Customer Relationship Management in the Digital Age

This assignment delves into the dynamic field of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) within a digital context. Students are tasked with analyzing the historical evolution of CRM, exploring its profound influence on modern marketing strategies, and critically examining the ethical implications surrounding digital customer engagement. The assignment encourages a comprehensive understanding of CRM's role in shaping business interactions and navigating the complexities of online customer relationships.

INTERNET MAREKTING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1
TASK 1....................................................................................................................................1
1.1 The elements of internet marketing................................................................................1
1.2 Internet marketing mix...................................................................................................2
1.3 Compare internet marketing tools – e - tools.................................................................3
1.4 Examine interactive order processing............................................................................3
TASK 2....................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Mechanics of search engine marketing..........................................................................4
2.2 Copy for a suitable opt-in email marketing newsletter..................................................4
2.3 Guidelines for best practice in online public relations...................................................5
2.4 How businesses can use new digital media communities..............................................6
TASK 3....................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Secondary market research............................................................................................6
3.2 Online survey.................................................................................................................7
3.3 Use of electronic customer relationship marketing........................................................9
TASK 4....................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Outline of internet marketing plan.................................................................................9
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
In the present era, internet and digital marketing plays a significant role for operating
business effectively. The main objective of online marketing remains the same as traditional
marketing such as exchange of information, payment and product to help buyers and sellers.
Many tools are used in internet marketing such as social media marketing, search engine
marketing etc. The report shows the internet marketing activities undertaken by Amazon
which provides customer to business and business to business services through internet.
Further, online marketing strategies are adopted by Amazon to support business growth and
success.
TASK 1
1.1 The elements of internet marketing
In present times there are various ways to market the business online. In this context, the
following elements should be used together so that the marketing objectives are achieved.
These are explained as follows:
 Web Design – In the present business scenario, it is significant for businesses to have
online presence to lead the market. This can be done by having a well-designed website
of company. Company should focus on web designing as a part of their marketing
efforts. The web design should be attractive so that customers stay on the website for
more time. Also it should be user-friendly and should contain fresh blog articles.
 SEO – Search engine optimisation helps business to be at higher position in the likes of
Google, Yahoo etc. In absence of this, it would not be possible for user to engine for
company’s website. Many of the user do not search for any specific thing more than 2-3
pages of search. So in order to gain profit company has to be at top position else
company will some bit of website traffic (Ahn, Kim and Han, 2013).
 Social media – Company gains a lot of value if social media is integrated with internet
marketing. This is because adding account on a social media networking site is for free
and small budget of advertising through these sites will last for long. Company will reach
a wide network of people which may not be reached by any other source through social
networking sites because thousands of million people all around the world remains active
on different networking sites. These sites not only provide a platform for sharing the
information about company’s offers with the help of posts, photos, videos, tweets etc. but
also provide an opportunity to create a genuine bond with customers (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2010).
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 Banner advertising – Almost many of the people these days uses internet to get news,
information about any event, shop, and watch TV programs after disconnecting cables.
Here comes the role of pay per click and banner advertising. The displaying name of
Amazon on search engine will pop up company’s preference and increase brand
recognition among customers who are looking forward for other online shopping sites
like Flip kart, Snap deal etc (Polman, 2016).
1.2 Internet marketing mix
The internet marketing mix used by Amazon is explained as follow. It is used for promotion
into international market.
 E-products – Amazon serves customers as a best marketplace to sell various goods or
services. Further, it provides online payment and communication services to all its clients
whether company or individuals. Products of Amazon includes various kinds of products
like furniture, apparels, electronics, utensils and many other goods to be bought and sold
on daily basis. The unique facility of payment like cash on delivery is provided by
Amazon that gives a reliable and secure deal for customers to rely on company. Also,
company keep on add up the list of products and various discounts on many products
constantly (Fjermestad and Romano Jr, 2003).
 E-price – In recent times, company has changed its pricing policy. Amazon set a price
which is same for all customers whether occasional or frequent customers. Company also
adopts model of quality click which gives facility to members “by the click” in the
similar manner as AdSense (Strauss, 2016).
 E-place – Users of Amazon can solve out their queries and collect more required
information at answer centre of company at
http://pages.amazon.com/community/answercenter/index.html. Company’s information
path also provides seller information regarding the name of seller, address, and status of
order as whether it has been approved, packed, or shipped at
http://pages.amazon.com/sellerinformation/.
 E-promotion – In order to promote the wide range of products available at Amazon, it
provides various discount, free coins, coupons, cards etc. to give discount on particular
purchases. Also, it provides a range of discount on season end sales. Further, it offers
some specific percentage of reward if customers takes use of PayTM cash. Moreover,
company organises various events and sponsor many shows in order to make customers
know about company (Kaynama and Keesling, 2000).
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1.3 Compare internet marketing tools – e - tools
Many of e-tools are taken use in the present business scenario such as Internet
protocol television (IPTV), high digital radio, WAP, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
and Pinterest. Some internet marketing tool are utilised to prepare content like YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter, while some other tools can be taken use of only to evaluate and monitor
performance of their online presence. E-tools also help to check whether adequate alert
services are provided to customers via sending them frequent notifications. Generally,
Amazon uses some common types of e-tools for promotion of company’s product such as
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. Facebook and Twitter usage by Amazon can be
explained as follows:
Facebook – Facebook is a social media networking site which helps people to connect
globally on single click. Amazon has its own account of Facebook which helps company to
connect to their fans and promote their business by sharing company’s various information
(Helm, 2000).
Twitter – It is an online networking sites which facilitates people to connect to different
people and tweets. The sites provides a limit of message to up to 140 characters only. With
the help of Twitter, Amazon creates its account and communicate with wide network of
people (Stewart and Zhao, 2000).
1.4 Examine interactive order processing
The vital concept for e-business is Interactive Order processing which converts online
business to authentic brands. Digital marketing not only limits to posting videos and sharing
images and new tweets to any networking sites. It facilitates customers to experience
anywhere, anytime shopping while having just a small smartphone or laptop in their hands.
Also, it provides 24*7 open online shopping portals. Amazon has provided its customers an
easy way of shopping by completing just a five simple steps (Prague, 2011). Firstly,
selecting a category from toolbar like women, men, and kinds, etc. Then all the required
products to be purchased are added to shopping cart. After, adding to cart list, user is
required to log in for account registered on Amazon with their complete details including
address for delivery (Jayachandran, and et.al., 2005). Fourth, is to select a payment option
whether user wants to pay through credit, debit or visa card or through cash on delivery as
one of the option available. Lastly, users are provided facility to track their order and know
their item’s delivery status.
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TASK 2
2.1 Mechanics of search engine marketing
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is a method of online marketing through which the
company’s website display on the search result through SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
application, plaid placement, different digital advertising as well as paid inclusion.
Generally, it gives emphasis on reaction of internet consumers and establishment of brand.
Amazon gain a high ROI (return on investment) through marketing by search engine. The
benefit is received as a result of strategies like cost per click and pay per click. Such
strategies link the search to the actual response. In addition to this, long term strategy of
SEM is that SEO provides marketers the facility to develop their website based on organic
search results ranking (Kiang, Raghu and Shang, 2000).
Further, under mechanics of search engine marketing, one program name automaton is
present which identify information of one page to another and one site to other to gather
data based on reality on given keyword. Moreover, ranking algorithm provides benefit of
ranking the keywords presented on site. Also, quality analysis is conducted with certain
pages on website. There are various surfaces on web that evaluate popularity of company
and rank it accordingly (Gauzente and Ranchhod, 2001).
2.2 Copy for a suitable opt-in email marketing newsletter
Under internet marketing, strategy to opt-e-mail in taken under consideration when an
organisation gives opportunity to get a lot of mails that are to send to many of the recipients
at the same time like broadcasting. A formal mail or newsletter is designed by Amazon to be
sent to receivers about any upcoming discounts on its products and information about any
new services provided by company. Further, opt-in are of two types one is unconfirmed and
other is confirmed opt-in. in unconfirmed opt-in messages are directly forwarded to
software without confirming from the receiver and assume that the message relates to
particular person and group only (Kwan, Fong and Wong, 2005). Whereas software on the
receipt of message confirms that the message is in regards of particular individual or group
or not. Opt-in emails newsletter of Amazon is given below:
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Figure 1: Newsletter of amazon
(Source: Amazon SES Extension. 2016)
2.3 Guidelines for best practice in online public relations
Public relations means a platform where the main stakeholders of company interact
with the company and communicate with one another. While maintaining public relations
focus should be given on maintain and increasing the brand image. The professional
building public relations organises campaigns by targeting some audience and during the
campaign manipulate their views and compute their perception (Aziz and Yasin, 2004).
Usually public relations include the following points:
 Organising communication programs with the help of media
 Developing various policies related to communication with public
 Measuring public views, thoughts, attitudes, and opinions
 Creating a link between communication with brand and various programs of marketing
 Promoting the two way communication process and improve goodwill
 Forming healthy and positive communication between company and public
Furthermore, for marinating effective PR, Amazon should give emphasis on following
practices:
Target audiences – The Company should target particular group of audiences to cover under
PR and segment them under sub-categories for effective results (Mahadevan, 2000).
Sources of information – The Company should properly analyse what kind of channel to use
for communicating with public.
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Development of media at each segment – According to the kind of information to be shared
among company and public, proper media outlet should be arranged well on time.
Identification of journalist – Once the media outlet is arranged and selected, company
should choose which journalist will be suitable for having effective PR (Coetzee, 2011).
Evaluation of delivery and distribution options – From the view point of individual, proper
distribution channel should be arranged by company. So that the information reaches to
ultimate receiver.
Delivery time – Amazon should avoid year end time of delivery because at this point of time
many companies are burdened by their own results (Jain and Haley, 2009).
Review coverage – Under the whole process of public relations, it is vital to measure the
progress and coverage of PR.
2.4 How businesses can use new digital media communities
File sharing is the method of allowing access to internet and digital media like
different programs of computer, documents, file, and multimedia content for creating
community on internet to share the information. File sharing process can be accomplished
by using YouTube, Twitter, etc. People upload the information to be shared to public
(Prasad, Ramamurthy and Naidu, 2001). File sharing is an important method for
organisations as it provide safety and authenticity to the valuable data. Some of the known
file sharing services are Drop box, Google Drive etc. Amazon can take use of all such
facilities to retain their various data and information while maintain company’s reputation
(Work, 2015).
TASK 3
3.1 Secondary market research
Amazon uses different mechanism like newspaper articles, journals and various online
materials for conducting secondary market research in order to know CRM (customer’s
relationship management). With the help of these sources marketing manager of Amazon
can know about the purchasing pattern of customers and their preferences plus their needs.
This secondary research helps company to gather distinct qualitative information in order to
analyse effective customer relationship management strategies to be followed by company.
The company also develops loyalty programs for their leading customers to improve their
loyalty and to offer them facility of purchasing goods in bulk (Reilly, 2014). Also, effective
CRM strategies facilitate company by offering their customer’s details including their past
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details and past orders of customers so that purchasing pattern of buyers are determined by
an organisation (Andreasen and Kotler, 2008).
In addition to this, mobile application and other online tools helps company to connect
to customers and get their feedback about the product of the company and their experience
of shopping with Amazon (Overbey, 2014). While conducting secondary research, data can
be gathered from online research results, blogs, and other research communities. These
sources supports company to collect various qualitative and quantitative information needed
by the company to analyse customer’s satisfaction (Chaffey, 2001).
3.2 Online survey
Online survey can help company to know about the level of customer’s satisfaction
towards the products and services offered by company in the context of price and quality
provided. In order to collect information through survey, various direct and indirect
questions can be put up. With the help of this survey company can fulfil the changing
demands of customers and increase revenue of an organisation (Evans and Mathur, 2005).
The survey can be conducted by gathering the sample of 150 frequent users of Amazon
through the online site as www.surveymonkey.com. The qualitative and quantitative
information can be gathered through survey. For achieving objectives, the gathered
information is analysed through various tools. After the information is collected, a report is
prepared so that productive decisions are taken for marketing (Bailey, 2011). For customer
satisfaction survey, following questions will be included by Amazon:
1. Gender?
Male
Female
2. When did last purchase made?
Before 3 months
3-6 months
6-9 months
9-12 months
More than 12 months
Never
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How many times you visit website of company?
Everyday
Weekly
Once in a month
4. Is website easy and simple to access?
Agree
Disagree
Neutral
5. Do the site is operated at high speed?
Agree
Disagree
Strongly agree
Neutral
6. Is the information available at site and store are similar?
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
7. Can you find the information and product at site easily?
Yes
No
8. Do the transaction easily completes at Amazon?
Yes
No
Sometimes
9. Do you have satisfactory transaction?
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Always
Often
Never
10. Do the company deliver product at time?
Yes
No
Sometimes
3.3 Use of electronic customer relationship marketing
There are many benefits of CRM in an organisation some of which are as follows:
 Enhanced brand loyalty
 Less cost incurred on reaching customer
 High profitability of customer because of cross selling and various other services
provided to them
Many leading company like Amazon takes a great use of electronic system of CRM
(Charlesworth, 2011). Company uses three software to facilitate effective utilisation of
CRM such as custom design, Web design and pages including purchase information and
different system that provide profit to sales and marketing of Amazon (Weber, 2009).
TASK 4
4.1 Outline of internet marketing plan
For the purpose of developing an internet marketing plan of Amazon, a situation analysis
can be done. The sector of e-commerce is facing high level of competition in present
business environment because of availability of strong market players and many new firms
are entering the industry with their different and unique concepts, which is making it
difficult for the Amazon to maintain its shares in the market. The company’s SWOT
analysis is as follows:
Strengths
 Use the system of PayPal
 The biggest place of internet marketing
 Local market adaptation
 Economies of scale
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 Brand image
Weaknesses
 High fees
 No further growth strategy
Opportunities
 To become a top level of retailer
 Open outlets in developing nations
 Increasing number of mobile shoppers
 Increase the portfolio of existing services and products through acquisition
Threats
 Local retailers providing commodities at low cost
 High rate of exchange
 Online security
 Increasing competition from other online retailers, like eBay, Alibaba, Flipkart, etc.
In addition to above, the PESTLE analysis of company can be conducted in order to develop
the plan of internet marketing and generating sales by increasing satisfaction level for the
target customers (ELLSWORTH and Ellsworth, 2012). Amazon by applying e-CRM and e-
SCM tools can provide products at less cost by analysing the customer’s behaviour.
Economic factors like low cost products may be supportive for the organisation to pull the
attraction of large number of customers. Social and legal factors are very essential to the
company, as the online marketing plan must be devised through client’s permission and not
lead to confidentiality threat for them (Brace, 2008). The main rival of Amazon is eBay,
Flipkart and Alibaba as well as the company face different level of competition from these
online retailers in distinct nations and market. The following are some objectives of internet
marketing plan of Amazon:
To increase customers satisfaction level
To enhance the market share
To keep separate and different identity of brand
Besides above, the company should implement its online channels by using the
strategy of segmentation and targeting. In order to conduct online marketing, the use of
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several media like pay per click, social media and email marketing must be adopted by
analysing the specific media effectiveness and the total cost incurred in it to undertake
promotional activities. Moreover, the feedback’s of customers is required to be integrated in
social media and online survey strategies, in order to make constant and needed
improvements in products and services according to market demands (Roberts and Zahay,
2012).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from above report that in present business scenario internet
marketing is increasing at a fast rate. In this context, big brands company are needed to
provide information to customers through various channels as explained above. Online
marketing provides various advantages to customers like increased loyalty, healthy relations
with customers which increases the sales of company. It also provide convenience to
customers to make purchases and get information on easy clicks.
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