Building Relationships Online … the road ahead or the road less travelled by?

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3. Building Relationships Online… the road ahead or the road less travelled by? Joe Passmore Head of Corporate Marketing University of Ulster www.ulst.ac.uk

4. University web development is at a fork in the road... Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. (The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost) … to carry on or to move to a new paradigm www.ulst.ac.uk

5. Some features of University web sites... • Lack of segmentation - mass market approach • Each visitor sees the same information • Information flow is one way… • No systematic data capture – plenty of hits • HITS - ‘How Idiots Track Success’ • What is the transaction? • How do we measure it? www.ulst.ac.uk

6. The Unanswered Question What value is your website adding to your university’s activity? www.ulst.ac.uk

7. Why do you have a website? • Because you can? • Technology seduction, the ‘19th Hole’ syndrome …or is your site built on customers’ expectation and requirements? • What do they want? • Ask them! www.ulst.ac.uk

8. Critical Success Factors CSF Criteria Strategic PlanningClearly defined business goals; analysis of customerneeds and expectations Web Design/ProductionProfessional design and structure Organisational StructureIntegrated with other activity; isolation leads and Integration to ‘electronic brochure’; professional managementofemail Internet MarketingProactive in inviting users to register interests; one-to-one communication; customized information Measurement CriteriaPayback may come in offline activity; monitor likesand dislikes of site; ensure realistic targets and clearmeasurement criteria Based on Pira Research, McGurran www.ulst.ac.uk

9. Critical Success Factors cont’d • Know your customers • Segmentation issues - who sees what and why? • The building of valuable relationships online with customers • What is value? • Repeat visit to see relevant information www.ulst.ac.uk

10. RelationshipMarketing “Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance… relationships with customers and other partners at a profit so that objectives of the parties are met. This is achieved by a mutual exchange and a fulfillment of promise” Christian Gronroos, 1994 or, put more succinctly... “An elaborate form of database marketing” Brodie et al, 1997 www.ulst.ac.uk

11. Some background • Properly applied it and used it can be used to gather unprecedented amounts of data on specific customer needs and therefore have a positive impact on customer service • A new marketplace where customers will choose to give organizations information about themselves… consumers may choose to be more selective about the type of information they leave on websites ...not just a more powerful customer but a more complete implementation of the marketing concept Hoffman and Novak, (1996) www.ulst.ac.uk

12. Some relationship marketing issues • Customer satisfaction as intention to repurchase • The longer a relationship lasts the more profitable it becomes • Each time a visitor returns to a site they see the same thing - unacceptable Every time you go to the bank they don’t ask you to open a new account! However, they might try to sell you additional products based on your profile www.ulst.ac.uk

13. Building relationships • Data gathering online and offline • Integration between online and offline activity • Building affinity - lifetime email address University as ISP - partnership with other providers Portal becomes a delivery channel for information, course updates, news appeals etc www.ulst.ac.uk

14. University site segmentation Site segmentation A series of portals for different users Intranet Internet Extranet • Student Intranet • Business Site • Admissions/applications site www.ulst.ac.uk

15. Site Objectives • Generate leads • Educate a target audience • Provide customer service • Attract repeat visitors/repeat purchase • Track visitors & lead them to action • Encourage visitors to leave information • can facilitate interactivity/cross selling e.g. Amazon.com • raises ethical issues and data protection issues • The primacy of the customer www.ulst.ac.uk

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25. Technology assimilation • Experimental applications • Prototype scientific applications • Efficiency/Convenience applications • Technology used to same work as currently being done but more conveniently/at less cost • Effectiveness applications • Old problems addressed in new with better results • ‘Previously unthinkable’ applications • With the required literacy, truly innovative exploitation occurs www.ulst.ac.uk

26. Stages of Technology Assimilation (Haeckel, 1985) “Previously Unthinkable” Effectiveness Efficiency/ Convenience Experimentall www.ulst.ac.uk

27. High Level of RM Commitment Expansion Low Level of ECom High Level of ECom Exploration Experimental Efficiency/ Convenience Effectiveness “Previously Unthinkable” Awareness Universities Low level of RM No awareness www.ulst.ac.uk

28. University marketing - beyond 2000 • Increasing emphasis on one-to-one communication - building relationships • Developing mechanisms for data capture • Introduction of call centres - Plymouth, Newport • Use of databases for content management • Greater integration of online & offline activity • Increased use of ‘Print on Demand’ • More targeted communications • Look out for the Data Protection Act! www.ulst.ac.uk

29. Know the road ahead... ‘Would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don’t much care where –’ said Alice ‘Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,’ said the Cat. ‘- so long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation. www.ulst.ac.uk

30. Last words... • Segmentation • Personalization • Relationship • Affinity • Loyalty www.ulst.ac.uk

31. Selected reading Berthon P, (1996) Marketing Communications on the World Wide Web, Business Horizons, Vol 39, No 5, pp24-33 Cornforth SR and Koty W, (1996) Untangling the Web: It takes more than hits to evaluate your site’s successes or troubles, Currents July/August pp 10-16 Dwyer FR, Schurr PJ and Oh S (1987) Developing Buyer-Seller relationships, Journal of Marketing, Vol 51, No 2 pp 11-27 Gronroos, C (1994) Quo Vadis Marketing? Towards a relationship Marketing Paradigm, Journal of Marketing, Vol 10, pp347-360 Haeckel SH, (1985) Strategies for Marketing the new technologies: commentary, Marketing in an Electronic Age, Buzzell RD ed, Harvard Business Press Hoffman D and Novak TP, (1996) A new marketing paradigm for Electronic Commerce, paper submitted for The Information Society Hoffman D and Novak TP, (1996) Marketing in hypermedia computer mediated environments: conceptual foundations, Journal of Marketing Vol 60, pp50-68 McGurran P (1997) Web Europe, Internet Business, May 1997, pp28-31 Rogers, EM (1983) Diffusion of Innovations, 3rd Edition, The Free Press New York www.ulst.ac.uk

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