the Internet should be used to encourage two-way communications, which may be
extensions of the direct-response approach. For example, FMCG suppliers such as Nestlé
(www.nescafe.co.uk) use their web site as a method of generating interaction by provid-
ing incentives such as competitions and sales promotions to encourage the customer to
respond with their names, addresses and profile information such as age and sex.
Hoffman and Novak (1997) believe that digital media represent such a shift in the
model of communication that it is a new model or paradigm for marketing communica-
tions. They suggest that the facilities of the Internet represent a computer-mediated
environment in which the interactions are not between the sender and receiver of infor-
mation, but with the medium itself. They say:consumers can interact with the medium, firms can provide content to the medium, and in
the most radical departure from traditional marketing environments, consumers can pro-
vide commercially-oriented content to the media.
It has taken ten years of the growth in use of individual recommendations, auction
sites, community sites and more recently blogs and podcastsfor the full extent of this
shift to become apparent. In 2005, a Business Weekcover feature article referred to the
‘Power of us’ to explain this change and showed that although relatively few consumers
are creating blogs (low single-figure percentages), a large proportion of Internet users are
accessing them.2 Intelligence
The Internet can be used as a relatively low-cost method of collecting marketing
research, particularly about customer perceptions of products and services. In the com-
petitions referred to above, Nestlé are able to profile their customers’ characteristics on
the basis of questionnaire response.
A wealth of marketing research information is also available from the web site itself.
Marketers use the web analyticsapproaches described in Chapter 9 to build their knowl-
edge of customer preferences and behaviour according to the types of sites and content
which they consume when online. Every time a web site visitor downloads content, this
is recorded and analysed as ‘site statistics’ as described in Chapter 9 in order to build up
a picture of how consumers interact with the site.3 Individualisation
Another important feature of the interactive marketing communications is that they can
be tailored to the individual (Figure 1.11(b)) at relatively low costs, unlike in traditional
media where the same message tends to be broadcast to everyone (Figure 1.11(a)).
Importantly, this individualisation can be based on the intelligence collected about site
visitors and then stored in a database and subsequently used to target and personalise
communications to customers to achieve relevancein all media. The process of tailoring
is also referred to as personalisation– Amazon is the most widely known example where
the customer is greeted by name on the web site and receives recommendations on site
and in their e-mails based on previous purchases. This ability to deliver ‘sense and
respond communications’ is another key feature of Internet marketing.
Another example of personalisation is that achieved by business-to-business e-tailer
RS Components (www.rswww.com). Every customer who accesses their system is pro-
filed according to their area of product interest and information describing their role in
the buying unit. When they next visit the site information will be displayed relevant to
their product interest, for example office products and promotions if this is what wasCHAPTER 1· AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET MARKETING
Podcasts
Individuals and
organisations post
online media (audio
and video) which can be
viewed in the
appropriate players
including the iPod
which first sparked the
growth in this
technique.
Web analytics
Techniques used to
assess and improve the
contribution of
e-marketing to a
business, including
reviewing traffic
volume, referrals,
clickstreams, online
reach data, customer
satisfaction surveys,
leads and sales.
Personalisation
Delivering
individualised content
through web pages or
e-mail.
Sense and respond
communications
Customer behaviour is
monitored at an
individual level and the
marketer responds
with communications
tailored to the
individual’s need.