Customer relationship management strategies for the Internet.

Mehta, Sanjay S. ; Dalal, Gaurav ; Maniam, Balasundram 等

INTRODUCTION

During the agriculture age, people exchanged agriculture goods, which the other one needed (i.e., barter trading). All exchanges were confined to certain regions and limited by geographical boundaries. So there was a high degree of inter-dependence on each other. In the industrial age, the seller & buyer concept was coined. At first, manufactured produced the products and sold them aggressively to buyers (i.e., selling concept). Later, the product was produced and marketed according to the customer's requirements (i.e., marketing concept). With the advent of the Internet, we see the dawn of the information age. The Internet economy makes it possible to offer customers an experience unlike any experience they have had before. Goods & services are now specially designed in order to cater to a particular group or even a specific customer. The term "mass customization", which is the mass production of individually customized goods and services, has been popularized. It is the intention of the firm to provide goods and services that offer greater value to the customer. Companies try to make the customer loyal towards the firm by offering products that satisfy their needs better that those offered by the competition. Many companies are using Internet technology to reach, identify, acquire, and serve their loyal customer. An integrated approach can give the company the competitive advantage that it needs to successfully cater to the needs of customers in today's networked economy. The primary purpose of the research is to study the underpinnings of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). More specifically, this research will identify how CRM can be practiced successfully via the Internet. Using the tools of CRM, the research will highlight techniques that can assist marketing managers in optimizing their overall Internet marketing strategies.

CONCEPT OF CRM

As evident in Table 1, there are several disparate viewpoints of CRM. For example, IBM's definition talks about only the steps of CRM and does not mention it as a continuous process. While each of the definitions is accurate, none of them are all inclusive. Furthermore, in the various definitions, CRM is defined as a monadic concept, which is beneficial only to the company and not the customer. These and other short falls make no one definition the best. However, some common themes reoccur throughout the current literature. As an alternative, we propose the following definition of CRM.

CRM is a process of identifying, acquiring, developing, and retaining long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with an organization's best customers.

Three points need to be noted in this proposed definition. First, CRM occurs over time. That is, prospects have to be identified first, and then relationships have to be developed and preserved later. Second, the, relationship must be advantageous to both the parties. Relationships can not be uni-directional (i.e., benefiting one party), they must be bi-directional. More specifically, the result should be a "win-win" situation for all parties involved. Third, relationships do not have to be developed with every customer, only with the most profitable ones. Separating customers into categories based on their ability to make profits for a firm has been appropriately termed "lifetime value of customer". Basically, we can classify the process of CRM as follows. Customer acquisition involves identifying potential customers by understanding their needs, wants and desires. Then creating an interest in the firm by offering potential customers goods and services to satisfy their needs. Finally, offering customer support in the form of after-sales service to build loyalty to ensure customer satisfaction.

In line with the recent paradigm shift from transaction marketing to relationship marketing, CRM attempts to go beyond the selling process (i.e., completing the transaction). It aims at creating a mutually beneficial relationship with the customer by providing personalized goods and services. By this, the company attempts to create a bond with the customer and make him/her loyal towards the company. In the long run, loyal customers account for much of the company's sales (80:20 rule) and also save the company expenditure in acquiring new customers. Today, technology can be used to practice CRM both effectively and efficiently. Employees, both internal and external, can use CRM applications (also called front-office software), when they are in direct contact with customers and prospects. The software allows customers and prospects to place and track orders, obtain current product information, solve problems, and schedule service calls.

THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON CRM

The Internet is proving to be a very cost-effective and efficient means of reaching both new and old customers. Detailed information from simple brochure type of information to sophisticated e-commerce technology can be maintained on the Internet. At a fraction of the previous cost, customers have the ability to locate and select the information they need in as much detail as they want. Therefore, from the customers' points of view, the information is very personalized and available 24x7. Also, a company can make changes in product specifications and new products are made available as soon as they are developed. This information is both convenient to the customer and cost-effective to the company.

For firms subscribing to the marketing concept, the Internet is an economical tool to survey customers' reactions to new goods and services. This enables companies to identify product and market opportunities earlier and provide better new products. This can increase company revenues and give firms a competitive advantage over other companies.

E-commerce is gaining popularity on the Internet. Customers can order and even pay for goods directly over the Internet, similar to the interactions between companies and vendors. Customers can track the status of their orders whenever they want from where ever they want. Ordering directly on the Internet saves time for customers and the company saves money since orders do not have to go through a sales representative, which cost more. Perhaps the most important aspect of customer relations is not customer acquisition or the actual sale, but the customer support after the sale. For example, a company may use autoresponders to answer customer queries, which is more economical than maintaining call centers, which are more expensive.

INTERNET TOOLS

The Internet offers many applications & tools, which a company can use to improve customer interactions. Fourteen commonly used tools will be presented in this paper. These tools can be applied to one or more aspects of CRM.

Portals

A portal is a web site or service that offers a broad array of resources and services, such as e-mail, discussion forums, search engines, and on-line shopping. A portal is used for all aspects of CRM from customer identification to after sales support. However, unlike most current marketing-focused websites, which are created for potential customers, portals are specifically targeted towards current customers. There are two types of portals currently being used, business portals and customer portals.

Simply defined, a business portal is a web page that allows business customers to access their specific account information via the Internet (Wenninger, 2000). Business portals are similar to the EDI systems of the past. Using this Internet tool, customers can view a variety of details such as call and equipment histories, call statuses, maintenance contract details, project information, schedules, and billing. Equipment and facility documentation such as O&M (Operations and Maintenance) manuals, CAD (Computer Aided Design) drawings, and replacement parts can also be included. Some portals even facilitate submitting service requests online. In addition, companies may be able to customize the type of information they display to business partners. The actual process of accessing information on a business portal is similar to accessing any other website. Business customers point their Internet browser to the portal's web address and navigate through the web pages. For privacy and security purposes, most portals are firewalled and require a user ID and password, which allows customers to only view the details of their own account. Most business portals are integrated with a service management or project-oriented application. As a result, time-consuming double entry is eliminated and all information is displayed in real-time. This integration also allows for easy facilitation of online service calls.

From a consumer viewpoint, customer portals are public portals (B2C), which allow "personalized" versions of publicly available information. For example, "MyYahoo" and "MyExcite" users can create their own space in the Internet. Options include changing the color scheme, adding modules like local weather forecast, news, etc. This offers a truly personalized experience to the customer where they can see information they want to see. This creates a customer "lock-on" where the user comes to the website on a regular basis. These services collect a user's profile information and detect the user's presence on the Internet so as to create direct marketing communication channels to the user. From a business perspective, they provide "mass customization" capabilities. Besides offering personalized information, portals can service a large number of customers. The disadvantage here is the high cost of maintaining expensive computer systems and technical staff. Therefore, this is strictly a high-level web involvement tool for the firm that serves all three aspects of CRM (customer acquisition, sale, and customer support).

Email

E-mail is the backbone of a company's CRM strategy over the Internet. E-mail allows customers to communicate directly with company experts who are best equipped to help them with their problems. E-mail can be much more efficient and effective than snail-mail and phone-based direct marketing programs. IMT Strategies' research indicates that e-mail can be 10 times more efficient than direct mail and 20 times more effective than banner advertising, and costs pennies to deliver (Anonymous1, 2000).

Email can be used for any and all aspects of CRM on the Internet. They can be used to reach out a widely dispersed audience with very low cost. Internet marketers should make extensive use of email to reach out to their customer. To be effective, the company should have a clear understanding of the customer when sending emails. Email is also a very strong tool for customer feedback. "Permission-based" e-mail has become a marketing tool that, when executed properly, can cost-effectively build customer relationships and reach out to many new prospects. Marketers using "permission-based" email must provide "opt-in" and "opt-out" option. "Opt-in" means users have voluntarily registered at the web site to receive specific email offers relevant to their self-selected interests. "Opt-out" means that you can tell a company that you don't want them to use your information for certain purposes or sell it to others. Typically, when you opt-out, you are not actually taken off a list but added to a list of people that do not want their personal information shared with other companies or who do not want to receive telemarketing calls or direct mail. If marketers continue to send e-mail, it is generally viewed as "spam" (i.e., unsolicited commercial e-mail). Research from IMT strategies has shown that users are more curious to read when mail is received via permission marketing (56%) than by spamming (11%). Also mails are less likely to be deleted without reading in permission marketing (59%) than Spam (6%) (Bruner, 2000).

Weekly newsletters and targeted e-mail campaigns enable the company to attract the customer into buying its products. Newsletters are e-mails on a specific topic sent on a regular basis to registered users. Newsgroups are publicly posted discussion forums for people with shared interests. Newsgroup users at times provide answers to customers' questions even before the company has had a chance to respond. Newsletters can have a very high reach and/or can be directed to very specific groups (e.g., newsgroups). However, the level of interface also varies inversely as the level of reach. Email is, therefore considered a low-end tool. For example, users registered at American Airlines website have a personal profile containing details such as travel preferences and personal information. The website sends regular e-mails about airline deals to its registered users based on their profiles. This keeps customers informed about the company. This enables the airlines to identify, reach, and market to specific segments of the market.

Autoresponders

Autoresponders are artificial intelligent software products that integrate computer interaction and natural language understanding to bring a "human-like" presence to the points of contact between the company and its customers, partners, suppliers, and employees. They address all aspects of CRM to the customers, from marketing to sales and support (Sapir, 2000). Setting up an autoresponder can be an expensive and complicated task. Marketers need to anticipate questions and problems that users may face. However, it offers a high level of personalization and can cater to many users at one time. For example, suppose Mr. James has recently purchased a printer from mysite.com. He registers at the website. Later, he receives an email confirmation from the autoresponder that the information was received. A few hours after receiving the printer, Mr. James sends an e-mail message to the technical support, complaining that he cannot get it to work. Within seconds, he receives a friendly, polite reply from an autoresponder that knows who he is, what printer he purchased, and when he purchased it. The firm is able to offer detailed technical support without having to ask for model numbers or other basic information. A few weeks later, when the print cartridge for Mr. James' printer goes on sale, he receives a personalized advertisement through e-mail.

Communities

Generally speaking, a community is a specific group of people meeting and conversing on a regular basis in chat rooms or message boards. This includes both newsgroup forums and group-specific chat rooms. In a chat room, there is real-time exchange of text messages between users. These chat rooms can be on a specific topic. Users have specific interest when using such communities. Therefore, it allows the company to target community members with products specifically made for them. This tool is important from two aspects of CRM (i.e., customer acquisition and service). Generally, a community is very topic specific. Therefore marketers need to identify and market products specific to the needs to this group. In addition, users can assist one another and also give suggestions. This reduces the workload of the technical support staff. A community is also an important tool for public relations. Through lurking, the company can find out what are the user requirements, industry trends, as well their reactions to the various products of the company. Communities are useful tools for reaching out to a large number of actual and potential customers in an economical feasible manner. In many chat rooms, invariably the discussion tends to get out of focus. In almost every case, this is beyond the control of a marketer. In fact, live chats are generally limited to few people, thereby limiting participation and discussion. For example, the motley fool (www.fool.com) focuses on financial information and includes articles on personal investment, assessments of investment opportunities and private areas where groups can set up their own global 'investment clubs'. It hosts discussions lists where users can express their opinion on various topics like industries, investment strategies, growth potential, etc.

Shopping Carts

A shopping cart is the electronic equivalent of the grocery cart. Minimally, the shopping cart allows the user to add or delete items, change quantities, calculate the order total and apply discounts, calculate shipping costs, and enable secure transaction. As a CRM tool, a shopping cart is a very useful tool in making the actual sale, particularly when the website has a large of products to offer. More complex shopping carts enable the website to suggest the user products which are compatible with his/her current order (i.e., crossing selling). A history of such purchases enables the company to zero in the customer's likes, needs and interests and offer products to that particular customer (i.e., customer profile). Shopping carts are complicated and expensive applications, but it is very beneficial to set up such a system because they can reach many people and are highly interactive and personalized. Unfortunately, shopping carts are unrecognizable by citizens of many countries where grocery carts do not exist.

Online Catalogs

The web has been a boom to mail order businesses. More and more direct marketing companies are selling products on the web. Online catalogs have many advantages over traditional catalogs. Items and prices can be updated continually, quickly, and at a nominal cost. Backorder expenses and complaints are greatly reduced. The printing, postage, and handling costs of a print catalog are avoided. Customers give their name and address in the process of generating an order. Online catalogs collapse the long interval between catalog inquiry and receipt by providing instant catalog delivery. The online catalog can be personalized to each customer's buying patterns. It can contain special offers based on how much they have spent in the past (Hoge, 2000). As a CRM tool, an online catalog is used in making the sale. It remains as a low-end web tool because of the lack of interactivity and personalization. However, it is advantageous for small businesses that are looking to have a web presence because of the high reach of customers with low costs.

User Tracking

User tracking tools are used to monitor user activity on the Web. Marketers can use information about such activities to provide a personalized Internet experience. As a CRM tool, user tracking allows the marketer to identify sales prospects. User tracking enables one-to-one marketing by determining purchase patterns and identifies cross-selling opportunities. There are several commonly used methods to track customers.

A cookie is a small file stored on an individual's computer allowing a site to tag the browser with a unique identification. When a person visits a site, the site's server requests a unique ID from the person's browser. If this browser does not have an ID the server delivers one (Gudmundsson, 2000). The main disadvantages of using cookies are overcoming customer privacy concerns. However, cookies if used properly, can give marketers a competitive advantage. Individual pages will be matched to individual interests with a precision not seen before. And the result may be unnerving, as marketers start using the web as an instrument to peer not just into the habits, but also into even the thought processes of individual computer users (Anonymous2, 2000).

URL encoding works exactly like cookies, except nothing gets stored onto the user's hard drive, which is what privacy critics find most irritating about cookies. It's a code that can be embedded in the site's address or its URL. Most web sites use this method as an alternative to cookies when users set their browser to disable all cookie files. These are easily identifiable by a casual user. Typically the URL changes from a simple web address to a long string of letters and numbers preceded by a "?".

IP mapping which uses IP (Internet Protocol) addresses for tracking users. An IP address is a unique number given to a computer (e.g., "189.043.067.038"). A web site can always tell that "189.043.067.038" has accessed the site. By matching this number (or mapping it), against a database of IP addresses, the marketers can learns a lot about a user. From his area code to his zip code (if the user's surfing from the office) and technical details such as type of computer, operating system, and browser. Mapping is popular with advertising companies such as New York-based DoubleClick, which sells the information to companies eager to target their advertisements better (Gormley, 1999). Unlike traditional window shopping, customers and/or potential customers leave a valuable trail of information every time they visit a website. This information is recorded in the web log file. A web log file records valuable information, including what websites visitors came from, how long they stayed at your site, why they left, did they encounter any problems (i.e., errors), and where did they go. This information is a critical component to developing an e-commerce strategy. From a CRM perspective, all user-tracking techniques are used by websites to gain a better understanding of their audience. Setting up such tools is expensive, but allows a high reach, personalization, and interface with the customers.

Banner Ads

A banner ad is a graphical hyperlink to a marketer's website. Banners ads are low cost Internet tools used for marketing the website. The disadvantage here is low reach and less personalization (though recent technology indicates some level of personalization) and lack of interface. Only a year ago banner advertising was the darling of Internet marketing, achieving return rates of 5% or more. But as banner ads proliferated, return rates declined, to the current level of less than 0.6% (Anonymous3, 2000). Despite this decline, targeted banner ads can still be an effective source of traffic. Banner ads include stand-alone advertisements on individual sites, banner exchange programs, banner advertising program at portal sites like Yahoo and AOL which are high traffic gateways to the Internet, and affiliate programs. Most banner advertisements are displayed at popular websites. Some basic types of banner ads include static, dynamic, animated, JAVA based, and interstitals.

FAQs

One of the most frustrating problems in customer service is the management of repetition queries. These queries may be quite simple and easy to resolve. A list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is an important tool for customer service on the Internet. It reduces time and costs on the service staff and enables them to attend to more complex problems. It also reduces the frustration and time lack on the part of the customer in getting the query resolved and encourages them to learn more about the product's features and the company in general. A FAQ is a "must" on a web site. It has the benefit of high customer reach when compared to the low cost of implementation. The primary drawbacks are the lack of personalization and user interface.

Downloads

Downloads are an important tool widely used by software companies. This is a new version of an old sales promotion strategy used by marketers for years (i.e., free samples). This enables the user to try out the software before buying it. It also allows the company to reach potential customers in an economic way. From a CRM perspective, they are used both as a customer-acquisition tool and a customer maintenance tool. Companies can offer patches, add-ons, and updates on their website. This helps the customer by being more productive and also the company by creating more goodwill and loyalty. Downloads are cost-effective applications to reach out to many users at one time. The limitations are no personalization and lack of customer interface.

Digital Broadcasting

Digital broadcasting means transferring and displaying multimedia files from the Internet to the user's computer. In the foreseeable future, the television, computer and telephone are anticipated to come together into one device. One of the emerging technologies on the web is multimedia technology. It has a wide range of applications, ranging from entertainment and home shopping to distance learning and medical diagnosis. Users may be able to see and select audio-visual information over the Web personalized to there likes and needs. It is also possible to archive such information, which may result in a rich vault of information. Broadcasting companies are implementing web versions of their channels. One site worth mentioning is CNN interactive, which not only provide video clips of individual events; it aims at creating a video vault containing archives of past coverage. This will create a customer lock-on because such information may not be available elsewhere. In the future, the site may charge a fee when users access such information. Therefore, from a marketing standpoint, the web is an efficient channel of distribution. That is, once the software is uploaded, it costs practically nothing to download (sell) additional copies of the software (i.e., marginal cost is zero). Other applications include advertisements, product demonstrations, etc. This CRM tool holds high potential as the quantity and quality of bandwidth increases. In the future, a user may see 'TV' on the web with programs he/she wishes to see, scheduled as per his/her convenience and also shows ads of products he/she is interested in. As a CRM tool, digital broadcasting is useful in both customer acquisition and support. Therefore, the costs, reach, customer interface, and personalization are all high.

GIS

Geographical Information System (GIS) is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying data related to positions on the Earth's surface (Mehta et. al., 1999). Typically, a GIS is used for handling maps of one kind or another. These might be represented as several different layers where each layer holds data about a particular kind of feature (e.g., roads, sewage, and homes). Each feature is linked to a position on the graphical image of a map. As a CRM tool, GIS is used in customer identification (i.e., by locating customers that fit the target market).

Many companies have been slow at adapting GIS, in spite of being very personalized, interactive, and relatively inexpensive. GIS is an emerging technology, which holds promise for e-businesses. After all, a customer lives in a physical location. It can be a strong tool for websites who are traditionally brick-and-mortar businesses. For example, travel websites can determine the travel preferences of customers in a city. Combining business data in GIS could enable the company to send online ads to a web visitor in New York about airline deals or similar deals taken by other people in New York. It can automatically generate maps showing customer places of interests, the location of stores, business partners, etc. Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses can use GIS to provide physical locations and driving directions to a local store. GIS makes it possible for a company to create geo-demographic segments. That is by combining the business data about a customer's profile (a bank may have information about its customers) with their geographical location, we are able to evaluate and identify potential customers in a particular area (normally a ZIP code) who have similar interests, needs and wants. Using such information, a company may be able to customize its products and services towards that market (Tillett, 2000).

Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are getting very popular. A 1999 Forrester Research report rates affiliate programs as 2nd most effective method of driving traffic to web sites. An Affiliate program is an economical and interactive tool to identify large number of new customers. Because they lack personalization, affiliate programs are mainly used in customer acquisition. Affiliate programs are a hybrid of a banner exchange program and an advertising program. Generally an affiliate and a merchant agree that the affiliate will display the merchant's banner in exchange for a fee. The fee can be based on impressions (the number of times the banner is displayed), click throughs (the number of times someone visits the site), leads (the number of times someone fills out an application or contact form) or sales (the number of times someone buys a product or service). A single product affiliate programs works well for direct marketing. Pure-play businesses like Amazon.com, which are intermediaries, need to have affiliate programs with multiple products or services. The key to choosing the right affiliate program is to ensure that the affiliate program offers products that meet the needs of the potential customers.

Multi-channel

The ultimate and the most important CRM practices are the integration of multiple channels of communication into one single database. Building effective customer relationships starts with obtaining 360-degree view of each customer. This requires the automation and integration of various customer touch points into the overall CRM strategy. Companies must support seamless, tailored customer experiences across multiple channels, including the Web, fax, email, letters, etc. The Internet by itself cannot fulfill all the communication needs of the company. The prime reason is the lack of human interaction. 62% of shoppers never complete their purchases due to a lack of real-time customer service according to a survey of 25 top e-commerce sites (Anonymous3, 2000. Jupiter Communication reports that 90% of online shoppers prefer human interaction, and about half of those shoppers make frequent visits to a site before making a purchase. In the same survey, 41 percent of the respondents said they would be more likely to complete an online transaction if they had access to customer service via chat, web callback, or e-mail (Anonymous2, 2000).

As a CRM tool, deploying real-time multi channel customer interaction is a "win-win" situation for both the customer and the company. Customers get instant access to a personalized customer support system that is designed to respond immediately and remember their preferences. Companies save money on telephone support costs, which can be as high as $5 per service transaction for a live call agent, as compared to a few cents on the web. This enables one-to-one interaction, with one sales representative, attending to one person, at one time. Multi channel call centers require large investments of time and money. For example, Furniture.com employs 20 "design consultants" (many of them certified interior designers) who offer advice by phone, email, and live chat. These consultants are not traditional salespeople, but like traditional salespeople, they identify potential buyers and then offer to help.

FRAMEWORK

While the primary purpose of this paper is to highlight the main CRM strategies being used to, the secondary purpose is to develop a framework to help Internet marketers optimize their web strategies. The fourteen Internet tools discussed in this paper can be scaled at various levels. The first being level of interface (i.e., how much can an application allow the company to get up close and personal with the customer). We dichotomized the level of interface into high (very close) and low (not very close). The second issue that marketers must consider is the actual cost of implementing and maintaining the tool. Costs were also dichotomized into high and low, but they were based on a relative scale rather than an absolute scale. The third scale is the level of personalization, which means how much can the tool allow the company to see the customer's behavior patterns and cater to his needs accordingly. Generally, technology plays an active role in providing personalized service. Finally, we evaluated the actual number of users the tool could cater too at one point in time. W appropriately labeled this as reach.

Table 2 summarizes the various Internet tools into a 4x4 matrix called web involvement matrix. Web Involvement is a multi-dimensional construct that can be defined as a combination of the above four factors (i.e., personalization, customer interface, reach and cost). A firm may decide to use one of more of these tools depending on the level (high v/s low) at which they want to get involved on the web. In addition, Table 3 categorizes the fourteen Internet tools into a 3x3 matrix. This should assist marketers in determining where in the CRM process (i.e., acquisition, sales, and customer service) and at what level of web involvement can the company use these tools.

CONCLUSION

As the reach of Internet becomes wider, companies will find that going digital is no longer an option but a necessity. Visitors will be able to provide information and marketers will be able to access this information in real time. Like the agriculture age, we may once again see a high level of interdependence (but on a mega-scale) between the buyer (customer) and the seller. Customer may demand the companies provide goods and services made specifically for him. The company will need the customer to provide information to create and bring out new innovations, which it will need to have a sustainable competitive edge.

One of the main motivations of this paper was to highlight the Internet tools that traditional marketers could uses to develop a successful online strategy. While the list is not all-inclusive, it does shed light on the most popular CRM tools. Several marketing strategies could be employed using the tools discussed in this paper. First, viral marketing can be used in email campaign designed to attract customers (e.g., whenever a customer sends an email via hotmail.com, a little marketing promotion is inserted at the bottom of every email message). Therefore, customer spreads word of the service merely by using the service. Second, global niche marketing could be implemented, where online shopping sites are made for specific segments of the market. The advantage in this strategy is that geographical boundaries do not bind you. For example, MedBookStore.com sells medical books to medical students, doctors and nurses. This has a clear advantage over Amazon.com who is dealing in all subjects. Third, collaborative marketing is a strategy wherein two companies offer their products (may or may not be complementary) in one package. Banner exchange programs and affiliate programs can be used in collaborative marketing. Similarly, products and services offered by multiple marketers could be bundled together into one offering. These and other strategies could be used by marketers to gain a competitive advantage.

The Internet has been a major influence on the evolution of the concept of CRM. It is believed that given the wide array of Internet tools and the increasing number of Internet users, businesses (even local retailers) will have to adapt the Internet as a part of their lives, or risk going out of business. It is hoped that the framework presented in this paper will assist all marketers develop an optimum strategy that matches its internal strengths with opportunities that exist in the market place.

REFERENCES

Anonymous1 (2000), IMT Strategies, Email Marketing Report, January.

Anonymous2 (2000), Anderson Consulting, Houston Chronicle, 10th January.

Anonymous3 (2000), Internet Marketing Center of California, http://www.imccal.com/marketing_banner_ads.htm

Anonymous4 (1999), META Group Urges "Ecosystem" Approach to Customer Relationship Management, June 28.

Anonymous5 (2000), Oracle Corporation, http://www.oracle.com/ ebusiness/crm11i/

Anonymous6 (2000), IBM Corporation, http://www.ibm.com/e-business/ customer

Anonymous7 (2000), Andersen Consulting Customer Relationship Management Survey, February.

Anonymous8 (2000), Webwatchers, http://www.forbes.com/1998/01/09/ featprint.html

Bruner, Rick (2000), Interactive Direct Marketing Through CRM, http://bruner.crmproject.com/

Gormley, Thomas III (1999), "Web-Centric Customer Service, The Forrester Report, February.

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Mehta, Sanjay S., Mark R. Leipnik, and Balasundram Maniam (1999), "Application of GIS in Small and Medium Enterprises," Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, Vol.11 No. 2, 77-88.

Nelson, Juliana (1999), Customer Relationship Management on the Web: Unlocking E-Commerce Profits, April.

Sterling, Robert & Johnson Marc (1999), Account Management, Jupiter Communications, April.

Tillett, Scott L. (2000), Companies Tie Maps with CRM, Internet Week, July 17, 2000.

Sapir, Daniel (2000), Autoresponders--Solutions for the Networked Economy, http://sapir.crmproject.com

Wenninger, Jim (2000), Capturing Commercial Business via Customer Portals, Business News Publishing Company, 24th August 2000.

Sanjay S. Mehta, Sam Houston State University

Gaurav Dalal, Sam Houston State University

Balasundram Maniam, Sam Houston State University

Table 1: Industry Definitions Of CRM

Author Definition

Forrester Research (Lane, 2000) Consistent, high-quality customer
 support across all communication
 channels and business functions,
 based on common, complete
 information shared by employees,
 their customers, and business
 partners.

Aberdeen Group Customer Relationship Management
 (CRM) is a class of front-line
 business applications used by
 leading organizations to acquire
 and retain long-term, profitable
 customers.

META Group (Anonymous 4, 1999) In its pure form, customer
 relationship management is a
 business philosophy, not technology
 architecture.

Oracle (Anonymous 5, 2000) Customer Relationship Management
 (CRM) applications deliver a
 complete lifecycle view of customer
 interactions, including those across
 marketing, sales, and service via
 call centers, internet, and mobile
 computing devices, to help you
 attract and retain customers and
 increase your market profitably.

IBM (Anonymous 6, 2000) Customer Relationship Management
 (CRM) entails supporting,
 developing, and retaining profitable
 customers.

Andersen Consulting Customer Relationship Management is
(Anonymous 7, 2000) the practice of identifying,
 attracting, and retaining the best
 customers to generate profitable
 revenue growth.

International Data Corporation The strategy of servicing the
(Anonymous 8, 2000) customer relationship through the
 following steps:
 Determining satisfaction.
 Analyzing profitability.
 Building the relationship.

Table 2: Web Involvement Matrix

 Personalization

 High

 High Reach Low Reach

Interface High High Autoresponders
 Cost Shopping Carts
 Portals
 User Tracking
 GIS
 Digital
 Broadcasting
 Multi Channel
 Call Centers
 Low Communities
 Cost

 Low High
 Cost
 Low Email
 Cost

 Personalization

 Low

 High Low
 Reach Reach

Interface High High
 Cost

 Low Affiliate
 Cost Programs

 Low High
 Cost
 Low Online Banners
 Cost Catalogs,
 FAQs,
 Downloads

Table 3: Application of Web CRM Tools

Web Involvement Customer Acquisition Sale

High Autoresponders Autoresponders
 Portals Shopping Carts
 User Tracking Portals
 Digital Broadcasting Multi Channel Call
 GIS Centers

Medium Communities
 Affiliate Programs

Low Email Email
 Downloads Online Catalogs
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