A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Same message

to all customers

(or customers in

each segment)

Different messages

to each customer

(or customers in

micro-segment)

(a)

Company

(b)

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Chapter 8  Digital marketing

business-to-business e-tailer RS Components (

www.rswww.com

). Every customer who 

accesses their system is profiled according to their area of product interest and informa-

tion describing their role in the buying unit. When they next visit the site information will 

be displayed relevant to their product interest. This is an example of what is known as mass 

customisation where generic customer information is supplied for particular segments, i.e. 

the information is not unique to individuals, but to those with a common interest. Amazon 

(

www.amazon.com

) is well known for using a collaborative filtering approach or Amazon’s 

‘Customers Who bought X . . . also bought . . .  Y’. Amazon also has two other personalisa-

tion features, ‘Customers who shopped for X also SHOPPED for . . .’ and ‘Customers who 

searched for X also BOUGHT . . .’ You can read about the approach that they use to achieve 

this in IEE (2003).

4 Integration

The Internet provides further scope for integrated marketing communications. 

Figure 8.18 shows how it is just one of many different media channels (these channels are also 

offered by intermediaries). When assessing the success of a website, the role of the Internet in 

communicating with customers and other partners can best be considered from two perspec-

tives. First, organisation-to-customer direction: how does the Internet complement other 

channels in communication of proposition for the company’s products and services to new 

and existing customers with a view to generating new leads and retaining existing custom-

ers? Second, customer-to-organisation: how can the Internet complement other channels to 

deliver customer service to these customers? Many companies are now considering how they 

integrate email response and website  call-  back into their existing  call-  centre or customer 

service operation. This may require a substantial investment in training and new software.

Some practical examples of how the Internet can be used as an integrated communica-

tions tool are as shown by Figure 8.19 and Activity 8.4.

Figure 8.18

Channels requiring integration as part of integrated digital marketing 

strategy

Intermediary

Email

Phone

Mail

Person

Web

Customer

Company

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Part 2  Strategy and applications

Figure 8.19

Channel integration required for digital marketing and  mixed‑  mode buying

Product

evaluation

Decision to

purchase