New warning to Web Designers: 200 milliseconds is enough to make it or brake it

In 2006 a group of Canadian researchers (Lindgaard, Fernandes, Dudek, and Brown) published an article in the Business & Information Technology Journal called Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression*. In this study the researchers tested whether a very short exposure (50 milliseconds or 1/20 of a second ) is enough to create a quality perception about a web site that is consistent with the quality perception about the site if people examine the same web site for a longer time. They found indeed that 50 milliseconds are enough for internet users to form a positive or negative impression about a web site.

I thought this is a good example to use in order make clear to my students of the Master Advanced Topics in Digital Marketing today how important is the web site design for the quality perception of people about web sites and how short time is needed in order to form an opinion about a site’s aesthetic quality.

I started my lecture today with a short experiment where all present students took part: I presented them 2 web sites (that in my view could be examples of good and bad design) on the screen. They were exposed to a screenshot of each web site twice, the first time for 200 milliseconds (it was not possible to make a 50 milliseconds exposure in this setting) and the second time for 10 seconds which is close to the average time that Internet users look to new sites when browsing the web searching for something online before deciding to stay in the site or move on.

Forty-seven students took part in the experiment and although it is not a really scientific one the results confirm the findings of the Lindgaard et.al. study from 10 years ago: The consistency of quality perception between the very short and the long exposure is impressive. In the case of the “nice” web site 78% of the participants said that they liked in after the short exposure (200 milliseconds) versus 93% who liked the site after a more thorough examination during the 10 second exposure. In the case of the “not nice” web site the results were even more impressive: 100% did not like the site in the short exposure and 98% also did not like it after the second long exposure.

Can this mean that bad designed web sites have a stronger negative effect on us than the good designed web sites if we are exposed to them online? This is possible but what is sure is that the statement of the Canadian colleagues in their article 10 years ago is still valid. 

There can be maybe more conclusions from our not scientific test but maybe it will be a good idea to replicate the Canadian study to get a good impression of the effect of web design on quality perceptions today when Internet users are much more experienced and sophisticated than 10 years ago.

In the picture you can see the results of the test, Web site A is the "nice" and Web site B is the "not nice" one.

*Lindgaard, G., G. Fernandes, C. Dudek, and J. Brown. 2006. Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression. Business & Information Technology 25 (2): 115–126.

Guidelines about Internet reviews: more integrity online

To those who occasionally ask me whether it is a good idea to hire a few students and flood the review sites and forums with positive stuff about their company or products I give a standard answer: You should definitely do not do that, it is unethical, stupid and most probably someone will sooner or later discover the deception (many examples here), with very damaging results. From now on I will add one more argument to my objection: such practices could be also illegal. According to the NYT online: 
"The Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday that a California marketing company had settled charges that it engaged in deceptive advertising by having its employees write and post positive reviews of clients’ games in the Apple iTunes Store, without disclosing that they were being paid to do so. The charges were the first to be brought under a new set of guidelines for Internet endorsements that the agency introduced last year. The guidelines have often been described as rules for bloggers, but they also cover anyone writing reviews on Web sites or promoting products through Facebook or Twitter."
Good news for those who believe that some guidelines are necessary in order to protect consumers from marketers and businesses that do not realize that the time of the push marketing is definitively over and look for any opportunity to deceive the public.

Ten Years After the dot.com meltdown: A new Web milestone

You might remember that March 2000 was the month that the dot.com bubble busted sending the overvalued high tech stocks in a tailspin and launching the first major financial crisis of the millennium. After making headlines and capturing the imagination of the whole world the iconic names of the 90s like Webvan, Kozmo, Pets.com and Boo.com made once more headlines with their highly publicized demise. For many this was the end of the e-commerce experiment. Ten years after, despite a few hickups, the web seems to be more robust than ever.
Is 2010 going to be a milestone year in online marketing: According to an Outsell  just published study advertisers plan to spend more on digital and online marketing and advertising than on print. E-Marketing is getting the mainstram! I am not surprised, this was just a matter of time. For field marketers but also for Marketing  educators and researchers new opportunities and cllallenges ahead.

Internet and the Red Queen Effect: Google Insights

In my article titled "Strategies for Surviving the Internet meltdown: The Case of Two Internet Incumbents" published in 2004 in the Management Decision * I studied the secret of survival and success of two top online firms of the first web generation: Amazon and ETrade. These firms not only outlived the 2000 Internet meltdown but are still thriving online. My conclusion was that the strategy of these firms was quite similar and inspired by the Red Queen Principle: continuous transformation and expansion in new markets, new products or both.
It seems that the same principle is still the basis of the strategy of many successful new web firms and firms of the Web 2.0 era. A good example is Google: a recent development of Google (in beta) called Insights helps tracing the number of searches performed for any term, phrase or name worldwide or in any countries and in different time periods (up to 4 years). Very useful for those who want to optimize the findability of their site or simply want to know whether more or less users are searching for their brand or product than last year or if their brand / product is more popular search term than the brand / product of their competitors.

* Constantinides E., 2004, Strategies for Surviving the Internet meltdown: The Case of Two Internet Incumbents, Management Decision Journal, vol 42, nr 1, pp 89-107

An airline's digital transformation

As an old KLM employee myself I am always interested in developments in the airline industry and this company. While KLM was by no means not one of the pioneers of E-Commerce in the airline world they have shown a remarkable progress in this field during the recent years. An interesting article about the digital transformation of this company that expects now to earn 40% of its revenues online published by Accenture recently. The term of co-sourcing is introduced and explained also in this article; interesting for those allergic to rampant outsourcing.

A link to Web 3.0 ? Online advisors

For Internet users finding the right information or the right product online is not always easy. As we know the information overload is often more confusing than helping. Search engines offer usually a partial solution, finding the most relevant items based on their popularity rather than on our actual needs. Shop bots or other product-ranking methods often recommend products based on very few criteria, the price and location being usually the most important ones .

An interesting change in this direction comes from a new generation of search tools often described as Online Advisors. Myproductadvisor.com is such an example. Based on successive and easy to use questionnaires the customer is presented unbiased and easy to compare recommendations. This advisor site started a few years ago with purchasing assistance in one category of products (autos) and is now offering advice in five different product categories.

Is it maybe a prelude of what Web 3.0 will look like? In any case it is interesting to try it.

Web 2.0 paper

The paper titled: "Web 2.0: Conceptual foundations and marketing issues" I wrote with Stefan Fountain as co-author is just published in the Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice (formerly Journal of Interactive Marketing) in the January -March 2008 edition in a special and free to download issue about Web 2.0. This is the only academic article of the issue but there are several other very interesting articles also painting a picture of the social media today

Online Marketing in four simple steps

STEP 4 SYSTEM: The Technology

The main areas where the System-related decisions are to be made are:
Web site administration, maintenance and service. Availability of technical and service personnel on a 24-hour, 7 days a week basis is the basic requirement for a reliable site.
Web server hosting and choice of the Internet Service Provider. External hosting is a popular option mainly for small and medium-size organisations.
Site construction. Constructing an above the average, transactional E-Commerce site requires a substantial initial investment. Outsourcing this activity is usual, there are however many editing tools available for low-budget solutions. Presentation quality, user friendliness, easy navigation, browser independence and speed are important success factors determining the choice of programming and development tools.
Content management. Important elements of content management are the frequent reviewing and updating of the content in response to constantly changing customer needs, market conditions, competitive strategies and market trends as well as the decentralisation of the Web site updating procedures. The later requires training and empowerment of employees of different departments in managing the site data under their responsibility and is needed for avoiding bureaucratic procedures harmful for the content quality.
Site security. Protection against any forms of malicious attacks as well as transaction and customer data safety are paramount concerns of E-Commerce managers and online customers alike. Identifying the proper security level for each content category is a sensitive issue since increasing security levels usually result in reduced functionality or diminishing user friendliness. A good approach is customising security levels on the different site elements therefore avoiding unnecessary safety overdoses while the sensitive data is adequately protected with minimum functionality sacrifice.
Transaction functionality. The main elements here are the construction of communication interfaces, the choice of the transaction and payment technology, the testing and administration of the system.
Collection, processing and dissemination of the Web site traffic and transaction data. This type of data fulfils, next to its administrative significance, an important commercial role as the vital input for evaluating the site performance, testing new ideas or assessing the effect of promotional activities.
System backup. A sound back-up mechanism is vital for Internet organisations expected to be operational on an around-the-clock availability basis. Technical problems and system failures must be quickly addressed with the minimum operational disruption.
Finally the site technical management must regularly and in collaboration with the commercial management identify and evaluate new technologies and new available products that could upgrade the site performance, enhance the customer experience and effectuate operational economies.

Questions: you can always email me in e.constantinides@utwente.nl

The Original 4S Web Marketing Mix paper

Online Marketing in four simple steps

STEP 3
SYNERGY: The Organizational Integration

Creating an online presence is one thing but making this part of your organization and its network is another. These are the issues that the Synergy in the Web Marketing Mix model is dealing with.
Integration into the organizational processes, value chain and network is a process often underestimated by web designers and site operators. Yet this can make the difference between functional and dysfunctional web sites, between online success and failure.
What is exactly the Synergy and what are the main issues underpinning the integration of the online and the offline organization? Synergy is the integrating processes necessary for realising the virtual organisation’s objectives. Synergies can develop between the virtual and the physical organisation as well as between the virtual organisation and third parties. This Synergy factor embraces a wide range of issues divided into three categories of integration: The Front Office, the Back Office and the Third Parties.

a. The Front Office Integration. Refers to integration of the company web presence with the conventional above the line marketing activities i.e. the corporate communication and product distribution. That means the full integration of the Web operation into the company’s communication plan (advertisement, promotions, PR) as well as the existing channel structures.
It makes a lot of sense to integrate the online presence part of the marketing program by assimilating for example the promotion of the virtual activities into the current promotional plan. The effort must be focused on utilising existing communication strategies, brands, tools and channels in order to promote and support the Web operation during the introduction stage. The objective of this communication is to inform existing as well as potential customers about the firm’s Web activities and communicate to target markets the advantages of doing business online.
In addition to the promotional integration the web operation must become an integral part of the existing distribution structures. Depending on the type of the firm distribution structure this integration can face different degrees of difficulty. The easiest case manifests itself when existing distribution models can accommodate the online distribution requirements without serious changes and disruption of existing operations. Mail-order or telephone sales firms had no difficulty whatsoever to use the existing distribution structures for virtual operations.

b. The Back Office Integration. The second type of synergy refers to integration of the web activities into the value-adding organizational activities like production, fulfilment, logistics and Total Quality Management. Often firms underestimate the effects of online operations on their operations, something resulting in bottlenecks and unhappy customers. The web forces many firms to review their traditional methods and find ways to improve their efficiency: Online customers require customize rather than mass products and the disintermediation of the Internet means that organizations must be able to respond directly to changes in demand levels without the luxury of the dealer’s buffer inventory; firms are forced to introduce lean and clean production and logistics structures.
Other organizational integration issues often overlooked are the assimilation of the web activity into the legacy TQM and control systems, ERP Systems and Databases. While these types of integration seem trivial they often become the reason of major bottlenecks and source of customer dissatisfaction.

c. Third party Integration. Until last year when I was referring to this type of integration I was talking about integrating the web activities into the organizational value chain by finding how to create win-win situations with channel partners and avoid channel conflicts. Another form of third party integration refers to finding other parties and co-operate with them in order to increase your online exposure and attract more customers. In this sense search engine optimization and affiliate marketing can be very useful tools.
However the last years another form of third party integration emerges. With the advent of the Web 2.0 and the Social Media, online firms and traditional companies must explore the available options to utilize such media as part of their online networks but also as means of informing their customers, listening to their wishes or complaints and influencing their buying behavior. Using the social media as marketing tools is a very interesting yet complicated issue but worthwhile to look at: according to a recent study of Deloitte Touche in the USA 62% of the US consumers read consumer-generated online reviews and 98% of them find these reviews reliable enough while 80% of these consumers say that reading reviews has affected their buying intentions. Engaging the social media as means to influence consumers is the secret of the tremendous success of companies like Amazon.com and it is also the dream of every direct marketer.


Next week: The Technology Issues (SYSTEM)
Details: The 4S Web Marketing Mix paper

Online Marketing in four simple steps

STEP 2
SITE: The Web Experience

The second S of the Web Marketing Mix model refers to the operational issues involved in creating the proper online or Web Experience. The corporate web site is the main source of customer experience and therefore a lot of attention must be given to this element of E-Commerce. Important questions to be asked here are:

- What do customers expect in the site?
- Why customers will make use of the site?
- What motivates customers to come back?

The web site plays a multiple role: it is the virtual product display, promotional material, price catalogue and sales/distribution point. The site is therefore the functional platform of communication, interaction and transaction with the online customer.
The prime mission of the web site is to attract traffic, establish contact with the online target markets and brand the online organisation. Next to this “generic” mission and depending on the type of the online firm, the web site can be assigned a mix of commercial and non-commercial objectives and tasks. These will be defined in the Scope step as you remember.

Some of the common site objectives and tasks are:
- Communicating and promoting the E-business image, labels and products/services.
- Providing company information to customers and stakeholders
- Effectively communicating the firm physical or virtual promotional activities
- Providing customer service and helpdesk functionality in order to enhance the customer loyalty and retention
- Providing sales leads and customer /market data.
- Allowing customers to communicate and interact with the company as well as creating online content.
- Allowing direct sales and facilitating online payments (transactional sites)
Trying to achieve all or some of these objectives results in what the web customer experiences when visiting the site, what is commonly referred to as the online experience.
The quality of online (or Web) Experience is very important. There are studies indicating that a site visitor needs only 50 milliseconds in order to form a positive or negative opinion about a web site[1]. An important question here is: What are the components of Web Experience and what is the importance of these for the customer’s choice?

The buying behavior of online consumers is an area where a lot of scientific research takes place. Part of the research has been focused on the identification of factors influencing the online consumer, in other words on the identification of the Web Experience components. A few years ago I published a paper where – based on about 50 different academic studies - I classified these factors in five categories:

USABILITY, INTERACTIVITY, TRUST, AESTHETICS and MARKETING MIX

Next to that my colleagues and I try to identify what of these factors are really important influencers for customers searching for and buying products online.
Our first findings (published in 2005) are that in the case of transactional sites the Usability is by far the most important factor, followed by the Trust and the Marketing Mix elements. To our surprise we have found that the effects of the aesthetics of online shops do not influence the customer’s choice as much as one would expect (having in mind the effects of aesthetics of physical shops) To our surprise in our experiment here in Holland we found that Interactivity can even have a negative effect to online customers who obviously do not appreciate loosing time in interaction when they shop online!
In any case this is an area we have for some time now focused our attention here in Twente and in Spain in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Castillia La Mancha. At this moment we analyze the data of a new experiment meant to identify the exact effects of online shop aesthetics on buying behavior. More news about this soon.

[1] Lindgaard G., Fernandes G., Dudek C., Brown J., (2006), Attention web designers: you have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression. Business & Information technology, vol 25, nr. 2. pp 115 - 126

Next week: The Organizational Issues (SYNERGY)

Details: The 4S Web Marketing Mix paper

Online Marketing in four simple steps

STEP 1
SCOPE: The Strategy

What’s the use of running if you are not on the right road? (German Proverb)

Every marketing plan is (or should be) part of a strategy with clear vision, mission and objectives. In the case of E-Marketing there is no difference: a clear and well-defined strategy is the basis of a successful online presence.
This sounds quite logical to most people yet there is a difference between the strategy formulation and content in traditional marketing contexts and e-marketing. In traditional settings the strategy formulation is a top-down process, taking place in boardrooms, in regular mostly yearly strategic sessions, by and large focused on the long term. In the case of E-Marketing the strategic context is different: Market conditions change very rapidly, good strategies are relatively easy to be copied and maintaining competitive advantages in the long run is difficult, something recognized also by M. Porter.
Under such circumstances successful online corporations are those able to adapt quickly their online strategy to new conditions, constantly innovate and build / maintain short-term rather than long-term competitive advantages. This is a strategy I described in a 2004 research paper , consequently followed by the most successful online firms since the 90's.
It is obvious that the online strategic process is essentially different than the traditional strategic process: Short-term oriented, subject to continuous review and appraisal, frequently updated and in very close proximity to operations. This is the reason that SCOPE makes part of the Web Marketing Mix model as the first and basic component of it. In simple terms Scope refers to Strategy and Strategic Objectives online. The online strategy is (or should be for that matter) part of the total corporate strategy, if we deal with traditional companies operating also online.


Next to the “operational” nature of the online strategic process a legitimate question is what are the components of the online strategy? In a sense not much different than what we are used to as strategists (components 1 and 2) yet there is something new here (components 3 and 4) . The main issues to be addressed are:
1. Market Analysis: In what type of market we operate online? Main issues to be analyzed: Competition basis, competitors, market potential, market forecast and market trends
2. Potential Customer: Who is our potential customer? Main issues: Profile(s), motivation, (online) behavior, needs/desires and current way to fulfill the, priorities
3. Internal Analysis: To what degree is our organization ready for the web? Main Issues: Internal resources, processes and values. Is the Internet a sustaining or disruptive technology for our firm?
4. Strategic role of Web activities: What do we expect the Internet to do for us? Main Issue is the identification of the role of the web as part of our total marketing program. Generic roles are: Informational, Educational, Relational, Promotional, Transactional. In practice most firms engage the web in a combination of the generic functions.

Golden Rule: The Scope is subject to continuous review. The Online Strategy is a short-term Strategy

The four components in combination form the basis of the Internet presence i.e. the platform for creating a web site and the organization behind it.
Next week: The Internet Presence (SITE)

Details: The 4S Web Marketing Mix paper