Dissertation full

IMPACTS OF CORPORATE WEBSITE ON
ORGANIZATIONAL CUSTOMERS

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of:

Master of Science in Technology Management

Submitted to the:

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND TECHNOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON
On

September 21, 2009

By:

Frederick Gbemileke ODUTOLA

U0814691

Supervisor:

Elias Pimenidis

Impacts of Corporate Website on Organizational Customers

DEDICATION

To God who’s made me His Most Favoured, to my grandmother, Late
Princess Christiana Ayinke Odutola who raised my foundation, to my dad for
the love and unending privileges, to my mum for the care and relentless
prayers, to my mothers, godmothers, siblings, family and true friends.

Frederick ODUTOLA Jr. (0814691) September, 2009
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TABLE OF CONTENT

Dedication - - - - - - - - - 2

Acknowledgement - - - - - - - - 6

Abstract - - - - - - - - - 7

CHAPTER 1 - RESEARCH OVERVIEW - - - - - 8

1.0 Introduction and Background - - - - - 9

1.1 Problem Statement - - - - - - - 9

1.2 Purpose of Study - - - - - - - 10

1.3 Research Objectives - - - - - - - 10

1.4 Research Questions - - - - - - - 11

1.5 Research Approach - - - - - - - 11

1.6 Definition of Terms - - - - - - - 11

1.7 Scope of the Study- - - - - - - - 12

1.8 Significance of Study- - - - - - - 13

1.9 Limitation of Study- - - - - - - - 13

1.10 Organization of Report- - - - - - - 14

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW - - - - - 15

2.0 Introduction- - - - - - - - - 16

2.1 Classification of Corporate Website- - - - - 18

2.2 Outstanding and Outsmarting Competitors- - - - 18

2.3 Fostering First Time Purchases and Brand Loyalty - - 20

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2.4 Organization-Consumer Relationship - - - - 27

2.5 Enhancing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - - 31

2.6 Strengthening the Efficacy of Corporate Website - - - 33

CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODS - - - - - 37

3.0 Introduction- - - - - - - - - 38

3.1 Research Approach- - - - - - - - 38

3.2 Research Strategy- - - - - - - - 40

3.3 Data Collection- - - - - - - - 40

3.4 Sample Selection- - - - - - - - 41

3.5 Data Analysis- - - - - - - - - 41

3.6 Quality Standards- - - - - - - - 42

CHAPTER 4 - PRESENTATION OF CASE STUDIES - - - 43

4.0 Introduction- - - - - - - - - 44

4.1 Case Study of kalaa: Taking a Vision From Concept to Cash in an
Online Art Market Place- - - - - - - 44

4.2 Case Study of Property Clinic- - - - - - 46

4.2.1 Aiding CRM with Corporate Website- - - - - 46

4.2.2 Building Brand and Aiding Sales with Corporate Website - 48

4.2.3 Generating Traffic for Corporate Website - - - - 51

CHAPTER 5 - ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES - - - - 52

5.0 Introduction- - - - - - - - - 53

5.1 Case Study of Kalaa: Taking a Vision From Concept to Cash in an
Online Art Market Place- - - - - - - 53

5.2 Case Study of Property Clinic- - - - - - 54

5.2.1 Aiding CRM with Corporate Website - - - - 54

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5.2.2 Building Brand and Aiding Sales with Corporate Website - 57

5.2.3 Generating Traffic for Corporate Website - - - -
58

CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION - - 60

6.0 Conclusion - - - - - - - - 61

6.1 Further Research - - - - - - - 62

REFERENCES- - - - - - - - - 64

APPENDICES- - - - - - - - - 69

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank God for His unending Grace and Favour upon my life especially as
they now extend to this phase of academic race and this missive in particular.

My gratitude goes to all those that made the completion of this dissertation
possible. I would like to thank the School of Computing and Technology of
University of East London.

My gratitude goes to my supervisors Mr. Elias Pimenidis and Mr. Naveed
Hamid for taking me up as a supervisee and coping with the rigors that came
with it. I am deeply indebted to Mr. Elias Pimenidis for his guidance,
suggestions and habitual exhibition of patience and encouragement.

I thank the entire staff of Property Clinic for making my second and major
case study a reality. My special appreciation goes to Mr. Joseph Farodoye,
the Managing Director of Property Clinic for the time, tolerance, permissions
and support during my participant-observation with Property Clinic.

My appreciation goes to my course mates especially Femi Shittu, Wole
Adefemi, Niyi Sangokoya and Sadaf Vajahat. I say a big thank you for the
time, company and support. My special appreciation goes to my amazing
friend, Rebekah Jones for the care and support throughout this project.

My special gratitude goes to my London parents Mr. and Mrs. Brierley for
standing by me all through this one year academic relay.

Most importantly, my appreciation goes to my papa Rev. Dr. Fred B. Odutola,
who anchored this success. I appreciate his investments, motivations and
encouragements throughout my life and career. My gratitude goes to my
mama for her care, love and incessant prayers and to my siblings for the
evergreen love and support.

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ABSTRACT

As a means to unveil the potency of corporate website, this dissertation
critically examines the impacts of corporate website as an internationally
sustainable ICT tool on organizational customers. This research scrutinizes
corporate website as an instrument that builds brand and reveals its impacts
on consumer behaviour especially purchase decision and eventual loyalty to
the brand. It also finds out how corporate website distinguishes an
organization from its competitors. More so, this work unveils how corporate
website aids Customer Relationship Management while securing
organization-consumer relationship. It also identifies the impossibility of
corporate website to be a one-way tool and highlights complimentary actions
that make it truly efficient and sustainable.

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CHAPTER 1

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

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CHAPTER 1

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

With its ubiquity, the Internet has unveiled great advancement for
businesses. Today, virtually all registered businesses have websites as
corporate website is fast becoming one of the prerequisites for the credibility
of a genuine business. Just as the Internet aids businesses to reach
customers amidst competitions, it powers customers with an enormous view
and reach of various products and services at alternative prices. Corporate
Websites have emerged amidst this strength of Internet Marketing
Technology as a significant ICT tool that differentiates the brand of services
and products of an organization from those of competitors.

The result of an ICT technology used by an organization determines its
tangible value; such result refers to the impact of its use by such company
(Bouwman et. al, 2005). Embedded in corporate website’s efficacy to
persuade organizational customers to react positively is its value as an
influential ICT tool of such organizational.

Amidst this emergence of corporate website and its constant growth, the
researcher’s objective is to scrutinize the effect corporate website has on
organizational customers and how it goes all the way to engrave such
impact.

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Corporate website is a multipurpose Integrated Marketing Communications
tool that aids marketing, brand building and Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) amongst others. Despite such numerous potentials, this
powerful technology is presently being underused by many businesses.

Although some organizations consciously use corporate websites to attain
competitive advantage in the market, many of them don’t pay enough

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attention to the many ingredients that make this medium truly effective.
However, many others especially small and medium businesses only use it
lightly as a mere web presence of their business outfits without knowing its
many potentials especially as regards penetrating potential customers and
maintaining existing ones.

To better understand the strength of corporate website especially as it
influences organization customers, research is needed on the impact of
effective corporate website on customers who are the end users. This
research therefore proposes to examine the impact of corporate website on
customers and the prerequisites for the efficacy of this Internet Technology.

1.2 PURPOSE OF STUDY

This research primarily aims to examine, critically review and discuss the
impacts of corporate websites on organizational customers. To this effect,
this research will scrutinize some marketing functions of a website and their
effects on organizational consumers that are exposed to them.

1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

From the aforementioned purpose of study, this project is levied with the
following objectives:

1) To find out how corporate website distinguishes an organization from
its competitors.
2) To research, critically review and discuss how corporate website
fosters first time purchases and brand loyalty.
3) To research, critically review and discuss how organizations get more
closely connected to their customers via corporate website.
4) To unveil, critically review and discuss how corporate website
enhances Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
5) To research, critically review and discuss most effective actions that
strengthen the efficacy of corporate website.

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1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

From research objectives, this research aspires to answer the following
questions:

1. How does corporate website distinguish an organization from its
competitors?
2. How does corporate website foster first time purchases and brand
loyalty?
3. How does corporate website bring organizations closely connected to
their customers?
4. How does corporate website enhance Customer Relationship
Management?
5. What are the most effective actions that strengthen the efficacy of
corporate website?

1.5 RESEARCH APPROACH

This research made use of primary and secondary research methods. Quality
literatures and journals were used for this research according to their
relevance. Qualitative research method was adopted and case studies were
employed one of which was derived via participant observation of the
researcher. The case studies carried out were analysed and the analysis
were used to support research questions with deductions of how corporate
affects organizational consumers.

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

For the purpose of simplicity, the key terms used in this project are defined

as used in this project.

Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is used in analysing website traffic. Basically, it
refers to the percentage of visitors to a site who instead of browsing through
other pages of the site get rebound to an entirely different site. In context of
this dissertation, it refers to rate of visitors bounced from another website to a
particular corporate website.

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Corporate Website: Corporate Website is an online collection of web pages

with a specified domain name that conveys organizational information

especially of brands of services or products of the organization and

distinguishes them from rivals’.

Organization: This refers to a unit in which more than one person work

jointly to attain a common goal. Organization, ‘business’ and ‘company’ are

used interchangeably in this project.

Personal Selling: This is a face-to-face communication process that

happens between a representative of an organization and a prospective

customer.

Customer: A customer is that person that patronizes an organization. He or

she is the primary target of the organization, its brands of products and

services. This word is changeably used with 'client’ and ’consumer' in this

project.

Customer Acquisition Cost is the cost of a particular marketing campaign

divided by the number of prospective consumers whose behaviour met the

campaign’s goal.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): CRM is the course of action
of learning more about needs and behaviours of customers with an end aim
of strengthening organization-consumer relationship.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study focuses on effects of corporate websites on organizational

consumers on a global scale. Although all of the organizations studied by the

researcher are based in the United Kingdom, some of them like Property

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Clinic have and serve customers that live beyond the geographical

boundaries of UK.

1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This research in its entirety will have a huge implication on the corporate

world by bettering their knowledge of the potencies of corporate website. It

will examine the impacts of corporate website on consumers. This should

influence the creation of intuitive and visually appealing corporate website

that has an overall goal of being commercially-impactful. This will give

companies reasons to be bent on websites that will efficiently and

dynamically disseminate their image, services and products with an attempt

to influence customer behaviour.

1.9 LIMITATION OF STUDY

This study is limited by the shortage of time and granted access by chosen

organizations. The effects of corporate websites on organizational

consumers are not fully looked into from the consumer point of view.

However, these did not in any way make the findings of this research

redundant as the case studies involve real organizations using corporate

websites to achieve results, thereby helping to answer the research

questions.

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1.10 ORGANIZATION OF REPORT

Chapter 1 – Research Overview

This will contain the research overview including background of study,
problem statement, research questions, research objectives and approach.

Chapter 2 – Literature Review

In this chapter, the numerous literatures on the research title would be
reviewed. These literatures will be under different headings and subheadings
as they all relate to this research and the research questions listed above.

Chapter 3 – Research Methods

This chapter contains the chosen research methods for data collection for
this project and the reasons why the researcher have adopted them.

Chapter 4 – Presentation of Case Studies

This chapter contains the presentation of the numerous case studies used for
this research. One of these case studies was developed by the researcher
through participant observation and the other that was developed by other
persons was presented in the researchers own words while the full text was
left verbatim under the Appendices.

Chapter 5 – Analysis of Case Studies

This section contains the analysis of the case studies presented in chapter 4.
The case studies are analyzed and used as much as possible to arrive at
answers for the research questions raised in Chapter 1.

Chapter 6 – Conclusion and Recommendation

This section contains the conclusion of the researcher based on consulted
literature and deduced answers to research questions by case studies. It
further contains necessary recommendations based on research findings and
suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

The Internet has become the most salient communications tool since the
broadcast media (Bruner et al, 2001. p. 9). Be it profit or non-profit oriented,
every organization exists for the primary aim of satisfying a need or more of a
particular person or group of persons. Therefore, the nature of perception
and the level of patronage and satisfaction of the consumers an organization
serves determine the success of the organization. The fact that customers
only get involved when they perceive organizational offers as beneficial
(Finnegan and Willcocks, 2007. p.1) creates a constant need for
organizations to competitively paint their services and products as beneficial
in the target consumers’ minds. This competition had always been battled
with the use of the broadcast and print media to paint convincing images in
the minds of consumers and prospective consumers. With the sophisticated
evolution of Information Communication Technology, corporate website has
emerged as an effective medium used for disseminating organizational
information with a foreseen end of influencing customers.

Television and radio make use of audiovisual and audio signals respectively
while conforming to the rule of time and the print media is governed by the
availability of space. According to McMillan et al (2003. p.1), website
overcomes the ongoing limitation of space and time with its technical potency
of involving and engaging organizational consumers. It builds the corporate
image and brands of products and services on the web by offering
organizational information beyond the level of the traditional media. There is
virtually no limit to the amount of web space an organization can secure and
the amount of information it can leave for consumers on the web. This coined
with the creativity of website especially the interactivity of multimedia have an
end effect on organizational consumers.

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Progressively, customers and prospective customers acquire information
about organizations via their corporate websites more than through reading
their printed materials. According to the website effectiveness experts,
Bowen Craggs & Co. (2009), many organizations have recognized this fact,
but they need to concentrate more on this ‘best-valued’ medium. This has
necessitated the investigation of the impacts of this acclaimed ‘best-valued’
medium (Bowen Craggs & Co., 2009) on organizational customers.

Several researchers have made attempts to define corporate website.
Owyang (2007) sees corporate website as a domain where a customer or
prospective customer can access more information about an organization. It
is a collection of pages on the Internet with organizational information
available to target or existing customers via the Internet. Silk et al (2001)
proposed that corporate website is an organization’s major contact point with
its customers. Singh and Dalal (1999. p. 92) opined that corporate website,
just like advertising, performs the basic functions of informing and
persuading.

Many other researchers including McMillan et al (2003), Lynn et al (2002)
and Bruner and Kumar (2000) have examined corporate website in the
context of advertising on the web. According to Warren and Mark (2003), The
Internet via website serves as an advertising medium and Public Relation
tool. It helps with sales and promotion and aids the effort of personal selling.
However, the study and use of corporate website should go beyond
associating it with the limited attributes of the traditional media to realising its
ability to go the extra mile of engaging consumers and aiding business deals
(McMillan et al, 2003. p. 4).

This study scrutinizes corporate website as an online advertising, marketing
and branding tool. The major essence however lies in investigating the end
effects corporate website has on consumers. The approach is aimed at
making organizations realize and consider how corporate website influences
the consumers that these organizations exist primarily to serve. This
research portrays corporate website as a medium that promotes an
organization and its brands while bypassing the limitations of the traditional

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media. Corporate website is therefore dissected as an online brand builder
and business-customer relationship tool that contacts, informs and influences
customers while differentiating a company and its brands of services and
products from those of its rivals.

2.1 CLASSIFICATION OF CORPORATE WEBSITE

Websites have been classified by Warren and Mark (2003. p. 591-592) into:

Promotion Site: Promotion site promotes the goods and services of the
organization it represents or those of its third party.

Content Site: A content site offers news, entertainment and support for the
public relations activities of the organization.

Transaction Site: A transaction site creates an avenue for customers to
purchase organizational goods and services online. Such transactions are
aided with secured online payment systems and services.

A corporate website could fall into one, more or all of these aforementioned
categories of a website. The category to which a corporate website belongs
dictates its content and how it goes on to establish an organizational-
customer relationship.

2.2 OUTSTANDING AND OUTSMARTING COMPETITORS

Unique Corporate Image

Considering that every organization exists within a competitive environment
(Beynon-Davis, 2004. p 51), there is a huge need for an organization to be
differentiated from another in order to avoid losing its customers to a rival
organization especially if such organization offers very similar products or
services. This differentiation begins with the identification of a company’s
corporate image which is physically associated with its corporate name and
logo. This corporate image goes further to encapsulate what the company
stands for amongst others.

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With the corporate website, an organization has an online representation of
its corporate image and brands which clearly distinguish it from rival
organizations. Corporate website utilizes the ubiquity and dominance of the
Internet to give an organization an edge over its competitors. With many
available features and functions of the corporate website, an organization
has the affordability of beating its competitors at acquiring, satisfying and
sustaining customers.

Outsmarting Competitors

Irrespective of the industry an organization belongs to, the corporate website
via the capability of the Internet affords it 24-hour functionality through 365
days a year (Fellenstein and Wood, 2000. P. 40). This helps an organization
stand better in a competitive market as it breaks the limitations of office hours
and holidays to serve the consumers the organization exist primarily to serve.
Corporate website functions as an influential gizmo of Information
Communication Technology that helps ensure online effigy, branding,
advertising, credibility, and sales for an organization, all with an end aim of
influencing the customers of an organization to act beneficially towards the
organization amidst competition.

During the early days of the Web, most customers had less experience in
Web transactions especially when such involves cash (Bruner et al, 2001 p.
11). In this present age of the web, humans have grown to be web-centric,
thereby resulting into customers who are sufficiently computer literate to
utilize the websites of organizations to digest as much information as
available and required and to finish up transactions. An organization that
realizes and embraces this possibility of the Internet has an advantageous
stance over its competitors. According to Fellenstein and Wood (2000. p. 40),
paying attention to factors like end-to-end system components, system
management processes, data redundancy, backup and recovery and high
availability, on the long run translate into consumer satisfaction which
logically maximizes profit.

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Web technology innovative like the ‘7 Max-E-Marketing Imperatives’
popularized by Rapp and Martin (2001. P. 6-8) empowers an organization to
get and manage customers well enough to ensure profitability in the midst of
fierce competition. With corporate website, an organization can know more
about consumers, update consumers’ bio data, and use such consumer
information to drive its businesses, thereby making it much easier to tailor its
information and brands to its consumers. This is made much easier with the
infusion of individualized marketing into corporate website.

According to Cusack (1998. p. 41), corporate website has evolved into a
medium that is recognized for organizational procedures and policies with an
enormous database. These procedures and policies are coined to satisfy the
consumers and are constantly updated to sustain consumer satisfaction.
More so, they are remarkable distinguishing factors of organizations
especially as they eventually influence the different stances and modus
operandi of each organization.

In a nutshell, the entirety of the corporate website distinguishes a corporate
entity (an organization) from its competitors in all its ramifications: corporate
image, name, logo, information, brands of products and services. On the long
run, when competitively utilized, the corporate website gives the organization
an edge over its competitors. The organization therefore stands out in the
competition and outsmarts competitors.

2.3 FOSTERING FIRST TIME PURCHASES AND BRAND
LOYALTY

Audience Development: Flowing Traffic into Corporate Website

Bowen et al, (1999, p. 159) say it is difficult to attract consumers to a website
to absorb organizational information. This therefore necessitates the use of
different tools of the Internet to flow traffic into the corporate website. With
the knowledge of this difficulty, businesses now utilize different tools to draw
visitors to their websites. Such efforts include the maximization of the power
of metadata descriptions to increase chances of their websites coming up in

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search engines, use of referrals via partner site and search engines amongst
others. The bounce rate of partner sites can be checked while powerful web
tools like the Google analytics make it easy to document and measure traffic
level and sources, page views, clicks and duration spent on pages amongst
others.

The visitation of an existing or potential consumer to a corporate website is
preceded by many things. It could be an earlier purchase of the company
brand with the web URL printed on the package or documentation associated
with the purchase (for an existing consumer), navigation via search engines
or referral from another web site. Google for example, aids organizations
drive expected traffic and the attracted visitors can on the long run turn to
customers depending on the packaging of the website.

Another effective way of driving traffic to company website is using on-air and
other promotion media (Goetzl, 2007). Often, companies employ short
advertorials on the mass media to leave eagerness to know more in the
minds of customers. Such advertising messages which appear inadequate
but create inquisitiveness in the minds of those exposed to them always end
with emphasis on the organizational website. The desire to know more drives
traffic to the site. The famous ‘gocompare.com’ media advert for example is a
means to drive prospective consumers of the service to the company website
where they can consume more information and the available services.

Important Customer Contact Point

Silk et al (2001) opined that corporate website is the primary contact point an
organization has with its customers. Corporate website as a worldwide
medium makes it possible for a company to reach consumers across
distances and beyond geographical boundaries. Through corporate website
as a worldwide medium, an organization can reach its customers across
geographical distances and boundaries. This initial contact is the basis of the
eventual impact it has on the customers.

The creativity of multimedia with the possibility of customer interaction and
control makes it possible for customers to consume organizational

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information in an interesting way. This interactivity of the corporate website is
a means to an end – purchase and patronage. According to Bowen Craggs &
Co. (2009), businesses have commenced investing in transforming their
corporate websites from online brochures into truly interactive medium.
Bowen Craggs & Co. construed that the website is the organization’s most
read publication and should not be made boring.

While investigating the significance of corporate websites, Llopis, Gonzalez
and Gasco (2008. p.334) unveiled that the company information about
policies, goals and values merged with the design features of the corporate
website influences visitors’ perception. Corporate website packages
organizational information as such that it directly influences the way
customers or potential customers that visit the website perceive the
company. This further initiates anticipated consumer behaviours including
making purchases.

Corporate website initiates the first contact point with potential consumers
and navigates them through pages of information. All these interactivities
powered by the website leave the consumers with a desire to patronize the
brands (Internet Wire, 2002). The information on the website must have
painted these brands as relevant and beneficial to the visitor before the
visitor becomes a customer by purchasing.

However, before an organization bothers about how consumers perceive its
corporate website, it is first answerable to itself. The organization first needs
to clearly layout its objectives especially as regards the return it expects from
this online investment (Bruner et al, 2001 p. 10). This setting of objectives
should be coined with the realization that the creation of this consumer
contact point is not an end in itself but a means to an end which is profit
maximization. The end result should justify the resources invested into the
corporate website.

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Advertising and Brand-Building

According to Internet Wire (2002), corporate website helps an organization to
centralize branding. Corporate website plays a significant and cost-effective
role in helping an organization build consumer awareness of a brand be it an
offline or online brand. Some Internet domain names are based on brand
names while others are generic domains that focus on product lines. Procter
and Gamble’s www.covergirl.com is a good example of a domain that
focuses on a brand name while its www.cakemix.com is a relevant example
of a product line generic domain (Warren and Mark 2003).

Bruner et al (2001) suggested that as marketing is fast becoming more
global, it is most likely cyberspace becomes the only medium a potential
customer finds out information about a company’s brand. With the increased
level of addiction of the new generation to the Internet, it is necessary
organizations start maximizing this opportunity to expose brand information
to potential consumers. Some have already started doing this by driving
traffic to brand pages via ad banners hosted on other websites especially the
popular community websites: Facebook and Twitter amongst others.

Warren and Mark (2003. p. 593) opined that with the corporate website, an
organization can regionalize its brand portfolio. A very good example is how
Procter and Gamble regionalized its Japan brand as documented by Warren
and Mark (2003. p.593). Such regionalization gives consumers within those
geographical boundaries a sense of being in the plan of the organization and
gingers a positive response towards such brands including making
purchases.

Millward Brown opines that an ad banner on a company website can
increase brand awareness (Bruner et al, 2001 p. 14). This is further
supported by Robinson (2007) when he asserted that customer base and
brand awareness are significantly created via showcasing the brands of
products and services of organization through the Internet. Companies can
use their most visited pages, often the index (or home) page to disseminate
brand information in order to get potential customers aware of such brand.

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Beyond the passive attention expected of the consumer by the traditional
media, corporate website invites potential consumers to get involved with
organizational brands, delve into details about them and sign up for special
services. More so, it creates an avenue for them to regularly return as a
source for a particular issue while actively participating in the marketing that
is bounded closely with the brand (Bruner et al, 2001 p. 16).

Another efficient way of effectively branding on the corporate website is by
employing co-branding. According to Warren and Mark (2003. p. 590),
organizations pay for banner adverts on web browsers; these banner adverts
link to the corporate website of the organization. It could be a link to the
homepage or a particular brand or product page on the corporate website.
Bruner et al (2001. p. 15) also unveiled that in a situation where a visitor does
not know the name of an organization or brand, the logo or banner of such
organization is put on the web site of a more known partner. This can lend the
organization some credibility. Such logo or banner could be linked to the
corporate website of this company to feed such prospective customer
information about the organization and its brands of products or services.
The effect of this could be measured by the bounce rate.

As Internet forums and communities like Facebook and Linked In amongst
others are becoming much more popular and addictive, many organizations
now create groups and pages that direct visitors to their websites. While
some of such visitations are often borne out of curiosity rather than interest,
many others are gingered by interest. Forums and communities are therefore
fast becoming tools of developing audience and raising awareness of a
corporate website. They also aid in carrying out co-branding efforts as
explained above.

Corporate website aids global marketing via affiliations with other sites
(Warren and Mark, 2003. p. 592). This is merged with sponsorship of
particular events, brand or software to generate recognition and referral.
Unilever Plc for example sponsored MSN; such sponsorship creates an
avenue where these are active links to the website or a particular brand page

24


of the sponsor. This on the long run powers organizations to reach more
target consumers across media platforms.

Corporate website builds organizational brands by sophisticatedly
disseminating brand information with interactive features. With multimedia,
organizations can show consumers product demos via videos, graphics and
in case of software, free downloads. This becomes even much more
interesting for some brands in that consumers can chose different parts that
make up the brand they want including colours and see how it is going to
look like.

In a competitive market, organizations employ online advertising to give their
products a space in the mind of the consumers. Unilever Plc for example,
digitalized its television commercials as such that visitors can download them
(Warren and Mark, 2003. p. 591). This act of moving advertising from the
traditional media to the corporate website results into a situation where a
consumer or prospective consumer consciously digests these commercials,
thereby having access to such advertorial information about organizational
brand. Such an exposure paints messages that influence the perception of
this consumer and eventually his or her action towards the organization and
its brand.

Interactive advertising agencies help to globalize the Internet standings and
offerings of organizations. Planet Leap Global for example helped companies
like Nike and Apple computers amongst others to tackle the differences of
language and cultures of customers. Some of these agencies who are
Interactive media specialists make organizations aware about the laws that
operate in each geographical region the organization covers (Warren and
Mark, 2003. p. 591-592).

Different types of web marketing including advertising and brand building add
to a positive brand image (Bruner et al, 2001 p. 15). Inductively activities of
online brand building and advertising amongst other Integrated Marketing
Communications effort is a means to an end painting a positive brand image
which gingers first time purchase and brand loyalty.

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Sales

A corporate website that is well designed with marketing considerations gives
a company a strong personality that formulates positive perceptions, ensures
trouble-free navigation, persuades a visitor to reach a conclusion of buying
the company’s service or product and encourages an existing customer to
remain loyal purchasers. This was confirmed by Baker (2009), who examined
the IMRG Capgemini’s survey and deduced that better targeting via
advanced marketing strategies boosts sales.

More so, a customer experience management firm, CRM Metrix, carried out
an 18 month survey on major consumer oriented websites and established
that the more time customers spend on a website and the deeper they get
involved in it, the more the boost of affinity of brand, purchase intent and
value of a lifetime (Internet Wire, 2002).

Corporate website has evolved from aiding in-office transactions into an
online transaction venue. Burner et al (2001. p. 20) stress that consumers
can get whatever they want to buy online. The Internet via business websites
now makes it possible for products and services to be fully paid for online. In
some cases, such product or service is even consumed online. However, in
many more cases, the product is transported to the final consumer and the
service is brought across the consumer or he or she journeys to consume the
service.

This potency of the Web according to Bruner et al (2000. p. 20) is fast
becoming affordable even by small enterprises as they combine promotion
strategies with unique offerings to maximize the profitability of web
marketing. Such aids them in bypassing the limitation of geographical
boundaries of television signals and zip codes amongst others that affect
traditional marketing means.

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2.4 ORGANIZATION-CONSUMER RELATIONSHIP

According to Bouwman et al (2005. p.41), Information Communication
Technology significantly contributes to achievement of company goals
especially the social and commercial ones. The function of Information
Communication Technology in a company however is much more than the
publication of company goals; it includes the efficient and effective
implementation of these goals. This has created an emergence that sees
corporate website actively function as an effective ICT tool that helps a
business realize the main goal of maximizing profit while keeping its valued
consumers.

According to Beynor-Davis (2004. p. 52), in the quest of reaching its local or
global customers, an organization requires a mediator to act as a go-between
between the organization and its customers. Corporate website serves as an
intermediary that mediates between an organization and its potential and
existing consumers.

Some traits of digital media were identified by John Deighton (Chaffey et al,
2000. p. 17). This inductively depicts that as a digital media, corporate
website facilitates a situation where customers deliberately instigate contact
with an organization and consume information about that organization or its
brand of products or services. This affords an organization hundred percent
attention from a consumer or potential consumer who visits the website. It
also enables the organization to collate, keep, monitor and act upon actions
of a website visitor, who may be an existing consumer or a potential one.

With the corporate website, a company can effectively deal with customers
individually. It serves as an organizational information sieving tool as
feedback forms can pull off suggestions and feedbacks from site visitors.
Some organizations have their contact page primarily contain a form that
attracts consumers or potential consumers to type and send texts of
information. More so, Google Analytics make it possible for an organization
to study the interaction process of web visitors with its corporate website,

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thereby helping the organization to discover the cost effective marketing
initiatives online (Google, 2009).

Software firms like Macromedia and NetPerceptions amongst others
empower organizations to study patterns in the behaviour of anonymous
users on their site. Such study generates information that is used to improve
the corporate website, deduce demographics of visitors and personalize web
content for individual users (Bruner et al, 2001. p. 24).

Corporate website functions as a feedback mechanism that helps a company
to effect a rapid and pertinent transformation of its position in the market
(Internet Wire, 2002). It makes the consumers direct interviewees as
complaints and condemnations of an organization and its brands provide
such accurate information, thereby empowering the company to beat the
setbacks posed by long paper researches. Such information are very
unbiased, objective and genuine as they originate from the real existing or
target consumers and solutions could be quickly provided as appropriate and
needed.

Customer Acquisition

Organizations acquire website visitors who are potential customers via
search engines, on-air adverts and links from referral sites amongst others.
The customer acquisition campaign is done with goal at hand. Such goal
could be making purchases; filling out surveys and signing up for promotional
newsletter amongst others. The efficacy of this is measured by the ‘Customer
Acquisition Cost’ (Bruner et al, 2001 p. 11). With the availability of online
tracking software like the Google Analytics, it has become possible to
ascertain the number of visitors that visit particular pages on the corporate
website, and the final online actions performed by each of them especially
filling of forms and making of online transactions.

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Customer Retention

According to Fellenstein and Wood (2000. p. 40), to retain customer, the
organization must ensure its electronic representation is available, secure,
reliable and scalable on demand.

It is easy to put up a website but the transformation of the web presence into
a valuable online business for an organization as such that visitors revisit is
challenging. To ensure this, an organization needs to make the corporate
website as useable as possible while it remains highly functional. A website
that is fully tried, tested and useable stands a greater chance of encouraging
a visitor to call back (Fellenstein and Wood, 2000. p. 40).

Customer Care

According to Bruner et al (2001. p. 23), irrespective of the nature of a
business, the use of web site to improve customer communications should
be regarded. However, this phase of online representation of organizations
has received little or no attention. This could probably be because the end
result of this function of the web is not quickly and directly measurable.
However, customer satisfaction through surveys and result helps measure
the essence of online customer care.

Cusack (1998. p.41) once deduced that with the emerging sophistication of
the World Wide Web, organizations will likely focus more on online customer
care. He however identified the demerit of unavailability of human contact,
capitalizing that automated software applications may be unable to appease
an angry customer. Today, corporate website has bypassed this
disadvantage with the availability of online customer care via web chats with
human agents. Bruner et al (2001. p. 22) revealed that organizations now aid
customers through live support chat that are supplied by ‘real people’. Many
corporate website already offer this online chat facility to aid customers find
the right information and make the right transactions. The UCVHOST
(http://ucvhost.com) website for example provides live help whereby online
agents assist existing and prospective customers to set up and pay for the

29


right domain registration or hosting facility. T-Mobile website also does the
same to assist customers to complete online transactions or locate particular
product or company information.

Cusack (1998) anticipated that organizations will host as much information as
possible on their website in order to enable customers to browse knowledge
bases, update personal account information, review bills and place orders.
The past few years have shown an increase in the realization of this
anticipation; corporate websites have numerous Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) hosted with answers and many websites now allow individual
customers to customize their account information online.

Customer support has emerged one of the sophisticated applications of the
Internet (Bruner et al, 2000. p. 22) that sees to it that an organization
sufficiently cares for its consumer. The more organizations grow the more the
necessity to have some kind of online customer support even at a stage
when such customer is a potential one who browses the organizational
information as a web visitor. Such support includes creating a venue for
customers to manage their personal accounts on the company website; this
is often aided by ‘My Account’ web software program. For example, a
registered T-mobile user can login online, check past bills, current bills,
available network package for chosen price plan and even send SMS online.

Customer care processes and systems support are critical to the running of
any organization. Corporate website offers support frameworks that
streamline support and care for consumers (Fellenstein and Wood, 2000. p.
41). At this phase, it is salient to note that this care for consumers go beyond
the technology to involve the embedded business functions which influence
the overall business success – customer satisfaction and profit maximization.

Corporate website gives customers access to large amount of information
any time 24 hours a day. It disseminates this information graphically, thereby
making customers easily explore organizational facts that may boost their
perception and enjoyment of the brands of products or services (Cusack,

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1998 p. 41). All these create an avenue where customers can get immediate
support they need and when they need it.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility is the responsibility of an organization to its
publics who consist of its host community and consumers. As powerful as it
is, Corporate Social Responsibility is only useful when it is publicized. To this
effect, corporate website has emerged as a salient and influential medium of
carrying out and publicizing CSR. It associates a company with the many
positive activities it does to improve the social life of its publics especially the
host community; the organization deliberately publishes such information on
its corporate website to disseminate them to existing and potential customers
with an end aim of influencing their decisions especially to patronize.

According to Llopis et al, (2008. p. 335), the Corporate Social Responsibility
information on web pages generally depict the social activities of a company
as regards the society, environment and the customers; organizations make
use of corresponding information to incorporate CSR on their web pages.
This is done to make visitors develop likeness for an organization that cares
enough to input such beneficial social activities. Such sentiments transfer to
the brands of products or services of the organization and persuade visitors
to become consumers.

2.5 ENHANCING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
(CRM)

According to Minocha et al (2005), to conform corporate website to design
and usability standards, Customer Relationship Management needs to be
integrated to get efficient and sustainable customer-organization relationship
online. This highlights the importance of fusing Customer Relationship
Management into corporate website design. This long term relationship goes
beyond recruiting new customers to sustaining them.

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Customer Relationship Management gives a company a lens through which it
looks at its consumers. It gives the organization a comprehensive view of
individual consumer, thereby affording the organization the opportunity to
relate personally with this consumer. This further gives it an edge over rivals
in the minds of the consumers (Pisapia and Bonfield, 2008). According to
Bygstad (2003), it has been asserted by relationship marketing that it is
cheaper to hold on to existing consumers than to get new ones. Chaffey
(2004 p. 367) asserts that to sustain its business, it is pertinent for an
organization to build and sustain long term relationship with its consumers.
This has necessitated keeping current information about consumers.

Pisapia and Bonfield (2008) opined that contrary to the popular conception
that Customer Relationship Management is a definite database organization
or product, it is a strategy that gives an organization trouble-free access to
significant information of each person that concerns the organization
especially its customers. With the aid of web software tools, corporate
website helps an organization to gather information about online customer
patterns, segmentation, and profitability (Bruner et al, 2001. p. 11). Corporate
website helps organizations to get leads for its CRM database. Such
information which includes the contact information and the interest of such
prospective customer is gathered via forms on the website and manually or
automatically input into the CRM software. In some cases, it gets updated
information about an existing customer, thereby making it easy for such
information to be updated on the CRM software.

A significant advantage of Customer Relationship Management is that the
information it gets from the interaction of consumers with the corporate
website of the organization belongs solely to the organization (Pisapia and
Bonfield, 2008). Such information can aid the decisions and formulation of
new programmes to better serve the consumers, thereby bettering the
functionality and profit maximization of the organization. The significance of
this consumer relationship was better explained by Finnegan and Willcocks
(2007. p.4) when they opined that it helps an organization realize trust and
loyalty from its consumers while spending less on marketing.

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2.6 STRENGTHENING THE EFFICACY OF CORPORATE
WEBSITE

From the aforesaid, one may hastily conclude that the impact corporate
websites has on consumers is unavoidable. However, these impacts ought
not to be considered as usual without the presence of some prerequisites.
Before conceiving the website and afterwards, the organization has to play
lots of responsibilities to compliment the impact of corporate website, the
absence of which makes the website and all the design efforts futile.

Proctor et al (2003) opined that ensuring that a corporate website gives
customers efficient interactivity requires that the stage of preparing the
content decides and has the information, arrangement and method of
presentation that is necessary. In a nutshell, a company needs to decide the
entirety of the information including what to convey, how to acquire, develop
and disseminate it on the corporate website. Beyond web design skills,
researches are meant to aid gathering and laying out the right information
with the right style of words that will make it tailored to the target visitors.

According to Robinson (2007), whether it is being used as a tool of conveying
information or trade, a corporate website should plainly assist a customer do
what is expected by the organization in order to successfully realise a
transaction or interaction. This means the website should guide the
consumer in making the right clicks and in the right succession.

Doctor’s Channel’s president, David Best, deduced that the efficient means
of catching and maintaining a customer’s attention is to make use of shot
contents with lots of embedded information (Forte et. al, 2008). Robinson
(2007) gave a parallel view when advising that to avoid straining the
customers’ eyes the corporate website should not be too wordy. Brevity
should be inculcated into the corporate website without necessarily missing
out important information. Such conciseness helps prevent the hazard of
boring off visitors.

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Sustainability and Complimentary Activities

Many corporate websites as foresaid support instant transactions online. In a
world where debit and credit cards cannot be carelessly use because of
security threats, trust and security has been a great issue. This affects the
readiness of concerned customers to perform online transactions.
Considering such credibility issues when it comes to online transactions,
businesses need to integrate their corporate websites with secured payment
systems. According to Robinson (2007), SSL certificate amongst other
credibility certificates will help organizations earn some online payment
credibility.

Furthermore, as asserted by Warren and Mark (2003. p. 591), it is essential
to merge corporate website with the commitment of human and monetary
resources. While increasing traffic and meeting up the expectation of users,
the website should be informative and interesting. By interesting, it is meant
that the website should be interactive and attractive enough to glue the visitor
to the information embedded. More so, tailored information that positively
influences the perception of consumers and leads to an eventual purchase of
what the organization has to offer justifies the return on investment.

Robinson (2007) portrayed the importance of examining the details of
website traffic in order to know the exact product or service whose page is
most patronized. He further suggested that an organization ought to weigh
the number of clicks against the end response of consumers. Feedback from
consumers can help an organization get reasons for their decisions. To this
effect, the company can tackle customer enquiries even if it means changing
its modus operandi as that will give consumers a sense of belonging and can
increase loyalty.

Beyond all the sugar-coatings done on the corporate website, the
organization should ensure that customers are eventually satisfied with their
brands. Xui, M. et al (2000) supports this notion while deducing that the
design of the company website ought to meet a prominent goal of satisfying
customers. This is often determined by the packaging and content of the

34


product or the delivery and quality of the service as the case may be. In a
nutshell, impact of the corporate website on organizational customer relies
heavily on the complimentary satisfaction derived from the associated
organization and brand of services or products.

Within a competitive market that gives customers unlimited choices of
organizations and prices for a particular service or product, the most
important factor is the way the service is offered. Therefore, the determinant
of success would be the delivering of a service that is satisfactory to the
consumer as such that the customer can return to patronize (Xui M et al,
2000). Inductively, the corporate website is much more efficient when the
company offers its customers a service or product that is distinctively
satisfactory. This sustains the use of corporate website as an ICT tool.

More so, a finding by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates revealed that forty-eight
percent of Americans explore the Internet for advice or information about a
service or product before making purchase (Ellington, 2008). This result
shows customers trust real persons’ reviews because they are from the past
experiences of such consumers; this is known as User Generated Content
(UGC).

Owyang (2007)’s suggestion of giving customers permission to publish
information on the corporate website could be bought as a good idea. It is
however essential to moderate sophisticatedly as such that information is
quickly reviewed before it is allowed to show on the website. This could
function as a close and credible User Generated Content of the
organizational consumers. This would add to the credibility and trust of the
information on the website.

Considering that the Internet itself as a medium is ‘rapidly evolving’, changes
are unavoidable (Warren and Mark, 2003. p. 594). Simply put, the fact that
this technology is not static does not allow a constantly predictable approach.
It is therefore highly necessary for organizations to carry out updated

35


research and update their corporate website and all it entails as appropriate
especially to positively influence consumer behaviour.

36


CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODS

37


CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODS

3.0 INTRODUCTION

According to Holme and Solvang (1997), a method is an instrument or a way
of solving a problem and reaching new knowledge. Dawson (2006. p.14)
sees methodology as the universal principle or philosophy that guides a
research. Research methodology according to Wisker (2008. p. 65) is
determined by the subject area and the specific research question that is
being worked on. This was further backed by the view of Dolowitz et al (2008.
p. 35) that a research method is selected to suit a researcher’s perception of
the world and to provide legitimate answers to research question. The
Methodology chosen for this dissertation is therefore chosen as deemed
sufficient for gathering necessary information for the research work within the
time limit.

3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH

Bell (2005. p. 7) opined that different approaches make use of different data
collection methods but stressed that no approach rejects any specific
method. Quantitative and qualitative methods are not necessarily two
different means of achieving the same answers in a research. They rather
only have different logics and strengths but are both used to tackle different
research questions and purposes (Maxwell, 1996).

Quantitative methods

Quantitative methods as seen by Dawson (2006) are suitable for tackling
questions that necessitate collecting measurable and quantifiable data.
Therefore, it entails large large-scale studies that require a researcher to be
as objective as possible. Bell (2005) added that quantitative methods employ
techniques that result into quantified and generalized conclusions.

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Qualitative Methods

Qualitative methods on the other hand as explained by Dolowitz et al (2008)
are much more appropriate for researches that focus on the significance of
personal interpretation. According to Dolowitz et al (2008), Qualitative
methods promote the use of personal analysis that are not biased and help to
study a research topic from the perspective of that which is studied.

Morse (1994) emphasized that Qualitative research methods are a
mysterious amalgamation of strategies for acquiring images of reality.
Creswell (1994) asserted that qualitative approach helps understand a social
or human issue that is supported by a holistic and complex picture which is
formed with words that unveil views of informants. Coombes (2001. p.30)
deemed qualitative research methods most suitable for a small-scale
research in which a researcher may employ observations and unstructured
interviews amongst others and Dawson (2006) opined that Qualitative
research explores behaviours, experiences and attitudes through its
methodologies including interviews and focus groups amongst others.

In the process of conducting a qualitative research, the researcher may need
to interact with those that are being studies, that is, a personal interaction
occurs while a relationship is being cultivated. The language of the study is
therefore most likely to be personal (Coombes 2001. p. 30). To avoid bias
therefore, the researcher needs to view collected data from other angles and
embrace an approach that is very objective.

According to Dawson (2006), qualitative research encapsulates different
methodologies including Action Research, Ethnography, and Grounded
theory amongst others. According to Bell (2005. p.8), an adopted approach
and data collection methods selected are dependent on the required type of
information. Inductively from the aforementioned and for the purpose of
finishing this research within the time constraint, the research method chosen
is qualitative.

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3.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY

There are many research strategies including history investigation, surveys,
experiments, archival analysis, and case studies. According to Yin (1994),
each of these strategies has its merits and demerits as dictated by context in
which they are used. Saunders et al (2000) opined that what matters is the
appropriateness of a strategy for a particular research. Since history
investigation is more suitable for reviewing the past when there is no person
alive as denoted by Yin (1989), it is not suitable for this research while
experiment is also discarded because it is much more concerned with natural
science.

Case study according to Yin (1994) is most suitable for collecting data when
the question is of a 'how' and 'why' tone and the situation is a contemporary
one which the researcher has little or no control over. Case study as a
qualitative strategy allows multiple sources of evidence to be used. This
results into much more balanced findings. The aforementioned reasons make
case study the most suitable for this research. Case study is therefore
adopted to tackle the research questions asked in Chapter 1.

3.3 DATA COLLECTION

Yin (1994) necessitates the decision to support a chosen strategy with data
collection. This data collection however as recognized by Eriksson and
Wiedersheim-Paul (1997) are of two types of data which are secondary and
primary. Data that have already been acquired by other researchers bearing
their varying aims is known as secondary data while data that is gathered
solely by a researcher for his or her specific purpose is known as primary
data.

To collect data for case study which is the chosen strategy for this research,
any of the six sources of evidence suggested by Yin (1989) could be used.
They include physical artifacts, interviews, archival records, documentation,
direct observations and participant observation.

40


For the purpose of this research, documentation was adopted as one of the
data resources of this dissertation to triangulate evidence and to corroborate
evidence from other sources. Most importantly, the researcher gathered data
through participant observation asking lots of informal questions about what
used to be to back up his observed information.

3.4 SAMPLE SELECTION

Relevant samples of data collection needs to embraced to suit selected
sources of evidence. Yin (1994) asserted that a single case study can be
used as long as it is an event that is unique and tackles a revelatory purpose.
As a result of this justification of Yin (1994), this dissertation has chosen two
case studies both of which are highly unique and relevant to the research
questions and overall research topic.

3.5 DATA ANALYSIS

Data analysis according to Yin (1994) has to do with putting data through
scrutiny or categorization. Yin further opined that such analysis helps
complete the analysis of a research. The two forms of analysis proposed by
Miles and Huberman (1994) are cross-case and within-case analysis. The
within-case analysis which has to do with using data collected within a case
to reach conclusions while cross-case analysis actually compares data of a
case study to another.

For the purpose of analysing data in this research, the within-case analysis
was used especially as each case study provides unique answers to the
research questions from a positive point of view.

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3.6 QUALITY STANDARDS

As noted by Saunders et al (2000), in order to reduce the probability of
arriving at wrong deductions, reliability and validity needs to be checked.

Validity

Validity according to Yin (1994) is better ensured through employing multiple
sources of evidence for collecting data, establishing a chain of evidence
during the process of collecting data or drafting case study that is reviewed
by key informants.

Two different case studies of two different companies were selected as
multiple sources of answers to the research questions. More so, the
interdependency of each activity of each case study creates a chain of all
evidences that support the research questions.

Reliability

Reliability as defined by Gummesson (2000) is a situation whereby two or
more researchers arrive at the same answers under a similar topic with
similar purposes.

Having considered the reliability controls suggested by Saunders et al (2000)
and Gummesson (2000) in this research, the findings of this research
correspond with the assertions of the authors whose works were reviewed.
More so, the findings from the analysis were in accordance with existing
surveys and researches.

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CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION OF CASE STUDIES

43


CHAPTER 4

PRESENTATION OF CASE STUDIES

4.0 INTRODUCTION

The following case studies have been chosen to generate data to answer the
questions raised in this research towards achieving the research purpose.

4.1 CASE STUDY OF KALAA: TAKING A VISION FROM
CONCEPT TO CASH IN AN ONLINE ART MARKET
PLACE

(See Appendix 1 for original case study verbatim)

Kalaa is an organization that functions primarily online. With its corporate
website, it functions as an online market where artists, and those interested
in arts meet to exhibit art and make transactions. See Kalaa website at:
http://www.kalaa.in/

Challenge

Kalaa was a mere vision when introduced to Invendes for branding. Although
the modus operandi and market strategy were sketched, there was a need
for the development of the online product. This product needed to be
distinctive from existing ones.

Solution

With knowledge of the opportunities and constraints, Invendes employed a
five-stage approach to solve the aforementioned challenge.

In the first stage, in the quest of simulating ‘real world’ experience of
searching, choosing and buying on the web, Invendes acquired and used
input from potential users including the artists and buyers amongst others.
These were used for the business design.

44


In the second stage, Invendes sketched ideas with focus on good user
experience. This further aided them in sketching the product with features
and functions that were economically feasible and that commanded a
flawless buying experience.

In the third stage, the business design and sketched product design were
processed into a GUI design that can be looked and felt while conforming to
usability principles. Product screens were designed with attention to details.
Invendes prototyped the product and conformed it to usability factors.

In the fourth stage, the technological driven product was created within
budget, time and rich user experience.

Invendes complimented all the aforementioned efforts by implementing an
integrated marketing plan which encapsulated online advertising, search
engine marketing and social media marketing amongst others.

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4.2 CASE STUDY OF PROPERTY CLINIC

This case study of Property Clinic shows how Property Clinic has used its
corporate website to aid different activities towards having an end effect on
its clients. These activities are dissected under different sub-headings below
with each having its challenge, solution and result.

About Property Clinic

Property Clinic is a property Investment company that searches the globe for
first class property investments to give its clients world class investments in
the palm of their hands. As quoted by their official website, Property Clinic
knows ‘when to buy, what to buy and when to sell’. The company helps its
worldwide customers with different property needs ranging from UK property
Investments to International property Investment that spans through the
globe including the Caribbean.

Property Clinic primarily built, hosts and manages its corporate website with
Moonfruit (http://www.moonfruit.com/) via the URL:
http://propertyclinic.kk5.org. However, its major domain names are
www.propertycliniconline.com and www.propertyclinic.net which both point to
http://propertyclinic.kk5.org.

4.2.1 AIDING CRM WITH CORPORATE WEBSITE

Challenge

In a credit-crunched economy, some of the clients and leads on Property
Clinic’s CRM software were low on cash while some could no longer afford to
invest in properties. As a result of this, the promotional electronic mails and
SMS sent to the consumers and prospective consumers that were in the
database of Property Clinic were yielding very low responses. Out of every
250 customers, about 20 recipients responded to property investment offers
and less than 10 of the responses resulted into sale. This when compared to
2008 average lowest response of 137 prospective investors out of every 250
was very low and confirmed by Property Clinic as ‘bad’ for business.

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Solution

From the foregoing, it was proposed that a membership form, buyer form and
seller form be made available on its corporate website. These forms which
were already in word document format for printouts were converted to PDF
format and uploaded to the corporate website to be willingly downloaded by
site visitors. The membership form was meant to get contact information,
financial value and choice of properties from visitors who were interested in
property offers. The registration page on the corporate website was also
used to get details of new registered site users. Some highly informative
pages like UK Property Invest page (http://propertyclinic.net/#/uk-property-
invest/4534835347) amongst others were reserved for only registered
members of the Corporate Website, thereby prompting interested and
unregistered visitors to register.

The buyer form was designed to help get information of what kind of
properties prospective customers are interested in especially as backed by
their financial status. More so, it was meant to update existing customers’
information to know what kind of properties they can afford based on their
current financial capacity.

The seller form was made available to enable property owners that were
willing to sell to give details of such properties especially their availability and
financial value. This was to increase the number of properties Property Clinic
has to offer its investors.

Result

The ‘membership form’ aided Property Clinic in gathering relevant
information including contact information of each prospective customer who
willingly chose to be a member. The availability of this form in PDF and the
possibility of it to be instantly sent back by clicking the ‘Submit by Email’
button increased the number of new documented members from an average
of 3 weekly to 11.

The informative pages that were reserved for only registered members
increased the number of registered members on the site. Before this was

47


embraced, the number of site registered members had remained 20 for about
4 months but within. This new strategy was implemented on July 25 and
within 5 days, the number of registered members increased to 22. In 15 more
days, this increased to 46 members, that is, 24 new prospective property
investors whose details have increased the Property Clinic’s database.

The ‘Buyer Enquiry Form’ helped property clinic to get details of the financial
abilities and the price range of properties each customer was ready to invest
in. Moreover, existing customers were able to indicate the kind of properties
they like based on their adjusted financial stance in the economy. Also, the
‘Seller Enquiry Form’ acquired more sellers and properties for Property
Clinic’s database.

These forms were initially created as Adobe PDF forms with options of either
submitting by e-mail or printing to paper (see Buyers Enquiry Form for
example in appendix 4). The ‘Submit by Email’ button sends the filled
information to the Property Clinic sales email in xml format. This format was
used to key information into the CRM software automatically with human
supervision. The CRM software decoded the information and added new
contacts. It asked the human operator whether to update or override
whenever names matched existing input.

The available contact information enabled Property Clinic to keep in touch
with these clients. Those in the CRM database are mailed via Property Clinic
email account that is configured to Microsoft Outlook while site members are
mailed directly from the Control Panel of the website powered by Moonfruit.

4.2.2 BUILDING BRAND AND AIDING SALES WITH
CORPORATE WEBSITE

Property Clinic website had the information about is properties on its
corporate website for the digestion of its clients and prospective clients.
These properties were grouped into two: The Overseas Investment
properties and the United Kingdom Properties which is tagged ‘UK Property
Invest’. For UK Property Invest, Property Clinic had a page
(http://propertyclinic.net/loginjoin/4534583397#/uk-property-list/4526119784)

48


which succinctly described what UK Property Invest was all about. For
Overseas Investment, Property Clinic has a page that gives each of the
overseas investment opportunity a brief description with one to four pictures
complementing each. On that same page, each description had a link button
that takes visitors to a page that gives a long text description about the
Investment territory, property details and facts of the geographical
sovereignty that hosts the property.

Challenge

In the midst of a competitive market and with the threats of the economic
meltdown, Property Clinic needed to better position its property investment
offers for the Overseas Investment section on its website. In addition, the UK
Property Invest phase of the business needed more representation, details
and business appeal on the corporate website.

Solution

It was proposed that Proper Clinic should update the layout of Overseas
Investment properties pages. By the order of consistency, all the pages on
the website were changed to adopt a unified theme, colour (Property Clinic
corporate colours) and header and footer. This new design gave a usability
and legibility enhancement especially with dark text on a light background,
precisely dark grey text on a white background colour (see
http://propertyclinic.net/loginjoin/4534583397#/investment-
offering/4534815803).

Moreover, the page for description of the property and investment area were
complimented by pictures (see the page for Barbados properties:
http://propertyclinic.net/loginjoin/4534583397#/barbados-
property/4532972656 for example) while some of them were further
complimented with narrative videos at the top right of the page to show the
scenery of the properties and its surrounding beauties (see the Samos
Halcyon Hills, Greece property Investment page
http://propertyclinic.net/loginjoin/4534583397#/greece-property/4534323334
for example). More so some links were created to give clients further options.

49


The contact us button has an embedded mailto command that sends a mail
to: info@propertycliniconline.com while the details button links to the page
that describes the overseas property and investment area. The make an offer
buttons links to the make an over page for Overseas Investment
(http://propertyclinic.net/#/make-an-offer-overseas-proper/4534948568). This
page asks for details including how much the client is willing to pay, method
of payment amongst others. When the send button is clicked, all the
information entered into the form is sent to sales@propertycliniconline.com
for easy follow up.

For the UK Property Investment, a new page was created to have list of UK
properties (see for the current updated list of UK properties). These lists were
constantly updated according to availability. A property that is already sold for
example would have ‘Sold’ placed over the image for about two days before
it was taken off the page. In the same way, any property that has negotiation
in progress had it indicated with ‘Under Offer’. Property Clinic marketing
gurus resorted to create a PDF document for each property. This document
had all the details including price, geographical description, pictures of
property and investment turnover analysis and is downloadable once the
‘Details’ button is clicked under the description.

The make an offer buttons links to the make an over page for UK Property
Investment (http://propertyclinic.net/loginjoin/4534583397#/make-an-offer-uk-
properties/4534947807 ). The page gets details of the amount of cash the
client wants to offer and the convenient method of payment amongst others.
Clicking the ‘send’ button sends all the information entered into the form to
sales@propertycliniconline.com and the Marketing team follows it up from
there.

Result

The effected change on these pages increased the duration of time spent on
them as shown by the weekly statistics of Property Clinic. Phone calls and
business meetings also increased with all related to the information on these
pages.

50


The PDF document attached resulted into calls where prospective customers
had little or nothing to ask about the properties. Seven out of ten callers went
straight into discussions of how to view and pay for the properties while the
remaining three only asked few questions for clarification.

4.2.3 GENERATING TRAFFIC FOR CORPORATE WEBSITE

Challenge

Having updated the information on and the design of its corporate website,
Property Clinic is faced with the challenge of driving the right traffic to
consume the information.

Solution

It was proposed that Property Clinic updates its metadata description to
increase chances of being found on search engines. It was also proposed
that Property Clinic should borrow the popularity and credibility of other
websites. Property Clinic created a group called Property Clinic on Facebook.
More so, they capitalized on the pages of individual staff member especially
the Managing Director’s on Linked In. The Rubminds Forum was also used
while marketers also used Gumtree to display different properties with links
to the pages on Property Clinic’s corporate website for full details.

Result

Traffic increased with statistics from the analytics showing that there were
more traffic from the referral sites used (See Appendix 6).

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CHAPTER 5

ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES

52


CHAPTER 5

ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES

5.0 INTRODUCTION

Below is the analysis to the case studies presented in chapter four. See
chapter four for details of case studies including challenge, solution and
result.

5.1 CASE STUDY OF KALAA: TAKING A VISION FROM
CONCEPT TO CASH IN AN ONLINE ART MARKET PLACE

Invendes gave Kalaa a product that is distinctive from those of their rivals.
This they did going through a five stage approach that created a brand from
the scratch. This shows how an organization can create unique brand from
the scratch with the corporate websites. It shows how corporate website can
help an organization create a unique image and outsmart competitors. With
embedded multimedia, this brings a high possibility of satisfactory buyer
experience as foreseen by Invendes.

This case study shows an instance of how corporate website helps
distinguish an organization from its competitors, thereby tackling Research
Question 1. Invendes recognized the need for Kalaa to be differentiated as
an organization amongst competitors as necessitated by Beynon-Davis
(2004. p 51). To this effect, Invendes studied existing rivals to create that
distinction. This makes Kalaa stand out amongst other firms that are in the
business of art.

More so, the attention paid to buying experience in the process of designing
the online brand partly answers the Research Question 2 on how corporate
website fosters first time purchases. The ease of page layouts with
advertising efforts not only persuades prospective buyers but guides them to
complete transaction. The integrated marketing plan that was implemented
also aids purchases by making prospective customers aware to start with.

53


This conforms to Bowen et al, (1999, p. 159) deduction that necessitated the
use of different tools of the Internet to flow traffic into the corporate website.
More so, the effort of making it interactive supports Bowen Craggs & Co.
(2009) observation that businesses are transforming their corporate websites
into truly interactive medium. Also, the design features merged with the
carefully structured information will on the long run as unveiled by Llopis,
Gonzalez and Gasco (2008. p.334) influence visitors’ perception. This will
further prompt purchases.

This case study also shows how Invendes acknowledged and embraced
design and usability factors which partly show some of the most effective
actions that strengthen the efficacy of corporate website as asked by
Research Question 5 and identified under the ‘Strengthening the Efficacy of
Corporate Website’ section of the literature review (see section 2.6 of
Literature Review). The five stages employed by Invendes as identified
above confirmed Proctor et al (2003)’s opinion that available information,
content preparation and method of presentation aids a corporate website in
giving customers efficient interactivity.

In conclusion this case study of Kalaa (see Appendix 1 for full case study)
shows how a business could be created from the scratch and given a faster
growth with the corporate website while being differentiated from competitors
and given an edge over them.

5.2 CASE STUDY OF PROPERTY CLINIC

5.2.1 AIDING CRM WITH CORPORATE WEBSITE

With responses from prospective and maintained consumers reaching its ‘all
time lowest’ as affirmed by the management of Property Clinic and
conclusion of sales being affected, Property Clinic faced the huge risk of
crashing especially in a globally bad economy. The CRM software used by
Property Clinic was still holding consumer details in its database while few
more leads were being added. The solution to this problem of low responses
from consumers however required more than the automation of the CRM
software.

54


The way out seemed as simple as getting new prospective customers with
interest and financial power, persuading them to invest in properties and
tailoring property offers to the financial strength of existing customers.
However such solution necessitated updated information of these consumers
to make it possible for the organization to tailor its offers. Considering the low
level of staff at that time, the corporate website to this effect was embraced to
cover up for the human marketing efforts of cold canvassing.

Site membership that had been stale for about four months increased by over
hundred percent within 20 days. This huge increase in the number of site
members happened because Property Clinic gave a reason to visitors to
become members: access to exclusive pages. Before embracing such
strategy, there was no special benefit for registered site members when
compared to unregistered site visitors. This therefore gave many no reasons
to sign up. However, with the new restriction to exclusive pages, consumers
who were really interested were guided by the corporate website to register,
view the information.

Before the Crunch (2008) During the Crunch After using Corporate
Website

137 20 100

Table 4.1 – The average responses per information sent to 250 customers
during before the crunch, during the crunch and after complimenting the
CRM software with the corporate website.

As shown by table 4.1, despite the fact that the credit crunch has reduced the
financial status of customers thereby reducing response per every 250 clients
contacted to 20, the corporate website changed increased this to 100. The
reason lies behind its potency to help update the CRM database with up to
date information via the various forms. Also, with the membership form which
the corporate website helped the organization to popularize, the number of
members on the CRM rose from an average of three to eleven weekly (see
table 4.2).

55


Before using Corporate Website After using Corporate Website

3 11

Table 4.2 – Weekly number of new documented members acquired via the
membership form.

This shows an influence of the power of the corporate website on making
prospective customers participate willingly in the transaction process of an
organization. In this instance, they needed to become members in order to
consume brand information. This results into more sales related inquiries
from these customers. This supports the CRM Metrix’s survey that found that
the more time customers spend on a website and the deeper they get
involved in it, the more the boost of affinity of brand, purchase intent and
value of a lifetime (Internet Wire, 2002). This is even much better when such
dig into organizational information is a willing and conscious effort of
prospective consumers. This shows how corporate website fosters first time
purchases and brand loyalty as asked by Research Question 2.

In this process of registration, the contact details of these members were
entered into Property Clinic’s database and such were transferred to the
CRM software. This highlights the potency of corporate website as an
information extractor when properly used by an organization. Such extracted
information helps get the organization informed and helps it to tailor its efforts
to its consumers. Such further influenced their decisions to patronize
Property Clinic as phone calls of and meetings with prospective clients who
were interested in making further enquiry increased. This further supports
Baker (2009), who examined the IMRG Capgemini’s survey and deduced
that better targeting via advanced marketing strategies boosts sales. More
so, it shows how corporate website enhances Customer Relationship
Management as asked by Research Question 4 and relates how this further
influences purchases as asked by Research Question 2.

More so, by making the membership, buyer enquiry and seller enquiry forms
available on the corporate website, Property Clinic was not only able to get

56


new and current customers that were good for business, they were also able
to update contact and financial details of existing customers. This helped
Property Clinic to avoid pointlessly bombarding uninterested and financially
weak customers with investment messages while it helped them focus efforts
on interested customers. Through the buyer enquiry form which had sections
for financial availability and choice of property, Property Clinic was able to
tailor their promotional messages to the right customers based on their
desires and affordability as updated on the Customer Relationship
Management software.

The corporate website by updating the CRM database of Property Clinic
enables the organization to communicate with its existing and prospective
clients. Besides using special mailing service like the Microsoft Outlook, the
Control Panel of Moonfruit empowers Property Clinic to mail all its registered
site members. This shows how corporate website helps an organization get
more closely connected to their customers via, thereby answering Research
Question 3.

In a nutshell, with the corporate website, an organization can get and add
new relevant leads to its Customer Relationship Management database and
can update details for existing customers. Considering Bygstad (2003)’s
deduction that that it is cheaper to hold on to existing consumers than to get
new ones, this simplifies and sustains the profitability of an organization.

5.2.2 BUILDING BRAND AND AIDING SALES WITH
CORPORATE WEBSITE

For Overseas Investment Properties, the multimedia input in terms of
pictures and videos aided the description of properties and increased the
duration spent on pages. More so, many prospective clients were calling in to
clarify information and complete transactions. Business meetings with
individual investors increased as an average of three meetings were had
daily. When compared to the moments before this new branding efforts when
there were about three business meetings weekly (as shown in Table 4.3), it

57


is vivid that the branding efforts of the corporate website has helped Property
Clinic increase business activities and move closer towards completing sales.

Before using Corporate Website After using Corporate Website

3 15

Table 4.3 – Average weekly number of business meetings held by property
clinic.

This analysis shows that corporate website helps an organization make sales
with ease by doing the required information and persuasion. However, the
marketers tone and attitude towards building on the Corporate Website’s
foundation of information would go a long way to determine whether sale is
completed especially in a case like Property Clinic when instant transaction
cannot happen after decision making because payment could not be done
online.

This case study affirms Llopis, Gonzalez and Gasco (2008. p.334)’s view that
website information coupled with design features influences visitors’
perception and further supports Robinson (2007)’s emphasis on showcasing
organizational brands through the Internet. More so, David Best’s deduction
of using short contents with enough information as efficient means of
influencing web visitors (Forte et. al, 2008) was supported. All these show
sufficient information and multimedia as rudiments of fostering purchase as
asked by Research Question 1 while it throws more light on the effective
actions that strengthen the efficacy of corporate website as asked by
Research Question 5.

5.2.3 GENERATING TRAFFIC FOR CORPORATE WEBSITE

This shows how organizations can increase the level of exposing prospective
customers to organizational information by having information pages and
driving these prospective customers to visit the pages. Such exposure is
tailored towards an end effect of generating response from these consumers.

58


Bowen et al, (1999, p. 159)’s suggestion of employing different tools of the
Internet to flow traffic into the corporate website was tested and affirmed
relevant while Warren and Mark (2003. p. 592)’s deduction that Corporate
website aids global marketing via affiliations with other sites was affirmed.
This further answers how corporate website fosters purchases as asked by
Research Question 1 in the sense that building traffic is a prerequisite for
exposure of organizational content. As shown by the figure in Appendix 6, the
referral sites increased this exposure by giving Property Clinic 52.69% of its
site visitors. The metadata description adjustment increased the traffic driven
by Google search engine. As shown by the detailed traffic report by Google
Analytics (see Appendix 7), Google generated 51 visits out of an overall of
427, a figure which is over hundred percent higher than
visits generated by Gumtree which is the next highest referral site source.

59


CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

60


CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1 CONCLUSION

Corporate website is beyond an online representation of a company; it is a
universal branch of an organization where a potential or existing consumer
visits via the WWW magic, digests company information which if well
packaged by the organization and well construed by the consumer leads to
an end – transaction. The primary purpose of any corporate website should
be to exist as a means to an end – influencing organizational consumers.

Either as a tool of branding from scratch (like it was in the case of Kalaa –
see Chapter 4 and 5) or rebranding (like Property Clinic – see Chapter 4 and
5), corporate website when powered with sufficient and clear information
gives an organization a standing and an edge over its rivals. This potency
however necessitates some prerequisites especially researching, planning
and balancing information with design and usability principles. The success
of the two different companies in the two different case studies showed the
positive result of the adherence to these prerequisites.

The case studies affirm that visitors’ perception are influenced when the
corporate website paints the brands as beneficial as necessitated by
Finnegan and Willcocks (2007. p.1) and when the design principles make it
truly usable as deduced by Llopis, Gonzalez and Gasco (2008. p.334). For
example, Kalaa’s corporate website was affirmed to encourage a buying
experience while Property Clinic recorded increase business phone calls and
meetings.

As shown by the case study of Property Clinic, corporate website helps an
organization update its CRM database. This effort of the corporate website is
a means to an end effect of empowering the organization to relate with these
contacts. Special mailing services like the Microsoft Outlook amongst others
help keep this relationship. However corporate website also through some

61


sophisticated Control Panel features enables organization to send mails to
customers as shown by the case study of Property Clinic. Such organization-
consumer relationship on the long run prompts purchases and brand loyalty.
This finding backs by the survey of CRM Metrix (Internet Wire, 2002) and
Baker’s (2009)’s evaluation of IMRG Capgemini’s survey which were both
cited in the Literature Review.

Conclusively, corporate website cannot function well as a one-way tool. It is
therefore pertinent to note some complimentary activities, many of which
were scrutinized under section 2.6 of Chapter 2 - ‘Strengthening the Efficacy
of Corporate Website’. In a nutshell, each marketing function of the corporate
website is not effective enough when used in isolation of the others. The
case study of Property Clinic illustrates the interdependency of each efforts
towards commanding a consumer behaviour that is favourable to the
organization. More so, Kalaa’s case study showed how Invendes employed a
fifth stage, in which Integrated Marketing plans were used to compliment the
corporate website.

6.2 FURTHER RESEARCH

A corporate website as had been dissected by this project does more than
being a mere online representation of an organization. It possesses such
marketing prowess that has a positive impact on organizational consumers
when properly strategized. It is therefore salient for the findings of this
research to be updated as necessitated by the evolution of this Internet
technology. Considering the constant improvement of Information
Communication Technology especially as it relates to corporate website and
the unstable nature of the human minds, further researches can be done to
update the deductions of this researcher as necessitated by the every
changing world.

Bearing in mind the limitation of the time span of this research, the
researcher could not embrace some methodologies to uncover more
findings. Therefore, based on these omissions and to better enhance the

62


findings of this research, the following recommendation have been made in
the subsequent paragraph for further research.

This dissertation has arrived at some observations which could be of interest
for further researches. Future researches can therefore be developed from
the findings. Focused group discussion and unstructured interview would
come out as qualitative research strategies for supporting the existing
deductions of how corporate website influence organizational customers from
a customer perspective. More attention could also be paid to usability
principles of web design as they enhance ease of use for web visitors as they
consume organizational information and conclude transactions.

63


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68


APPENDICES

69


APPENDIX 1

TAKING A VISION FROM-CONCEPT-TO-CASH: THE CASE
STUDY OF KALAA.IN - AN ONLINE ART MARKET PLACE

Available at:

http://www.invendes.com/case_study_kalaa_concept_to_cash.html

KALAA is an “online art marketplace” where artists, art enthusiasts, art
buyers, art lovers come together to showcase, get recognition, buy, sell and
recommend art. KALAA is more than just a gallery - online or otherwise.

The Business Need:

When we met first, Kalaa was just a vision, an idea.

Though the broad business rules and the go-to-market strategy were roughly
drawn out, the online product had to be envisioned and conceptualized

A product had to be designed to strongly differentiate from the existing online
art portals or auction sites. It had to capitalize on an unserviced need
suddenly made serviceable with the use of the Internet and the social media
boom

The Solution:

After gaining an understanding of the constraints and opportunities, we took
a four-stage approach to formulating an Internet strategy to envision the
product.

Stage 1 - Business Design

Faced with trying to simulate the real world experience of 'art search,
selection and purchase' on the Web, we gathered input from all potential
users - artists, buyers, critiques, art collectors, logistic partners etc. We
documented the business case in minute detail and prepared the product
requirement document

70


Stage 2 - Product Design

We then got down to brain storm on the product features and functionalities
which was to provide a seamless buying experience and which would,
simultaneously be, economically feasible. The key here was to innovate and
come up with new 'little' ideas that would add on to the user experience. The
user requirement and the supply side complexities were documented in
detail. At the end of this stage we were sitting with a lot of clarity, all
documentations complete, most of the work flow diagrams and a feeling that
we now have a grip on this thing.

Stage 3 - GUI/ Usability/ Look & Feel Design

All that was abstracted got down to specifics in this stage. All possible
screens of the product as designed with attention to the minutest of details.
The documents were updated as and when we acquired more clarity or when
we deliberately changed the rules. It's only once we see the product in these
screens that we can actually visualize the experience. The product was
prototyped and subjected to usability analysis and design

Stage 4 - The technology was then arrived at with due consideration of the
costs involved, the need for rich user experience and also the time frames.
The product went into development, testing and beta.

Stage 5 - An integrated marketing plan was already drawn up when we had a
breather during the development process. This was actioned out one by one
- the Search Engine Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Online Advertising,
Viral Marketing and other off line promotions.

71


APPENDIX 2

Site Statistics of Property Clinic on July 30, 2009

(SOURCE: Property Clinic File Manager on Moonfruit)

72


APPENDIX 3

Site Statistics of Property Clinic on August 14, 2009

(SOURCE: Property Clinic File Manager on Moonfruit)

73


APPENDIX 4

Property Clinic’s Buyers Enquiry Form

See Appendices Folder in attached CD to view soft copy

74


Appendix 5

Google Analytics of Property Clinic website from July 6, 2009 – August 5, 2009

75


Appendix 6

Google Analytics showing traffic sources for Property Clinic website

76


Appendix 7

Google Analytics showing traffic details of Property Clinic website

77


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