Dissertation on
An Assessment of Effect of E-marketing on Customer Response in Special Reference to Animated Images
In Partial Fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Masters in Business Administration
CARDIFF METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
Acknowledgement
In the start it was looking very difficult to the researcher that how the research will be completed. But then with the passage of time and thorough study of literature on the subject of E-marketing, and its special strategy of using animated images, through the available books and the link of the electronic library of the university gave hand-some information on the topic. During the procedure the feedback from the supervisor Thomas Robert helped a lot in fulfilling a tributes of research. Apart from this classnotes also spotted in making a good piece of writing. I would like to thank my husband my family and my friends for giving all their support to the researcher.
Abstract
E-marketing is getting more attention in the marketing circles of the world due to many of its benefits. E-marketing is replacing the conventional sources of marketing like print media, TV, radio etc. This revolution is the field of marketing is due to the innovation of increasing internet communications throughout the world. A company by making a small blog on the internet can access long distant markets. Due to this facility of independency from the geographical limits it has come as a non- replaceable resource of marketing.
By sensing the gravity of cause of E-marketing the researcher has decided to explore the concept of E-marketing and access its effect on the customers by taking special reference to animated images. There is firing race in the internet marketing, every small company is going to market on the internet, so the innovators have designed a new way of E-marketing. In this way of E-marketing, the planners have used the 3D images as a tool to attract the ordinary viewers and to make them regular customer of the company. However, E-marketing is not as simple as it looks because there are many factors attached to it and the customer response is one of them. The current piece of research will explore the concept of E-marketing thoroughly, then it will evaluate customer response and in the end there will be a conclusion of this dissertation.
The data for the study of E-marketing will be taken from books and journals which will provide a fresh insight into the subject of E-marketing in relation to animated images used for the purpose of marketing on the internet. Whatever may be the marketing tool used by the companies, even then it is important to note that how the customers view that move of companies. The scope of this research is to include the customer response in order to check the validity of E-marketing and animated images in maintaining good customer relationship. The ultimate goal of every organisation is to make new customers and maintain the existing customers, so this study will provide a basis for this particular strategy of a company.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Chapter Overview
This chapter constructs the foundation for the whole of the research work. It will include the rational behind this research work and the information for the aim and objectives of this piece of research.
1.2 Rational of the Research
In electronic marketing or more probably saying E-Marketing the ideologies and philosophies of marketing are being used to attract the online customers with new and innovative methods (Stephen D & Susan D, 2011). Marketing is the back bone of every company and whatever a company produces is to be sold out by the push of marketing in this modern period. As the time is passing and new technologies are taking the position of the previous technologies similarly the old ways of marketing are becoming obsolete and the new ways of marketing are coming in practice (Dave C, 2006). This new marketing innovation has come in the form of electronic marketing or e-marketing. As it has become essential for a large number of companies to adopt the e-marketing strategy so it has started a new race in the field of e-marketing. The companies are now going to perform e-marketing by the use of animated images in order to get as much intention of the internet viewers towards their products. The marketing departments of companies are not leaving any stone unturned to compete with the market competitors. The strategic marketing managers are confronting new challenges while making the marketing strategy for their companies as the business is entering into an intense competition in the aftershocks of economic crunch which has contracted the consumer buying power.
The consumers are shifting to other media of internet and digital platforms for the fulfilment of their daily life requirements, entertainment and social needs. The increasing trend of online marketing has opened ways for even small business units to advertise to millions of customers and also up to a large distance across the globe. It has been accustomed to the advertisers that they make policies according to demographic dimensions but on the other hand internet has changed the conventional styles and a new age of internet advertising has come into being. This increasing trend of the marketers has started a new race in which the marketing companies use the animated figures and images to leave an impact on the viewers (E. Vessel, 2010). The advertising campaigns via internet are becoming a competitive advantage for the companies because a number of people have felt the effect of online marketing and they go for online shopping (Walter et Al., 2006).
But it is not always evident and positive that the viewers give as much response to the online ads because some people feel disturbance due to frequency of the ads and consider it as hurdle in their routine work. The case for online marketing is a little different from the conventional ways of marketing, like magazines, newspapers and leaflets, in away that at a newspaper level the intensity of the competition is at local level but when the same thing is done on the internet then the scope of competition expands. That is why this race of marketing is accelerated and there is a trend of animated images to influence the viewers.
1.2.1 Current Position of the Internet Marketing
Electronic marketing is getting more consideration in the planning area of the marketing managers and it has also shown a dramatic growth in the field of marketing in the UK. It has been viewed that UK has become the first country in which the advertisers are spending more money than other media of marketing like TV, Radio and Print media, with a record value of £2.6 billion in the first twelve months of the year 2011 and this value is expected to increase by four times in a time span of four years (The Guardian, 2011). In the United States internet advertising or online marketing has been considered as fastest industry and its revenue has increased from $4.6 billion in 1999 to $22.6 billion in 2009 (www.crs.org). In the UK internet accounts for 23.4% of the total money spent on advertising where TV accounts for 21.9% (The Guardian 2010).
A number of researchers have done work on the internet advertising and a lot of literature is avail able on this topic. In this research the researcher has the aim to clearly view the phenomenon of internet advertising or marketing and investigate its effect on the customers buying response with special consideration given to animated images used as tool to grasp the viewers’ attention. Also, with the help of the questionnaire the researcher will assess the validity and strength of animated images in persuading the customers to buy a product. The buying decision of the customers is dependent upon the length of time for which the viewers keep viewing an advertisement. On the basis of collected information by the researcher there will be suggestions to improve the internet marketing.
1.3 Purpose of the Research
It is becoming essential for the marketing departments of the companies to go for an intense marketing in order to lift the scale of sales and also to get competitive advantage in this new age of digital media (Sandeep K, 2006). ‘What is the level of success associated with this move?’ is the main theme behind this piece of research. This study will examine the impact of animated advertisements on the viewers and how do they respond to these ads. The main discussion of the dissertation is to check the gravity of online animated advertising to attract the viewers and if not then see that why they are reluctant to do that. It also depends on the way that how the images are depicted and do they get considerable intention by the viewers. If the viewers are not getting interest and the number of viewers who go to that particular page is in traces then it is useless for the company being advertised there. The back bone of this dissertation is to view the viewers’ response and then give suggestions to make that move more suitable to bring fruits for the company.
1.4 Scope of Research
Using animation and special effects to create attractive websites has become aggressive in product marketing and organizations invest heavily in animated ads despite of its greater expense of production. Does the investment prove to be beneficial to the marketers? Recent trend of providing flash websites adds extra cost comparing to the traditional HTML websites. How does animation influence the tools of modern online marketing? This study aims to examine the impacts of animated ads on the psychology of consumer responses focusing on the recall of product information, attitude and perceptions. Marketers across the world have clearly accepted the use of animation as an effective non-fiction communication tool in advertising and marketing that can potentially advance yield on investment (Simms J, 2008). It does not necessarily mean to change the way advertising was defined but to accept positive and dominative perceptions that exist in today’s modern and viral marketing industry (Dave C, 2006).
This paper accentuates the impacts of animation in online advertising on consumers’ attention and perceptions that is a critical construct for any researchers in marketing. The discussion of content analysis and the evaluation of animated online ads and television commercials in the development of consumer perseverance lead the study making it extremely helpful for advertisers to understand the consumer psychology towards animated advertisements.
1.5 Problem Discussion and Research Question
Frequency of anything does not receive good response by the people so this research is going to check the response of the viewers related to animated pictures used for the purpose of advertising on the internet. Towards analyzing the focused mainstream consumer responses to online advertising concentrating on animated ads with special effects and its impacts on psychology, buying behaviour, attention and perceptions of viewers, the research aims to answer the following research questions that will route the research and help meeting its objectives.
1.5.1 Aim:
The aim of this dissertation is to have an investigative look into the phenomenon of advertising generally and then compare it with the present day of animated images marketing techniques used on the internet.
1.5.2 Objectives:
1.6 Company Introduction: Global Communications & Marketing Solutions
This is the company mainly based in Greece and it was established in 2002. It has nine year experience of giving communication and marketing solutions to different customers. Mainly, they have international calling companies as major customers. The customers are Lyca, Now Mobile, Lebara etc. they also give marketing services to the calling card companies. The company ahs their main office in London in Upton market at Katherine road. They have also built a large space for common customers; they can come and use the internet and calling facilities given by the company. The organisation also has a team of expert professionals who design images for marketing process and they have their call centres in South Asia. The researcher has taken permission from the Manager and now the primary research will be performed with the company customers.
1.7 Layout of the Dissertation
For the intention to achieve the aim and objectives of the research, the structure of dissertation will be in the following format:
This chapter gives a detailed account of the various writers in this field of e-marketing and the consumer behaviour, also by taking into consideration the similarities and dissimilarities in the work of writers which leads towards the conclusion of the discussion. The data included in this chapter is taken from various books and journals including internet sources. The internet marketing is becoming vital to the companies in the UK, so much of the relevant data is included in the context of the UK. This chapter provides a basis for the selection of the research methodology and the design of the questionnaire. So, this chapter provides an account of the secondary data with different opinions of the writers and those can be agreed or disagreed depending on the findings of the primary data on this particular topic.
This chapter provides the method of selection of research design and strategy and also the justification of the selected ideology and procedures. This chapter discusses the research methods, survey, limitations and other various techniques and procedures used to collect valuable information on this topic.
This chapter provides all the data which has been collected by the use of questionnaire survey and the qualitative inquiry. The researcher has prepared a questionnaire to fulfil the aim and objectives of the research. The collected data is shown by the use of different tables, diagrams, pie charts and bar charts. There is precise and brief explanation below every chart and table.
This chapter discusses the collected facts and figures which are presented in the previous chapters in order to get valuable information from the tables and charts. Adding to that the researcher takes care about the aim and objectives of the research and to the point information is used for analysis.
When the researcher has collected all the information from the preceding chapters then there is exact point to conclude all the findings taken with the help of secondary and primary research, so this chapter has to provide the concluding remarks of this dissertation. This chapter will also give the contribution done by the researcher to the particular relation of online advertisement and consumer response.
1.8 Summary of the Chapter
The current chapter has given an overview of the research process with aim and objectives of this study.
The next chapter has to provide an account of the work, by different writers who has written on e-marketing and consumer response, in the form of literature review of this dissertation.
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Chapter Overview
This chapter gives the secondary data collected by the researcher through book, journals and other sources on the e-marketing and consumer issues, and further it makes basis for the primary research to be done.
2.2 Marketing & the Internet
Economic goals of companies or individuals put pressure to sell the produced items at a fast rate and in the fulfilment of these economic goals it become necessary for every company to go for marketing of the product or products (Mehdi H, 2007). With the increasing use of internet it became essential for the marketing managers to go for online marketing and that is why this industry is consuming huge amount of money. The business world has become turbulent due to the cheap and easily available facility of the internet (Walder et al, 2006). The people are in the search of easiness and the value added facility of online shopping is delivering them at their doorstep. In the same period the trends of marketing and advertising has also changed as more and more companies are going to use the internet as a tool to grasp maximum buyers in such a way that they would achieve the peaks of customer loyalty.
The customers are buying their products through the internet and the online shopping industry has shown a considerable growth in the previous decade. The increase in online shopping gave the idea of online marketing. Market is an environment where people buy and sell their products (Mehdi H, 2007). Thus the marketing has also become an environment and it has no physical boundaries. Now the online marketing is also no longer a simple and easily approachable entity. There is a lot of competition in this field of online marketing and it has given a new dimension in the field of marketing. The companies are going to use the new and innovative tactics in the online marketing field. The main cause for the companies to go for internet marketing is the growing number of internet users throughout the world.
2.3 Why companies go for E-Marketing
The e-marketing is being considered as more effective than the conventional media of marketing. Majority of people solve their everyday life problems and issues by the use of internet. The number of problem solvers by the use of internet is increasing day by day. For example, if anyone has to book a ticket for some journey then the most suitable, easily approachable and cheap way is to go on the internet and book that. So it is very much effective that an organisation should advertise on the internet and in a different way. According to E Vessel (2010), there are more than half of United States dwellers are online and this ratio is more than ¾ of the adults dwellers are enjoying the facility of internet. So, it shows that how much effective is online marketing and more emphasise is done by the animated techniques of online advertising. The customers are using internet based phones and they can access internet easily. The internet is also used heavily for product search by a vast majority of people.
Source: www.brandeworld.co.uk [2009]
The above figure shows that a huge percentage of people go on internet to search for a product as the customers are always in hurry and they need a quick answer to their inquiries. That is why the companies have to opt for e-marketing and advertisement to move with the pace of market requirements.
2.4 How the e-Marketing is Different from Conventional marketing approach
The main difference between internet marketing and traditional marketing is that e-marketing uses the digital medium for its progression. In conventional marketing approach ever company has to spend and extra amount while the e-marketing is comparatively a cheap way of marketing the products and services. McDonald and Wilson (2001) gave a comparative view of different approach of internet as a marketing medium with the other media of marketing. Their evaluation is based on ‘6 Is of e-marketing mix’ and they have used these as strategic analytical tools to draw difference. These are explained as follows:
2.4.1 Interactivity
In the traditional media there is a limited interactivity of the company with its customers and stakeholders where in the case of e-marketing the interaction is much higher. On the internet the process of interaction is started by the customer first and then by the company. This provides a way of two way communication and the customer is much involved in the process of visiting a website or resultantly in buying a product. According to (Dave C, 2006) the main characteristics of the interactivity through the internet are given as:
This shows that how the e-marketing approach can be used to facilitate two-way (duplex) communication for the purpose of direct response from the customer (Dave C, 2008). For example, National Rail Service in the UK informs its customer about the regular promotions after a successive period by taking their email address and other details. But all this procedure happens with the consent of the customer. According to Hoffman (2000) consumers can make an interface with the medium of marketing and the companies can give all the necessary information required by the consumers, so making a shift from the methods of traditional marketing and also the consumers can use a website for commercial purposes like ‘Ebay’.
2.4.2 Using Internet Intelligently
The internet is a relatively low cost medium of search for the customer, and also for the companies to market their products and services, as compared to traditional media. It also gives the facility of two-way communication and feedback about the sales, products, and price and after sale issues. Whenever a person comes in front of the computer screen there is an advertisement ready to be shown and the websites show different animated images used for the purpose marketing with every new click on an icon (Simms J, 2008). The companies generally respond to the inquiries with no time delay, and if the appropriate answer are not ready to be sent then a receive confirmation automatic email is generated. This strengthens the relation with the customers.
2.4.3 Individualisation
This interactive marketing approach, with the help of the internet, can give the facility to the marketing companies in a way that it provides message to the individuals (Dave C, 2006). On the other hand in the traditional media the message is broad cast to a large number of people. This individualised approach can also be referred to as personalised communication and has an effective approach in maintaining and strengthening customer relations (Dave C, 2006). Mostly, the personalisation approach is attained by the use of ‘extranets’. The extranet facility provides a way of managing personal accounts and deal with after sale issues. For example, Dell (www.dell.com) has designed the ‘premier pages’ for major customers and to solve their problems immediately. In this type of extranet approach, every customer who buys something is profiled with respect to the product range in which the customer is interested. Amazon, the online book seller, has used this approach and informs its customers whenever there is a new book in the stock available. In this approach is not designed for each and every individual but it is made for a group of users or customers who fall under the same category (Sandeep K, 2006). The figures given below clearly show difference between personalisation and mass customisation.
|
Figure: Personalisation and Mass Customisation
2.4.4 Integration
The e-marketing provides an integrative approach to the process of marketing by a company. While viewing the integrative approach it is better to take it two perspectives; one is ‘Company to Customer’ direction and the other is ‘Customer to Company’ direction (Dave C, 2006). In the first approach it is identified that what type of information is displayed by the company on the internet in order to facilitate the customers. While in the second approach the companies are considering feedback of the customers to an appropriate function or operation ordered to the company by generating automatic email response. It can also be achieved by transferring the inquiries, by the customers, to the call centre agents for more reliable information. All this is done to save the travelling and fuel costs of the customer and also for the company (Judy S & Raymond F, 2008). The conventional media of marketing cannot provide two-way approach. Benway J (2004) has given some practical examples by which we can assess that how the internet can be used in integration communication tool;
2.4.5 Location
One of the most important advantages of e-marketing and big difference with the conventional media of marketing is that it provides a global approach, the procedure is only to make an advertisement with all it requirements and put on the internet (Judy S & Raymond F, 2008). So, the e-marketing is independent of location and geographical limits. E-Marketing makes a company able to sell the products in another country also. E-Marketing has made it easy for the marketing managers to achieve the aspect of global approach (Dave C, 2006). The customers find it very easy to get information through the internet for a product and the customers who have to travel to a distant country they can get information about products and services by the help of e-marketing approach of the companies.
2.5 Customer Buying Process Model
The customer will buy a product or service whenever there is a need or vacancy in the consumers’ daily requirements. The customer then goes for searching about the product and in these days internet is the cheap and affordable way of searching if this facility is available to the customers (Adam S. 2007). When the search has been completed then a priority list is made in the mind of the customer and he/she has to evaluate where to buy and what to buy in how much price. When this decision is done then a regular buying process starts and the product or services is bought by the customer and in this way the consumer buying process completes and the products are delivered to the customers (Adam S, 2007).
Fig: Consumer Buying Model by Adam Saner (2007)
2.5.1 Customer Satisfaction
The customers are satisfied their buying if the bought item fulfils their needs. More precisely saying the customer satisfaction is achieved if the customer is highly satisfied with the products or services given and these fit into the customers’ needs or expectations from the product or service (Buchannnan, 2000). Customer response and customer satisfaction is becoming one of the highly researched topics in the field of marketing (Service Marketing, 2007). Theory of marketing categorises high level of satisfaction as ‘level 3’ in which a product or service satisfies the customer more than the expectations while in ‘level2’ the customers find the product or service according to their expectations and in ‘level1’ the expectations are simple and the customer is satisfied up to a normal level (Van D, 2007).
2.6 E-Marketing and Customer’s Buying Process
|
Customer Buying Process |
E-Marketing Opportunity |
|
1-Need or Want Recognition |
Advertising, Addressable Branding |
|
2-Information Search |
Contextual Marketing |
|
3-Evaluation |
Community Marketing |
|
4-Purchase |
Transactional Marketing |
Table: Relevancy of E-Marketing to customer Buying Process
Source: Gartner (2007)
The above figure describes the customers buying process and how e-marketing moves in alignment to the customer demands. Adam S (2007) has explained this process as follows:
This is the initial phase of customer buying process in which the
customer is in search of a product or services. At this stage nominal advertisement or addressable branding can make fulfil the customer requirement. At this stage a banner or a normal image can be used by clicking on which a customer can go for further detail about the related item or product. The customer can visit web surveys and other analytical tools to refine the searching process. Due to addressable feature of these e-marketing entities the customer can access and be responded back with no time delay.
The explicit search information process comes under the term of
contextual e-marketing and it gives core circumstances about the searched product. This happens after the establishment of a relation by the customer. The organic search, which is a search process without the conditions of time and place, is a simple form of contextual marketing. Google has made a considerable growth in this regard.
This stage in the buying process of a customer decides about what will
be bought by the customer, and in this regard the customer is provided with the community marketing which contains customer feedbacks, and reviews and blogs. The customers get guidance from these sources before going to transaction.
This is the final part of the buying process and the customer finally
selects a product, and then there is opportunity of transactional marketing which can give viewer more information even at that threshold point. For example, if a customer is going to buy a printer and the final stage comes. The customer will be shown other relevant products and offers related to that product and it can give positive experience to the consumer and an additional sale can be observed.
2.7 Innovation of Animation in E-Marketing
With the increasing use of internet in consumer grounds almost every company is going to market its products on the internet and this internet marketing or E-Marketing itself has become an expanding field (Holbrook M, 2001). This increasing scope of e-marketing has attracted a large number of marketing planners and then an intense competition started on the internet. This race of e-marketing has resulted in the use of animated images as a customer attracting tool. The prevailing use of animation and special effects in the field of internet advertising has the support of many researchers; it is also considered that animation tool is more powerful to bring the customers to transaction as compared to traditional boards and static images (Holbrook M, 2001).
In this digital age, a normal person spends more time at the computer
screen instead of TV screen, the world wide spending has increased from 7.9% in 2006 to 15% in 2010 (Yee et al. 2007). This value is going to increase day by day, thus encouraging the big brands to come towards this and invest in it due to cost effectiveness. The traditional media cost for making the static ads and boards is higher than the digital media marketing and animated images in the opportunity of e-marketing. Animation ads have come as an innovation in e-marketing and the graphical use in advertisements has more force to attract the customers (Walder et al, 2006). According to Walder et al (2006) animation gives an easy understanding about the complex products and services, apart from this animation can get more time by the customer to keep on viewing the product which creates a desire in buying the product. It has also become a custom for many marketing companies to higher digital image designers and to use their sense of creativity in achieving the expected goal of the marketing departments. There is a Chinese proverb that ‘ an image is better explanation than thousand words.’ It shows the gravity of an image in explaining a procedure and similarly in the marketing of a product or service.
According to Lai et al (2007) the animated images are able of getting much attention of the customers or even general viewers on the internet, but it is necessary that image is to give a brand new and different look to the viewer. Further, it is evident by many researchers that image illustration can give a spontaneous effect to the consumers by an enhanced significance of marketing approach. The cost of making an animated flash page is £110 approximately and that of an HTML page it is £40. No doubt that its cost is higher than the HTML page but its efficiency and capacity in bringing the customer to buy the product is high. For example, ‘Lyca Mobile’ uses animated images on the internet for the purpose of e-marketing and according to them it is better as compared to other media of advertising or even HTML.
The visualized information receives greater attention as compared to
the other media of information and it is important to note that 3D image technology has increased the height of illustration through pictures and image elicitation, and all this has been done to increase the consumer’s sense of product evaluation. The visualisation of products has been increased by the use of 3d images and animated forms of images. There is a continuous challenge faced by the marketers and the image designers that how to design better images which would achieve a handsome attraction by the viewers (Lai et al., 2007).
According to Veesel’s (2010) viewers are surrounded by a load of information and they are ‘Infovores’, so it is necessary for the marketing managers to create such images which can receive maximum attention by the viewers. Zhang (2000) argues that consumer’s intention of product seeking is enhanced by showing animated images by matching with the choice of the viewers. In all this procedure, there is some psychoses involvement also. For example when a user does ‘click’ a large number of chemicals flow in the mind and these flows result in efficient signalling in brain which results in the form of pleasure which is the ultimate destination of the marketers. According to Raymond J (2010) this pleasure experience creates more attention towards the brand and the customer go for buying that particular product or service. The marketers use a mix of visual display and emotions of happiness on the conclusion by the customers related to brands and products.
2.8 Arguments Against E-marketing and animated Images
According to Adam S (2007) if the e-marketing is not properly designed and lacks in approach then it can damage the customer relations. For example if a poor internet user comes on the website of a car manufacturing company, and the customer cannot find the consumer dialogue page, so as to see customer views then it can stop the customer to go ahead and buy the car. The e-marketing managers should give consideration to planning by taking care of all types of internet users. Similarly, Dan Ariely (2011) is of opinion that e-marketing is losing its intensity to influence the customers up to a considerable extent. According to the same author there are following reasons that e-marketing will lose its value in the marketing mix;
1) Customers do not trust in the company blogs which give satisfactory information consumers. So, there is a lack of trust between the company and customer.
2) Customers do not want to view any online advertisements and there is low probability of having a look by the customers on the advertisement, no matter that whatever is the image being used to illustrate the product.
3) The customer need is not advertisement driven and the needs of the customers are not going to fulfil their needs by watching an animated image.
4) Mostly consumers are busy in their work and they do not see any ad on the internet if they do not need it.
2.10 Chapter Summary
The above discussion on the topic of internet marketing or E-Marketing shows that how important it is in the current period of fibre speed of the internet. In this regard there is a mess on the internet and those will win the game that are going to pose a different and according to the ideas of internet users. That is why the innovation of animated images has come and the companies are going to achieve this as a value added service. The researcher will conduct the primary research in order to fill the gap of the literature regarding animated advertising and marketing techniques. The data given above also shows that there are some arguments against the usability of e-marketing as marketing strategy. So, this gives a rational for the conduction of primary research on this topic.
The next chapter will provide a basis for the conduction of primary research and will give information about the research approach and methodology used for this particular purpose.
Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Chapter Review
This chapter delivers information about the different research methods and research strategies, research approach and it also provides justification of the methods used in the conduction of research.
3.2 Aim and Objectives (As given in the Chapter 1)
While devising a research approach and research strategy it is very important to consider the aim of research and objectives to pursuit the aim of research. Justification of research methods is better justified in the presence of research aim and objectives.
To investigate the effect of online animated advertising on the consumer buying behaviour.
towards attributing brands.
consumers buying behaviour.
marketers and advertisers rationalize the use of animated ads against the static
ones.
3.3 Research Process
The collection of data in an organised way is known as research process with clearly defined purpose and interpretation of the data collected (Saunders et al, 2003).The research process has been divided into five major steps and these are arranged in the form of five layers of an onion by Saunders et al., 2009 as shown:
Source: Saunders et al, 2009.
3.4 Research Approach
Research approach is of two types: one is deductive and the other is inductive. In inductive approach the facts and figures or inquiry is done to bring a new concept into existence by the use of survey tools and this approach starts from ground level to an elevated level {Observation process-> Experimentation-> Hypothesis-> Theory} (Burney 2008). It can also be taken as ‘bottom to top approach’. The deductive approach covers a topic from ‘top to bottom’ and is a logical flow of deduced arguments and concepts {Theory->Built Hypothesis->Observation-> Confirmation} (Burney 2008). This approach uses a theory which has been put forward already and it is passed through the process of testing by the use of survey etc. It is the reconfirmation or disagreement with an already existing theory. In short words, in deductive approach the related theories are checked and tested where in the inductive approach theories are built (M Wallace and Alison Wray, 2011).
In the present dissertation, the researcher has used a mix of both the approaches, as according to Saunders et al (2009) it is not necessary to clearly benchmark research in one of these two approaches.
3.5 Research Philosophy
There are mainly two research approaches mainly in practice: one is the positivisms and the other is interpretivism. Positivistic approach deals reality as a constant value and gives its description by objective approach (Pervez. G & Kjell. G, 2005). This approach results in quantitative data collected through survey questionnaires and it also uses structured inquiry. The quantitative data is then tabulated and valuable information is then prepared to use for the purpose of building conclusion of research. On the other hand, in interpretivism the research is done for more than one realities and it uses multiple methods of inquiry. The subject of discussion is heavily deduced from the understanding of the participants (Pervez G, 2005). This approach can have the primary data collection of focused groups and interviews. This type of data collection requires the presence of the interviewer and the interviewee also at the same time to get a valid qualitative data.
This dissertation has used the positivistic approach as the questionnaire method of data collection is used. The questionnaire contains close-ended and there are multiple answers to be selected by the respondents of the survey process. The questionnaire also has some open ended questions in which the respondents can give their opinion with out the limit of answer description. In this way the researcher has become able to include the respondents’ opinion about the e-marketing and its effect on them.
3.6 Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
In qualitative collection of data the information is taken from the interviews or discussion with the focused groups where in quantitative the information is drawn from numerical figures that describe an opinion about a particular phenomenon. The qualitative approach can be more open and dynamic in nature, and it incorporates the personal opinion of the respondents (Winter, 2000). Qualitative approach emphasis on understanding the subject matter with the help of the respondents’ views, interprets subjective information and the rational of the research (Pervez. G & Kjell. G 2005). According to Pervez. G (2005) the qualitative approach can look deep into the problem and can describe the intensity of problem up to a précised level. On the other hand the quantitative research quantifies the findings of the research and gives valuable information after passing through some statistical tools (Winter 2000). This approach lays emphasis on checking and verification of the already established question with close end approach. When the number of sample is high then it is affordable to use the quantitative approach in order to draw results.
As this research process is heavily dependent on primary research also, so this research will include the data collection process by the use of quantitative approach. This piece of research has to provide an inquiry into viewers’ response to animated online images so it will have to keep the number of participants high. Thus the quantitative approach is used due to short period of research process as qualitative approach can have many hurdles from the respondents like unavailability or not much time awarded for the interview. Hence, it is decided to adopt the quantitative approach for the purpose of data collection.
3.7 Data collection
The collection and assembling process of information is known as data collection process. In this dissertation, the primary data will be collected through distribution of questionnaires to the respondents and then it will be put into the forms of tables and different chart images. Then the analysis will be made to synthesise required information to meet the set aim and objectives of the study. The data collected in this research will be giving information that how the viewers regard animated images used for the purpose of marketing by many companies. E-marketing is a social phenomenon and that is why it is better to use the quantitative method because according to Pervez G (2005) it is better to use quantitative inquiry in social issues rather than qualitative which are mainly used to explore social structures and set up.
It is the core planning of a research plan to make strategy for sampling the target population. The selection of suitable number of people from the whole population is known as sampling (Saunders et al 2009). Sample selection can be done by the use of many ways like Simple random sampling, Stratified random sampling, Systemic sampling, Cluster sampling, Multi-stage sampling etc. Simple random sampling is used in the primary research of this dissertation.
The questionnaire is designed to get customer response in general
buying behaviour first and then specific questions related to the response to animated images used for the marketing purposes. The questionnaire first gave the introduction of the customer and the purpose of why the respondent was contacted by the researcher. The introduction gave all the academic details of the researcher to the respondent.
3.7.3 Transparency
There were no personal questions asked from the respondents like occupation, name, address etc. in order to maintain the privacy of the customers.
Chapter 4
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Chapter Overview
This Chapter gives a detailed account of what information has been collected by the researcher through survey questionnaire. It will give the results of the quantitative inquiry of the research.
4.2 Introduction to the Chapter
Although it is of much importance that how the data is collected for the research process, the same degree of importance carries the analysis of data (Gummesson, 2005). According to the same author, the analysis and interpretation process are done to find from the quantitative and qualitative inquiries. Analysis is mainly used for explicit research designs. In the light of the literature review discussed above and having a better understanding of work life balance and the other related issues, this research uses the quantitative and qualitative approach in to collect the data. The data is collected through distribution of questionnaires with random sampling technique and some data will also be collected through interviews of focused groups for the purpose of qualitative approach of data collection.
4.3 Questionnaire survey
About one hundred questionnaires were sent to the respondents, 70 questionnaires were received after being filled by the respondents. Out of which 15 were not completely filled so there were 55 valid questionnaires which were having valuable information in them. These questionnaires were taken into consideration and the data collected was first counted and then percentage to the answer of every question was calculated accordingly. The collected data will be used to see that what is viewers response to the online advertising campaign of the companies.
Question No: 1
There were 31 male persons and 24 female persons from whom the researcher got response in the questionnaires. There is general trend that the female customers buy online when they come to know bout this from some other lady; on the other hand male persons consider easiness and reliability first while buying online.
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Male |
31 (56%) |
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Female |
24 (44%) |
Fig: Male and Female Respondents
Question No: 2
The second question is related to age of the participants and the collected data is depicted below.
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Ages |
15-26 |
27-35 |
36-45 |
45+ |
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No. of Persons |
21 |
15 |
10 |
9 |
Chart: No. of People and their Ages
It was seen that there are majority of customers from the age between 15 to 26 years and the next category is 27 years to 35 years. It shows that maximum number of internet users belong to the first age group. The data shows that as the age of the customers increase the internet usability becomes low. There are only 9 customers who were from the age group of above forty five years. The marketing persons should make their policies by keeping in view the age groups and focus on the young age people mostly. It is also believed that young people will buy more online and they will be attracted more by the animated images as they spend comparatively longer time on the internet.
Question No.3
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In the past months how many times have you seen an online advertisement on your computer screen? |
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More than 4 times |
3 times |
2 times |
1 time |
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48% |
32% |
19% |
No |
Figure: the number of times the viewer has seen the online animated image
This question was asked to the respondents to check that how many times they had seen an advertisement on their computer screen. It is by chance that some of the viewers do see and some just neglect it. Actually it depends upon the viewer that for what purpose he/she is sitting in front of the computer. About 32% (21 customers) of the viewers said that they have seen advertisement 3 times and 19% (10 customers) said that they saw for two times only. It is interesting to not that 48% (26customer) of the viewers said that they saw an advertisement more than 4 times. So, it shows that the viewers do care about the advertisements also but not when they might be busy in some other task.
Question No. 4
Question No: 4Please answer in yes or no for the following about the advertisement.
It means that comparatively the respondents were not much ready to see and also they will not share it with other people, the respondents saying to enjoy the advertisements in future are about 47% and it is not much unsatisfactory and it signals some success in attaining and maintaining the viewers’ interest in seeing the online advertisements. The number of participants declaring positive response for the images mad 47% of the total respondents. So, it means that the viewers do not like to see but even at the same time they would like to see this type of ads in future. The highest figure of percentage in the above sub-questions is given to the appealing touvh of the advertisement by the statistics calculated from the viewers.
Question No.5
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Strongly agree |
Agree |
No View |
Disagree |
Strongly Disagree |
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consistent to the firm’s image |
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creative or interesting |
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Was it Informative |
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Gave memorable effect |
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Funny |
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Was it original? |
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Was it influential? |
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Relevant to you. |
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Then the respondents were requested to give ratings to the advertisement or advertisements which they had seen in the past. The criterion to this question was added to get information about the product and the company that how the people think about them.
Question No. 6
Then the respondents were asked to give their general opinion about the online advertisements. In this question the respondents we#re given a choice to select one of the six options. 35% of the respondents said that it was just a policy of the company to sell the product only. 18% of the people said that it was a temptation that the customers would try product for once or other. 27% of the respondents noted big discount on the particular item and that is why they selected the option of big discount offered. 9% of the respondents said that it was a high quality product and it was beneficial for them to buy the product. So, it means that the respondents also view the quality of the product also which is under consideration. Only 8% of the people consider online ads as an instrument of product awareness by the companies which they wanted to sell.
Question No.7
Next question emphasised on the transfer effect of the advertisement in which the viewers tell their friends about the product or advertisement.
Question No.8
This question is designed to check the general buying frequency of the viewers and then the medium that how the viewers normally buy items for them. Then it is the price of the products and particular behaviour of the buyers related to shopping influenced by the advertisements. Now it is shown that how the respondents responded to the each sub-question of this question:
Question No: 9
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2-3 hours |
3-4 hours |
4-5 hours |
More than 5 hours |
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10 (35%) |
20 (37%) |
10 (18%) |
6 (8%) |
This data shows that maximum of the respondents spend about two to four hours on their computer screen and enjoy the facility of internet. It is interesting to note that the young internet users were long time users. As long time the customers spend on the internet there is much probability that they will be attracted by the online advertisement. One can view from the above data that 8% of the internet users use this facility for more than 5 hours. So, there are more chances for those customers to go on the page of online advertisement and make their inquiry according to their needs. This question has kept a limit on the users to tick the researcher’s selected duration of time. There can also be the chance that a normal user did not tick the time properly because not so many viewers note time while using the internet facility. It is another matter that they use it on some commercial places like internet cafes.
Question No: 10
Question No:10- Do you like to see animated ads?
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Yes
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Yes, but not so much |
No opinion |
No |
Not at all |
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12 (21%) |
14 (26%) |
13 (25%) |
14 (24%) |
2 (4%) |
The above statistics related to the choice of viewers’ seeing of the animated images show that one forth of the respondents do not like to see the ads and 25% of the respondents have no opinion. The option of no opinion also goes against the marketing campaign of a company because the main purpose of marketing is to attract the people and if they are not being attracted then it can be taken as failure of marketing or weak approach of the advertising campaign initiated by a company. Only 21 % of the respondents showed their complete willingness that they want to see the online animated images and 24% were not seeing happily. As a collective approach, we can say that online advertising campaign generally rceives fifty percent response of the respondents.
Question No: 11
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Yes
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Yes, but not so much |
No opinion |
No |
Not at all |
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11 (19%) |
8 (10%) |
22 (38%) |
13 (23%) |
1(1.8%) |
Question No: 12
This was an open ended question and the respondents were requested to give their response about the online advertisements and the animated images they see. It was observed by the researcher that many of the respondents were not ready to write and some did not wrote their opinion. Most of the respondents wrote that it was innovative and new experience for them to see the animated images. Some also wrote that they were time wasting, means that they were not much thrilling to get the customer eye on them. This is important to note that the customers of the Global Communication were not very much inspired by the online advertising and many of them even did not like to waste their time on viewing the online advertisements. As a whole most of the responses that
Chapter 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Chapter Overview
This is the last chapter of the dissertation and it has to accumulate all the related data and concepts to understand the process of E-Marketing and customer response to animated images used for the purpose of advertisement on the internet. There will be suggestions and limitations also in this chapter.
5.2 Relation to the Research
With a complete look at the previous chapters, the researcher tries to meet the objectives set for this dissertation. By the analysis of findings in the previous chapters it is evident that the customers are influenced by the internet marketing and a number of people want to see the animated ads on their computer screen. The relational model presented by Adam S, (2007) finds worth for being accepted up to a large extent. Despite of many complex issues attached to the e-marketing, the researcher has found that it is a valuable tool to attract people and get their attention towards the brand selling. There are some internet users who do not want to see the online advertisements but even then it depends on their mode, may be some times they would not neglect to see the ad. At that point there is a success factor for the e-marketing strategy. The regular and long time internet users have given no attention to the animated images and they have considered it as a way of selling products only. There are some different trends seen in male and female response to the e-marketing and small numbers of females are attracted by the animated ads as compared to male viewers. According to Simms J (2008) most of the women buy a product only when they hear about this from another woman while male person see the easy approach and durability of a product.
If the results of current primary research are clearly viewed then it can be concluded that viewers are attracted by the online animated image and some of them deviate from this behaviour. This evaluation is in alignment to the second objective set by the researcher in the introduction chapter. The customers are always price conscious and there is very less population which do not give consideration to price, therefore there is need to annihilate the general concept that online buying is costly (Adam S, 2007).
5.3 E-Marketing through Animation: No Doubt Beneficial
According to researcher opinion e-marketing is a useful strategy in making more customers and maintaining the existing customers by using the animation and 3D effects. This can be confirmed from the secondary literature given in the previous chapters and also from the results of the primary research done by the researcher. The high profile e-marketing strategy can accelerate the sales of company products in this period of optical fibre speed communication. The upper hand of e-marketing over the traditional media is also an established fact and it cannot be denied. The old and conventional styles of marketing are loosing their worth as viewed by the customers and also by the marketing planners. But it does not mean that they should be completely discard from the list of marketing methods as there is still some efficiency in the old methods of marketing.
Thus the marketing planners and strategy designers will have to come with a balanced approach and they will have to consider the balanced approach while designing marketing plan. It should be taken into consideration that the type of marketing which gives an extra increase in sales should be adopted mostly.
5.4 Recommendations
The researcher has become able to understand completely the process of e-marketing and the innovation of animated images for the purpose of generating more revenue by attracting the customers. It has given the researcher a position to give some recommendations for the suitable implementation of the e-marketing policies and implement in a secured manner. There are following recommendations by the researcher:
5.5 Contribution to the Research
This research has tried to make efficient use of primary data collection methods, so as to verify the strength of those methods for the purpose collecting data. The research approach, used in this dissertation, allows the researcher to have a flexible approach, integrative method and to the point inquiry method. By the use of both qualitative and quantitative approach the research has made able the researcher to pose a clear conclusion in relation of online marketing and customer views. The primary research as apart of this dissertation has given fresh look into the customer behaviour as far as the opportunity of e-marketing is concerned. The researcher used systematic approach to find out the facts and figures consumer preferences; first by general introduction, then customer buying behaviour and in the last customer response to online animated images was checked by the researcher. This gave advantage to the research because in this way actual effect on the customer behaviour was inquired by gradual inquiry about the respondent perceptions.
Since, this is the first long draft of research, that the researcher has ever made, so magnificent efforts have been put in. Despite of psychological and behavioural nature of the topic and also shortage of time, the researcher has struggled hard to carry out it. The dissertation has given the requirements of the aim and objectives of the research but even then there are limitations attached to every piece of real research.
5.6 Limitations
No research can be absolute as drawbacks and limitations are attached to every inquiry. The present research has the following limitations:
5.6 Chapter Summary
This chapter has concluded the whole dissertation and given an evaluated shape to the e-marketing approach and response of the customers. This chapter has given some suggestions and also the limitations of the research.
Chapter 6
Reflective Theory
|The research process has been conducted by the researcher with all its requirements. The researcher is new in this field and even then there is a complete effort to measure the selected phenomenon of e-marketing and animated images on the customer response. This dissertation has the data collection process in its performance which can be secondary and also primary during the primary data collection of the research, the researcher has to go in the field and perform research by selecting any appropriate research strategy. This research used the strategy of survey which includes data collection through questionnaires and focused groups. First there was a request in front of the customers to attend a focused group interview but many of them denied from this. Due to denial of the customers the researcher made the plan to collect data by questionnaires. So, it is the personal experience of the researcher now that it is very crucial to have consent from the customers to attend in an interview. To guarantee the element of originality and validity of its facts the researcher made the choice to go in primary research by the use of a questionnaire.
This situation of the primary data collection can result in a little deviation from the expectations. It can also minimise the validating factor of literature review because of questionnaire approach which contains maximum of likert scale questions and it is general believe that this type of questionnaires bound the response of customers and can give unreliable results. In order to meet this requirement the researcher added some open questions also. But again it was noted that the customers were reluctant to fill the open handed questions. Some of them even asked the researcher to write and they spoke.
The researcher has noted through the survey that there is a mixed response of the customers to the e-marketing strategy even when the animated images are used to accelerate the marketing approach of a company. This dissertation has provided a logical link of e-business strategy to the customer response by having a broad picture of secondary research and then by conducting a primary research. Both of them were processed through the tool of conclusion writing and giving recommendations to a selected topic.
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[Accessed on 21st Jan 2012]
