marketers regarding
returns. At present, they do not. To begin with, few ecommerce retailers (or mail order
companies, for that matter) design their packaging for easy returns. Customers often have to
find new packing materials, call to arrange credits and refunds, and physically take
packages to delivery services. Each step represents an inconvenience that, however minor,
can combine with others to create negative feelings about the vendor. Even if a
convenient solution for returns were developed, e-marketers might discover that impulse
sales carry hidden costs. The implication is that fulfillment costs must be driven down to
preserve profitability.
Choice of Marketing Strategy
An E- companys choice of marketing strategy will depend on four main variables: the
nature of the customers interaction with the product and seller; the current capabilities of
the business; the capabilities that are (or will become) commodity operations, in which
competitive advantage cannot be sustained; and the trade-off between time and control.
This is essentially a value chain concept (as propounded by Porter) whereby e-marketers
look at each component of the value chain and the support activities to determine where and
in what form can they add value to the customer. This translates into their competitive
advantage. And in this entire process, it is the 7 Cs of E- Marketing that act as fundamental
guiding principles.
Rethinking the business model
As e-marketers align the contract and the construction, they must also align the
economic model that will sustain their businesses. For most of them, the very process of
taking the brand E- will force a fundamental reconsideration of the business. Digital brands
offer a richer consumer experience than their physicalworld counterparts, so they can and
17

should make money by tapping into broader revenue and profit pools than any single
physical-world business might enjoy. The economic model must be expanded because
building digital brands around consumer experiences is expensive. A number of different
sources of revenue ultimately make it possible for an e-business to deliver a richer
experience to the consumer. Since E- consumers expect combinations of product types and
functional benefits different from those expected by off-line consumers, marketers must
adopt several different economic models to succeed.
There are four basic economic models. The success of an E- Marketing foray rests on the
skill with which two or more of them are combined.
Channel supporter: E-marketers can use the E- more to support their existing channels
than to generate additional sales. Beyond cross-channel promotions, many brick-and-mortar
companies can use the web to increase their customers understanding of their products and
services. Others can harness the webs interactivity to improve their product development
and product mixes by inviting customer responses on their web sites.
Advisory and information service providers: An expert (such as an investment adviser or
a personal shopper) can offer consumers unbiased advice for a fee. A business can also
collect, process, and sell information through the E-.
Retail model: Vendors or products can be aggregated to facilitate transactions for buyers.
Many companies can also achieve success as E- auctioneers. Sellers of goods and services
can provide the content; community may come from matching sellers with buyers and
setting bidder against bidder; and commissions on sales and advertising revenue can
generate the commerce.
Vertical model: The business model that may take the greatest advantage of the E- is the
vertical model, which specializes, in a particular category or a product. It might provide
specialized information and advise as well as access to a community with common interests.
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Creating winning E- Marketing strategies would require managers to reconsider how they
view both E- and marketing. Off-line Marketers have long thrived by delivering narrow
solutions to limited customer needs. E-, however, customers have learned to expect that the
companies they patronize will meet a much fuller spectrum of their needs and desires. To
succeed E-, those companies will have to create full-fledged E- businesses, or digital
experience, that can fulfill this expectation.

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING APPROACH

Relationship marketing relies upon the communication and acquisition of consumer
requirements solely from existing customers in a mutually beneficial exchange usually
involving permission for contact by the customer through an "opt-in" system. With
particular relevance to customer satisfaction the relative price and quality of goods and
services produced or sold through a company alongside customer service generally
determine the amount of sales relative to that of competing companies. Although groups
targeted through relationship marketing may be large, accuracy of communication and
overall relevancy to the customer remains higher than that of direct marketing, but has less
potential for generating new leads than direct marketing and is limited to Viral marketing
for the acquisition of further customers.
Marketing, in general, means publicizing your name, program, and service to your target
audience. Relationship marketing is the process of attracting, maintaining, and enhancing
relationships with key individuals over time. Current research in the field of marketing
indicates that forming constructive relationships with select target customers is more
important for long-term success than acquiring widespread public awareness within a
community.
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The success of Extension programs is due to the loyalty of committed participants,

volunteers, and lay leaders, as well as support from local decision-makers and elected
officials. Since its inception, Extension has been fostering those relationships with core
constituencies. Unfortunately, in some cases, these core constituency groups did not include
people of color or limited-resource audiences. If Extension is to truly build relationships
with these diverse audiences, time and attention must be invested in establishing mutually
beneficial relationships. A basic understanding of diversity is crucial when developing
strategies for relationship marketing.
Relationship marketing involves the use of one-on-one communication to earn the loyalty of
your target audience. While personal marketing (discussed in EDIS fact sheet FY757,
Personal Marketing: A Strategy for Marketing Programs to Diverse Audiences) helps you
to get your message across in a way that will be better received, relationship marketing
helps you to strengthen your relationship with your target audience (DeYoung, B. & Boldt,
1998). Relationship marketing is high-touch, person-to-person communication. And it is the
most powerful and time-consuming marketing technique.
Relationship marketing suggests that once your program takes off, your intentions are to be
there for the long haul (not just while you have a targeted grant, as may have been the case
with many other programs in the community). Diverse communities are accustomed to the
short attention span of programs that come in and make a lot of promises, then leave after
one or two years when their grants have run out. Consequently, many lose confidence in
organizations/agencies. We must show our audiences how Extension is different, and that
we are committed for the long-term.

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Customer Retention Marketing

Customer Retention Marketing (CRM) is the foundation of relationship marketing. In
Extension, the goal of CRM is to convert the target audience into loyalists and loyalists into
enthusiasts, advocates, and donors. Here is a useful strategy:
Step 1
You will first need to identify the diverse audience with whom you wish to build a
relationship. Then you will need to find out the answers to key questions:

What does this audience know about Extension and/or your program?

How does this audience feel about Extension and/or your program (positive or
negative)?

What needs does this audience have that your program can meet?

Step 2
If they know about Extension and your program, and have favorable feelings towards it,
then you will have to keep maintaining a good relationship with your audience by keeping
in touch with them through impersonal marketing techniques like mailings, flyers, etc.
If they know about Extension and/or your program, but have negative or indifferent feelings
towards it, then you will need to change this negative image before you can build trust. This
can begin to happen when you apply The six Ps technique of personal marketing, with
special emphasis on promotion and price. (The six P's are covered in EDIS fact sheet
FY757, Personal Marketing: A Strategy for Marketing Programs to Diverse Audience).

21

If the audience does not know much about Extension and/or your program, then you must
inform them. You can do this by applying The six P's technique of personal marketing.
Step 3
Identify the assets that individuals or institutions in the diverse audience possess. Use the
assets of these individuals and institutions to carry out your programs. Volunteers can have
short or long-term assignments. These experiences help build program ownership and foster
even more participation. (EDIS fact sheet FY760, Maximizing the Assets of A Diverse
Community will deal specifically with how to identify the individual and/or institutional
assets of diverse audiences.)
Step 4
Actively solicit the increased participation and involvement of community members, which
will foster greater loyalty to the program.
Step 5
Encourage greater support from community members. Loyal individuals are more likely to
advocate for the program and/or donate resources to the program.
Each of these steps takes time and attention. Relationship marketing must be nurtured.
Retention
A key principle of relationship marketing is the retention of customers through varying
means and practices to ensure repeated trade from preexisting customers by satisfying
requirements above those of competing companies through a mutually beneficial
relationship This technique is now used as a means of counterbalancing new customers and
22

opportunities with current and existing customers as a means of maximizing profit and
counteracting the "leaky bucket theory of business" in which new customers gained in older
direct marketing oriented businesses were at the expense of or coincided with the loss of
older customers. This process of "churning" is less economically viable than retaining all or
the majority of customers using both direct and relationship management as lead generation
via new customers requires more investment.
Many companies in competing markets will redirect or allocate large amounts of resources
or attention towards customer retention as in markets with increasing competition it may
cost 5 times more to attract new customers than it would to retain current customers, as
direct or "offensive" marketing requires much more extensive resources to cause defection
from competitors However, it is suggested that because of the extensive classic marketing
theories center on means of attracting customers and creating transactions rather than
maintaining them, the majority usage of direct marketing used in the past is now gradually
being used more alongside relationship marketing as it's importance becomes more
recognizable..
It is claimed by Reichheld and Sasser that a 5% improvement in customer retention can
cause an increase in profitability of between 25 and 85 percent (in terms of net present
value) depending on the industry. However Carrol, P. and Reichheld, F. dispute these
calculations, claiming they result from faulty cross-sectional analysis.
According to Buchanan and Gilles, the increased profitability associated with customer
retention efforts occurs because of several factors that occur once a relationship has been
established with a customer.

23

The cost of acquisition occurs only at the beginning of a relationship, so the longer
the relationship, the lower the amortized cost.

Account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs (or as a percentage

of revenue).

Long-term customers tend to be less inclined to switch, and also tend to be less price
sensitive. This can result in stable unit sales volume and increases in dollar-sales
volume.

Long-term customers may initiate free word of mouth promotions and referrals.

Long-term customers are more likely to purchase ancillary products and high margin
supplemental products.

Customers that stay with you tend to be satisfied with the relationship and are less
likely to switch to competitors, making it difficult for competitors to enter the
market or gain market share.

Regular customers tend to be less expensive to service because they are familiar
with the process, require less "education", and are consistent in their order
placement.

Increased customer retention and loyalty makes the employees' jobs easier and more
satisfying. In turn, happy employees feed back into better customer satisfaction in a
virtuous circle.

Relationship marketers speak of the "relationship ladder of customer loyalty". It groups

types of customers according to their level of loyalty. The ladder's first rung consists of
"prospects", that is, people that have not purchased yet but are likely to in the future. This is
followed by the successive rungs of "customer", "client", "supporter", "advocate", and
"partner". The relationship marketer's objective is to "help" customers get as high up the
24

ladder as possible. This usually involves providing more personalized service and providing
service quality that exceeds expectations at each step.
Customer retention efforts involve considerations such as the following:
1. Customer valuation - Gordon (1999) describes how to value customers and
categorize them according to their financial and strategic value so that companies
can decide where to invest for deeper relationships and which relationships need to
be served differently or even terminated.
2. Customer retention measurement - Dawkins and Reichheld (1990) calculated a
company's "customer retention rate". This is simply the percentage of customers at
the beginning of the year that are still customers by the end of the year. In
accordance with this statistic, an increase in retention rate from 80% to 90% is
associated with a doubling of the average life of a customer relationship from 5 to
10 years. This ratio can be used to make comparisons between products, between
market segments, and over time.
3. Determine reasons for defection - Look for the root causes, not mere symptoms.
This involves probing for details when talking to former customers. Other
techniques include the analysis of customers' complaints and competitive
benchmarking (see competitor analysis).
4. Develop and implement a corrective plan - This could involve actions to improve
employee practices, using benchmarking to determine best corrective practices,
visible endorsement of top management, adjustments to the company's reward and
recognition systems, and the use of "recovery teams" to eliminate the causes of
defections.

25

A technique to calculate the value to a firm of a sustained customer relationship has been
developed. This calculation is typically called customer lifetime value.
Retention strategies also build barriers to customer switching. This can be done by product
bundling (combining several products or services into one "package" and offering them at a
single price), cross selling (selling related products to current customers), cross promotions
(giving discounts or other promotional incentives to purchasers of related products), loyalty
programs (giving incentives for frequent purchases), increasing switching costs (adding
termination costs, such as mortgage termination fees), and integrating computer systems of
multiple organizations (primarily in industrial marketing).
Many relationship marketers use a team-based approach. The rationale is that the more
points of contact between the organization and customer, the stronger will be the bond, and
the more secure the relationship.
Relationship marketing, financial and banking sector, strategic marketing
The orientation towards a relationship marketing has been promoted as
representing the most recent stage in the development of the marketing
theory;
nevertheless the relationship strategies, although valuable in a series of
circumstances are not adequate and therefore can not generate
substantial benefits under any type of market situation. The logical
consequence of this point of view is that some activities remain to be
further better administered with the help of a transactional marketing
approach, which implies that the organizations will have to resort to a
portfolio of strategies which summarizes not only relationship strategic
26

variants but also transactional ones. According to Gronroos , the basic

idea does not rely on the feasibility of a relationship strategy or of a
transactional strategy but rather on the evaluation that the company
carries out regarding the profitability and the applicability of a
relationship strategy against a transactional strategy. Hence, the
choosing between the one or the other demands the existence of an
economical justification, concerning the benefits that it brings to the
client and to the company. Similarly, Moller and Halinen admit that one
meets exclusively relationship or transactional variants extremely
seldom.
A more adequate description of the discussed situation is better
accomplished
spectrum

through

which

the

utilization

incorporates

of

different

continuous

intensities

of

strategies
a

complex

relationship marketing approach (no doubt of a transactional marketing

approach as well). Within this continuous spectrum one will place the
relationship marketing to one extreme point, and the basic orientation
will consist in the building of relationships with the clients and other
interesting partners (the main element is the collaboration); while at the
other extreme point one will find the transactional marketing, with a
short term focus and time isolated transactions (the main element is the
competition).
According to Grnrooss statements (1994b, p.11) , the type of industry
where the selling or purchasing actions take place has the nature of
influencing the position of the organization along the strategies
spectrum. Hereby, on the leftmost side one finds the final user or the
27

consumer-market, for which a marketing-mix based approach is suitable,

following the existence of discrete transactional exchanges and of a
demand that is characterized through a high price-elasticity and
sensitivity, in comparison to the buyers intentions to form long-lasting
relations with the offerer. Customer binding strategies do not show high
potential in the context of mass-marketing, as they are more adequate
when there exists intense contact between the clients and the
organization, more specifically on the organizational markets and within
the service segment.
At this level one will use traditional measures as these: the evaluation of
the technical quality of the results and the monitoring of the market
share. The opinions of the buyers can be determined with the help of adhoc researches, and the face-to-face contact is limited. The internal
marketing activities do not represent a managerial priority. On the
rightmost side one finds the distribution segment, the business and
service markets which are supposed to mostly benefit from the
application of relationship strategies.

28

The continuous spectrum of transactional and relationship

strategies or
the portfolio of strategic variants th the disposal of the
organizations
Basic ideas are this time the long-term vision over the business and the usage of an
interactive approach which will allow the development, maintenance and
intensification of the relations with the present customers. At this side of the spectrum, the
demand is rather price-inelastic, since customers are looking for benefits which can be
delivered by means of a relation with a certain supplier. The main evaluation criteria of
marketing activities consist of the quality on the interaction with the clients and of the
efficient administration of the organizations client database. The clients feed-back, as part
of the interaction, is produced in real time, as it sis continuous. The interface with the
customer is essential (it is also called the moment of truth), reason for which the internal
marketing acquires a higher importance.
The relevance of the criteria related to the particularities of the industry should
29

though not be exaggerated, with the meaning that statements of the following type should
be avoided: companies in the field of consumer-goods will never benefit from the
relationship strategies or that companies in the service, distribution and business to business
field will always have a gain when using these strategies. The mentioned criteria is rather a
starting point, and the spectrum concept or the strategies portfolio suggest the fact that
although relationship strategies can be very appealing for a series of products, services and
markets, there are also situation when their applicability will not be adequate. Therewith,
the reaching of success within the business environment is not guaranteed by the application
of the relationship strategies. Gronroos mentions that, the more the organizations draw
themselves away from the transactional situations, the more the market expands beyond the
basic product or service, as the need of investments in interactive marketing activities
exists.
At the same time, the author highlights the existence of different implications of the
marketing activities along the strategies spectrum, which concern especially :
The dominant marketing orientation
The predominant quality function
The informational system with the help with one administers the relationship with the
client
The interdependence between organizational functions
The role of the internal marketing
The dominant marketing orientation. The relationship marketing literature suggests the fact
that marketing should not be limited to the activities within the marketing mix and that this
process should not be the responsibility of only one department. As far as the transactional
marketing (TM) is concerned, the role of the personnel outside the marketing department is
negligible, and the activities like advertising and sales-promotion techniques consisting of
30

price reduction form the keypoints of this measure. These elements are present also in the
case of a relationship marketing (RM) approach, but one uses them to support the
interaction to the customers and the internal marketing strategies.
The predominant quality function In the TM an acceptable result regarding the quality can
be enough for the company to achieve its market objectives. In the RM, although the
technical quality must be adequate, this is not a sufficient requirement, as there are more
dimensions that are related to the qualitative performances of the organization. More
accurate, all the interactions within the organization support the clients opinion regarding
the quality of the offer.
The informational system An organization that acts according to TM principles will
normally have a limited direct contact with the customers, and will therefore evaluate the
behavior and attitude of the clients with the help of statistics, monitoring of the market share
and of ad-hoc studies concerning the customer satisfaction. An organization that applies the
RM will monitor the satisfaction by means of continuous contact and direct management of
the present customer data-base.
The interdependence between organizational functions In the TM the marketing department
fulfills the responsibilities related to the marketing function of the company; while in the
RM, the interactions that are particularly produced between marketing, operational activities
and human resources become critical for success achievement.
The role of the internal marketing According to Gummesson, the training of part-time
marketing people to fulfill specific marketing objectives becomes an important part of
relationship strategies. The challenge for the organization is to apply a proactive approach
with the purpose of obtaining the necessary engagement towards the development of a
marketing orientation among all the employees. The involvement in the achievement of
such a TM objective is limited.
31

A logical consequence of the exposed ideas refers to the fact that market factors determine,
to a certain moment in time, the value and implicitly the right choice between relationship
and transactional strategies. The internal decisional process regarding the choice of the
optimum strategic variant will be influenced by a series of endogenous or exogenous
factors, which are synthesized in Table
Factors that influence the application process of relationship or
transactional strategies by the company

The financial products are the best examples of mainly services based offers, which are
characterized by a high degree of intangibility and complexity and which have a high level
of variability, depending on the market situation context, type of demand, delivery style,
duration and significance to the client. Due to the particularities of the financial banking
offer, in the specialized literature, one reached the conclusion that the RM approach is
applicable especially within this activity segment. The specificity of financial services is
mainly given by the high risks and by the long-tem relationship, as the involvement of the
client is essential for the service delivery process.
32

The concept of the continuous strategies spectrum involves the existence of an

optimal position (not always can be determined), since the success of a company depends
on the balance which this establishes between the relationship and transactional strategic
alternatives to which it resorts to. This balance point can only be temporary, because the
previously mentioned influence factors change constantly. The existence of the changing
circumstances determine an instable area or a danger area for both parts of the optimal
position, following the calculation difficulty or even impossibility at a certain time of the
results generated by the different relationship or transactional strategies. The main risks in
this case can be described as it follows:
- in the leftmost side of the spectrum (TM), one would not be able to recognize
the customers wish for a higher level of involvement on the side of the organization (the
need for customer service type activities)
- on the rightmost side of the spectrum (MR) one would overestimate the qualitative level of
the services that the customer expects, and as a result the client would migrate towards a
competitor that offers a lower qualitative level to a lower price.
A possible solution which will preclude the changes that appear in the business
environment consists in a hybrid managerial approach. Gronroos mentions that, regardless
if a company adopts mostly transactional or relational strategies, there can be situations in
which both strategic variants would be necessary in addressing to different market
segments. The hybrid managerial approach requires the use of multiple marketing strategies
that would allow the development and maintenance of discreet changes for shoppers
segments with decreased degree of profitability, as well as the maintenance and
intensification of the relationships with profitable clients. In conclusion it can not be
possible neither profitable for an organization to create close relationships, personal and
long lasting with all the clients, which involves a differentiated approach, based on
33

segmentation principles that will combine elements of relational marketing and

transactional marketing in accordance with the clients profile and its importance for the
company. Analogous, in accordance with the complexity of the products the clients can also
prefer a differentiated approach. In a study conducted on the banking market in the United
States. It has been shown that there are some differences between clients that are
transaction oriented (62% of the interviewed persons) that in general tend to be confident
in their own strengths, searching and analyzing financial information and being in the same
time sensitive in what concerns the price factor; and relationship oriented clients (38% of
the interviewed persons), which want mostly personal service and are less price sensitive.
A similar research conducted on the financial services market in Great Britain succeeded in
developing a model that proposes a typology of shopping behavior that manifests itself in
this sector, in accordance with two factors considered essential in motivating ad determining
choices made by individuals: the level of involvement and the degree of uncertainty ( that
generates a certain level of trust in the banker), that are presented in figure

Matrix of the consumer behavior in the financial banking sector

The involvement of the client in relationship with a certain financial - banking

34

organization incorporates a series of secondary factors among which: the control of the
client, participation of the client and level of contact. Concomitantly, the uncertainty or the
degree of trust is directly influenced by the risks perceived by the client; risks determined
mainly by the complexity of the products and services and the uncertainty of the results
associated with the contracted product. The model generates four ideal types of shopping
behavior.
Repeated passive behavior. In this dial the clients show a decreased level of
involvement towards the financial product because they are fully conscious of the principal
characteristic of the offer. Being given the low involvement and limited perception of the
uncertainty, the clients can be described as having a passive behavior, meaning that they
will participate in repeated interactions, without active searching for alternative offers. In
the relational marketing literature this type of behavior is called also behaviorist loyalty
and it is manifested mainly towards the more complex financial products and services
(current accounts, transactions and in a certain degree deposits and loans). According to the
results of the previous mentioned research, the clients are confident in their own abilities to
open and use a current account, and choosing the bank is determined by factors concerning
the accessibility, quickness of the service and comfort; for example, the location of the
banking units relative to his home or workplace. Other factors that can influence this type of
behavior include: family influence (relationships with a certain organization can be
continued over more generations in case youngsters have their first account opened at an
early age) friends, also the image and reputation of the supplier. Even tough they are not
fully satisfied with the received services and dont declare their loyalty to that bank, the
habit, ineptness and small differences between the offers of rival financial institution or the
existence of the migration fees, determine customers to continue the existent relationships
in the same manner. In conclusion, in this dial of the matrix the clients show more likely an
35

type of behaviorist and not attitude loyalty towards the supplier of financial services. If in
the first case we can talk almost exclusively about repeated passive shopping, the attitude
loyalty implies the maintenance of positive or negative attitudes towards the bank. The
possibility to accomplish a distinction between the true loyal clients in both attitude and
behavior and the partial loyal clients in terms of behavior is created. The strategic
organizational approach in the repeated passive behavior dial will be different for a
company that is new on the market compared to a bank with consolidated position. In order
to win a higher market share, newcomers will encourage the buyers to go over to the active
relational dial, while the existent opponents will try maintaining the clients in the present
dial, at least on a short term, through developments brought to the products and services
delivery systems. The factors that determine clients to migrate from one dial to the other,
transferring their accounts from one service supplier to a rival one can also be of personal
nature, like changes in lifestyle as a sequel of marriage, change of residence or workplace.
In the financial banking system, organizations had the opportunity to retain customers for a
long period of time in the repeated passive behavior dial because the benefits that the clients
perceived concerning the offers of the rivals were low and the migration costs were high.
The changes in the business environment generated an intensification of the competition
and a growth of the clients availability to use new distribution channels, modifications that
could reduce the migration costs and the ineptness based behavior of the clients; therefore
keeping the clients in this dial is an harder to reach objective for companies in the financial
sector.
The rational active behavior. In this dial the involvement of the clients in terms of
controlling the processes, participation and contact is high; also high is their trust in what
concerns the complexity of the products and safety of the results. Clients that buy in
accordance with the rational factors ae those that have enough personal abilities and
36

information that allow them to understand the nature of the products and to realize pertinent
comparisons between offers of the players on the market. In accordance with the results of
the market research conducted by Beckett and the other authors, this type of behavior is
encountered with a higher probability at buying basic insurance products.
Although the brand and reputation were considered important for clients in the phase of
realizing the existence of the products/services, the largest part of clients indicated price as
the essential criteria in decision making and also maintaining the relationship with an
organization (intention of the clients is to migrate to another tendered when the prices of the
present one grow). For most of the respondents, the context of buying an auto or home
insurance was through distant exchanges using the phone or E-, comfortable channels for
the clients that dont require a face to face contact (needed for establishing a feeling of
trust), the accent being placed on the price differences between offers of the suppliers of
services. Essentially, they dont consider themselves as loyal or as having a certain
relationship with a organization, and change their insurance company every couple of years.
This behavior is influenced according to clients statements also by the lack of
communication with the staff of the insurance company that limits at sending informational
letters every year regarding the development of the facilities and awards.
The increasing level of consciousness, involvement and information of the consumers of
this sector allows them to pass from the repeated passive behavior dial to the rational active
dial, challenging the banks to increase the value that they offer to the clients.
Decision not to buy/not to contract. In this dial are placed the consumers that do not buy or
contract financial services because they do not show any involvement towards the offers of
financial products and services and they do not have the required abilities or trust for
closing transactions. They represent an important base of potential clients for organization
in the financial sector. That must adopt strategies with stimulant effects of the priory
37

mentioned factors with the aim of encouraging the appeal on different financial instruments.
Away of raising the degree of involvement shown by the consumer would be identification
of the comfortable and easy to access distribution channel for the potential client. The
dependent relational behavior. The clients from this dial show a high degree of involvement
but have a low control and safety level because of their need for complex financial products.
In order to make a specific choice, the client needs consultancy from banking specialists or
a third party, that is why they are described as dependent client that forms relationships
from his will to reduce uncertainties and perceived risks and in order to structure a certain
model or pattern of buying. The relational-dependent behavior is mostly met in market
situations marked by uncertainty; when the consumer does not dispose of enough
information in order to make rational decisions and perceives, in the same time, that there
are quality differences between the products offered by different companies. Being given
these conditions and the client desire to knowingly make choices, the need for specialized
assistance arises. The relationship with the banking consultant will efficiently substitute the
process of information searching, and between the two parties the possibility of
development of a trust feeling appears. Continuing to present the results from the study
conducted by Beckett on the financial market in Great Britain, it appears that the dependentrelational behavior in mostly met in case of contracting complex financial products or
instruments, like investment or pension plans, towards which the majority of the
respondents expressed a lack of confidence and information in the context of taking the
decision to buy. Therefore, these have expressed their decision to resort to the services of
the banks or insurance companys personnel or to an independent financial advisor, the trust
in their services is owed to the increased level of knowledge that a specialized person in
supposed to have. The adequate channels of distribution for this category of clients require
face to face contact and personalized services, in order to reduce the level of risk associated
38

by the client with complex products and allow establishing a long term relationship based
on trust and commitment.
This is realized by discussions from which the client finds out relevant information
regarding the nature of the products and the optimum choice for the specific need that he
has. In strategic terms, the relational-dependent behavior offers a potential base for
obtaining competitive advantages through differentiation, being therefore the segment for
which the necessity of relational strategy development appears. This is facilitated by the
relationship between the financial institution and client and therefore by the clients
propensity to guide his financial requirements to a business partner that won his trust.
The opportunities to create and maintain the relationships with clients in the financial and
banking system are hereby influenced by the type and complexity of the contracted
products/services and, implicitly by the different possibilities to differ from the competition.
The differences are, most of the time, easy to imitate/copy by the other competitors and that
implies continuous efforts by the organizations to find new sources of individualization by
utilizing a brand image, interactive channels of distribution and communication and by
promoting the benefits of a long lasting relationship with the clients.

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION ON E- MARKETING

Maximise response through this cost-effective medium with better targeting and
personalised messages
Marketing through email offers a cost effective, flexible way to reach your customers yet
most email marketing today is untargeted and unaligned with customer behaviour, creating
low response rates and a negative perception of the sender. It doesnt have to be this way!

39

Agillic sees email marketing differently. We can help you design and execute a targeted,
responsive, tightly-branded and behaviour-based strategy that avoids the issues associated
with spamming and commerical email. Of course, emails can also be sent in bulk if that fits
the objective of the campaign.
Using Agillics web-based technology, emails are sent as a direct, personalised response to a
customer behaviour trigger, reducing the high rejection rates associated with bulk email.
For example, two customers may click on the same web link promoting a new product on
different days or months. Depending on their profile information, one customer may
receive an immediate email with an incentive to trial the product, while another may receive
an email highlighting additional benefits.
The power of adaptive content enables you to execute compelling, targeted and automated
email campaigns combined with powerful reporting capabilities to analyse results, measure
success and help improve future campaigns.
With Agillics simple-to-use, web based email marketing technology you can:

Avoid spam and increase response rates with adaptive, personalised content

Plan multiple email campaigns around automated event and behaviour triggers

Cut rejection rates and increase deliverability through increased customer

permissions and automated bounced response system

Create a highly scalable solution that supports the distribution of thousands of

personalised emails per hour

Respond to inbound contact with automated, personalised dialogues by email or if

preferred, continue the same dialgoue in an alternative channel
40

Improve response rates even further by integrating additional medias, such as SMS,
to act as reminders and teasers to your campaigns

We can provide you with the ability to build workflow-oriented campaigns, based on
automated triggers including filters, timers and segmentation to ensure timeliness and
relevance along with built-in customer actions to deal with non-delivery.
Create compelling, interactive marketing campaigns to reach customers anytime,
anywhere!
Mobile marketing is booming, and thats hardly a surprise: the mobile handset is constantly
available, naturally permission based, and fully interactive. Correctly executed, mobile
marketing is a win-win for both sides, delivering personalised offers and a high degree of
customer acceptance. Its also perfect for viral campaigns and delivering sticky, pass-on
marketing content.
Agillic brings its experience of working with mobile companies such as Hi3G and the
Telenor group to help you deliver sophisticated, interactive mobile campaigns, solving the
problem of integrating mobile communications into your marketing without IT
involvement or costs - by using our own mobile gateways:
SMS/MMS Take advantage of the low cost and speed of messaging to build high levels of
engagement with your customers through personalised SMS/MMS messages. Using our
technology, even SMS can be sophisticated and interactive - for example, an in-store
promotion with an SMS short code for fast entry to a competition provides an instant
opportunity to sell to a customer with a known store location.

41

WAP Push A WAP Push message linking to the E- via a handset gives customers easy
access to information or offers on the move, at a time that suits them. Early adopters are
seeing increases in response and conversion rates, with customers keen to try new
communication methods, combined with a personalised message and a highly interactive
response mechanism.
Mobile portals Mobile E- Devices (MIDs) are becomes easier and faster to use. But
mobile marketing means aligning existing web portals with mobile versions to maintain
brand quality and user experience consistency.
With Agillics proven mobile technology you can easily create and configure a mobile
portal to reflect your brand and existing website, using personalised WAP push links to
promote tailored offers so that messages change and adapt according to previous
interactions in other words, a mobile web experience personalised for each customer.
The benefits of an integrated mobile marketing strategy in this fast-growing sector are huge:

Enables spontaneous, interactive, non-intrusive communications at any time and in

any place with instant response to call to actions

Interactive, opt-in mobile marketing naturally creates two-way dialogues

Creative freedom to send rich content as well as text to raise brand awareness

Easily integrates SMS/MMS, WAP push and mobile portal usage with traditional
above the line campaigns to increase customer impact and responses

Traditional website and mobile portal content can be aligned to save effort and
improve customer experience

Target customers more effectively with personalised, relevant direct mail

42

Direct mail is a key discipline. But its familiarity can mean a lack of innovation and poor
integration with newer techniques. However, DM can be significantly improved by
changing the mass market, one message fits all approach to a highly personalised campaign
tightly aligned with other channels.
Agillic can help you deliver DM campaigns personalised far beyond the salutation to
include dynamic content based on known customer information and behaviours. With our
technology each mailing piece can be personalised - automatically by choosing the most
relevant message for each customer. For example, when distributing a new loyalty card, a
letter can be personalised according to the previous use of the card, with offers that will be
of particular interest to the member.
The benefits of updating traditional DM with Agillic technology include:

Optimises the targeting of a traditionally expensive marketing activity

Allows segmentation of mailings to most valuable/least valuable clients using higher

cost/lower cost media

Personalised DM improves customer perception and response rates

Aligns easily with new technology marketing channels such as mobile and email

Template-based content allows rapid and reliable compilation of material

No restrictions on printing houses minimises disruption to relationships and activity

Build direct, interactive relationships through personalised web content

The web is the default destination for consumers looking for product information and to buy
goods and services. But traditional web sites create no relationship with the customer and
often add no value over existing channels. Customers have to navigate generic pages to

43

find the information often resulting in losing the customers attention as the information is
not relevant to their needs.
Agillics solution is to create a fresh, dynamic, interactive web experience with
automatically updated adaptive content tailored to the visitor profile and real-time
behaviours, fully aligned with other communication channels to enable customer experience
consistency. Our flexible technology means you can personalise content on the web in a
number of ways, including:
Geo-location information - If a customer is not logged in the Agillic platform, geo-location
data from the web address can be used to good affect. As a visitor enters the site,
information is tailored to fit the geography, for example special offers or opening times at a
local store.
Personalised shopping history This allows vendors to tailor on-line shops for a personal
shopping experience based on previous purchases, interactions, or surveys.

Such

information is used to bring existing on-line users information on relevant items or offers
without the need to search for them, or tempting the customer to buy additional items
through recommending related products that may be of interest.
Mash up -This allows you to take advantage of our technology without converting your
whole website. An area can be made available on your existing website which has a unique
address that actually links into an Agillic web platform. Any customer interaction on this
part of the web will activate a customer dialogue that will always show relevant information
and offers each time the customer logs back in.
By creating a dynamic, personalised website experience for your customer with Agillic
technology you can:
44

Adjust content automatically to the needs of your customer and to your campaign
objectives

Deliver full, relevant website personalisation for every visitor even with little
customer data

Ensure the customer experience of your site is maximised from the very first click
ADVANTAGE OF E- MARKETING

There are several advantages. By e- Marketing I'm assuming we are discussing electronic
marketing or E- marketing.
the primary advantages are:
1. Speed of launching advertising campaigns. Advertising banners or textlinks can be
created quickly and placed on websites within hours. Compare this to creating a
magazine, radio or television ad which could cost thousands and take weeks to
create. This also allows you to change messages on the fly if you need to. Try doing
that on TV or Print.
2. Cost. Advertising banners or textlinks can be placed on websites for a few hundred
dollars. More involved ad campaigns can run several hundred thousand dollars per
month but you can get started with minimal expense. In some cases websites will
accept payment only after you've sold your product.
3. Tracking. Advertising campaign performance can be tracked with such precision that
one can see exactly how many people are viewing your ad, responding to it and
ultimately buying your product. This information can be viewed on an hourly basis
if needed. Advertising messages can also be delivered based on website visitor
preferences or behavior.
45

Main

advantages

of

E-

Marketing

over

traditional

marketing campaigns

are:

Increased response rates in E- Marketing over traditional direct marketing.

Fast, flexible and responsive - taking days to produce and evaluate results rather than
weeks. By using E- Marketing, the response can be immediate.
Inexpensive to produce and personalize as opposed to printed material
Easy to target, track and measure.
Easy integration with print and other "offline" campaigns.
All the feedback and marketing data can be obtained and analyzed to improve the EMarketing strategy and response rate for the next campaign.
Building your E- identity.

Mailtrack: means Mailtrack Limited, company number 3894107, with registered office at
King House, 5-11 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 4UA;
"Buyer" means the individual, firm, company or other party with whom Thomson enters
into a contract for the supply of Services;
Campaign Delivery Date means the date for delivery of the email campaign as stated on
the Order Form or in the campaign booking confirmation sent by Thomson to the Buyer.
Where the delivery date on the Order Form states a month (as opposed to a specific day of
that month), and there is no specific date for delivery confirmed to the Buyer subsequently,
the Campaign Delivery Date will be deemed to be the last working day of that month for the
purposes of Clause 3.4.
Contract means the agreement made between Thomson and the Buyer comprising these
Standard Terms and Conditions, the Order Form and any specific conditions or instructions
detailed thereon and may relate to one or more email campaigns ordered by the Buyer;

46

"Services" shall mean any data planning, data processing, data tagging, fulfilment,
consultancy or other similar services comprised in the Contract.
1.

2. General
The Contract shall not be amended unless in writing signed by an authorised signatory of
both parties. No waiver of any provision of the Contract by either party shall be effective
unless made in writing. Any waiver made by such party of any term or condition of the
Contract shall not be deemed or construed to be a waiver of such term or condition for the
future, or any subsequent breach thereof.

2.

3. Invoicing, charges and payment terms

3.1 Charges will include data selection, managing the set up, delivering the email and
providing full campaign response analysis. Thomson allows 2 creatives per list for creative
testing purposes. An administration charge of 150 will be levied per additional creative
submitted and tested. A charge of 300 will be made in respect of any amendments made to
the supplied creative after test has been sent for approval.
3.2 Unless otherwise specifically agreed with Thomson, all orders must be pre-paid in full.
In circumstances where the execution of a campaign extends over a period exceeding one
month, Thomson will, if it considers it appropriate, invoice all the Services carried out by
Thomson monthly or at such other times as may be agreed with the Buyer and all such
charges will be payable forthwith, in full. Final payment is due within thirty days and
Thomson may charge the Buyer any reasonable administration and legal costs for
recovering the amounts owed. This may involve registering non-payment details to credit
reference agencies. The payment shall be made in sterling. VAT is payable in addition to
the prices and any additional charges.
47

3.3 Time of payment of the price shall be of the essence of this Contract and Thomson may
charge interest at the rate of two percent per month on any overdue payments of the price by
the Buyer from the date payment became due until actual payment is made.
3.4 Failure by the Buyer to provide and approve the ad creative no later than 48 hours
before the Campaign Delivery Date shall result in the full contract price becoming
immediately due and payable. In the event that no Campaign Delivery Date has been
stated on the Order Form and the date has not been agreed by the Buyer within 60 days of
the invoice date, the full amount of the invoice shall become immediately due and payable.
3.

4. Cancellation and Postponement

4.1 This Contract may be terminated only in accordance with Clause 14.
4.2 Subject to Clause 14.1, cancellation of any campaign to which this Contract relates is
not permitted.
4.3 A campaign may be postponed from the delivery date originally agreed for it provided
that at least 14 days written notice of postponement is provided to Thomson. Campaigns
that are postponed for a period exceeding 30 days will be invoiced 30 days from the
originally agreed delivery date and must be paid for in full within 30 days of the invoice
date.

4.

5. Buyers Responsibility
The Buyer is solely responsible for the content of emails sent. The Buyer agrees not to
transmit any unlawful, harassing, libellous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene
or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature. Buyer further agrees not to
transmit any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offence, give
48

rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable law or regulation. Thomson retains
the right at its sole discretion, to refuse the delivery of any content that it considers
contravenes these Terms and Conditions. Thomson shall also have the right to refuse the
delivery of any content which, in Thomsons reasonable opinion, promotes products and
services which compete with its own products and services.
5.

6. Copy
Finalised Copy/HTML must be with Mailtrack at least 5 working days before the Campaign
Delivery Date to allow for set-up and testing. Failure to adhere to the timelines shall be
considered a breach of the terms of this Contract and may, at Thomsons sole discretion,
lead to delays to the delivery date or a reduction in the number of emails delivered from the
number ordered or cancellation of the Contract. Buyer will be responsible for the accuracy
of all text and HTML copy and will ensure that all URL links in the message are correct and
working prior to email delivery. All copy is to be transmitted via email in the following
preferred formats: Text format = Word (.doc) or Text (.txt); Images format = .gif or .jpg or
.tif; HTML format = entire ad must be completed in HTML format.

6.

7. Hosting
Buyer will host all HTML images unless otherwise agreed. A charge of 0.02 per mail
(HTML recipients only) will be levied on the Buyer if Mailtrack is required to host HTML
images.

7.

8. Ad Creative Approval
The Buyer must approve all ad creative no later than 48 hours prior to the Campaign
Delivery Date. Time is of the essence in relation to such approval. An authorized
49

representative of the Buyer shall send such approval in the form of an email. A copy of the
approved ad should either be included in the body of the approval email or added as an
attachment to the approval email. Failure to provide and approve the ad creative by such
time shall be considered a material breach of the terms of this Contract and may lead to
delays to the delivery date or termination, at Thomsons sole discretion, of the Contract and
to the full contract price becoming due and payable in accordance with Clause 3.4.
8.

9. Delivery and Time

Whilst Thomson will make every effort to complete the Contract within the time quoted,
time shall not be of the essence of the Contract unless specifically stipulated in these
Standard Terms and Conditions or on the Schedule of Services section of the Order Form.

9.

10. Tracking and Reporting

Thomson will provide tracking and reporting services on all campaigns via Mailtrack. The
parties agree that, in the event that the Buyers third party tracking system indicates a
discrepancy in the number of deliverables hereunder from Mailtrack's tracking report,
Mailtrack's tracking report shall prevail. Unless specifically requested in this Contract to the
contrary, Mailtrack will track all URLs within emails.

10.

11. Limitation of Liability

11.1 Thomson makes no warranties, guarantees, promises or representations, either express,
implied, oral, written or otherwise, except as expressly set forth in this Contract. Thomson
does not make any warranty, guarantee, promise or representation, express, implied, oral,
written or otherwise, as to the results of any campaign. No oral advice or written
information outside this Contract given by Thomson or any of its officers, directors,
50

employees, agents, licensers or the like will create a representation, warranty or condition,
nor should you rely on such information or advice.
11.2 Whilst Thomson endeavours to ensure that the email address data to which the Buyers
campaigns will be directed and the Data (as defined in Clause 12) is accurate, neither
Thomson nor its agents or employees can, subject to Clause 11.3, accept liability for any
loss or damage resulting from omissions or inaccuracies relating to such data regardless of
how caused.
11.3 Thomsons liability to the Buyer for death or injury resulting from its own negligence
or that of its employees agents or sub-contractors shall not be limited.
11.4 In no event will Thomson be liable in contract, tort or otherwise for any indirect,
special, incidental or consequential loss or damage resulting from any breach of its
obligations hereunder or from any representation, tortious act or omission including
negligence arising under or in connection with this agreement.
11.5 The parties hereby agree that taking into account all the circumstances including inter
alia, the fees payable by the Buyer hereunder and the ability of each party to insure itself,
the limitations contained herein are reasonable.
11.

12. Provision of Data

Thomson may, at the request of the Buyer and subject to appropriate payment, provide the
Buyer with the business listings data (apart from email addresses) relating to the email
addresses included in the Buyers email campaign (the Data). Thomson grants a nonexclusive, non-transferable, limited licence to use the Data for the Buyers own direct
marketing purposes (the Permitted Purpose). The Data may not be distributed, sold or
51

otherwise transferred to, or used for the purposes of, any third party and may not be used for
any purpose other than the Permitted Purpose. In particular, the Data may not be used for
the purposes of creating a database or directory, whether printed, electronic or otherwise, for
publication or sale.
12.

13. Indemnity
The Buyer agrees to indemnify Thomson, its employees and agents against all proceedings,
claims, demands, expenses, losses and/or damages arising from the content provided by the
Buyer for the Buyers email campaign, including the legal fees, costs of litigation or
judgements arising out of mailing or emailing such content to the email addresses
contained in Thomsons email address data.

13.

14. Termination
14.1 The Buyer may terminate this Contract by giving Thomson written notice of
termination within 7 days of the date of signing the Order Form. In the event of such
termination, Thomson shall be entitled to charge an administration fee equal to 10% of the
total Contract price.
14.2 This Contract may be terminated by either party immediately on written notice to the
other party (i) if the other party commits a material breach of the Contract and (in the case
of a breach capable of remedy) fails to remedy such breach within 30 days of written notice
requesting the breach to be remedied; or (ii) if the other party is unable to pay its debts or
enters into compulsory or voluntary liquidation, other than for the purpose of reconstruction
or amalgamation of the company, or compounds with or convenes a meeting of its creditors
or has a receiver or manager or an administrator appointed of its assets or ceases for any
reason to carry on business.
52

14.3 Any failure by the Buyer to pay any amount under this Contract when due shall
constitute a material breach of the Contract by the Buyer.
14.

15. Entire Agreement and Enforceability

15.1 This Contract sets out the entire agreement and understanding between Thomson and
the Buyer and replaces all previous agreements, arrangements and understandings between
them.
15.2 If at any time any one or more of the provisions of these Standard Terms and
Conditions becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable under any law or is held by a court to
be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity and enforceability of the remaining
provisions hereof shall not be in any way affected or impaired thereby.

15.

16. Force Majeure

Thomson shall not be liable for any loss suffered or incurred by the Buyer as a result of any
delay in performance, or non-performance of any of its obligations under the Contract to the
extent that such delay or non-performance is due to any circumstances beyond its
reasonable control including, without limitation, accidents, fires, explosion, failure of
equipment or machinery, delays in transportation, war, civil commotions, riots, sabotage and
interruptions by government.

16.

17. Jurisdiction
The Contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England.
The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts for the resolution of
any dispute which may arise in connection herewith.
53

17.

18. Miscellaneous
The Buyer agrees that the signature of the Order by or on behalf of it constitutes an offer by
the Buyer to contract with Thomson upon the terms of the Order and these Standard Terms
and Conditions and that the Contract arises upon acceptance of such offer by Thomson.
Acceptance of the offer will be subject to the Buyer meeting relevant credit criteria

COMPANY PROFILE
Teleshopping India
From scattered, far off situated and theme based markets of mortar and bricks, to one stop
shop departmental stores, and now growing prevalence of online shopping, we have indeed
travelled a long way in terms of trend and means of shopping in the modern day life.
The breakthrough in the Internet technology has actually rendered the globe an exhaustive
and a rather small marketplace with unparallel easier accessibility and access
comprehensive range of product and services.
The modern day life is both busier and more demanding, the consumers being more aware
of their rights and choice. Besides seeking purchases sitting at home with the convenience
and security of a VIP postal order, the consumers also seek to weigh their options and get
the most economical price for the product or service in question. Online shopping or
Internet shopping or Web Shopping facilitates convenient and speedy transactions that
evoke the physical analogy of buying products and services at a brick and mortar retailer.
54

Further, online shopping allows the user to seek out the lowest price for the product or
service in question, as Internet technology offers price comparison services comprising of
store ratings and reviews. The pool of relevant information provided by a search engine on
net allows the consumer to educate himself/herself about the various options and price tags
available for the product. Of course, it is always advisable to go for purchasing from a
reputable website only to ensure quality and reliability. What's more, as newer products
keep on adding to the already lengthy list of products and services, web is updated
consistently to offer latest deals.
Online shoppers commonly use credit card for making payments. However, one can also
use a debit card, electronic money, cash on delivery (COD), cheque, wire transfer and postal
money order. Upon acceptance of payment, the product in question is delivered to the
consumer via traditional means.
The basic concept of telemarketing is that you should be offering what is not available in
the retail market. Why would anybody buy from us, if we were offering what is available
in the traditional marketplace? We have to keep coming out with exclusive products
practically every second month
KEY PLAYERS IN INDIA

Asian Sky Shop

Asian Sky Shop Ltd. Part of the Essel
Group of Industries, runs channels under
the Zee brand. It is planning a 24-hour
teleshopping channel by 2008.

55

Founded in April 2001, Asian Sky Shop (BD) in Bangladesh. We have started with 2
products, 3 employees, 4 telephone lines, half an hour of media airtime and unlimited
dreams.
We aim to set new trends in field of teleshopping by providing latest & innovative products.
We firmly believe in providing our customers a convenient & better shopping experience by
providing product deliveries & value added services.
We are now not only Teleshopping and media strengths, but also imports versatile products
for all sorts of daily needs to continually offer exciting and innovative taste of satisfaction at
the cheapest prices.

Our Mission
For our customers, we aim to be Asia's leading telemarketing company by providing roundthe-clock product deliveries and value-added services. Our manufacturers can rely on us to
provide unparalleled media reach and marketing services for their products. For our
franchisees and retailers, we will offer unlimited growth opportunities and value-added
schemes. For our stakeholders, we aim to set new trends in the field of telemarketing.

HomeShop18
TV18 Home Shopping Network Pvt. Ltd. is
part of the Television Eighteen Group, which
runs channels such as CNBC, CNBC Awaaz,
CNN-IBN and IBN7.Now, it is looking at a
teleshopping channel.
56

HomeShop18.com, m.homeshop18.com and HomeShop18 Mobile

Applications (HomeShop18) and its affiliates provide their services to you subject to the
terms and conditions given hereunder. If you visit us at HomeShop18.com, you accept
these Terms and Conditions. Please read them carefully. In addition, when you use any
current or future HomeShop18 service (e.g. Your Account/Profile, Gift Certificates, and
Your Reminder Service, etc.) or visit or purchase from any business affiliated
with HomeShop18, whether or not included in HomeShop18, you will be subject to these
guidelines and conditions for such service or business. These terms and conditions
supersede all previous representations, understandings, or agreements and shall prevail
notwithstanding any variance with any other terms of any order placed or service provided
by HomeShop18. By using the shopping and other services of HomeShop18, you agree to
be bound by these terms and conditions. All products/services and information displayed
on HomeShop18constitute an "invitation to offer". Your order for purchase constitutes your
"offer"

which

shall

be

subject

to

the

terms

and

conditions

as

listed

below. HomeShop18 reserves the right to accept or reject your offer at any time or under
any circumstances.
Shop 24 Seven M-Plex
Shop 24 Seven India Pvt. Ltd is a part of
the Hinduja Group of companies which
owns the multisystem operator
(MSO) INCableNet.
Home About 24 Seven
We at 24 Seven are a different kind of recruitment firm because we didnt actually set out to
be headhunters. When we launched in 2001, we were a group of professionals from creative
industries that loved to introduce the talented people we knew to other creatively-driven
57

people looking for fantastic candidates. The art of making a successful match one that
helped our contacts meet their professional goals felt seriously rewarding. And this
marked the start of our journey in redefining how brands and candidates connect to drive
their business.
Finding our purpose and passion has been the fuel for 24 Sevens success and rapid growth.
And so too has our clear focus on the three pillars of the business: our clients, our
candidates and our team. We are continually looking to increase and improve our offerings
so we are a long-term career advisor to candidates as they progress professionally, and a
dedicated recruitment partner providing customised solutions to clients as their
organisations grow. We invest in cutting-edge technology, as well as best practices in
process and staff development, keeping our recruiters at the top of their game so they can
provide the best service possible.
Over the years, we have strategically added to our offering and expanded our reach,
enabling us to more effectively aid our clients at each stage of their organisational and
worldwide growth. By offering freelance, full time, contract and executive search along
with payroll solutions, we are a comprehensive strategic recruitment management resource,
capable of quickly customising solutions for rapidly changing client needs. What began as a
single office in New York with a handful of people is now the specialised leader in matching
the best possible talent with exciting, creatively-driven companies all over the world.

TeleBrands (India)
TeleBrands' India venture advertises
across various channels such as
Doordarshan, Star Plus, AXN, the
Discovery Channel and Home TV.
58

Telebrands is the largest telemarketing, mail order and wholesale organization in india. We
enjoy the privilege of loyal brand of a strong brand loyalty and will always remain a trustworthy name as it delivers to perfection its promise of quality, value & service. A great deal
of telebrands success and competitive edge can be attributed to the creative presentation and
high quality of shows and print advertisements. An extensive range of telecasting channels
are utilized for effective presentation of shows including networks like doordarshan, star
plus, axn, the discovery channel, home tv and many more. Apart from a prominent presence
on television, telebrands effectively uses more than 350 publications in various languages.
To name a few: the times of india, bombay times, hindustan times, new woman,
cosmopolitan etc. About telebrands india: the company has a dedicated workforce of over
250 employees and is supported by an efficient network of distributors servicing over 127
major cities & 22 states in india.

59

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
To study the concept of E- Marketing.
To study the advantage of E- Marketing.
To study the relationship approach of E- Marketing.
To study the consumer perception towards E- purchase.
To study the effectiveness of E- purchasing over consumer.

60

61

LITERATURE REVIEW
The prominent reason of slower growth than expected may be due a large proportion of
population in India as well as other developing & under developed countries that people are
still not aware of computers & internet technology also security concern regarding personal
information on websites. Companies need to create buying behavior of the consumers.
Studying buying behaviour, motives and intention along with the attitude of the online
buyers is within the theoretical constructs of the Theory of Reasoned Action. The Theory of
Reasoned Action (Fishbein, 1980) examines the relationship between attitudes and future
intention to participate in these buying behaviors. The behaviors include: when they click
on banner ads (with which site and age group), response to e-mail advertisements, way in
which product information is searched using search engines and within the site, use of
comparision engines, attention and time to customer review and reaction toward them,
product basket, online support services, use of e-mail service, feedback form, checkout.
According to Cheung et al (Online Consumer Behavior: A Review and Agenda for Future
Research, 2003), a base model called Model of Intention, Adoption, and Continuance
(MIAC) for the development of an online consumer behavior framework. This model
predicts that behavior is governed by intention. Satisfied consumers are most likely to
continue hence adoption and continuance are connected to each other through several
mediating

and

moderating

Individual/Consumer

factors

characteristics,

such

as

trust

Environmental

and

satisfaction.

Influences,

Their

are

Product/Service

Characteristics, Medium Characteristics, and Online Merchants and

Intermediaries Characteristics which affect the consumer behaviour.
Culture can also be considered as one of the critical factors in both adopting and the success
of E-marketing.
62

The first element in the adoption of E-marketing is the availability of a supportive

atmosphere and environment.
In order for the E-marketing tools (i.e. the Internet) to serve as an effective marketing tool,
all parties in the relationship or the transaction must be familiar with PCs and appreciate the
benefits and the potential applications of the Internet and WWW. Without a supportive
culture, technology may not be able to replace fully the enterprise-customer relationships. If
the culture place more value on strong relationships in business and people prefer informal
and personal relationship based communication there will be either no or low
implementation for E-marketing. This strong human orientation can make the self service
mode of many E- marketing based activities somewhat unattractive. On the other hand,
there are a lot of cultural aspects that can affect E-marketing adoption enterprises. These
aspects include: people attitude towards E-marketing activities, trust, security, lack of social
acceptance for electronic economic activity and customer acceptance and participation in
the E-marketing transaction.
For better understanding the factors of internet and consumer shopping behaviours towards
internet shopping, this chapter would provide academic research reviews and relative ideas
expressed in the literature that associated with this subject. Furthermore, a number of
hypotheses will be tested to answer the research questions that mentioned already in the
introduction. Due to the recent research shows that internet shopping becomes a full and
effective business model (Black, 2005), therefore there are several studies that already
investigated more or less related on internet shopping and consumer behaviour. In the
following chapter, some point of view will be taken from literatures, and needs careful
review to achieve them as the basis of the subsequent research investigation.

63

This chapter will begin with the briefly talk about the traditional landscape of shopping, and
following the principles of consumer shopping behaviour. Through indicated that, the
essence of internet shopping consumer behaviour will be indicated in the second section.
To study the consumer behaviour is very complex as it is a kind of human behaviour, and
human beings are always not easily studied, understood and sometimes quite ambiguities.
Therefore, the complexity of consumer behaviour represents a challenge to anyone who
wants research the subject including marketers. From the concept of marketing, it is based
on the notion of creating satisfying relationship between sellers and buyers. In this kind of
exchange process, consumer is being an important partner to make requirements, and thus it
is essential for marketers who want to possess an understanding of consumer behaviour in
order to make marketing strategies (Malcolm).

64

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

It is a way to systematically solve the search problem. It may be understand as a

science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that
are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic
behind them.
METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

The information collected should be both accurate and relevant, as per the
requirements of the researcher, who has to work out a suitable data collection method. Data
collection methods can be broadly classified into
Primary methods
Secondary Methods

PRIMARY METHODS
Data directly by a researcher is known as primary data. The methods used for
collection primary data may be:
a. Survey
b. Observation

SECONDARY METHODS
Data not originally collected for use in the research project under consideration, but
rather for use by some other person or for use some other project is term secondary data.

65

There are several ways by which secondary data can be classified. One of the most useful in
by source. Which immediately suggests the classification of internal and external source.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF THIS REPORT

The Report is based on the secondary data collected from various available sources.

RESEARCH TYPE : - Descriptive Research.

DATA SOURCE

: - Magazines, Websites, Books.

DATA TYPE

: - Primary & Secondary Data

SAMPLE SIZE

:- 50

HYPOTHESIS
There are several ways by which secondary data can be classified. The investigator
has classified, tabulated and interpreted the data information, so collected in a scientific
manner and has drawn some fruitful results. Data not originally collected for use in the
research project under consideration, but rather for use by some other person or for use
some other project is term secondary data. The assumption of this project report is that there
is a positive relationship between the customer satisfaction and E- Marketing effectiveness.

66

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

For Consumers:
Q.1 Are you a Internet user?
a) Yes

55%

b) No

45%

Fig 12
INTERPRETATION:
From the survey we came to know that 55% of the respondents are E- user and remaining
are not the E- users. so that we came to know that most of the persons are having E- user.

67

Q.2 Are you aware of the term E- Marketing.?

a) Yes

80%

b) No

20%

INTERPRETATION:
From the survey we came to know that 80% Are you aware of the term E- Marketing and
20% are not aware.

68

Q.3. Have you experienced to E- Marketing?

a) Yes

65%

b) No

35%

69

Fig 18
INTERPRETATION:
After the survey, 65% of the respondents say YES for this question.

If yes than:
Q.4. Which E-Marketing you can recall?
a) Matrimonial

30%

c) If any other , specify

10%

b) Jobs

Fig 18
70

60%

INTERPRETATION:
After the survey most of the respondents told about the job advertisement & rest of the
respondents said for the matrimonial advertisement.

Q.5 Which types of Marketing you liked most?

a) Based on Rationality

70%

b) Based on Emotionality

30%

Fig 19
71

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 70% of the respondents were asked for advertisements on
rationality & rest of the respondents said for the advertisements of emotionality.

Q.6 Which medium of Marketing you prefer most?

a) Cloths

20%

b) Books

Fig 20
INTERPRETATION:
72

30%

c) other

50%

The study examined that 20% of the respondents cloths medium of Marketing prefer most,
30% respondent books medium of Marketing prefer most and 50% respondents other
medium of Marketing prefer most.

Q.7 Do you buy any product from teleshopping?

a)

Yes

60%

b) . No

40%

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 60% respondents said yes buy any product from teleshopping and
40% said no.

73

Q.8. Have you suffered any kind of losses from teleshoping?

a) Yes

30%

b) No

70%

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 30% respondents said yes suffered any kind of losses from
teleshopping and 70% said no.

Q9. What kinds of services you are setting from teleshop?

a) Credit Card

60%

b) DD 10%

74

c) Home Delivery

30%

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 60% respondents said credit card are setting from teleshop, 10%
said DD and 30% said Home Delivery.

Q.10 What are criteria on values you buy teleshopping product?

a).

Quality

c)

Varity

10%

20%

b).

d).

Any other
75

Price

40%
15%

e)

Delivery

15%

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 20% respondents said quality criteria on values you buy
teleshopping product, 40% respondents prefer price, 10% said varity, 15% said any other
and 15% said delivery

Q11. Which Products you prefer to buy from teleshopping

a).

Accessories

10%

b)

Clothes

30%

c).

Health related product

5%

d)

Any other

55%

76

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 10% respondents prefer Accessories to buy from teleshopping,
30% said clothes, 5% said health related product and 55% said other products.

Q12. Are you satisfied with the payment made of teleshop?

a).

Cash

20%

c)

Cheque

10%

b).

77

Creadit Card 70%

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 20% respondents are satisfied with the payment made of teleshop
through cash, 70% said credit card and 10% said cheque.

Q.13. Which company teleshoping you have Use?

a) Asian Sky Shop

10%

b) Home Shop 18

45%

c) Shop 24 Seven

30%

d) Tele brands

15%

78

INTERPRETATION:
The study examined that 10% respondents said Asian Sky Shop teleshoping you have Use,
45% use Home Shop 18, 30% said Shop 24 Seven and 15% said Tele brands.

CONCLUSION
Since the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) have been developing rapidly in the last
decade, the growth of E-commerce has also along with the fast speed of Internet
79

development. Due to the features of the Internet, in the business world there has another
important marketing channel for many firms. From the current researches suggested that the
online retailers have to attract customers and at the same time provides right products or
services to fit the customers needs.
This study is mainly focus on the factors from the Internet and examines those factors that
affect the consumers online shopping behaviours. It starts with the current status of the
Internet development, and mentioned the background of book industry as representation and
its difference with physical stores which in order to show the developing history of Internet
shopping since the E-commerce become popular. In the chapter of literature review, there
are three main sections have been discussed: traditional shopping behaviour, Internet
shopping and online consumer behaviours. Each section starts with the concept, and
followed by other perspectives. The research focus on the Internet shopping (include the
nature of Internet shopping, E-commerce website, and online security, privacy, trust and
trustworthiness) and online consumer behaviours (include background, shopping motivation
and decision making process). Those factors were looked at, and examined to reveal the
influence at online consumer behaviours. In addition, the previous researches were used to
help researchers understanding more comprehensively. Moreover, the customers purchase
decision making process was also examined to identify the potential factors. The
information search is the most important factor that helps the customers find the suitable
products or services for their needs. Therefore, the online retailers have to enhance and
improve the information supporting such as provide much detailed product information and
use internal search engine in order to increase the efficient of information search. For the
evaluation stage, customers more think a lot of the reputation from the E-commerce
website, and the payment security for the purchase stage. At the post-purchase stage, the
factor of after services which is the most concerned about. Overall, the factors from the
80

Internet that influenced or prevented online consumer behaviours need to be carefully

concerned by the online retailers, who can utilize the appropriate marketing
communications to support the customers purchase decision making process and improve
their performance.

81

SUGGESTIONS

E- Marketing focuses on leveraging existing social networks by encouraging customers to

share product information with their friends. One of the quoted examples was the rapid
development of Hotmail in the 90s, which grew from zero to 12 million users in 18 months.
But up to now, it was difficult to measure and model the effectiveness of viral
recommendations. A team composed of HP Labs, interns from Carnegie Mellon University
and University of Michigan Ann Arbor analyzed the data from a person-to-person
recommendation network, consisting of 4 million people who made 16 million
recommendations on half a million products. They observed the propagation of
recommendations and the cascade sizes, as well as established how the recommendation
network grows over time.
Bernardo and the team were able to draw key insights that all marketers should use as they
develop word of mouth campaigns.
#1 - Viral marketing does not spread well. In epidemics, high connectors are very critical
nodes of the network and allow the virus to spread. In recommendations networks, a few
very large cascades exist but most recommendation chains terminate after just a few steps.
#2 - The probability of viral infection decreases with repeated interaction. Providing
excessive incentives for customers to recommend actually weakens the credibility of those
links. The probability of purchasing a product increases with the number of
recommendations received, but quickly saturates to a constant and relatively low
probability.
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#3 - Viral effectiveness varies depending on price and category. Social context has a
high influence on the potency of viral infection. Technical or religious books for example
had more successful recommendations than general interest topics. Smaller and more tightly
knit groups tend to be more conducive to viral marketing

Viral marketing does not spread well. In epidemics, high connectors are very critical
nodes of the network and allow the virus to spread. In recommendations networks, a
few very large cascades exist but most recommendation chains terminate after just a
few steps.

The probability of viral infection decreases with repeated interaction. Providing

excessive incentives for customers to recommend actually weakens the credibility of
those links.

Viral effectiveness varies depending on price and category. Social context has a high
influence on the potency of viral infection. Technical or religious books for example
had more successful recommendations than general interest topics. Smaller and
more tightly knit groups tend to be more conducive to viral marketing.

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LIMITATIONS
Difficulties in the identification of the source.
The facilities or capabilities of the agency that originally collected the data might be
questionable.
The data may not fit into the needs of investigation. There may be difference in the units
of measurement, there may be surrogated data, discrepancy of class & data may pertain
to some other period of time.
Difficulty to find secondary data that exactly the needs of some specific research
investigation.
It is observed that it is rather difficult to measure the degree of approximation used in
the collection of information as well as the competence of the investigator in motivating
the persons to supply the desired information.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marketing Management: Kotler P., Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.

Advertisement Management Rathore B.S., Himalaya Publishing House
Marketing Strategies Yadav :P.K., Anamika Publishers & Distributors
Marketing Research Boyd, West Fall, Spasch, All India Traveller book seller

Website
www.conestogac.on.ca/~sfinlay/eMarketing/introduction.htm
www.davechaffey.com/E- Marketing/c1-introduction-to-E- Marketing
www.peoi.org/Courses/Coursesen/emarket/emarket1.html

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QUESTIONNAIRE
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARD E-MARKETING
Name:

Vikram Varshney / Phone No: 8881632798

Occupation:

Location:

Age:
15-25 25-35 35-45 45 and above
Family type:
Q.1 Are you a Internet user?
a) Yes

b) No

Q.2 Are you aware of the term E- Marketing.?

a) Yes

b) No

`Q.3. Have you experienced to E- Marketing?

a) Yes

b) No

b) Jobs

If yes than:
Q.4. Which E-Marketing you can recall?
a) Matrimonial

c) If any other, specify

Q.5 Which types of Marketing you liked most?
a) Based on Rationality

b) Based on Emotionality

Q.6 Which medium of Marketing you prefer most.

a) Cloths

b) Books
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c) other

Q.7 Do you buy any product from teleshopping?

a)

Yes

b) . No

Q.8. Have you suffered any kind of losses from teleshoping?

a) Yes

b) No

Q9. What kinds of services you are setting from teleshop?

a) Credit Card

b) DD

c) Home Delivery

Q.10 What are criteria on values you buy teleshopping product?

a).

Quality

c)

Varity

e)

Delivery

b).

Price

d).

Any other

Q11. Which Products you prefer to buy from teleshopping

a).

Accessories

b)

Clothes

c).

Health related product

d)

Any other

Q12. Are you satisfied with the payment made of teleshop?

a).

Cash

c)

Cheque

b).

Creadit Card

Q.13. Which company teleshoping you have Use?

a) Asian Sky Shop

b) Home Shop 18

c) Shop 24 Seven

d) Tele brands

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