Relationship is a bond or connection b/w firm and its customers, it may be strong, weak or non-existent, based on logic or emotion.  Buyer-seller relationships are based on exchange, where each party expects, or perhaps even demands value for what is given (money for products).                  1) Customers have have a relationship w/ the firm tend to feel good about remaining lyal are not as likely to seek out competitive offerings, actively promote the firm to others and are willing to pay higher prices.  2) Over time, some customers will cease to be profitable and firms should take steps to dissolve the unprofitable relationships.

Integrated lever selection is important to marketing plan because the levers all comlement each other and are interwoven.  One cannont exist without the others.  Awareness is the first stage of any product/service, exploration/expansion follows but commitment and dissolution don’t exist for every product and/or serivce. The levers enable the customer to build and go through the relationship stages effectitively. 

ebay’ s application of  the marketspace matrix change over time- First they used awareness and exploration/expansion as any other firm to gain customers (get them interested and explore the website and what it has to offer to them) as well as joing and tryin to buy/sell.  Then ebay went to commitment by creating a strong reputable community and used various ways to keep people and continue buying/selling and furthering their relationship status with ebay.  Over 3 different periods of time ebay went back to awareness, exploration, and commitment to gain new customers as they devolped and redevolped their website and community.

4 categories for lever selection: 1) which levers are customers more responsive to?  - principle 1: base the levers on consumer’s behavior. principle 2: choose levers to effect change principle 3: measure the impact of each lever principle 4: overcome barriers to advancement 2) which levers are least likely to generate a competitive response? principle 5: anticipate your competitors’ likely responses principle 6: build on your firm’s skills and resources 3) which levers work best together- principle 7: look for interaction effects. principle 8: integrate across levers 4) which levers are consistent with strategy? - principle 9: levers create the position principle 10- focus on superior customer value.

Internet is a distribution channel.  A distribution channel is the system of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for consumption or use.  Marketing channels therefore allow buyers and sellers to exchange goods and services.  Internet- substitute for other forms of communication, changed buyer-seller relationships, changed customer shopping experience, and increased the power of consumers.

Functions of channel intermediaries- 1) efficiency- distribution costs are reduced only if the retailer can perfom the required functions more efficiently than the manufacturers could in the direct channel 2) effectiveness- the ability of the channel to perform functions tht create value for customers. 

Disintermediation- 1) a strategy that involves the elimination of a channel intermediary- moving from traditional manufacturer-retailer-consumer 2) internet has become a driving force for disintermediation-high speed and low cost and tighter relationships between buyers and sellers/ more personal  3) overall result is positive bc channel works more closely to create value for customer

Distribution levers — Awareness-# of intermediaries-intenstive distribution via more outlets , # of channels/intermediary types- increasing market coverage and awareness by using different channel types -exploration/expansion- degree of channel integration,-explore relationships, increases customer service level=attractiveness of firm, interaction;  # of channels/intermediary type- exploration w/ increasing channels, value of product is inhanced. commitment- degree of channel integration, intermediary type, # of channels, intermediary functions and responsibilies dissolution- elimination of channel types, reduction in the # of intemidiaries, reduction of channel integration.

Community definition- a set of interwoven relationships built upon shared interests, which satisfies members’ needs otherwise unattainable individually. 

Successful community- 1) membership is a conscious choice 2) member base has achieved critical mass and sustainability 3) members feel a great sense of trust 4) members achieve benefits in scale 5) roles are not heirarchical or imposed 5) effecitve ficilitaion and site structure keeps commuinty activities on track 6) a spirit of participation and feedback is clearly cultivated 7) a sense of affiliation is achieved through is achieved through ownership of equity in the community efficiency in interaction is maximized 9) the community is easily navigable.

Different types of interests that form the foundation of community are 1) information-driven communities- build upon shared interests, facts/opinions 2) activity-driven communities-shared interesting in activities, ex online game or buying ebay) 3) commonality-driven communities-profession, ethnicity, life style..

Communities function- 1) real-time stystem — 1) internet relay chat 2) web-based chat 3) virtual worlds and MUDS (multiuser dimensions) and MOOs (MUDs Object Oriented). 2) Asynchoronous systems – 1) mailing lists 2) newsgroups ( usenet groups) 3) web-based message boards

Three primary ways in which value is created within a community-  1) user to user 2) administrator to user 3) user to administrator

The benefits that community can generate for a parent firm- 1) cost benefits- reduced customer servie costs, reduced customer acquisition costs, reduced costs from decresased product flawas and marketing mistakes, reduced marketing costs 2) revenue benefits – increased customer segmentation and customization, increased branding, deepended customer relationships

Different levels of communtiy are: amy jo kim- 1) visitors 2) novices 3) regulars 4) leaders 5) elders and randall 1) passives 2) actives 3) motivators 4) caretakers …

how to create successful community- 4 stages- awareness,-awareness of community/ curiousity, joining community, exploration/expansion-exploring the community, participationg, commitment-dynamic and interesting state creating value, building membership, , dissolution-flame wars, community goals changed, spotting the departing memember and try to give them incentive to stay

Defined as tangible goods and intangible services created for the purpose of transaction.  Levers-physical and services..  The internet is changing some accepted limitations of service-based offerings such as intangibility, simultaneity, heterogeniety, and perishability. 2 components of value proposition: core benefit, basic product and augmented product.

Interactivity and Individualization affect product because of the 21s bc a company learns more about its customers, personalizes a prdouct to meet customer preferces, and offer CRm tools to provide more value for customers and cut costs for product sellers.  Also websites which require customers to register to use the site have access to numerous tools to interact with the user as an individual.

Key marketing levers for products basic product levers: packaging, attribute & features, customer-specifiend attributes &features, and mass-customized product. customer service progrmas- postsales support, customer care, and customer relationship management.  1) loyatly programs and privileges, availability of complementary products, upgrades, enabling community, additional functionality, fulfillment capabilities.

Overall product development process is: 1) idea generation 2) screening ideas 3) product design 4) prototype development 5) business analysis 6) test marketing 7) commercialization

Companies can manage their product porfolios 1) new product development 2) enhancements and line extensions of current products and services 3) development of existing products 4) support of current products and services

Products help enable customer relationships by : awareness: packaging exploration/expansion: packaging, product attributes and features, fulfillment capabilities and customer experiences, availability of complementary products, customer-specified attributes and features, mass customization, advanced internet functionality. Commitment: upgrades, customer-specified attributes and features, mass customization, postsales support, loyalty programs, customer experience, enabling community, CRM. dissolution- customer care

Customer-centric approach to product development create strategic advantages by 1) customer needs 2) production needs and capabilities 3) research and development 4) competitos and marketplace forces.

Marketing communications are important because it conveys relevant messages to the right consumer and the right time.   Due to rising competition firms need to get creative and find new ways of getting their information out.  Synergy between messages, and traditional and interactive marketing methods are coming together.  People need to be communicated to multichannel.

The role of internet in a marketing communcations campaign is increasing.  Banner ads, loyalty programs and other ways marketers are trying to attract consumers to their site or buy a certain product/service.  Internet is another channel that has many ways of delivering the message.  It adds to the multi-channel method that customers like to be reached. 

Main categories of communication types are 1) mass offline- broadcast media: television-spot/infomercial-new products-tv poor mkting), radio-(selective geographically, lost cost, based on demographic, excellent reach and frequency/impact, low attention, fleeting exposure), outdoor- ( billboards static/dynamic, high frequency low cost low clutter) and PR-(awareness/exploration stages, offline marketing).  Print media: newspprs-(traditional print/cassified, excellent coverage, trust and immediaacy, costly to extent range and frequency) , magazines- (selectivety geo/demographically, new products/early adopters, high quality reproduction, long life span, long lead times bad), yellow pages- (credibility, local coverage, strong reach low cost, decline due to internet) , brochures- (low reach and fequency) and newsletters-( high reach/freq, low cost and high interactivity). point of purchase displays-60% buying is made at the store. 

2) personal offline  levers-  Telemarketing- buy when customer calls company than telemarketers. Direct Mail- mailed based on demographics. Statement stuffers- direct mail with bill/other mailing statements. customer service-product lever/communication lever, interactive communication w/ customer.

3) Mass online levers – Basic online tools- banners (electronic billboards, interstitials( ad b/w pages of a website), search engines, P-O-P displays Application of basic online tools-partnerships and affiliate programs(reaching the masses and bundle of servies), sponsorships(brand awareness), chat rooms and serial marketing.

4) personal online- personalized commercial websites- tracking person’s online interaction and making their site according to that liking.E-mail marketing: viral marketing, loyalty programs, customer service

6 steps of communication process 1) identifying the target audience 2) determining the communication objective 3) devloping the media plan 4) creaing the message 5) executing the campaign 6) evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign.

 different levers for different customer stages- awareness- online- billboard, search engines, email, viral mkting offine- tv, mags, radio, yellow pgs, billboards/outdoor  exploration/expansion-online-billboards, search engines, email, viral, website, permision mtking, serial mrkting offline- tv, radio, newspprs, packaging. commitment- online- targeted email/permission mrkting, personalized pgs, loyalty programs, customer serivce offline- telemarketing, direct mail, permission mrkting w/ personalized offers. dissolution - personalized pgs, termination

Wireless future

The consumer adoption process is a generally accepted conceptualization of the stages a consumer goes through when confronted with a new product or service.  The stages are as follows:  Awareness->interest->evaluation->trial->adoption->internalization (harder to do).  The diffusion process is a communiation model and as such it consists fo four elements: the innovation, communication channels, time, and social systems within which the innovation is spreading. Diffusion is more of how to get the product/service out there for people to see it and know about it before they can take a part of the consumer adoption process.

Pervasive computing is that one person has access to a lot of computing devices to help them in their daily tasks.  People have many ways of getting their task done nowadays.  Pervasive computing lets people accomplish personal and professional transactions using portable devices.  It is more convenient many tasks possible anytime, anywhere (well, anywhere there is network service).  For marketers this is good and bad at the same time.  It’s good that information and tasks can be done on the go but this technology has many problems because it is not well-developped yet.  In the future transactions will be easier and marketers can get their information accross faster.  examples are Las Vegas cell phone at the parking meter and RFID speedpass at Exxonmobil.

Strategic Drivers of wireless adoption

1) context- information when and where customer needs or wants it.  Localization-geographic systems, the location of the user. ex on highway/next to store/restaurant consumer can be sent information about attractions in the area/ discount promotions/ specials for that day/discounts. Personalization- can select not only the type of information but also how frequently it is provided.  ex specific stocks and price levels at which he/she wants to be notified, also book/music preferences. 

2) time sensitive- Coupon that is saved or retained (after passing a store that beamed it) on the screen until checkout at that store.

3) high value- coupon will have reasonable value in order to make it welcome in the wireless context. ex 50% off coupon for a store

4) voice activation-while driving cannot talk on the phone or use the keys so voice activation is good

5) one-click payment mechanism-easy  and secured payment that is authorized and billed to a single  account.  ex amazon.com

6) security-data is secure and authentication services must be provided.  ex smart cards that can be inserted and removed to protect information

7) privacy- protecting personal data, providers of content and services will have to be sensitive to downlaod times, lack of stroage, and fact that users are paying for airtime.  ex GPS systems should not be abused

expanded permission marketing-extent the concept  of permission marketing beyond opt-in.  Marketers must figure out what information consumers want to receive, how often, and where.  Updated customer database in real-time . ex- newsletters, emails

Marketing Automation

The future of of knowledge management and use of marketing applications is growing.  Knowledge management is defined as “the systematic process of identifying capturing, and transferring information and knowledge people can use to create, compete and improve.”  This is defined by American Productivity & Quality center.  This future belongs to marketers who capture, analyze and use data correctly and efficiently.    There is explicit (stated and published) and tacit (subconscious and hard to articulate not yet published) knowledge.  Knowledge belongs to real people, information does too.  Gathering that information by people and computer servers are used by the same people to help them improve their response quality.

The role of knowledge management is to enable human agents to do their work better, faster, and in a way that provides maximum customer satisfaction. Also to create automated systems that perform at least as well as the most skilled human agent.

An example of this knowledge is the Mortgage bank application where after sending their application to the bank a couple (who is trying to by a house).  They check their status online for pre-approval for the mortgage.  After sending the application the bank makes a profile for them and they’re on their way to building a relationship with the bank.  Everything is done automatically but if they need a live chat there is a button to help them.  The automatical work flow system identifies tasks that must be performed, assigns responsibility and due dates for each task and establishes a collaborative database file that can be accessed by all bank personnel who have an assigned role in processing the application.The follow ups are with emails from the bank.

Web Metrics

Server log- record kept at the server that records each file requested from a Web site.  They are created by the server that houses the web site.  Everytime a browser wants a file in order to buld a web page, it generates an entry in the server request log.  a hit is counted on each file on the page (the graphics on a web page are separate file and there can be many files on a single page).  The server registers the IP address, date/time of request, code of success or failure, number of bytes of data transferred, referring site, type and version of web browser, and operating system of computer.

Coded page- A new method of collecting data on the “browser side” of the information transaction instead of the “server side.” Coded pages use 1 pixel by 1 pixel files.  It is invisible code.  Data tag, pixel tag, and transparent GIF are also what pixel files called, used in combination with cookies, sends visitor acitives to firms, traces path through site. Data collected by tags have advantages over server log data: 1) data may be more accurate-cache (high speed storage for data) 2) data collected by web bugs has smaller storage requirements because it only stores relevant data 3) real-time processing and viewing of site metrics.  (server log-must be transferred to a separate analytics system for batch processing-quickly but not in real-time). 

Panel data- Collects clickstream (complex data record make up of mouse click, of consumer activities on internet during a period of time) data.  Work and home usage of site. Demographic and lifestyle data.  Produces longitudinal data. 

I think that all are relevant and useful in different situations but panel data seems the best because it produces relevant information for the website.

  Specific metrics that measure traffic are hits (# of files requested), impressions (# of times banner ad is requested by a browser), page view (# of times a web page is requested), sessions ( amount of activity on a site during a specific period), click throughs (# of times  visitors come to the site by clicking an ad).  audience-visitors, unique visitors (different ppl), unidenfified and unduplicated.  campaign- communication (email, mail, online banners), product/offer (free shiipping…etc), search effectivenss.  —it depends on the site’s objectives to see which metric is best to use for that particular site.  I would use campaign and audience, traffic could be accidental and short.

Variables that measure the effectiveness of branding efforts on the internet are through advertising.  The exposure and response of those who see the ad.  A good brand will use various metrics and sources of getting information about their visitors. You need to measure the traffic to see how many people see your site daily or weekly.  You need who is your audience and what campaign method can you use for that audience specifically.

Customer service-

The internet has the capacity to increase customer expectations about service levels as well as vehicle capabilities to deliver the service that meets or exceeds those expectations.  The internet is a rapidly growing place.  It has much room for improvement and moving up is always necessary.  The internet created new ways of delivering service to customers.  The phone is the old-fashioned way, now customers can email and even live chat with representatives– webs based (channels)  FAQs and video are automated channels.  Telephone, and live chat are not the only ways.  Customers want multi-channels to get service to them and they what it done in a fast and efficient way.  Customers (online) want: 1) timely response 2) informative content 3) communication with a real person 4) product displayed clearly and prominently 5) 24-hour availability.  Customers demand great service and they will make sure they get it or else they won’t be too happy.  Lost sales or lost customers are not a good way to keep a customer happy. 

Customer service capabilities- 1) manage large number of customer accounts 2) have effective customer service systems 3) identify customer problems and communicate resolution 4) leverage customer information from the service process 5) prevent customer problems via customer education.

Anticipatory customer service is when the company knows the issues at hand and repairs/fixes whatever the problem might be or is occuring before the customer has a chance to figure our the problem or even complain about it. They need to prevent problems even before they start and not only fix the current problem. Companies must anticipate problem areas before they become troublesome, develop solutions, and provide service that exceeds customer expectations. 

3 things in order to implement anticipatory customer service: 1) build customer scenarios, using data from call center reports, e-mail logs, chat transcripts, and web site software reports  Intervention  can prevent problems such as common customer mistakes in placing orders. 2) make customer service pervasive by fulfilling  common requests before the customer asks 3) design the service process of “seamless escalation,” meaning to guide customers to the service they need w/out having to move through a lot of information that is useless.

If the business recognizes their problems before the customers it will save them money and customers.

Human error can lead to ethical issues as well as providing personal information and spam.  Call centers, email, live chat can all have its ethical issues…you have to make sure that you are non discriminatory and polite…addressing every issue the customer has.

Customer Relationship is a bond or connection between a two firms B2B or a firm and its customers B2C.  The bond can be weak, strong, or none existent, it can be intellectual, emotional or both.  Lack of personal interaction makes it harder to form and keep a relationship.  Relationship involvement is a funciton of product characteristics and purchase situation and the customer’s personal needs.  Firms want relationships so customers can: trust the seller to provide good value, anticipate positive feelings, so the brand represents the customers feelings, so they can promote the site to friends, and family.   Cost of serving current customers is lower than getting an new customer.  CLV is based on active and inactive customers.

 <a href=”http://Amazon.com” title=”http://Amazon.
” target=”_blank”>Amazon.com is a B2C.  They send mass emails for coupons and promotions as well as new items and books that are on sale.  They build trust with their customers.  They give recommendations based on your purchases and what other people who bought those items also bought.  They want to please their loyal customers.  Your information gets saved by cookies and they give u personal recommendations every few days to a week.  Since amazon.com has been a great site and very little problems people don’t complain and keep coming back.  Amazon.com is a transactional website where you can browse, buy and return goods.  You can buy from amazon.com or other sellers.  There is a 1-click payment system.  They have a great customer relationship because of their personalized recommendations for books as well as other items.  

Another example from the book would be landsend.com Uses direct marketing.  It is a catalog operation mutlichannel retailer now.  You can browse, buy and return.  there is a “my virtual model” that lets you have your own virtual living room where the customer can try on closes.  there is real time customer service w/ chat session to help you.  Great shopping experience.

Yellow Transportation is a B2B website myyellow.com.  B2B websites are not well-known the average person because most use transacational websites for personal use and are mostly B2C users.  Anyhow, Yellow Transportation lets the other firm to track shipping and scheduling.  They want customers to be able to communicate not only by phone, mail and person but also online.  Tracking shipments, getting prices for planned shipments, and pickup address.  There is also chat capability.  the customers can begin tracking shipment as soon as their items have been picked up for shipment.  They make sure that their clients (firms) like the service and are satisfied so they will come back and also recommend their business and website to anyone else in need of frieght transportation. 

keep customers happy and coming back is the greatest challenge of any business B2B or B2C.