E-Business Website Analysis - Essay Example

E-Business Website Analysis Grade Here (Day, Month, Year) The organisation that has been selected for this study is the ebook website. This website can be strongly categorized under e-business and e-commerce type of website because of its nature of online business. The ebook website is an e-business that provides books for the customers on different genres. Romance, fiction, computer, business, and children’s books are the categories of e-books that are provided by this website. INTRODUCTION The website allows the customers to remain in touch with the new books in the ebook market, the latest releases of books, the authors of the books and the types of ebooks that are available for free to the customers (eBook-ebooks, 2011). The e-book website provides information to its customers, the website serves as a face value to the customers as well as sales and marketing activities are also taking place on the website. The order taking from the customers, the delivery to the customers and the constant focus on customer service depicts that this website is an e-commerce website. The ebook website also focuses on internal processes such as human resource for creating their own e-books and selling them as well, development of new products, knowledge management elements and so on. The ebook website provides ebook software for the customers for professionally creating their ebook and selling them into the e-business market as well. These factors mostly cover the e-business requirement for any organisation that is operating online. Therefore the purpose of selecting the ebook website is that after careful examination it can be clearly depicted that this website is an e-commerce as well as an e-business website and has a strong core concentration in the customer relationship management issues. THEORETICAL SECTION ON e-CRM Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) E-CRM can be defined as the combination of the following elements such as the commitment of management, the application, the hardware and software elements of the business (Dyche, 2001). The success of e-CRM greatly depends upon the objectives of the organisation. E- CRM can be categorized into two types. They are the Analytical e-CRM and the Operational e-CRM. Analytical e-CRM can be defined as a continuous process of the data collection process of the customer (Burnett, 2001). The main aspects that deal with analytical e-CRM are in the identification of needs of the customers and then accordingly fulfilling the needs of the customer. It is an utmost necessity to address the needs of the customers at all times for successful business requirements. The web based emails; fax and other such types of operational activities are categorized under the operational e-CRM (Dyche, 2001). The points of contact for the customers are usually the emails and faxes, also telephone calls by the management are at times made to the customers. Operational e-CRM focuses on building a strong customer relationship with the valuable customers so that the online business operates successfully. The concept of e-CRM has faced drawbacks as well in certain areas such as measuring, monitoring, and understanding the core focus of customer value. The data sources may have variations in measuring value for the offline and online customers but the skills and the techniques that are applied are somewhat similar (Jelassi and Enders, 2008). Customer activities, the future predictions of the interest of the customers, the knowledge factor are important to determine for the customers regardless of they being offline customers or online customers. Therefore, loopholes are present in measuring the element of customer value (Imo, 2008). CRITICAL FACTORS OF e-CRM Social Networking/ Interaction with Customers and Satisfaction With the help of e-CRM, it is possible to make interaction with customers directly from your site either through telephonic conversation, the email, chat conversation, collaboration or the forwarding of the pages between the Customer and the representative. As stated by Chaffey (2007), the customers of e-CRM are bound to have availability at anytime round the year and customer assistance can be provided in any way as per required. The passage of information about the company’s product or service could be provided there and then with the appropriate permissions prior to the browsing by the customer through the pages at your e-CRM website. This ensures a consolidated relationship on the long run with the customers as it benefits to the bonding of trust, and also to the bonding of ethics as well as friendship (Gitomer, 1999). Building long term sustainable relationship is the underlying concept of electronic customer relationship management. To build customer relationship in an e-business environment is difficult but it is the key to success. Speed of processing the transaction through e-response Business has made vast use of e-responses as stated by Jason et al (2006). The use was due to acknowledgement of the receipts of the orders, the information delivery as well as the payment. The target time has been changed by many companies to 24 hours from 48 hours since their use of e-CRM, as access to the company’s website is made possible for the customers at any possible time. Another highlight is of the nature of e-responses which ensures a bond between the customer and the supplier. Branding/ Better service quality Reassurance, quality, compassion, performance responsiveness are the main constituents of the service quality and reliability as stated by Jason et al (2006). Along with that, the delivery of services which are of high quality is the idea companies employ for the improvement of customer relationships. The delivery of high quality services is the mark of glory for maintaining the satisfaction of the customers and only through this it is really possible for a company to benefit with loyal customers. Moreover, majority of the quality aspects of perceived e-CRM are relatively new and are usually associated with technology which includes the ease of navigation, flexibility, efficiency, site logistics and the cost knowledge. The ebook website constantly works upon upgrading the book list and has placed books under different categories such as featured books, most visited books and other such types of headings so that customers know about the various popular books in the market. Convenience and trust When selecting a company or organisation, convenience plays a very important role and if the users have complains with the convenience, they won’t take much time to switch organisations. Therefore attracting and retaining customers is highly important and therefore at all times strategies need to be implemented according to the situation being faced. The fast paced increment of the knowledge and superiority of customers are now making the ebook website to have facilities like friendliness and faster responsiveness to persuade the customers into creating their own ebook and also selling their ebook as well. This option may motivate many readers to start writing their own book and also have the option of selling their book. This would be a big achievement for many of the new book writers. Mass Customization The Ebook e-business is one of the many websites that provides customer to have the opportunity to purchase and read the different types of books. This mass customization aspect allows diversified customers to use the products and services of ebook both at the local level as well as the global level. Ebook is an e-business websites and also included e-commerce activities such as, developing new products for customers, creating awareness to the customers through advertising online and other such activities. The book genres are also diversified and cater to both old and young customers according to their level of interest. Goal of e-CRM The main goal of e-CRM is similar to any other type of business. That is to build strong relationships with the customers and understand their needs and demands from the business so that the e-business serves the purpose of the customer to the optimum level (Buttle, 2009). The interest of the customers may keep on fluctuating from time to time and therefore customer feedback needs to be attained so that the demands can be identified. The area of concentration for the e-business in terms of developing strong e-CRM is that the information on the website should be highly user friendly so that the customer feels comfortable in conducting e-shopping. The concept of e-CRM integrates many solutions together so that this facilitates the customer to the maximum level. All points of contact are merged in the integration of e-CRM such as live chats, emails, help desks, instant messaging and other such points of contact in between the customer and the e-business. Potential abilities of e-CRM The best customers may be attracted towards the e-business. This can be successfully done by the marketing department in conducting campaigns and other marketing activities that have clear goals so that high business leads and customers may be attracted towards the business. Also the website needs to be advertised on all the business and newspaper websites where there are chances of attracting potential customers that have the interest in reading materials. STRUCTURE EVALUATION OF THE WEBSITE EBOOK.COM Structure of Evaluation for the website The evaluation structure that would be used to evaluate the website is the CARS method of evaluation according to the critical factors that have been identified for e-CRM. Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, and Support are the factors on which the website may be evaluated. Other factors on which the evaluation of the website can take place are on the design and interface of the website, the user friendliness ability of the website, and the way the information is placed on the website. Based on these evaluation factors the critical factors that have been identified for the purpose of e-CRM will be evaluated. The critical factors that have been identified in the previous section are: Interaction with Customers and Satisfaction The ebook website has many links on their website that allows the visitors and customers to learn more about the products and services that are offered by ebook. The ebook website allows customers to search for their required book by entering the title of the book, the author and the publisher of the book. This activity allows the customer to know about many other books available by the particular author. Customer may gain interest of purchasing other books as well. This type of interaction with customer acts as a good tool for building a strong relationship with the customers. Speed of processing the transaction through e-response The ebook shopping cart option is present on the website. In this, the customers can click on whatever products they like and store it in their cart. The customers can make payment via credit cards. The order taking process and the delivery notification process by the ebook website ensures that the customers are in the loop and are aware of the processes that are taking place until the delivery is finally made to the customer. The ebook cart link and the terms and conditions option is a good link for the customers to know all about the shopping and payment procedures for the products and services offered by ebook website. Better service quality The ebook e-business has a vast number of books on their catalogue that they have launched for their customers. They provide almost all types of products that are required for different types of readers. This portrays that the e-business values all the various types of customers rather than just focusing on a specific target segment. Convenience and trust The website provides convenience to the customers during their online purchase options for the books. The convenience and trust element is one of the main objectives and critical elements that allow e-business to become successful in the market. Trust of the customer needs to be attained by conducting successful transactions and maintaining the level of successful transaction. The ebook website has login requirement by the user before they make their purchases. EVALUATION OF THE WEBSITE Credibility The strengths of the website are that it has comprehensive amount of information and provides the customer the details that are required for them. A detailed type of information clears off many queries that may arise in the mind of the customer. The detailed information about the books, author and the publishers adds on to the credibility element of the website. Accuracy All transaction details and details about the products and services are mentioned in detail. The front look of the ebook is also provided so that the customer gets a good idea about the physical appearance of the ebook. Reasonableness The products and services displayed on the website have their prices mentioned and those that are members of the ebook club may have the opportunity of availing discounts up to a certain limit on every book. This option depicts that the books may be available at discount prices for club members. Therefore customers may focus on becoming club members if they become satisfied with the ebook business transactions. This portrays that the customers are being given a privilege in enjoying discount prices and this adds on towards developing good customer relationships. Support The ‘contact’ link is present on the website and customers can find the solution of the problems they are facing. This is one of the most powerful aspects of the website that depicts strong e-customer relationship management by having a support link present for the customer and other visitors. Customers are given the option of how they would want to be replied for the query they have posed at the management of ebook website. This again shows that customers are highly valued and ebook business attributes high importance towards the customer and may even given them a telephone call to answer their queries. Design and Interface The design and interface of the website plays an important role in attracting the attention of customer towards the website. The colours and graphics used should be appealing to the eye and it should retain the interest of the reader. Dull colours do not attract the customers and therefore bright colours should be used. The colour contrast used by the ebook website is good. On white background, the different book covers have been placed that are having different colours. This retains the interest of the customer and the customer may spend time in browsing the website and knowing about the variety of books available. Challenges of e-CRM The e-CRM is being critically destabilized as it is not widely known and so the maintenance of customer loyalty and customer demand is vital. Some of the main confronts faced by e-CRM is the identification of the real input cost of succeeding, and maintaining the long-term relationship with the loyal customers, along with effective business measurement and increment in customer service and loyalty. The ebook website has a lot of competitors in the market and they constantly need to ensure that they bring in all the latest books available in the market. They need to set competitive prices so that customers do not do not divert towards other ebook websites. To set competitive prices, it is important for the management of ebook.com to keep a critical check and balance of the rates that are being offered by the competitor websites. Weaknesses of the Website The lack of technical support provided to customers, the resistance of payment services via the web , the reduction of field sales and services, the lack of customer support and services, the reduction in productivity and emails overloading, the lack of implementation of time and cost are the main drawbacks of e-CRM as stated by Sharp, D.E.(2003). One main drawback due to electronic Customer Relationship Management is the deficiency in person-to-person contact with the customers which somehow leads to certain hardships. The ebook website does not provide any online chat system that allows customers to discuss their problems online and get their answers immediately. This delays the response time to the customers and it needs to be noted strongly by e-businesses that some customers may not be that patient to wait for the response. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE e-CRM Recommendations for e-CRM The ebook website can focus on specific customer centric strategies so that all customers find some interest in the website and feel that the website is catering their interests as well. Customers need to feel that they are valued at all times and especially in the cases of e-business and e-commerce websites so that the e-business becomes successful. The ebook website can work upon new technologies and create demands for the various types of books they are offering so that customers start buying the ebooks in bulk rather than buying just one or two at a time. The website needs to track down the potential buyers and cater their online marketing activities towards the target market so that a strong and valuable customer base can be built by the ebook e-business. Maintaining a database for the customers that are buying the books can be convinced to write their own book and then sell it further on. This way the e-commerce aspect of the business will become stronger. CONCLUSION Maintain a strong customer relationship is important for all physical businesses and well as e-businesses (Payne, 2006). Customers are the core elements for success and failure of any type of business. E-businesses need to focus on e-CRM aspects in a highly comprehensive manner as these types of businesses do not have any direct contact with the customers. They are just dealing with the customers online. Strong e-CRM factors are important for implementation as the development of the e-business depends upon this factor. The critical factors of e-CRM are revolving around networking with the customers, the social branding of the website, and the mass customization of products and services for the customers. The e-CRM element ensures that customers find it convenient to use the e-commerce way of buying their products and services, and have constant interactions with the customers (Peelen, 2005). The design and interface of the website matters to a high extent as this is being viewed by the customer and it is on this that the purchasing decision may be dependent upon by the customer. The ebook website has a high potential of having successful e-business transactions with customers and other clients. REFERENCES Burnett, K., (2001). The handbook of key customer relationship management: The definitive guide to winning, managing and developing key account business. London: Prentice Hall. Buttle, F. (2009). Customer relationship management: concepts and technologies. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Chaffey, D. (2007). E-business and e-commerce management: strategy, implementation and practice. Pearson Education. Dyché, J. (2002). The CRM handbook: a business guide to customer relationship Management. London: Addison-Wesley. eBook-ebooks 2011. Available at: http://www.ebook.com/. Accessed on 23rd July 2011. Gitomer, J. (1999). Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer loyalty is Priceless: How to Make Customer Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know, Bard Press. Imo Esiet, Idaraesit (2008). The impact of customer value on e-CRM success. University of Sheffield, Department of Information Studies. Jelassi, Tawfik and Enders, Albrecht (2008). Strategies for e-business: creating value through electronic and mobile commerce: concepts and cases. Prentice Hall Publications. Payne, A. (2006). Handbook of CRM: achieving excellence in customer management. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Peelen, E. (2005). Customer relationship management. Harlow: Prentice Hall. Read More