Chapter 4 Customer Interface

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Chapter 4Customer Interface
e-commerce
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Overview of Customer Interface

• Technology-mediated customer interface
• Shift to screen-to-face interface
• Types of interfaces available
• Look-and-feel of the website
• Commerce activities
• Communities in the business model
• 7Cs framework

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Questions

• ? What are the seven design elements to the
  customer interface?
• ? What are the alternative look-and-feel
  approaches to design?
• ? What are the five content archetypes?
• ? Why be concerned with community?
• ? What are the levers used to customize a site?
• ? What types of communication can a firm maintain
  with its customer base?
• ? How does a firm connect with other businesses?
• ? What are alternative pricing models of commerce
  archetypes?

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Seven Design Elements

• The 7Cs Framework for customer design
• Interface is the virtual interface
• Worth visiting?
• What products or services?
• What messages does it communicate exclusivity,
  low price, or ease of use?

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Definitions and Simple Illustrations

• Context aesthetic and functional look and feel
• Content digital subject matter such as text,
  video, audio, graphics
• Community interaction between users
• Customization tailor itself or be tailored by
  user
• Communication dialogue between site and users
• Connection formal linkages between sites
• Commerce sale of goods, products
  services on site

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The 7Cs of the Customer Interface
Context Sites layout and design
Content Text, pictures, sound and video that web
pages contain
Commerce Sites capabilities to enable
commercial transactions
Community The ways sites enable user-to-user
communication
Connection Degree site is linked to other sites
Customization Sites ability to self-tailor to
different users or to allow users to personalize
the site
Communication The ways sites enable site-to-user
communication or two-way communication
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Building Fit and Reinforcement

• Fit extent each of 7Cs individually support the
  business model
• Reinforcement aesthetic context of the
  site

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Fit and Reinforcement of Cs
Individually Supporting Fit
Context
Content
Community
Customization
Communication
Connection
Commerce
Consistent Reinforcement
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Performance of Lands End Site
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Look-and-Feel of the Design

• Context
• Look and feel of a screen-to-face customer
  interface
• Includes website, PDA, cell phone

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Dimensions to Context

• Function
• Organized into sets of pages
• Provides means to navigate through pages
• Section breakdown
• Linking structure
• Navigation tools
• Performance dimensions
• Speed site page
• Reliability lack of downtime
• Platform independence
• Media accessibility download in various
  platforms
• Usability navigation ease

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Aesthetic and Tips

• Aesthetic
• Color scheme
• Visual themes
• Usability Tips and Tricks
• Quick
• Easy
• Search capability
• Get outside opinion
• Clear categories
• Clear product names

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Exhibit 4-4 Form vs. Function The Design
Context Frontier
Integrated
High
Aesthetically Dominant
AESTHETIC/ FORM
Frontier is gradually moving outward as
technology advances
Low
Functionally-Dominant
High
Low
FUNCTION
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Aesthetic Example KMGI.com
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Context archetypes

• Broad, generic approaches to context design
• New technologies introduce new techniques,
  introduce new aesthetics
• Aesthetically dominant look-and-feel, high
  form, low function
• Functionally dominant low form, high function
• Integrated - balance of form and function

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Functional Dominant Brint.com
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Integrated Approach Example Patagonia.com
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Point-Counterpoint Form vs. Function
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Five Content Archetypes

• Content
• Dimensions to Content
• Offering mix product, information, and/or
  services
• Appeal mix promotional and communication
  messaging
• Multimedia mix text, audio, image, video, and
  graphics choices
• Content type time-sensitivity

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Content Archetypes

• Offering Dominant
• Superstore
• Category killer
• Specialty store
• Information-dominant information, but may have
  entertainment
• Market-dominant market for buyers and sellers

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A Framework to Understand Offering-Dominating
Archetypes
Multiple
Superstore
NUMBER OF PRODUCT CATEGORIES
SpecialtyStore
CategoryKiller
Single
Broad
Narrow
DEPTH OF PRODUCT LINE
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Superstore Example Amazon.com
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Category Killer Example Petsmart.com
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Specialty Store Example Frontgate.com
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Information Dominant Business 2.0
(www.business2.com)
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Market Dominant Example PlasticsNet.com
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Drill Down - Content Archetypes vs. Offering
Types
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Point-Counterpoint Is Content King?
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A Community

• Community
• A feeling of membership
• Strong sense of involvement
• User-to-user communication

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Elements of a community

• Cohesion
• Effectiveness
• Help
• Relationship
• Language
• Self-regulation

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Types of communities

• Just friends
• Enthusiasts
• Friends in need
• Players
• Traders

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Degree of Member Participation

• Passive
• Active
• Motivated
• Caretakers

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Member Benefits

• Need fulfillment
• Inclusion
• Mutual influence
• Shared emotional experience

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Dimensions of community

• Interactive community
• Chat
• Instant messaging
• Message boards
• Member-to-member e-mail
• Noninteractive communication
• Public member webpages
• Member content

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Communities Elements, Types, and Benefits
Elements of Community
Types of Communities
Member Outcomes Participation and Benefits
Just Friends
Degree of Participation

• Cohesion
• Effectiveness
• Help
• Relationships
• Language
• Self-regulation

Enthusiasts

• Need Fulfillment
• Inclusion
• Mutual Influence
• Shared Emotional
• Experiences

Friends in Need
Players
Traders
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Community Archetypes

• Bazaar wander but not interact
• Theme park finite number of areas organized by
  categories and subcategories
• Club highly focused on only one areas of
  interest, promoting interaction among members
• Shrine highly focused community with minimal
  interaction
• Theatre focused in area but allows for moderate
  interaction
• Café focused on common area of interest but
  provides considerable interaction among members

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Bazaar Example Games.Yahoo.com
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Theme Park Example VoxCap.com
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Club Example Gillette Womens Cancer Connection
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Shrine Example The Unofficial Dawsons Creek
Web Site
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Theater Example iFilm.com
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Cafe Example Bolt.com
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Drill Down - Focus vs. Interactivity
Non-equilibrium state Successfully-managed
communities will move toward higher levels of
interaction
Contact Consortium.com
Games.yahoo.com
Bazaar
Bolt.com
VoxCap.com
FOCUS
Theme Park
iFilm.com
Trace.com
leonardodicaprio.com
Mall
Womens Cancer Connection
Shrine
Theater
Cafe
INTERACTIVITY
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The Levers Used to Customize a Site

• Customization
• Dimensions of customization
• Personalization
• Log-in registration
• Cookies
• Personalized e-mail accounts
• Content and layout configuration
• Storage
• Agents
• Tailor by site
• Tailoring based on past user behavior
• Tailoring based on behavior of other users with
  similar preferences

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Customization Types

• Personalization by user
• Consciously articulated
• Acted upon preferences
• Tailoring by site
• Reconfigure past behavior
• Reconfigure by other users of similar profiles

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Personalization by User Example mylook.com
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Tailoring by Site Example - Amazon.com
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Karman Parsayes Measuring Personalization
Quotient

• Customization (PQ1) individual preferences
• Individualization (PQ2) based on users behavior
• Group characteristics (PQ3) based on
  preferences of others with similar interests

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Types of Communication a Firm Can Maintain with
its Customer Base

• Communication
• Dimensions of communication
• Broadcast
• Mass mailings
• FAQ
• E-mail newsletters
• Content-update reminders
• Broadcast events

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Communication ...

• Interactive
• e-commerce dialogue
• Customer services
• User input
• Hybrid
• Combines broadcast and interactive
• Often freeware use as marketing

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Communication Archetypes

• One-to-many nonresponding user mass mailings
  targeted to user
• One-to-many, responding user mass mailings
  targeted to defined audiences
• One-to-many, live interaction live information
  exchanged in real-time
• One-to-one, nonresponding user personalized
  messages to specific user needs or interests
• One-to-one, responding user specific use
  interests or needs
• One-to-one, living interaction sends and
  receives personalized user messages or carries on
  chat sessions addressing specific user needs or
  interests

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One-to-Many, Non-Responding Example
theStandard.com
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One-to-Many, Responding User Example
BizRate.com
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One-to-Many, Live Interaction Example Accrue
2000 Web Seminar
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One-to-One, Non-Responding User Example
Hallmark.com
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Exhibit 4-28 One-to-One, Responding User Example
Amazon.com
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Exhibit 4-29 One-to-One, Live Interaction
Example LivePerson.com
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A Firms Connection with Other Businesses

• Connection
• Degree site is able to link to other sites
• Embedded, links maybe on serve or another server
• Dimensions of connection
• Links to sites
• Home site background
• Outsourced content
• Percent of home site content
• Pathway of connection Pathway of connection

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Communication Archetypes

• One-to-many nonresponding user
• mass mailings targeted to user
• One-to-many, responding user
• mass mailings targeted to defined audiences
• One-to-many, live interaction
• live information exchanged in real-time
• One-to-one, nonresponding user
• personalized messages to specific user needs or
  interests
• One-to-one, responding user
• specific use interests or needs
• One-to-one, living interaction
• sends and receives personalized user messages or
  carries on chat sessions addressing specific user
  needs or interests

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A Firms Connection with Other Businesses

• Connection
• Degree site is able to link to other sites
• Embedded, links maybe on serve or another server
• Dimensions of connection
• Links to sites
• Home site background
• Outsourced content
• Percent of home site content
• Pathway of connection

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Connection archetypes

• Destination site
• site generated with few links
• Hub site
• combination of site-generated and links to
  selective sites
• Portal site
• absolute links to large numbers of other sites
• Affiliate program
• direct users through links or site banners or
  other ads
• Outsourced content
• generated by third parties
• Meta-software
• utility and plug-in software application creation

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Destination Example NYTimes.com
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Hub Example DrKoop.com
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Portal Example Yahoo.com
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Affiliate Program Example Onhealth.com and
Proflowers.com
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Outsourced Content Example Real.com
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Meta-software Example RUSure.com
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Alternative Pricing Modes of Commerce Archetypes

• Commerce
• Support aspects of trading transactions
• Focused on tools
• Alternative pricing strategies
• Dimensions of commerce
• Registration
• Shopping cart
• Security
• Credit-card approval
• One-click shopping
• Orders through affiliates
• Configuration technology
• Order tracking
• Delivery options

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Commerce Archetypes

• Catalog pricing
• preset by the seller
• Auction pricing
• highest bidder wins
• Reverse auction pricing
• sellers bid against each other
• Demand aggregation pricing
• buyer demand is aggregated to achieve economies
  of scale
• Haggle pricing
• users and site negotiate over price

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Offline integration of the customer interface

• Context
• look and-feel of the physical store
• Content
• products, services, associated information
• Community
• communication between customers and staff
• Customization
• personalized customer products, services,
  personalized credit-cards, recognition and
  privileges at restaurants, airlines, catalogs,
  and other stores
• Connection
• degree connected to other offline stores
• Commerce
• transaction capabilities of a store, Dutch and
  English auction, demand aggregation, prepurchase,
  and remarketed

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Drill Down - Commerce Origination vs.
Facilitation
Commerce Origination
Commerce Facilitation

• Commerce originating at a site. It is achieved
  through acquisition of new customers and loyalty
  building among existing customers
• New Customer Acquisition Tools include
• Online advertising
• Banner ads at other sites
• URL listing in industry catalogs
• Sponsorships of online events or of other site
  activities
• Viral marketing
• Marketing with the assistance of existing
  customers, who pass marketing messages along to
  friends or colleagues
• Examples include marketing footers at the end of
  user email messages, prompts inviting users to
  send the site URL or the output of their activity
  on the site to others
• Offline advertising
• Advertisements on radio, television, movie
  theaters
• Sponsorships of offline events, such as
  conferences on the New Economy

• Commerce facilitated through the intervention of
  a third party, directing traffic to a site. It
  can be achieved through affiliations and
  partnerships
• Affiliations / Partnerships
• How they work
• Home site signs up other sites in a
  partnership/affiliation program
• Affiliate sites place a link on their site that
  directs users to the home site
• In some cases, a user gets directed to a site
  through an affiliate while remaining in the
  affiliates URL space
• Participating affiliate sites receive a
  percentage cut (typically 5-10) on all sales
  generated at the home site as a result of click
  throughs from the affiliate sites
• Incentives to affiliates
• Financial Affiliate sites receive a percentage
  of the sales they generate
• Brand building Being an affiliate to a
  well-known brand increases visibility
• Improved capabilities By linking users to
  additional sites, affiliates can increase their
  breadth of offerings

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Schwabs Customer Interface

• Context
• Highly functional look-and-feel
• Little attention to aesthetics
• Quick location and process information
• Content
• Category killer
• Information dominant
• Fits value proposition

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Schwabs Customer Interface...

• Community
• Not offered on its site
• Site provides all necessary information
• Customization
• Personalization tools
• Fits with user friendly platform
• Communication
• Number of communication venues between use an
  site
• Learning Center
• Quarterly Investment Magazine
• Live investment forums
• Real-time customer service through phone service
  and in-branch
• Connection
• A number offered
• Hub for mutual funds
• Original content and tools
• Outsources some content such as stock analyzer
• Hoovers Online

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Schwabs Customer Interface...

• Commerce
• Catalog model
• Commission discounts to certain traders with
  volume
• Advanced software applications
• Reinforcement among Schwabs 7Cs
• Site content reinforces its content
• Highly functional layout
• Reinforces context

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7Cs of Schwab
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