Well over one third of consumers who have Internet access in their homes report using the Internet to make purchases. (Devang, 2007)

It seems that everyone wants to be on the Internet and for good reason. It is safe to say it is the most important new method for conducting business in the last 50 years if not longer. Unfortunately, many marketers jumped in with little knowledge of how to do it right. Internet marketing experts agree that anyone who is interested in doing business on the Internet should take time to learn about what it is they are getting into. Well before you take the leap you may want to take a look here.

Internet marketing can also be seen in various formats. One version is name-your-price (e.g. Priceline.com). With this format, customers are able to state what price range they wish to spend and then select from items at that price range. With find-the-best-price websites (e.g. Hotwire.com), Internet users can search for the lowest prices on items. A final format is online auctions (e.g. Ebay.com) where buyers bid on listed items.

The Internet has become part of our lives, utilizing the Web becomes a business decision critical to all businesses. Small businesses are moving online with Web sites, e-mail marketing, and in some cases, e-commerce transaction sites. Yet, many businesses are unsure how to use the Internet to effectively market and grow their businesses. Costs, resource allocation, and return on investment can seem daunting when dealing with a business Web site, e-mail, and e-commerce in addition to the daily pressures of managing a business.

According to eMarketer, a leading Internet research firm, 78% or 5.9 million of all small businesses are connected to the Internet and nearly half have active Web sites.

With each passing season, the Internet continues to change and evolve. Who would have guessed that nearly half of all e-mail would be SPAM? Most of us attempting to do business online not only send out a great deal of e-mail to other people, but we are also receiving a lot of it. And, you do not want your email confused with SPAM. In order for your email message to stand out from the ever maddening crowd of e-mail messages, it must be different, unique, and interesting. If not, it will wind up getting deleted before it is even read. What you need to email is the, “Perfect E-mail Ad”.

The focus of this paper is to present a brief survey of Internet marketing through the E-mail the marketing online. Section I deal with the importance of E-mail, while section II discuses the ways to track websites visitors. Section III presents the key to any site’s success.

 

I-Make the Most of E-mail

 

E-mail is the single most effective electronic tool for strengthening customer relationships, reports Forrester Research, a leading technology research firm.

Forrester estimates that by 2007, more than two-thirds of the e-mails sent to customers will be geared towards keeping present customers, rather than acquiring new customers.

As a unique communications and marketing tool, e-mail can be used to address customer relationship management needs, such as responding to a request for warranty information or confirming when a shipment will arrive. Some e-mail responses may be as simple as directing a customer to a particular page on your Web site, while other e-mails will lead to a phone conversation between customer and service rep to answer complicated questions.

 

1. E-mail provides immediate access, anywhere.

E-mail is so popular because it can be used by anyone, anywhere. Business travelers can log on at hotels and airport business centers; people without computers can use free e-mail services like Hotmail and Yahoo and log on at public libraries, community centers, and cyber-cafes.

Universal access to e-mail is a double-edged sword. When customers see that you are available via e-mail, they assume that you are checking your e-mail frequently. They’ll expect you to respond promptly. Companies that deliver on their promise to respond to e-mail queries within an appropriate timeframe are at a distinct advantage over those that do not. Prompt responses capture a customer’s attention, loyalty, and orders.

 

2. Utilize key e-mail functions.

Some of the most common Internet browsers used for e-mail are Netscape, Microsoft’s Outlook and AOL.

E-mail functions are also being added to sales support software programs that let you screen, file, and organize e-mail. If your company is small, or if you have relatively few clients, you may not need much more than the simple database functions embedded in these e-mail programs to manage your customer contacts. The most common functions include:

-Multiple personalities. Set up different e-mail accounts for specific brands, locations, or projects. This enables you to automatically forward e-mails to a specific person in your company assigned to answer them. The specific e-mail addresses can be posted at the appropriate places on your Web site.

-In-boxes. Even if you don’t use filters, you can still build archives of e-mails on particular topics, or projects, or from certain people, by creating internal in-boxes. These are useful for keeping track of “conversations” you have with clients, and ensures that you can refer back to requests and your responses. If you want to broadcast an e-mail to everyone who has corresponded with you on a particular topic, you can use the topic-specific in-box as a de facto e-mail list.

-Templates. Called “stationery” by some, this function lets you create boilerplate messages and simply plug in the recipient’s e-mail address.

This is excellent for answering standard questions, such as driving directions to your office. However, if you find that certain questions are asked often, you may want to post the answers on a frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) list on your Web site.

-Auto-respond. This function bounces back a canned answer to an e-mail. Most basic browser e-mail functions will only let you send out an “I’m not here” message that explains why you’re not going to respond to the e-mail. More sophisticated programs let you craft different auto-responds that are tailored to the customer’s request or order history.

-Embedded links. Use the “link” function to connect customers with a Web page within your site or at another site. The e-mail will be sent in HTML format and the customer can click on the highlighted link to be transported immediately to that page. This is an easy way to direct customers to a particular page on your site that they may not have been able to find.

 

No matter how you organize the e-mail that flows into your business, consider what type of response customers are likely to expect. If they’re making a routine inquiry, such as asking if you carry a certain brand or item, short and snappy is fine. But if you’re staking your reputation on customized, high-ticket products or services, be sure to give a “you’re special” tone to your responses.

 

3. Make “rich text” e-mail an option.

Most Internet users are accustomed to receiving e-mail in plain text format. But as Web sites have become more sophisticated, so has e-mail. Options such as graphics, embedded video and audio that are enacted with a click and the ability to respond without going back to the original Web site have become the cutting-edge in Internet marketing.

Enhanced, or “rich,” e-mail is most useful to customers with fast Internet connections. “Rich” e-mail may be rich text or HTML e-mail. If many of your customers don’t have fast connections, offer the option of receiving either a text or rich format e-mail when they initially sign up.

Trip.com, a travel Web site, has a simple, easy-to-understand format for helping visitors choose which format they prefer text or rich e-mail for its newsletters. Most people are more impressed by an e-mail message that specifically addresses their needs than with fancy technology, unless that technology makes their communication with you significantly easier.

 

4. Give customers opt in/opt out options.

People will become increasingly selective about which e-mails they will read. Response rates will drop dramatically for e-mails that are considered irrelevant, too pushy, or too intrusive.

When customers find your messages genuinely useful, they eagerly anticipate, open, and act on your e-mails. But don’t take advantage of customer goodwill. Even if you already have a database of e-mail addresses, you want to elicit the permission of those customers before automatically putting them on your e-mail list. It’s fine to send out an introductory e-mail, but go no further unless you have a recipient’s buy-in.

Marketing consultant Seth Godin champions the concept of eliciting a “yes!” from consumers before signing them up for any follow-up.

“Opt-in” is the term for requesting customers to specifically ask to be put on your list. “Opt-out” is the term for requiring that customers specifically instruct you not to use their information for marketing purposes. Some e-mail marketers adopt the opt-out tactic that customers are assumed to be signing up for future e-mails unless they specifically “opt out.”

The trouble is that many customers won’t scroll far enough down the e-mail to see how to get off the regular mailing list. If they can’t figure out how to get off the list, they will automatically delete any e-mail you send.

A more painstaking, but more productive, tactic is opt-in. Briefly outline the benefits that customers will get by actively choosing to be on your e-mail list (e.g., advance notice of sales, first to receive breaking news, etc.) and then provide a response mechanism for them to put themselves on your list. Usually that mechanism is to simply hit “reply” and put in the message line “subscribe.”

Customers are much more likely to say “yes!” if they know exactly what they are signing up for.

 

II-Track Visitors and Your ROI (region of interest)

 

While    browsing your site, users may buy something. If there is no sale, how do you know that anyone has stopped by? Web site operators can collect more information on customers than brick and mortar store owners can.

1. Methods of measurement

There are several ways to track visitors. One method is based on number of “visitors,” which refers to the number of users who visit the site.

Another method is based on the number of “page views.” A person visiting a site clicks on a page, enlarges a graphic, listens to an audio recording, or moves within the site.

Each activity makes a request of the site’s host computer to send the visitor’s computer some electronic information. Those requests are tracked as “page views.” A page view registers each time a visitor clicks on part of the site. Companies monitoring visitors and page views can get a general idea of a site’s traffic and trends by relying on their own server software or by paying an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to track the information.

Some companies have adapted visitor tracking software that offers even more information. In addition to the number of visitors and page views, they can determine what browser software visitors are using, what site the user just came from (so a company can judge how many visitors come from a link from another site), what modem speed the visitors are using (so the company can put fewer graphics on the site, if most visitors are using slow modems, for example), and what type of Internet access accounts visitors have.

With either type of traffic tracking, the names and e-mail addresses of visitors usually remain anonymous unless they voluntarily provide it. If visitors provide that, they might also be willing to provide demographic information, such as where they live, their income level, and a few details about their purchasing decisions. Gathering this data online has become more common. With such information, companies can tailor their sites to visitors’ demographic profiles. The tracking data can also become a valuable tool for driving your product research and marketing decisions.

It’s important to precisely track the results you get from Internet-based marketing so that you can quickly modify the online tools that aren’t capturing leads or creating customer loyalty. The simplest formula for measuring the ROI is to first create a baseline for comparison the percent of customers who respond to e-mailed special offers, for example. Then, track the expenses associated with adding in a particular customer support technology, such as instant chat. After the customers have used the new technology for a month, review the number of sales per site visitor, compared to the number of sales per site visitor prior to the addition of the technology. Divide the incremental increase in the number of sales by the cost of the new technology to determine if the technology is beginning to pay off (taking into account, of course, other factors that may affect sales, such as discounted prices, addition of new products, and special advertising campaigns).

2. Try a trial run

Consider setting up a customer advisory board to test new site features, offers, customer service technologies, and changes in your fulfillment operation.

Customers genuinely appreciate the chance to offer feedback about what does and does not work with your online efforts. eLoan, a company that provides online applications for consumer and business loans, has set a company policy that a human must answer the customer service phone within six seconds. Its goal is for 90% of its e-mails to be answered within two hours, and 100% within 24 hours.

Follow-up surveys with eLoan customers about the quality of service indicate that 95% of customers report that they’d use eLoan again an extremely high repeat rate by any standard.

The quality of customer service directly impacts your company’s reputation. You may want to assign an employee to regularly check chat sessions, message boards, and listservs outside your Web site that are frequented by your regular customers to see what kinds of comments are made about your products and level of service.

 

III-Drive Traffic to Your Site

 

The key to any site’s success is traffic. No company can advertise, generate sales, or offer customer service online unless people visit its Web site. Your site must be promoted so Web users can find it among the vast number of sites. But this doesn’t mean launching an expensive ad campaign. One of the great advantages of the Web for small businesses is that it’s inexpensive to let people know about a site. E-mail is one of the best ways to get the word out.

E-mail ads invite visitors. Most e-mail programs allow users to create small files of text that automatically append to the bottom of every e-mail message they send. For example, at the end of each e-mail message, you can say something like, “Pike’s Peat, meeting your landscaping needs since 1962.” The file is called a “signature file,” and any company with a Web site should include the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and a brief description of the site in employees’ signature files. Thus, every e-mail sent could also include a brief ad like, “Visit our Web site at www.pikespeat.com to play Land in Clover!”

The key to an effective signature file is to keep it short, ideally four lines or fewer. Elaborate signature files just take up space and are not read more than once. A short file usually gets at least a glance every time, prompting visitors to remember the message.

Adopt direct e-mail, too. Begin by setting up your site to collect e-mail addresses of visitors. Add a question next to that section asking if they would like to receive e-mail notifying them of changes to your site and updates on key information.

Once armed with a list of users willing to receive e-mail, start sending it to them. Don’t abuse their trust by overwhelming them with press releases every time a minor change is made to the site, but do create a regular mailer, perhaps once a month, pointing out a few new products available on the site or key issues discussed there. The mailer shouldn’t steal the site’s thunder. It should be more of a teaser designed to make readers want to visit the site. Keep it very short and current.

1. Think rich and informative “passive content”

Enhanced passive content is information that provides general customer support for access any time of day or night. Such content might include:

- Company backgrounders

- How to contact service reps

- Directions to your facility, and business hours

- Instructions for using your products

- Technical specifications

- Schedules for maintenance and upgrades

- Product catalogs

Much of this information can be reorganized and placed on your site a task that can be accomplished relatively quickly, if you already have digital files of text, graphics, and other elements. Standard HTML (Hyper Text Mark-Up Language) can be used to make your existing information Web-ready simply and quickly. Beware, however, that the organization and layout of most printed pieces are not Web-friendly. If you simply download a brochure, for example, online visitors may have difficulty navigating through it especially if it includes four-color pictures. Break it into simpler graphic and textual elements and place them separately on your site where people will look for them.

The “About Us” category is nearly universal on all business sites, so most people visiting your site will expect to see this internal link. It’s the place to put basic information about your company its history, mission, and short profiles of key managers. Because it’s important to have a consistent graphic style on your site and in your printed materials, have a designer simplify the graphics from existing materials so that they’ll fit the Web format and, more importantly, download quickly.

2. Define key pages of your Web site

Beyond basic “who’s who” information, what other content should you post? Start by posting information about items that drive the top 20% of your sales. This enables customers to find information on the products they frequently want. Then you can measure requests for additional information and add Web pages as demand dictates.

Because it costs so little to post each additional page of information, you should post the routine material that you provide customers.

Here are some examples of content that will enrich your site:

- Directions to your physical location.

There are three ways to make it easy for people to find you. First, MapQuest

(www.mapquest.com) offers a free link to an interactive map of your location on its site. Second, license the map software from companies such as MapQuest (www.mapquest.com), Rand McNally (www.randmcnally.com) and MapPoint (www.mappoint.net) The MapPoint Web Service is a programmable web service hosted by Microsoft and used by enterprises and independent software developers to integrate location-based services such as maps, driving directions and proximity searches into software applications and business processes. By using the MapPoint Web Service, companies can improve business results through better discoverability of store locations and business assets. . A third option is to compose and post driving directions to your business from two or three local landmarks (i.e. airport, downtown), and include a self-created map.

- Company directory.

Customers can feel disconnected if their only option for sending e-mail is to an impersonal address such as “Webmaster,” or, even worse, “customer support.” Include a “real person” address for generic customer support, so that customers don’t feel that they are sending their e-mail into a void.

Better yet, include pop-up e-mail forms with manager profiles so customers can connect to them directly.

- Product and service background information.

It may seem logical to group product descriptions together in one spot, but it’s actually more helpful to customers to position it throughout your site with marketing copy.

- Assembly directions and replacement parts.

Online replicas of the type of printed material usually packed with a product e.g., warranties, product registration, a form for ordering replacement parts are a time and labor saver for your customer service reps and consumers who have lost or tossed the originals.

3. Include FAQs within your site

The popular question-and-answer format was one of the first customer service tools adapted to Web sites. This format is easily understood and reflects the actual questions that customers ask. This gives customers a sense that you’re listening to them and responding.

It is easily updated and expanded as your service reps track the questions that are asked often and then work with your Webmaster to post the answers. You can leverage the friendly FAQ format even more by adding links to other parts of your Web site and useful links to other sites.

When marketing products that elicit many questions, it’s important to include in-depth product descriptions, e-mail contacts, and your toll-free number to supplement the generic site-wide “Help” button.

This is an inexpensive way to aid customers and maximize the impact of your content.

For example, Vitamins.com covers an extensive list of subjects under its “Help” button that appears at the top of every page. Every product description is also accompanied by buttons that introduce the site’s nutritional experts, including pop-up e-mail forms that can be used to ask those questions.

 

Conclusion

Marketing is the primary reason most small and medium-sized businesses are embracing the Internet. But in addition to enhancing marketing and sales efforts, an Internet presence can also be used to:

However, the first reason most small businesses build a Web presence is because the Internet is an affordable way to compete for customers, whether in your neighborhood or globally. Effective marketing is a key method to increase the number of customers, get your existing customers to buy more and increase both revenue and profit. A Web site does a lot to level the playing field between large and small businesses. A Web site can provide product or service details, contact information, ordering instructions and information about your business. There is no limit to the size of a Web site. A Web site can contain information in many formats because it is fairly easy to add photographs, audio, video, animated illustrations and maps.

Limitations of Internet marketing create problems for both companies and consumers. Slow Internet connections can cause difficulties. If companies build overly large or complicated web pages, Internet users may struggle to download the information. Internet marketing does not allow shoppers to touch, smell, taste or try-on tangible goods before making an online purchase. Some e-commerce vendors have implemented liberal return policies to reassure customers. Another limiting factor, particularly with respect to actual buying and selling, is the adequate development (or lack thereof) of electronic payment methods like e-checks, credit cards, etc. Additionally, there is the need to drive people to the site. Without other collateral such as print, television or radio (with print being the most effective due to the longevity of the piece compared to an ad on the radio or TV) it can often be difficult for the consumer or other businesses to find any specific address without prior knowledge.

 

 References

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- Kristin Anderson, Carol Kerr: Customer Relationship Management: Tata McGraw Hill Pub. Co., New Delhi, 2002

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