Role of e-Marketing in Customer Retention - Dissertation Example

?Research Proposal The Role of e-Marketing in Retention: A Comparative Study between Saudi Arabian and British Organisations Table of Contents Introduction 3 Objectives 3 Literature Review 6 Methodology 7 Timescale 9 Limitations 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 13 Introduction It needs no introduction to say that the e-marketing has evolved as one of the most useful tools for today’s marketers. One simple reason behind such statement is the fact that the present age is ‘information age’ where individual’s daily life is significantly dominated by the different types of digital technologies. E-Marketing may be defined as the process of attaining various objectives that are associated with marketing by applying various kinds of digital technologies (Dave, 2008). As far as marketing objectives are concerned, customer retention comes at the top of ‘priority list’. As the organisations face more intense competition, customer retention becomes more crucial to them. Researches have been conducted and will be conducted in future in order to gain insight into this aspect. However, comparative analysis of e-marketing as a tool for retaining the customers in case of British as well as Saudi Arabian organisations has not been chosen widely as the main subject of various previous researches. The following research proposal is prepared with the purpose of providing the best possible outline regarding the objectives, methodologies, probable structure of literature review and justification behind carrying out a research that is titled as “The Role of e-Marketing in Customer Retention: A Comparative Study between Saudi Arabian and British Organisations”. Objectives The degree of success of a particular research is significantly dependent on the extent to which its objectives are accomplished. Objectives of a research refer to the underlining as well as overriding purposes and aims of that research (AudiencesUK, n.d.). Determining the research objectives is a major step that decides the fate of the research. There may be one research objective or more but they arise from the proper description of research problems. In other words, it is important to identify the research problems prior to the development of the research objectives. As far as this piece of research is concerned, research problems are explained below. Research Problems Any research regarding e-marketing may be considered very important as today hundreds and thousands of products are being sold through this method. Billions of dollars are invested by the organisations to make their e-marketing efforts successful. As the world becomes more and more dependent on the electronic gadgets, companies have to give more and more attention to the aspects of e-marketing. Now organisations belong to different countries have different work culture and hence different point of view towards adopting and applying any marketing tool as a strategic weapon. In the past, researches have been conducted to find out the overall scenario regarding e-marketing in a particular nation. For instance, Octane Marketing Pvt Ltd has recently revealed a research report where clear picture of e-marketing is provided in the context of Indian market (Octane Marketing PVT Ltd, 2011). However, it does not specifically address the effectiveness of e-marketing in the process of retaining customers. Several researches have been conducted in the past keeping customer retention as a separate topic rather than associating it with the aspects of e-marketing. For instance, in 2006 a research report was published by European Journal of Marketing and the title was ‘customer retention management processes’ (Ang, & Buttle, 2006).In this research, the principle objective was to recognize the relationship between various management processes like customer retention budgets and customer retention outcomes. So, it is quite clear that there is enough vacant space for carrying out a research on the role of e-marketing in the customer retention process. As far as the country specificity is concerned, there are researches that are conducted on British organizations. For instance, researches have been conducted for identifying the function of e-CRM in enhancing customer loyalty in the context of British organizations (Lee-Kelley, Gilbert & Mannicom, 2003). However, there was no comparison between the British organizations and Saudi Arabian organizations. Hence, it can be said there is enough requirement of carrying out a research on the title “The Role of e-Marketing in Customer Retention: A Comparative Study between Saudi Arabian and British Organizations.” Such requirement arises not only due to the absent of any such previous researches but also due to the fact that industries from both the countries are likely to be beneficial from the outcomes of such research. It is expected that the results of this research would help the organizations to make proper assessment of their capabilities in utilizing advanced marketing tools in the process of retaining the customers. It is believed that the two countries are well chosen as the comparative study can only be properly made if the two nations are completely different from both cultural and socio-economic perspectives. Objectives The primary objective of this research is to identify and analyse the role of e-marketing in the process of customer retention. As it is a comparative study between Saudi Arabian and British organisations, the research’s main aim is to find out how the organisations in these two countries have been using e-marketing to retain their customers. However, finding out the usage of e-marketing by the companies in the two countries is not enough as it is important to gather sufficient relevant information for comparing the organisations of the two nations. Another major objective of conducting this research is gaining insight into the aspects of e-marketing as a whole in the context of customer retention as it is crucial to have clear understanding prior to making any comparison between the organisations that belong to two different countries. Considering these objectives following research questions can be developed. What is role of e-marketing in the overall process of customer retention? How the British organisations have used e-marketing for retaining their customers? How the Saudi Arabian organisations have used e-marketing for retaining their customers? What are the similarities and differences between the ways in which the organisations from the two nations have been using e-marketing in order to retain customers? All these above mentioned research questions will be addressed in the main research. It can be said that if these questions are properly answered, then the main objectives of this research will be achieved. Main Aim The main aim i.e. principle objective of this research is identifying, analysing and comparing the role of e-marketing in the customer retention process of British organisations and that of in case of Saudi Arabian organisations. Literature Review The theoretical aspect of the subject of any research must be reviewed properly in order to have a complete research report. The ‘literature’ is considered as the backbone of any research. As far as this research is concerned, the literatures regarding both e-marketing as well as customer retention are going to play crucial role. There are several online and offline resources that are expected to provide enough information regarding the theoretical facets of the two main aspects of this research i.e. customer retention and e-marketing. Books like ‘E-Business and E-Commerce Management’, ‘E-Marketing’, ‘Advances in electronic marketing’ and many other are likely to be the sources of all the relevant information that is related to the core ideas as well as the usage of e-marketing. In addition to books, journals can also be used as an important source of crucial literatures regarding e-marketing. Relevant articles are expected to be accessed by going through ‘European Journal of Marketing’, ‘International Marketing Review’, ‘Journal of business strategy’ and many more journals. The literature review section is likely to include proper description of the definitions of e-marketing and the main ideas of it. Furthermore, it is likely to contain the views of different experts regarding the core concepts of e-marketing. Such views can be obtained from various previous research reports on the subject. Concepts of customer retention are also very important and hence they must be properly reviewed in the literature review section. Books are the best source for finding literature regarding the aspect like customer retention. The literature review section in the main research report is likely to include proper definitions and main concepts of customer retention as well as its importance in the present global market scenario. In addition to books, there are scholarly articles and previous research reports that are accessible through various journals can be used as great source of relevant information regarding various aspects of customer retention. It is quite clear that the literature review section would include secondary kind of data which are usually qualitatively analysed. Methodology Any research which is carried out without following proper method has momentous chance of deviation from attaining its main objectives. This research, although, will follow a properly defined method in which the first and foremost step will be to have defined, appropriate and understandable the research objectives. Once this is done, the next vital job will be to bring together the data. Both primary as well as secondary data are important for this kind of research. There are diverse ways of collecting primary data. As far as this research is concerned a ‘focus group interview’ will be useful. As per Lederman, a focus group interview is “a technique involving the use of in-depth group interviews in which participants are selected because they are a purposive and ‘focused’ on a given topic” (Rabiee, 2004). Interviews will involve individuals who are directly or indirectly involved with the marketing and customer care department of various British as well as Saudi Arabian organizations. A sample size of 20-25 should be enough to gather the important information. A questionnaire will be developed and it will contain all those questions whose answers are likely to help in attaining the main objectives of this research. ‘E-mail marketing’ method may be used for sending the questionnaires to the targeted interviewees. It is crucial to note that interviews must involve individuals from both British organizations as well as Saudi Arabian organizations. Hence, every time direct contact may not be the possible option. As a result, online communication is likely to be best option for sending and gathering relevant information. However, interviewees can be directly contacted for collecting information regarding their views on the subject wherever and whenever possible. Secondary data which will be crucial for the literature review will be collected from various books, journal and scholarly articles. It is important to note here that primary research is costlier and more time taking as compared to secondary research (Kelly, n.d.). The analysis part will follow the data collection task. Analysis will be both quantitative and qualitative in nature. An important aspect that needs to be mentioned is that the research design will be ‘deductive’ in kind. According to Hussey a deductive research is “a study in which a conceptual and theoretical structure is developed which is then tested by empirical observation; thus particular instances are deducted from general influences” (University of Pretoria, n.d.). Timescale It is important to note in case of each and every research that the resources are not unlimited and hence any research must be finished in all respect within a specific time frame. It is expected that this research may be completed within three years from its initiation. Development and analysis of research objectives are likely to be completed within the first one year. Once this is done, the process of research methodology as well as data collection will commence. In this one year, literature review will be prepared with the help of relevant secondary data. Following one year is likely to be spent on carrying out the empirical study and the last one year will be required for the analysis of fact and the development of research report. Limitations Each and every research has its own limitations. These limitations must be properly identified and overcome in order to answer the research questions properly. In case of this research, main limitation is its advantage. In other words, the main advantage of this research is the comparative study between the organisations from two different countries in the context of e-marketing and customer retention. However, this may act as limitation in terms of data collection. The process of contacting the Saudi Arabian organisations and collecting information from them is likely to pose great challenge. In fact, it may increase the cost of data collection. Furthermore, availability of relevant data that is required for comparative analysis is limited as there are not much previous research works that are done in the past on this subject. Moreover, direct contact with the individuals from Saudi Arabian organisations may not be always possible and hence, quality of primary data may get affected. This may also have an impact on the analysis part as well. Time is another major constraint. Since, the project has to be completed within the previously specified time frame; the process of data collection and the quality of analysis are likely to be affected. Conclusion This research proposal is expected to serve the purpose of providing a clear and crisp understanding about the possible structure of the main research report. It includes proper justifications as well as importance of choosing such a subject. Furthermore, the principle objectives and research questions are not only included but properly explained in this proposal. A possible stricture literature review and a proper description of the methods that are expected to be followed during the actual research make this proposal a crucial one. References AudiencesUK, No Date, Research Objective, Jargon Buster, [Online] Available at: http://www.audiencesuk.org/data-and-resources/jargonbuster/R/research-objective, Accessed on November 21, 2012. Ang, L. Buttle, F. (2006) "Customer retention management processes: A quantitative study", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40 Iss: 1/2, pp.83 – 99 Dave, C. 2008, E-Business and E-Commerce Management, Pearson Education India Kelly, M. No Date, Primary and Secondary Data, McKinnon Secondary College, [Online] Available at: http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/vceit/infodata/primarysecondary.htm Accessed on November 21, 2012. Lee-Kelley, L. Gilbert, D. Mannicom, R. (2003), How e-CRM can enhance customer loyalty, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, [Online] Available at: http://colinwatsonleeds.co.uk/RMarticles/LEEKeeley.pdf, Accessed on November 21, 2012. Octane Marketing PVT Ltd, 2011, Annual India e-Marketing 2011, Benchmark Research on India Digital Marketing, [Online] Available at: http://www.octane.in/survey/report-emarketing-survey Accessed on November 21, 2012. Rabiee, F. 2004, Focus-group interview and data analysis, University of Central England, [Online] Available at: http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPNS%2FPNS63_04%2FS0029665104000874a.pdf&code=bed44b7adb29a0520e528452fc6608c7 Accessed on November 21, 2012. University of Pretoria, No Date, Deductive / Inductive, Research methodology, [Online] Available at: http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07302006-065725/unrestricted/05chapter5.pdf Accessed on November 21, 2012. Bibliography Clarke, I. & Flaherty, T. (2005), Advances in electronic marketing, Idea Group Inc (IGI) Egner, T. (2009), Customer Oriented and Efficient Account Planning: A Prerquisite for Profitable Growth, GRIN Verlag Fatayerji, N. (2004), Electronic Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages, Najib Fatayerji Krishnamurthy, S. (2006), Contemporary research in e-marketing, Volume 2, Idea Group Inc (IGI) Haegele, K. (2001), E-Advertising and E-Marketing: Online Opportunities, The Rosen Publishing Group Huber, M. (2008), From customer retention to a holistic stakeholder management system: living a vision, Springer Raab, G. (2008), Customer relationship management: a global perspective, Gower Publishing, Ltd. Shajahan, S. (2006), Relationship marketing: text & cases, Tata McGraw-Hill Education Read More