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In the euphoria following the use of
the Internet for e-business, the general perception
surfaced that if you build a Web site consumers will
flock to it and shop. Within a few years, many
e-businesses have come to realize that selling
anything online is indeed a difficult and daunting
task involving more than just establishing a Web
site. In the early days of e-commerce, the key
metric was Web site traffic, that is, the number of
hits or visitors to the site. Today, the key metric
is “conversion,” a statistic that captures the
proportion of “browsers-turned-buyers.” As with
traditional customers, online shoppers demand and
expect a high level of customer service, especially
since their loyalty is just a click away. Clearly,
e-business companies must pay close attention to
both their customer attraction strategy as well as
their conversion and retention strategy.
Although
customer service is a critical component of enticing
buyers and establishing a loyal clientele, it is
often neglected or mishandled. The cost of providing
superior customer service can be measured easily,
but the resulting revenues are not easily visible or
measurable, and this is the reason why it is often
neglected. However, if e-businesses are to
capitalize on the opportunities the Internet
provides as a marketing channel to attract and
retain loyal customers, they must ensure that the
quality of the experience they provide is closely
aligned to what customers expect. That is,
everything—from the Web site to values,
strategies, tactics, processes, products, and
customer support—should be consistent with, or
exceed, what customers expect. However, to
accomplish all this, companies must be able to
develop a deep and personal relationship with their
customers, and this is a complicated endeavour, as
outlined in the readings in this section of the
book.
Reading 1: Bort
(2000)
Reading 2: Jastrow & Rosa (2000)
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