Internet World Guide to One‐to‐One Web Marketing (Internet World Series)

Citation

Durkin, M. (1999), "Internet World Guide to One‐to‐One Web Marketing (Internet World Series)", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 9/10, pp. 974-977. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm.1999.33.9_10.974.1

Someone said recently that there is more money being made from books telling people how to make money on the Web, than by firms actually profiting from an online presence. It was with this sobering thought that I embarked on reading this book. Slightly disconcerted by the cover photograph showing members of the public with individual dartboard‐like targets stuck to the tops of their heads (by way of illustrating the one‐to‐one theme), I reminded myself never to judge a book in this way and proceeded with enthusiasm.

One‐to‐one with my book, I was left in no doubt that this certainly was the key message, each chapter title beginning with these words. We have “One to One Webmarketing”, “One to One Interactivity”, “One to One E‐mail”, “One to One Web Communities”, “One to One Web‐site Personalisation” and so on.

This book is purportedly aimed at “anyone focusing on the marketing side of Web management” and is deemed “a useful resource to marketing executives and managers”. It is certainly clear that this American book is aimed at marketing practitioners rather than academics or students, but given the contextual misuse of the words “principals” and “principles” in the introduction (p. xi), those with an even basic understanding of the English language will now be turning pages (one by one) with trepidation.

Chapter 1 covers the history of marketing in four paragraphs, propelling us forward to the “Age of WOW” (c1993) – that’s “We’re On the Web” for the uninitiated and The Age of ‘I Really Think There Is a Future in This Web Thing’ (c. 1995). Mmmm. By the way, we are now in the Age of Consensual Marketing (pp. 3‐5).

As I read on, I almost felt I was being spoken to, as if I were listening to an audio‐tape of a Web evangelist from the Age of WOW preaching to me the good news of the Web, telling me how marketing as a discipline was somehow incomplete, soulless and doomed without the Web, never being able to get to the “other side” of true business enlightenment without first becoming a Web believer. This books seems written to be read aloud, performed almost.

References to prior work with regard both to relationship marketing and electronic commerce (both concepts are referred to often) are scarce. Quotes are often taken from the books of Don Peppers, Martha Rogers and Regis McKenna, all of whom clearly have the authors of this book as fans. The style of writing, here, however, is not to the standard of the aforementioned authors, all of whom have individually (i.e. one by one) contributed more to marketing thought than this book could ever hope to.

The style is conversational and familiar, the text peppered with punchy platitudes and soundbite‐like clips of advice which do little to stimulate meaningful thought. Two examples:

1. 1.

   (1) “Bottom Line, don’t use it” (reference to flashing copy on Web‐sites, p. 22).

2. 2.

   (2) “It’s a tool, use it” (reference to Web‐sites in general, p. 21).

All of this is unfortunate, since this style compromises and undermines the integrity of many useful concepts and ideas raised by the book in subsequent chapters.

For example in Chapter 4, entitled “One‐to‐one Web site personalisation”, the authors explore an issue at the heart of interactive marketing. The Web’s impact on the dynamics of customer power is discussed in the context of improved information sources via the Internet, eliminating the asymmetry of information upon which most relationships are predicated. This is a key issue for marketers and is returned to again in Chapters 5 and 8. Here the authors provide useful information on the changing role of the Web, from being a vehicle mainly for “pull” promotion towards a more complete “push and pull” mechanism by virtue of improving technology. The use of the Web in customer tracking and interactive dialogue is usefully outlined in Chapter 4, bringing in the dimension of mutuality of benefits so integral to relationship marketing thinking. This mutuality is often discussed throughout the text by reference to “learning relationships”, and how the Web can contribute to their cultivation and development is explored. In Chapter 10, concerning back‐end and front‐end systems integration, many important and practical considerations are effectively discussed. Issues of privacy are explored in Chapter 11. Throughout the entire book there are hundreds of examples of Web‐sites and useful Web addresses are cited throughout the text.

While many issues of relevance are discussed, they are mostly viewed from the manager’s standpoint and there remains little reference to the customer in all this. The key questions “Are your customers on the Web? Are your competitors on the Web?” are highlighted in Chapter 2, but their significance remains under‐developed in the remainder of the book.

The Web’s role as facilitator in information exchange can lead companies to a meaningful dialogue with customers (e.g. the ubiquitous Amazon.com). This dialogue can lead to enhanced NPD processes and more customised market offers. The dialogue can improve customer closeness and trusting relationships can be developed. But key questions have to be addressed.

What companies? What products are most appropriate for Net delivery? What do customers expect from a Web‐site? What about issues of intermediation and disintermediation so much talked about in business‐to‐business contexts? Are there general rules of best practice in Web‐site design or should certain Web‐sites look/operate differently given varying contexts? What about the role of IMC in Web‐site development and promotion? Where are fundamental marketing concepts such as segmentation discussed, specifically issues of segment viability and relationship economics?

In short, these questions are not addressed in any depth, if at all. Therefore this book does the reader genuinely interested in Internet marketing a grave disservice – it makes it all seem so easy. Consider these helpful comments:

• •

  “One to One Web marketing requires interaction or dialogue between customer and advertiser. Translation: customer loyalty” (p. 226).

• •

  “One to One web site personalisation will work if you follow the basic idea of value exchange” (p. 85).

In taking this somewhat superficial and simplistic stance, the book undermines the more thoughtful and considered work being completed by many writers in the whole area of electronic commerce research (for example, Rayport and Sviokla, 1994, 1995; Hoffman and Novak, 1996; Hamill, 1997; Hagel and Armstrong, 1997; Hamill and Gregory, 1997; Peterson, 1997; Venkatesh, 1998) by making it seem that such research may be unwarranted; that Internet marketing is a natural and necessary development to be engaged in without question.

Of course the Web is a hugely important phenomenon. It is having and will continue to have a significant impact on business practices in terms of both customer relationship management and supply chain management. Surely then, such potentially pervasive impacts highlight all the more the need for a measured and critical review of relevance and applicability of the Web in varying business contexts.

Academic research is only beginning more fully to identify the key questions since it is by doing this that we can hope to gain a deeper understanding as to what the answers might be. Reading this book will only help academics and marketing students along that path in the sense that it will serve as a motivator. For practitioners the book will doubtless provide a backdrop and context for considering management issues in Internet marketing. It has hundreds of examples of Web‐sites which may serve to increase awareness that harnessing the Internet is a key issue for marketers. What it will not do is give a rounded picture of the central challenges, as well as opportunities, since it seems to present all the answers but in reality asks few of the key questions.

In the words of the authors themselves “It is certainly fun to look back in amazement at what has been accomplished with and on the Web” (p. 3). Indeed it is, and with this in mind I’m left wondering who will profit more from this book: authors or readers.