The document outlines best practices for interactive marketing design and development, defining interactive media and its applications in various communication and transaction contexts. It introduces the '7Cs framework' as essential components for creating quality interactive experiences, emphasizing content, convenience, customization, connectivity, customer care, community, and communication. Additionally, it discusses a reformulated innovation-adoption model for the digital customer experience, which includes stages of attract, engage, retain, learn, and relate, highlighting the importance of building strong customer relationships through personalized experiences.

1. Interactive Marketing Design and Development Best Practices

2. DEFINITION Interactive media is: “ The integration of digital media including combinations of electronic text, graphics, moving images, and sound, into a structured digital computerised environment that allows people to interact with the data for appropriate purposes.”

3. WHAT IS IT USED FOR? Business-to-consumer communications and transactions such as e-commerce, information and publishing. Business-to-business communications and transactions such as e-procurement and supply-chain integration. Internal communications such as knowledge management, collaborative working and training. Government communications such as public information and on-line services. Consumer-to-consumer communications such as virtual communities and on-line forums. Consumer entertainment encompassing games and leisure activities. E-Learning training and education. Broadly, these can be summarised as Information & Commerce, Entertainment and Learning using a 1:1 approach .

4. CREATING AWARENESS Traditional: Print (Indoor & Outdoor) Publications TV & Radio Public Relations Interactive: Website Email Multimedia CD’s Electronic Games Interactive TV & Radio Shows Interactive Mobile Content

5. BEST PRACTICES ‘The 7Cs Framework’ outlines the major components that add value and contribute to the quality of an interactive experience. In essence, the 7Cs are a continuation and restatement of marketing's traditional 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place).

7. THE 7C’s APPROACH The 7 C’s Approach will enable interactions/communication of the following nature: User to Site Site to User User to User

8. 7C’s…CONTENT Objective : Fresh content always. Comparison : Magazine/Newspaper Tools\sources : CMS, discussion forums, online forms, reviews, ratings, email, content providers, advertisers, media users, etc.

9. IMPORTANCE OF CONTENT Content is relevant and useful information directed at the needs and interests of the targeted users. With almost infinite display space and inventory capability, online companies have the opportunity to provide rich, up-to-date information, expert insights, and a wide range of products, which can enhance the company's value proposition. Content is considered to be a 'sticky' application as it entices visitors to spend longer periods of time on the site. Other content includes community-generated content and advertising (if it is relevant and useful).

10. 7C’s…CONVENIENCE Objective : Easy & Fast Comparison : Supermarket shelves Tools\sources : Menus, search facilities, navigation, 24/7/365 availability, hyperlinks, references, etc.

11. IMPORTANCE OF CONVENIENCE Convenience goes beyond the ability to conduct transactions around the clock. The customers' ability to access and display information rapidly is extremely important. Sites that are difficult to use can cause frustration, making customers 'click off' to another site. In fact, 30% of potential customers leave sites because they cannot find what they are looking for, and 66% of people who start a 'shopping basket' fail to complete the transaction.

12. 7C’s…CUSTOMISATION Objective : Make the user feel unique Comparison : Snowflakes, fingerprints Tools\sources : Log in facilities, loyalty programs, favourites, etc.

13. IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMISATION Customisation involves tailoring the presentation of a website to individuals, based on profile information, demographics, or prior transactions. Often, sites allow 'surfers' to customise their experience by choosing what type of information they view through personalised sites (such as My Yahoo!, Facebook, etc.), as well as through loyalty programmes that provide targeted benefits. Some companies have taken this a step further and customise the product or service on offer (Dell offers 'made-to-order' computers through Dell Online). Customisation creates the feeling of a one-to-one relationship, which enhances the user's online experience.

14. 7C’s…CONNECTIVITY Objective : Convenient access to information Comparison : Network Marketing Tools\sources : Banner/rich media ads, hyperlinks, reference links, offline promotion, search engine registration, etc.

15. IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTIVITY Connectivity is concerned with site-to-site connectivity and user-to-site connectivity. Site-to-site connectivity focuses on connecting users to other relevant sites. Companies can provide a selection of related links that complement the site's purpose and value proposition, as well as attracting traffic from other sites. Connectivity is enhanced by linking to search engines/portals and popular sites where target customers are likely to be browsing (see figure). User-to-site connectivity focuses on providing incentives for users to connect back to the site. The development of loyalty programmes, which provide targeted and unique (customised) benefits to the customer, serves this purpose and helps to build customer loyalty. Other tools such as book-marking the page, enewsletters, etc. can also facilitate connectivity.

17. 7C’s…CUSTOMER CARE Objective : Customer Retention Comparison : Call Centres Tools\sources : CRM, help chat, FAQs, Online forms, toll free phone numbers, email communication, enquiries, etc.

18. IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER CARE Online customers often require assistance and reassurance. Customers share security and privacy concerns, and a recent survey revealed that 62% of surfers feel that giving out personal information on the Internet is unsafe. Therefore, customer support at all stages of the interaction is important, and can be provided through e-mail, online chat, toll-free telephone numbers, and FAQ pages (Frequently Asked Questions) to solve problems.

19. 7C’s…COMMUNITY Objective : Create a sense of belonging Comparison : sports clubs, bars, etc. Tools\sources : Online forums, toll free phone numbers, email communication, enquiries, FAQs, etc.

20. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY Online communities are emerging as new gathering places for consumers with similar interests (e.g. iVillage and Geocities). These sites allow members to interact with one another, share information and access a wide range of services. An important contribution of these communities is that they provide members with a medium to communicate with each other. Members can interact in chat rooms, use discussion forums, and organise live events. A unique characteristic of an online community is that the site includes both editorial content (determined by the site owner) and member driven content. An online community offers a compelling way to entice customers back to a site. It fosters a sense of belonging among the members, which is facilitated by a combination of factors (figure below). For a community to work, it needs a critical mass of members.

22. 7C’s…COMMUNICATION Objective : Dialogue Comparison : Linguist Tools\sources : Translators, glossary, tutorials, discussion forums, chat facilities, etc.

23. IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION The Internet provides the opportunity to establish ‘ dialogue ’ with customers through e-mail, live chat, and online surveys. Communication can be tailored to specific user interests and should allow for two-way interaction. It is important in building relationships, as well as informing and reminding customers of special offers, news up-dates, activities, events and subjects of interest to the customer.

24. THE INNOVATION-ADOPTION MODEL A reformulation of the Innovation-Adoption Model (Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Trial, Adoption), has been modified to take into account of the interactive dynamics of the Internet. This reformulated model consists of five stages - Attract, Engage, Retain, Learn and Relate.

26. ATTRACT The critical first step of the digital customer experience is to attract 'eyeballs', and bring people to the site for the first time. The company must build awareness and communicate its value proposition to its target customers. This is more difficult online than offline, because there is no ‘ physical ’ presence. Therefore, visibility relies solely on Communication . The mechanisms to communicate range from traditional media (TV, billboards, Magazines, Newspapers, etc.) to online tools, including affiliate programmes with other websites, links from directory searches ( Connectivity ), e-mail notifications and banner advertisements. The popularity and effectiveness of the different promotional methods are outlined in the next slide.

28. ATTRACT…Cont. The most effective methods are direct e-mail, affiliate programmes, public relations and television advertising. Online companies must ensure that the cost of attracting and acquiring customers is lower than the average lifetime value of these customers (LTV). Creativity is also an important factor in gaining attention in today's cluttered marketplace. Attracting customers is only the first step in building online brands. Companies then need to engage customers to obtain their interest and participation.

29. ENGAGE With the multitude of choice available on the Internet, it is important to quickly engage consumers' interest before they move on. The key factors at this stage are Convenience combined with interesting Content .

30. RETAIN Maintaining ongoing contact is essential for building relationships. It is the extension of engaging and focuses on keeping a customer on the site through the use of sticky applications. Content is the basic driver of retaining customers on a site, and must be continuously updated due to the multiple visit nature of users. The objective is to increase the conversion rate (% of browsers converted into buyers), retaining customers and engaging them on an ongoing basis results in increased product purchase opportunities and provides the opportunity to learn more about the customer, and forge closer relationships than any offline operator. Communities and Customisation are other sticky applications.

31. LEARN The Internet provides extensive opportunities to learn about consumers (demographics, attitudes and behaviour). The initial site registration provides an early opportunity to obtain useful information. Building up a knowledge database on each customer - who they are and why they shop online, and what additional products and services are they interested in - provides companies with valuable information which, if used properly, can create value for the customer and help build the brand-customer relationship.

32. RELATE By leveraging the multidimensional data gathered from ongoing interactions with individual customers, a company can create value by providing a personalised online experience. This helps to create a customer base that spends more time and money at a site. Customisation and good Customer Care help to erect switching barriers and encourages customers to return and repeat the cycle.

33. WHAT HAVE WE REALISED? Traditional media is still powerful and in use. The recent ICT innovations have made significant changes in the business, entertainment and learning world. Interactive marketing is a bridge between traditional marketing and the ICT gap. Interactive marketing shall ‘add further value’ to marketing via integration of ICT to marketing campaigns.

34. CONCLUSION These are the early days for interactive marketing, and there's much to be discovered. But for now, I hope you'll find this presentation useful. So, good luck, and we wish you great success delivering interactivity to your website users through us! Contact: Mehul Shah C/o Media Fusion P. O. Box 38190 Nairobi 00623 Kenya Mobile: +254.722.634858 Email: [email_address]

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