Marketing communication and the world wide web - opportunities of internet marketing described

Business Horizons, Sept-Oct, 1996 by Pierre Berthon

* Fostering and encouraging consumer involvement with the product range. Ragu Sauces (http://www.ragu.com) now has a Web site that provides not only maximal product information but aids consumer involvement with the various products in the mix by offering meal suggestions and a substantial range of recipes (all of which include Ragu products as ingredients. The site is updated on a daily basis, encouraging surfers to visit often to see what is new. Built around the theme of "Mama," a grandmotherly character of presumably Italian origin who is obviously a wonderful cook, the site also contains an ongoing soap opera, competitions, opportunities for dialogue with the company, and an electronic coupon facility.

* Establishing interactivity, offering product samples, and building a customer database. Recently voted a "Top 5 Percent Of The Web" site, the 3M home page (http://www. mmm.com), provides information on new products and offers free samples. Value is added through software that gives technical and compatibility information, helps the buyer select the right product, and answers any other questions relating to 3M office products. Finally, the 3M site helps the company build a customer database through its "Candy Jar"--before leaving the site a visitor is requested to fill out a survey and select a free product sample.

* Handling customer complaints, queries, and suggestions. Federal Express (http:// www.fedex.com/) allows users access to its system through its Web site. The surprisingly popular site allows customers to track their shipments traveling through the system by typing in the package receipt number. In September 1995 about 168,000 customers tracked packages on the site, and activity increases by about 30 percent a month. FedEx managers maintain that the Web is one of the best customer relationship tools ever.

* Providing product distribution. An example of using the Web as a delivery medium for both samples and complete products is that of BEST ESTIMATE (http://www.io.org/-estim8s/ best-est.htm), a company that provides software to help estimate the cost of various industrial construction jobs. This enables jobs to be priced without call-outs, using database costs and stock products. Contractors can then rapidly turn around proposals and designers to make cost a true design parameter.

Different organizations may have different marketing objectives for establishing and maintaining a Web presence. One firm might wish to use the Web as a means of introducing itself and its new products to a potentially wide international audience, or to create corporate and product awareness in the market. In this instance the Web site can be used to expedite the buyer's progress down phases one and two in Figure 1. On the other hand, if the surfer knows of the company and its products, then Net dialogue can be used to propel the customer down to the lower phases in the buying progression. Another firm may be advertising and marketing well-known existing products, so its Web site objectives could be to solicit feedback from current customers as well as inform new ones.