Electronic Marketing Essay

How can the Internet and related technologies assist organisations with creating customer value through personalisation and mass customisation? What ethical and legal considerations need to be taken into account ? > Definition of customer value > what is personalisation and how it creates customer value ? > what is mass customisation and how it creates customer value ? > ethical and legal considerations MK3034 Electronic Marketing – Assignment 1 “How can the Internet and related technologies assist organizations with creating customer value through personalization and mass customization? What ethical and legal considerations need to be taken into account? ” For some, mass customization and personalization through Internet represent the capacity of a web page to call a visitor by its name and to offer products or services adapted to its profile and defined by its terms. Personalisation generally, and specifically personalisation on Internet, is worthy of interest because companies dedicate more and more amounts of money to the customisation of their products and services, and considerable differences exist in individual answers to it.Consequently, companies emphasize the relational marketing, the customization and the marketing One-to-One (Peppers and Rogers, 1997) and insist on the growing importance of the personalization - in the heart of the relational marketing and One-to-One-as strategy that guaranteeing satisfaction, the keeping back and the loyalty of the customers. This is true in the world of the Internet as media of communication for the Electronic Marketing and the distribution channel for the e-commerce-as for the actual business environment.Before handling with the extent of personalization and mass customization in terms of ethical and legal considerations, an interrogation is imperative: why this enthusiasm for the personalisation and mass customisation? Is it really necessary to personalise the relation ‘companies-customers’? Does it help to create customer value? Does it become really necessary to personalize its commercial offer, its communication, its Web site in the e-commerce?A review of the available academic literature allows us to draw some evidences: Generally, the loyalty is conceived as the most important source of long-term performance for the company (Hesket 1994); Create value for the consumers appears to be the best way to win their loyalty (Webster, on 1994). The solution privileged by an increasing number of practitioners but also theorists to develop customers value on Internet, is to create value by personalizing the site and the offer (Ariely, on 2000; Newell, on 2000; Hoffman and Novak, on 1996), that means, " to personalize the customer relationship ".

Indeed, the relational marketing theory generally points out the existence of a qualitative and positive influence of the personalisation on the customer relationships and by extension on its loyalty (Salerno, on 2001). The approach One-to-One (Peppers, 1998) seems to be the most elaborated (Desmet, on 2000). It allows the valuation of the characteristics of the product or service, and especially the valuation of consumer needs and behaviour. Dell and Amazon.

com represent textbook cases of this approach.For Peppers and Rogers (1999), the marketing One-to-One finds its origin in the idea of establishing a fulfilling relation with every customer. An fulfilling relation is a relation which becomes more intense in every interaction: the customer expresses some of its needs for which the company tries to satisfy by personalizing its offer, and every interaction is the opportunity to improve the capacity of the organization to fit its offer to every customer. An other example emphasizes the role of e-CRM in the creation of customer value.Indeed, Packard Bell was able to increase by 50 % customer value upon registered customers (the third of its total clients) thanks to its on-line relational program.

The computer manufacturer proposes to its registered customers several additional services further to the purchase of a microcomputer. It allows Packard bell to ensure a relational approach and improve the rate of keeping back on these customers, so Packard Bell increases the customer value. The personalization and mass customization through e-CRM appear to be the better way for company to reach the goal that leads them: the keeping back of customers.We saw that this notion totally belong to the relational approach.

The personalization and mass customization can be considered to be worthy for company who want to create customer value. ‘The use of computer-based information systems enables an organisation to combine or analyse data in ways that were not previously possible with manual systems’ (Chaffey, 2003). As an example a bank might build up profiles of its customers by analyzing their spending, borrowing and saving habits. This information could be then supplied to other organisations involved in marketing.In addition to ethics and social issues concerning right and wrong, practitioners must ensure that they obey to the law and meet the standards set by professional association.

In fact, there are some laws to regulate this concept because some conflicts about how data should be collected and used exist. That’s why, in 1998, the Data Protection Act, called “the Act” was born. This law permits to protect the personal data in U K. All professional associations expect members to adhere to a code of conduct.

In the UK, the British Computer Society (BCS) is regarded as the leading professional association.The BCS code of conduct provides clear firm guidance concerning member’s duties and responsibilities. The responsibilities of marketers to the public can also raise the number of ethical and professional issues. Two of the most important obligations placed upon professionals concern the duty to protect confidential information but there is also a duty toward public safety. The duty to protect confidential information is described in terms of developing security measured to prevent hackers and other unauthorised users from gaining access to company data.However in terms of public safety, the responsibility can be extend to areas relevant to civil liberties, such as censorship, the right of individuals to view personal data held on them and the privacy e-mail and other communications medium.

So the use of computer-based information allows developing a comprehensive pool of information regarding individuals. An insurance company, for e. g. , might gather medical information before deciding whether or not to offer a policy to someone.

Some practitioners consider that there is no threat to a consumer when a familiar product or service provider uses his or her transaction history and other data to compose personalized e-mails or customize its Web site upon the consumer's subsequent visits. But nowadays, Knowingly or unknowingly, consumers disseminate personal data in daily activities. Credit and debit card transactions, Web site browsing and purchases, even mobile phone use, all generate data downloaded for analysis and customer profiling.Collectors may use this data to enhance customer’s experience, but may also share information with marketers more focused on customer acquisition.

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