E-marketing- How to make it a sucess?

One of the key ways to make any business a success is to know and classify your consumers.

Classifying Consumers

1) Psychographic/ Lifestyle profiles

- Usually uses external factors (in the models) to predict behaviour

- Combines demographic and psychological data

- Divides market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and/or personality characteristics

- It is usually empirically derived through broad and contrived e.g. clarita’s Prizm profiles.

- PRIZM defines every U.S household in terms of 66 demographically and behaviourally distinct types of “segments”, to help marketers discern those consumers likes and dislikes

PRIZM x Hitwise

- Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service

- Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories

2) Decision-stage based

Stages in the Online Purchasing Decision

- Five stages in the consumer decision process:

- Awareness of need

- Search for more information –concept of involvement

- Evaluation of alternatives

- Actual purchase decision

- Post purchase contact with firm—did I do the right thing (Contact of dissonance reduction)

Text book Model –Communication behaviour in each stage of decision process

3) Behavioural pattern based

A) Shoppers: Browsers vs. Buyer

- Buyers: 68% online users

- Browsers: 12% online users; purchase offline

What consumers shop for and Buy online

Big Ticket items:

- $500 plus

- Travel, computer hardware, consumer electronics

- Expanding

Small Ticket Items:

- On average, $100 or less

- Apparel, books, office supplies, software, etc.

- Physically small

- High margin items

- Broad selection of products available

B) Behavioural patterns based: Search based, contextual, technical

- Using search terms, search pages, search choices, tracking search related clicks thoughts

- Using the context of the event. What is purchased, what is browsed for on Wal-Mart or Amazon.com

- Using technical behavioural information: IP addresses, ISP connected from, type of connection: broadband, DSL, etc.

Intentional Acts: How shoppers Find Vendors Online

- 37% of shoppers use search engines

- 33% to directly to site

- 17% use comparison shopping sites

- 15% use product use of product rating sites

- 66% in the US and 103% of residents connect using broadband

- Online shoppers are highly intentional, looking for specific products, companies, services

Why more people don’t shop online

- 44% uneasy about online credit card use

- 42% have concerns about privacy data

- 37% dislike shipping charges

- 33% feel no need to purchase online

- 32% prefer to touch/feel product before purchase

4) Based on the technology’s stage of diffusion

Diffusion is the study of –

- the patterns and processes by which technology diffuses through the marketplace

- All technology follow a predictable pattern of proliferation

- The pattern of adoption when plotted overtime follows a S shape curve (sometimes referred to J shaped curve)

Aspects of the S shape that is important

- The shape of the curve is determined by the exchanges between different adopting segments as the product diffuses

- The S shape curve can be used to classify adopters into various categories

- There generally 5 categories of adopters: innovators, early adapters, early majority, late majority and laggards