Description
Experience comprises knowledge of or skill of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event.
2007:057
MASTER'S THESIS
Creating a positive e-experience for customers
Raghunath Apte Shashidhar Reddy Gangala
Luleå University of Technology Master's thesis Business Administration Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial marketing and e-commerce
2007:057 - ISSN: 1402-1552 - ISRN: LTU-DUPP--07/057--SE
Abstract
For most companies, developing a satisfying customer experience has a direct impact on their future revenue streams. With the advent of the Internet, they now have to consider creating such "experiences" online, as well as offline. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a better understanding on how to build a positive e-experience in cyberspace. In order to reach this purpose, research questions related to website design and customer service were focused on. Via a review of literature related to these research questions, a conceptual framework was developed and tested. Using a qualitative approach and case study strategy, websites within the fast food industry were used to collect data. The findings indicate that if companies try to concentrate on both website design and online customer service, they can successfully build a positive e-experience in cyberspace for their customers.
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Acknowledgements
The project study presented by us is done during the fall 05 and spring of 2006 at Lulea University of technology (LTU). We carried out this work in 20 weeks. During this period, we have gained valuable knowledge on customer's experience in cyber space. We would like to show our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the individuals who have helped us writing this thesis. First we would like to thank Mr. Tim Foster who has supervised our work and guided us in preparing and documenting our master's thesis in a traditional manner. His support for us has played a vital role in the success of this thesis. We owe debt of gratitude and thank Mr. Ravikanth Reddy a close friend of ours, Magnus Wallin the restaurant chief from Max Hamburger and Sofia from Burger king. We sincerely thank them for their support and contribution made to make our thesis a wonderful subject to study. We also would like to thank God, colleagues, friends and our parents for their support. Their suggestions have helped us to enhance our work and work more insight. I Raghunath Apte would like to acknowledge my cousin brother Mr. Akhilesh Potdar and my brother in law Mr.Ananth Kulkarni for their encouragement and support all thru my studies in Sweden.
LULEÅ JANUARY 2007
Shashidhar Reddy Gangala Raghunath Apte
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Table of Contents:
1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 1.1 Background?............................................................................................................ 1.2 Problem discussion?................................................................................................. 1.3 Overall Research purpose and Research questions??...............................?.?? 1.4 Remainder of the thesis??????????????????????.?. 2 Literature Review????????????????...????????.... 2.1 Website ?????????????????????????????.. 2.1.1 Customers Attention ???????????????????????... 2.1.2 Website design????????????.?...?............................................ 2.1.3 Guidelines to build a quality website?????????????????.. 2.2 Customer service?????????????????????????? 2.2.1 Considerations and ways to build the customer experience online??????. 2.2.2 Key quality factors????????????????????????.. 2.3 Conceptual framework???????????????????????... 2.3.1 Web design???????????????????????????.. 2.3.2 Customer service?????????????????????????. 3 Methodology???????????..???????????????.?. 3.1 Research Purpose?????????????????????????... 3.1.1 Exploratory Research???????????????????????.. 3.1.2 Descriptive Research???????????????????????... 3.1.3 Explanatory Research?????????????????????.??. 3.2 Research Approach Qualitative????????????????????.. 3.3 Research strategy: Case study????????????????????? 3.4 Data Collection Methods: Observation & Interviews???????????? 3.5 Sample Selection?????????????????????????? 3.6 Data Analysis???????????????????????????. 3.7 Research Quality Criteria??????????????????????... 4 Data Presentation?????????????????????????.... 4.1 Website design????...?????????????????????? 4.1.1 Case one: Company Overview: MAX???...???????????.?? 4.1.2 Case two: Company Overview: Burger king?....????????????.. 4.2 Customer service????????...?????????????????. 4.2.1 Case one: Max??????????????????????????. 4.2.2 Case two: Burger king???????????????????????. 5 Data Analysis??????????.?????????????????.. 5.1 Analysis of Research Question one??...????????????????. 5.1.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max???????????????.??. 5.1.2 Within case analysis: Case two burger king??????????????... 5.2 Analysis of Research Question two??????????????????... 5.2.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max ?????????????????. 5.2.2 Within case analysis: Case two burger king??????????????... 6 Findings and Conclusions??????????????????????... 6.1 How can the website described????????????????????? 6.2 How the customer service being used to affect the online customer iii 1 1 3 4 4 6 6 6 7 12 17 18 19 21 21 22 25 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 29 29 30 32 32 32 38 46 46 47 50 50 50 53 60 60 62 68 68
experience?...................................................................................................................... 6.3 Overall Conclusion????????????????????????? 6.4 Implications??????????????.?????????????... 6.4.1 Implications for Management?????????.??????????? 6.4.2 Recommendations for Theory????????????????????. 6.4.3 Future recommendations??????????????????????. References?????????????????????????????...
69 69 70 70 71 71 72
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List of Figures:
Figure 2.1: Emerged Frame of Reference Figure 3.1: Research Methodology Figure 4.1: Default page (www.max.se) Figure 4.2: Homepage Figure 4.3: Homepage English version Figure 4.4: Contact max info Figure 4.5. Page loading (www.burgerking.se) Figure 4.6. Homepage Figure 4.7: Menu page of the Burger King Figure 4.8: Online application form can be seen in a popup window Figure 4.9: Online application form who would like to go for franchisee 24 25 33 34 35 37 39 40 42 43 44
List of Tables:
Table 2.1: Variables Table 5.1: Website design (cross case analysis) Table 5.2: Customer service (cross case analysis) 22 57 65
Appendix
Observation Check List Interview guide
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Introduction
1 Introduction
This chapter provides the reader with an insight into the research area. We begin by briefly discussing the background followed by the problem discussion. The problem discussion ends with the overall purpose of the study and specific research questions. 1.1 Background A new revolution had begun at the end of 20th century and with the start of 21st century, which was so called Information revolution. This revolution was a result of the convergence between information and communication technologies, thus with the help of this convergence, it is now possible to access and process business activities even from remote locations (Jimba, 1998). The Internet now affects every part of the human life, ranging from business to education. By the end of the year 2010 the data on the Internet is estimated to be 1 zeta byte, which is equal to 10*21 gigabytes. This means people will be spending more time on the Internet. (Mutula, 2002) According to ZD.net research there will be 713 Million users worldwide by the year 2006. By taking this into account the companies have to adapt to the culture of the Internet and it should also provide the feature to interact with one another. The Internet also provides opportunities for companies to build strong and profitable relationships with their customers (Kotha, 1998). Rao.Srinidhi (2000) observed growth of the Internet is a result of a "virtual circle" whereby the Internet users spend increasing amounts of time on the Internet, which makes them more receptive to superior content, which attracts more companies to create Websites. The Internet, which began as a messaging and recreational tool has now emerged as a powerful information medium and has evolved into the basic carrier of this new phenomenon of e-commerce. (ibid) Chen & Chang (2003) views that the distinctive advantage for the Internet marketers over traditional offline marketers, The Internet is able to reach large number of consumers scattered around various geographic locations including those areas where it is hard to reach within fractions of seconds. Another advantage is that they are able to reach out to younger generations who are heavily sought by the marketers. Kotha (1998) also emphasises that companies should strive to build strong online communities, which would in turn, build loyal customers and result in high economic returns. According to Mashari (2002) for many business organisations The Internet and e-commerce have become necessities. Many companies have started to use e-commerce as a tool at various levels of their business in order to improve the customer's experience, aid with decision-making, and to lower overall costs. (ibid) According to Mclvor et al., (2000) e-Commerce involves automation of the various businessto-business and business-to-consumer transactions, as well as a process of doing business electronically. It further involves reducing clerical procedures and eliminating paper handling. Burress (2000) further explains that pure e-commerce companies are also seeking to implement the latest website technologies so that customers have an option for
1
Introduction
communicating with them that fulfils the customer's expectations and using it to learn if the customer chooses to communicate via a particular medium; the customer expects the response to be with the same medium. With the help of the Internet, firms also have the scope of transferring goods and services not only through the traditional retail outlets, but also through an online virtual store. At the same time, the Internet also allows the consumer to effectively search for lower prices on the net, using its tools and to decide on alternatives, compare the prices and decide on the best alternative (Hauble & Trifts, 2000). Retailing has changed its trend and now people have been shifting from traditional shopping channels to e-commerce. It is also projected that online sales will rise to 63 million US house holds by 2008. In the developing countries like India the B2C e-commerce is projected to increase to $400 million by 2005, compared to $10.6 million in 2001. (Khakimdjanova, 2004) According to Forester Research, Inc. and shop.org retail, online sales will grow 27 % by 2006. Which would be approximately $144 billion in sales compared to $114 billion last year? Research also confirms that 79 % of all online retailers were profitable. (Lugo & Denise, 2004). Further Choi et al., (2006) believe that with the arrival of the Internet customers have become more powerful. It helps the end user's customized information at a relatively very lower cost, and if they don't like the product or information they are just one click away from leaving. Buying on the web is altogether different from physical shopping because the customer cannot touch or see the product physically. Furthermore, the quality of the product is difficult to judge online. It is up to the online retailers to use IT for handling out the information in a very effective way for their customers. (ibid) Websites are becoming increasingly import to customers, and the company CDnow.com has stated their vision as: "Make every visit to the site, whether for browsing or buying, a valuable and rewarding experience" (Jones, 2002). A website plays a vital role in building online experience between the producers and consumers. It can also help companies to replace 800 numbers (help lines), paper based documents and investment made easy for hosting in the websites to save time and pleases the customers at as well. (Chaudhury, 2001) Choi et al., (2006) confirm that a website should be developed in a way so that it creates a match between the available information and its design. It is also important to note that perspectives of the online buyers should be taken into consideration when developing online strategies to attract online consumers. A study by Kim & Eom (2002) suggests that companies should provide the webpage that is easy to access, making the customers happy. This in turn leads to business success. For online shoppers, shopping should be convenient as much as possible; it should also provide some convenient features such as E-wallet. Also the website should be designed from the customer's perspective and should see that there are no dead or broken links. (ibid) Ellinger et al., (2003) believes that Internet presence provides firms with opportunities to enhance business offerings in a cost effective and practical manner. It can help companies increase profitability, reach new markets, improve customer experience, distribute products faster and communicate more effectively with supply chain partners. 2
Introduction
"There are three things which are vital to business success: the customer experience, great employees and cash flow - Howard Shultz, Founder, Starbucks". Further he argued that the first preference has to be given to customer experience. (http://www.mbadepot.com) According to Rohm et al., (2004) most of the customer's shop at an electronic market place, from a predominantly physical market place it also enables a platform for many buyers and suppliers to come together by expanding the choices. Buyers, suppliers and producers gain benefit in different ways. (ibid) This new medium not only attracts new customer but also provides an opportunity for the companies to build the customer experience. (Zeithaml et al., 2002) 1.2 Problem discussion According to Schmitt (2003) most companies treat their customers as the greatest source of assets and the secret behind the companies' growth and profitability should be tried out by a simple formula: Analyze the customer experience, and the company strategies should be build in such way which should focus mainly on customer experience. It has also been shown that a higher customer experience has a direct impact on future revenue streams (ibid). Although companies have realized the importance of applying IT technology in the process of business-to-customer relationships, there is still a lack of research on effective ways to attract customer attention to websites and then using online customer service to reduce costs and improve the value of product. (Villeneuve et al., 2003) Alomaim et al., (2003) state that a strong basis for an organisation's success can depend on the customer's requirements. Giving something more than what the customer needs is an indication of the fast and growing quality by these organisations and it is their responsibility to identify the customer's needs in order to give the best customer experience. Yang et al., (2003) explain that the primary task of a website is to attract a steady stream of interested users to visit the firm's online presence. An established brand of a well known company, the URL or web address, is itself a competitive advantage, a tool to attract users to the firm's online presence. It has a significant impact on the number of hits a website gets and may even translate into actual purchases via the website. Regardless of how customer acquisition is accomplished, it is imperative that the first rule of business in e-commerce is to bring current and potential customers to the website and make them feel the gratification of online shopping. According to Simeon (1999), the most essential feature of a website is the presentation of information about products, services, people, events or ideas. Websites with strategic orientation accentuate both the gathering and diffusion of information. Limehouse (1999) believes that technology helps companies with the way they work, approach quality of the service they provide towards the customer, pushing such companies to constantly update the technology in order to meet needs of its customers. If we miss out to improve the customer experience then our competitors will. Positive experience on the website builds a strong confidence in the customer about the website. (Yang et al., 2003)
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Introduction
The special features offered by the Internet for a user is that is free to browse most sites and pick the desired information and services that are being sought. It becomes essential for companies to design websites in such a manner that the user wants to spend long hours or return to the websites at a later time. Websites should be dynamic in order to capture eshopper's attention (Khakimdjanova, 2004). According to (Kim & Stoel, 2004) many firms websites serves not only as a medium to share the vital information to its shareholders and public, but also to offer transaction capabilities, thereby providing additional feature to serve its customers. As websites plays a vital role through which companies can have a constant contact with their customers, so it is important for the companies to gauge the quality of the websites. It is also important to constantly check weather the websites offer quality of information to give a better customer experience to its users. (ibid) It is also an interactive process. Through an online customer experience, companies can get more information on customer feedback and consumer feelings before and after sale. This is one reason why companies should continue to improve their customer value (Freedman, 2002). Furthermore, Alomaim et al., (2003) suggest that though companies think that customer experience is of importance, some of online companies are paying less attention towards it. After the dot-com crisis, which led many companies to shut down their businesses, there has been a lot of change in the companies' attitude towards the customer experience. This project is developed to have a better understanding of how websites can provide efficient and better customer experience. In later chapters, this project will discuss more effective ways to make website "dynamic" and provide high value of customer online transaction. 1.3 Overall Research purpose & Research Questions Considering the discussion above, the purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of how companies use websites to create an online customer experience. In order to fulfil this purpose the following research questions are stated: RQ1: How can the website are described? RQ2: How is customer service used to affect the online customer experience?
1.4 Remainder of the thesis The whole thesis is divided into six chapters. In the first chapter, a brief introduction to the area of research was presented, followed by problem discussion, and then overall purpose and the research questions investigated are discussed. Second chapter constitutes more of theories or literature reviewed by the previous research, and it is carried out within the area of research thereby covering overall purpose of the study, which could serve as the basis for further research. Conceptual framework further brings down the theory on to the topics on 4
Introduction
which the research could be relied on. Under chapter third a brief idea of methodology is presented. Data collected thorough various sources such as interviews and observations are presented under chapter four. Chapter five which is called as data analysis provided a brief idea on how the collected data was examined and analyzed. In the last chapter i.e. chapter no six findings and conclusions based on the research are drawn. Thus at the end of the chapter six a brief implications for further research and recommendations to the management were given.
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Literature Review
2 Literature Review
In the previous chapter, an introduction and background to the research area of this study was presented as well as overall purpose and research questions. This chapter presents a review of literature relating to each of the two stated research questions. 2.1 Websites The Web presents new opportunities and challenges to establish, build, and manage customer relationships (Geissler, 2001). A good website presents new opportunities and challenges to establish, build, and manage customer relationships. To establish relationships with online customers, it is imperative that a firm understands the user experience and how people interact with the Web. (ibid) It is always believed that the first impressions are the best impression. It also applies while designing the website. The company's front page should be as simple as possible and the company should also see that they don't use heavy graphics and replace them with the services they provide and it also should be noted that the websites should have the feature of contacting the owner for the estimate or for the additional information. Next page of the web should feature the portfolio, suggestions or complaints received from the customers, and also a link where the customer can mail the company. (Taylor, 2006) 2.1.1 Customer Attention McCrea (2005) believes that the companies should focus mainly on designing user friendly website and but Germans believes that's the company are still not following this basic principle. The more simple the website is the more would be the pleasant visiting experience for the customers. He also suggests that companies should use the clear language, and also have the proper navigation bars to direct the customers to necessary information. The companies should design the websites in such a way that it should attract the new customers. And at the same time it should also make sure that the customers who have browsed the site should return back. Attracting customer is important but at the same time making them to return to the websites is more important. (ibid) McCrea (2005) also hints companies should conduct surveys and self assessment tests which should be actually related to the product and service line, which would in turn make the customers more educated about the companies offerings, and this could be done just by starting a blog or chat for the customers. Basics should be clear it is almost important that the companies should see to that there customers should not get turnoff by the poor navigation or the broken links on the website and it a must for the company that they clearly mention what exactly they are offering and how they are different from the competitors. (ibid) It is also believes that's companies should always make sure that's they give royal tour to the customers on their website. Before designing the website companies should try to know what
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Literature Review
exactly the customer wants from their website, and the suitable format to present the information which is like by them. (McCrea, 2005) 2.1.2 Website design Gehrke & Turban (1999) recommends the following to make the website attractive and splashy. Page Loading Speed Most customers complain about the slow speed of the website and it was believed to be 77%. It is also believed that most of the potential customers who feels that it is taking lot of their valuable time for the webpage to load they have clicked the stop button and taken the business elsewhere. It is highly recommended that companies should minimise use of heavy graphics and lot of animation. Graphics It is suggested that's companies in order to not to have backslash from the customers, should minimise the use of graphics and text to 60 KB in a particular page. And this 60 KB should be allocated in between the most important elements of the website such as for HTML page text 5KB, Background image 5KB, Logo 16KB, navigation bar 8 KB, Navigation buttons 16KB and for the award logos around 10 KB. And if the company's follows this basic rule then it will be easy for the companies to load the page, which would in turn make the customers happy. Animation or multimedia plug-in requirements The main reason for the slow loading of a page is because of the animation. And he strongly recommends companies should try to lessen the use of the animation and at the same time advices that the content should cover almost 80% of the website. Thumbnails Companies should try to provide a thumbnail wherever they feel that's downloading is must. And customer would be happy when he enjoys freedom by having a choice to access particular information. Text Giving an option to the customer to download the text will not only increase the speed but also there is chance there can be more number of users might access the page and bring in business. Content & Graphics Content of a company is the most important for the customers. So the companies should make sure that the content is downloaded first then the graphics follows because by the time the customer reads the content the graphics will get downloaded.
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Literature Review
Business Content The content of the website plays a major role when it comes to attracting the prospective customer. Because the eminence and the usefulness of the content conclude how many customers it can attract. At the same time it is also seen that if the content of the website is not so good then within a fraction of second customers will switch to a different site. Remedies are as follows. Text & Grammar Many of the websites are hazy and the customer who often visits the website has no sign what the company deals with. He suggests that's if the firms are using icons then should assign for the most important subject first. It is believed that majority of the users i.e. around 79% just go through the WebPages without actually reading what exactly the content is. And this is because either the contents are too long and it is too tiring or the users are too busy. He also focuses on the areas where the companies need to concentrate and they are as follows bulleted lists, brief sentences, short pages, keywords, colourful, one idea per paragraph and headings of the paragraphs are compulsory. And at the same time the firms should not ignore the spelling and grammar. Contact information Providing contact information on each and every page will benefit the company and if the company doest do that then there is fear of loosing the business. Firms should make sure that they interact with the customers as many times as possible this would instinct security among the customers and there are more chances of the customers who are interested in doing business. Posting online discussion, message boards or online chat can do interactions. Colour & Texture It is like better to use colours for example if the background is in black colour green is most suited for the text. Updating the site It is highly recommended that the site should be updated frequently which would in turn develops interests among the customers to browse the site more and also and it is suggested that's by updating the website with the current offerings means more business to the company. Login or registration Firms should not ask for unnecessary privacy information from the customers if it is not required. Thus for example if the customers are asked to register to access a particular page then he will switch to a different site instead of moving ahead with the same site.
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Literature Review
FAQ's It is mostly seen that's the companies which creates Frequently Asked Questions will boost the users interest in knowing what exactly is offered on site. Under Construction Signs This is one of the most deadly sins of the website which the companies should avoid. And if the company is keeping the under construction signs then the company should give the actual date of reopening of the site for the users. He also suggests that's the company should make sure that's if there are no major changes to the website then he recommends to update it without going offline Navigation Efficiency User-friendly and efficient navigation, is a must if not there are more chances of user getting confused, vanished and will move to different site without the much loss of time. He also recommended the following. Links It is confirmed that dead links which doesn't work are the most frustrating design faults of the website. Before designing the website the designers should keep in mind two things 1.) What will the customers if they click on this link? 2.) Why the customers want to get that? Use of frames The main reason why the company wants to use the frames is to make the company's logo visible from all the underlying pages. They recommend lessening the use of the frames because it makes the book marking difficult and some of the browser's doest get the proper support for it. It often happens that's some of the frames do not scroll down and When it is required and when it is not required they just scroll down. He believes that use of the frames if the layout is really simple. Navigation There should be consistency in navigation and also suggests that's the firms should provide the consumers alternate ways to navigate the site he highly recommends the use of the hyperlinks, buttons, search engines and drop down menus these all will add up to the user friendliness of the website. Search engine It is preferable to have a search engine for a large site. In e-commerce each failed product search is equivalent to clerk saying no in the physical store. He suggests the search engine to be very simple should be ease to use.
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Literature Review
Hot buttons In order to make the website splashy and dynamic the companies should give a personalized effect to the webpage. He further recommends use of paint blobs, 3D effects or some attractive textures to the site. And also advices that use of the flash 2 software which allows the customer to know more what exactly the button is for or what it is used for. And there should also be an option of click button by adding this feature customer can directly approach to the particular button without much searching for it. Using links in the pages rather then subsequent pages Using links in long pages is really acceptable because if the links are provided it is very easy for the subsequent pages to reload. Site maps Providing site maps will make the customer happy as they can jump on to the required page without much difficulty. Shun pop ups It is highly recommended that firm should try to minimise the use of the popup because it eats lot of the customer's time. And they are nothing but interruptions for main business. Security This is one of the most important concerns with the development of the websites and has also recommended the following to overcome this. He suggests that's in order to make the customers comfortable to implement the SSl or SET technology which will enable them do the financial transaction securely. And it is also believed that using of the words like "secure server" will make the customers satisfied and feel secure. Further he recommends that's by bringing the Cyber Cash, Cyber Source, IC verify, Open Market, Verifone, Verisign, IBM the Internet Division and Clear Performance. Copyrights The owners should copy right whatever they are doing on their website. And the best way to do this is to secure MD5 hash code for the files and then advertise the hash code in the newspaper. It is recommended to download 38KB zip file to make it as an electronic copy. And it is important to note that's there should be a place on website to signify that the content or any act on the website is copyrighted. Confirmation of purchase After the online purchase is done it is suggested the company should confirm the purchase and giving the following details to the customer such as transaction code, invoice number and delivery date etc that will make the customer happier.
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Literature Review
Marketing/ Customer Focus Website is considered to be good if it really serves its function. If a website is created to market a particular product or services then it should be judged on how well it solves its purpose and at the same time it is important that it keeps the customers in focus. A website which is created to market the products and services has got three main important objectives. 1.) Creating awareness 2.) Generate traffic 3.) Impel the customer to make the purchase. Following are the recommendations to promote the site. Record the key words from the business and then advertise in big search engines like Yahoo or Hot Bot. Each product should have its own page and it is important to register with the search engines. It is also important to note that's there is special section, which often says about the expresses about the press release, or if something important news has to be conveyed to the customer. It is good practise to have a URL for all the important links for advertising, classifieds and journals etc. Whenever something new is coming up with the company it is highly recommended to publish an email newsletter. In order to grow the business advertising of the website on TV, radio and other medium is a must. E-mailing customer about the important updates of the company or when something new is going to be added to the website. At the same time companies should try to collect email addresses of the customer but it is important to note that's companies don't send spam mails. Customer requirements One way to grab the customers is to offer what they are interested in. If the firm know what exactly customer requires then it will really becomes easy for the firms to serve them better. The following are the ways to find out what the customers wants those who use carts for shopping. (Cookie) is considered to be a small file, which contains the cart number, which is transmitted to consumer's web browser's hard disk. (Temporary IP number) This is something, which is assigned automatically to Users ISP provider. (Randomly generated cart number) In this case it is attached to the URL to follow the users to other site. And he also suggest some other ways to trace what the customer wants from the firm such as conducting surveys or requesting them to go through some questionnaire and also conducting research in the offline market will also solve this purpose. Alternatives payments methods Companies should give more options for the payments after the customer makes the purchase will make the transaction smoother which will also result in more sales. Thus by allowing the customer choice of payments will make the customers happy.
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Literature Review
Business practises Companies in order to be market leaders should gain the trust of the customers and should be open with the customers about the business practises they follow. And it is good that's the company should disclose everything on their home page to gain trust. Domain names should be simple and easily remembered. And it should contain. Auto responder For the betterment of the communication the auto responder should be always running thus for examples if the customer mails the company at least he should get an immediate reply of the mail received by the company. Information should be attractive The information on the website should be attractive which would result in customer spending more time on the site. And the customer spending more time on the site means there are more chances of purchasing. Offer discounts incentives Companies should timely come up with special offers or discounts, which will lure the customer to purchase more. English as option As English is considered to be a global language it's should be used as a medium for developing the site or at least offer English as option. By offering the choice of language will make the customers more comfortable to deal with the website. 2.1.3 Guidelines to build a quality website Cox & Dale (2002) suggest the following guidelines for a quality website. Clarity of purpose Website should be clear in its purpose it should disclose clearly what exactly they are dealing with. It is also important the information on the website should be sensibly organised. On the other hand if the customer finds it difficult to find the desired information then there are major chances of customer switching to a different site. It is also recommended to offer instructions which will help the customer to navigate on the website easily. Design When designing the website usability is the key factor to determine the quality of a successful website. "Web performance and the design are currently largest obstacles to online purchase". The website is almost the backbone of any of the companies so it should take utmost care when designing it because it reveals the real image of the firm. It is only through the company's website the consumers would able to decide what the firms wants to convey them.
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Literature Review
Links Without the valid links the navigation on the website is unimaginable. Its always better that's colour changes whenever the customer clicks on the link so that's customer would know whether he is heading towards the right direction or not. It is also recommended that the websites features graphics in such way that's when the mouse or the cursor is moved on them it changes to text. It is also important that the customer should find the navigation links easily instead of spending time to find them. It is better to give the main navigation links on the homepage under the menu bar or at the bottom of the home page which will make the customers easy to trace them in turn would make the users navigating a pleasant experience. Lay out and the pages of the website mainly depend on what the companies are into. But the companies should try to maintain consistency within the pages of the website. The designers should step into the customer shoes so that they would feel how exactly the customer feel when he browses any particular site. Also suggest that it would be a wonderful experience for the customers if the designers give "home" on each and every page, which would allow the users to directly go to the home page instead of clicking back button, which would be a irritating for the customer. Sites, which uses site map or which gives clear direction about the site is often successful. It is also a great help for the customer because they can directly go to desired page without wasting a lot of time. Pages, Text and Clicks The pages on the website should be short because it is really irritating to scroll the cursor down to read the content and in exceptional cases it is recommended to have scrolling page if the information is laid out well and is not that long. The author has appreciated Amazon.com for one click order process, which will allow the customers to purchase with just one click. It is also recommended that's if the customers are allowed to register or open an account then it should be done in one page itself. They further hints at designing the website the companies should also make sure that they don't commit any mistakes because it will lead to frustration. Communication and feedback Communication and feedback principle between the company and customer are really important while designing. The main aim is to keep the user updated about what exactly happening in the company for examples if the user has placed an order there should be a feature where in he can track the order delivery status and notify the customer if there are any errors while entering date. And this feature is mostly used by all the websites for example if the customer enters any wrong information the field automatically changes to red. He further confirms that websites, which uses lot of white pages or empty spaces, are less successful when compared to others.
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Literature Review
Graphics and Animations Excessive use of the graphics and animation will slow down the access of the pages and this will lead to irritation. He recommends minimising the use of the graphics. Colour also plays important role in designing the website which should not be ignored. Website should not look dull which will have a negative impact on the company. Company should minimise the use of the animation because that's would distract the attention of the user. And it is believed that most of the consumers use low modem connections which doest supports the animations. It is highly recommended that companies should actually give options for the user whether they want to access the site with or without animation. This will make the customer more happy because for a customer who just wants to have information can do it fast and more quickly. Search Use of search engine within the website will make a pleasant experience for the customers and he further states that's customer would look for this option when they want something specific from the website instead of going through the navigation links. Once the customer hits the search button the desired results should be programmed in an order and the search results should be relevant at the same time preferably in one page. It is also important to note that's once the user hits the search button he should not be welcomed with the popup advertisement and other stuff which will irritate the customer and there are chances of he not returning to the website or just end the further process. Fill-in forms Whenever the registration from the consumers is required for example when is making a purchase or when is trying to create a login website should guide the customer while when the customer is undergoing this process. The areas where the customer is filling his personal details should be self explanatory .It should also be noted that's websites should not burden the consumers with unnecessary information. The website input field should be designed in such way that's for examples address input field should have more space to enter the required address at the same time the post code field doesn't require much space when compared to the address field. Accessibility and Speed Accessibility and speed is one of the most important factors to be determined while designed the website. Accessibility is nothing but the rate at which the page downloads. The faster it is the more the customer would be happy. They also believed that's the firm would loose 10% of its customers if the desired page takes 8 seconds to download. The only purpose of using this technology is for speed and convenience and if this were not achieved then customer would no longer be interested in using it.
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Literature Review
Firms should give 24/7 services to its customers because it is believed that half of the ecommerce activities will be done after the normal working hours by 2003. It is also important that's companies should try to find out at what times the customers normally do visit there sites. Content Content of the website plays a vital role while designing the website. Lot of care has to be taken, firms should see to that's they don't provide any misleading or irrelevant information which is not required by the user. And if this happens there are more chances of customer switching on to the competitors site. Companies should give clear information about its offering such as there wide range of products and also it should discuss the policies about the dealing with it. Selection Offerings of the company should be related to its business and easy way to access them is also important Often seen that customer has to go through surveys or the questionnaires before actually selecting wide range of products and that would irritate the customer many of the times. So it is highly important that's company should take care of this issues seriously. It is preferable to either display the range of the products on the home page it self or give the direct links to view them. Product/ Service information and availability Whenever the company displays the range of products on its website it should give the clear total information about it such as which brand does it belong to, price, features, discount if any it weight, size and colour etc. Information provided should be genuine should not by any chance mislead the customers. And it is also important to note that's the information relating to the product should be displayed just by its side and it will be really helpful for the customer otherwise customer has to spend lot of time to know more about it. If a firm is advertising about a product on a particular page it should make sure that it gives enough information about the offering, conditions of purchasing what ever required for purchasing should be made available to customer which will allow him to make a convenient online shopping experience. They further states that the company when displaying the range of products also should make sure they have enough stock if by chance if the a particular product is out of stock it should be immediately updated on website. So the companies should stress on giving the real time information to customers in order to make them happy. Delivery Information It is also important that the information about the shipping such as delivery time, shipping costs should be clearly stated on the home page which will not confuse the customer while making the purchase and it is highly important because if the customer likes what is offered by the company then he will move further with the order process. At the same time timely delivery plays a vital role if the company promises a time for the delivery it should try to make it at any cost to keep up its reputation. 15
Literature Review
Policies, Charges, terms and conditions It is important for the companies to clear state its policies, Terms and condition make sure that's the customer know about them before going entering into any sort of dealing with it. And also if the sale it international then the company should clearly indicate if they are going to charge extra taxes if any. Terms & Conditions play a major role when the customer wants to cancel order or return back or while settlement of the disputes. Security and Reliability One of the main concerns of the online business is security and reliability of the transaction. They further suggest that security policy should be made available to the customer on all the pages of the website. Mostly it is seen that's the customer are worried when disclosing the credit card details online. And also it is noted that customer don't like to give out their personal information which is the main hindrance for smooth online shopping. Most of the customers do not want the company to store in the database. It is compulsory for the companies to state their physical and address and contact details. And at the same time it is good to disclose the title and registration details to get the customers in to confidence and to show them that the company is really in existence. Customer Service Customer service is one of the main areas where the companies need to devote its major time. And steps should be taken to deliver the quality service to the customer. As most of the business is conducted via the Internet in this e-commerce world and where face to face interaction is non existence companies must take steps to give the phone lines where in customer can call and resolve there issues and the customer which don't operate 24/7 should provide email assistance to the customers. So the contact details of the company must be made available on each and every page of the website. It is seen that's some of the company's give the contact information at the bottom but it is recommended to give it in the top of the page with the clear view. And also the companies should timely get the feedback from the customer in order to update the site. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) FAQs should be well-designed manner and while designing the companies should actually look into what type of queries the customers are asking for. And it is most important that's most urgent questions should be answered first and vice versa. And if possible companies should designate links, which would take the customer directly to the answer, which they are looking for. And the better Performa to arrange this is 1. Table of contents 2. List of questions organized by topic 3. Index. 16
Literature Review
Customer Feed back Platforms Companies should create platforms wherein customer can be free to express their opinion or give the feedback to the companies. And it is believed that firms who try to create such interaction are considered to be most successful in business. At the same time companies should have a feature wherein customer can interact with the other customer, which can in turn develop into a customer community. Frequent Buyer Incentives In order to attract customers to make purchase companies should come up with attractive incentives, which would in turn allow the customers to make more purchase or repeat buying. The author further states that these are the marketing tools which the companies should make use of in this IT world where the customer is free to choose the competitor at just one click. 2.2 Customer Service Constantinides (2004) not only for the dot.com type companies but also for the multi-channel vendor's web experience is crucial to influence the customer. Delivering online customer experience requires special attention for the firms, which are expanding with the Internet presence. Half adult the Internet users have abandoned online orders because of negative online experience and around 60% of them have switched brands. Constantinides (2004) believes that sites which clearly addresses the client needs and meet the customer's expectations are considered to be one of the most successful website delivering good customer experience. Website should be considered as an important marketing tool, which helps to build customer relationship. Several academics and practitioners have common opinion about the "online shopping experience" or "virtual experience" as a crucial e-commerce marketing issue. Constantinides (2004) define the online shopping experience as a process of four stages describing the successive steps of an online transaction. Considering that an online customer is not simply a shopper but also an information technology user one can argue that the online experience is a more complicated issue than the physical shopping experience: The Web experience can be defined as the consumer's total impression about the online company Constantinides (2004) results from customer's exposure to a combination of virtual marketing tools "under the marketer's direct control, likely to influence the buying behaviour of the online consumer". The Web experience embraces elements like searching, browsing, finding, selecting, comparing and evaluating information as well as interacting and transacting with the online firm. The virtual customer's total impression and actions are influenced by design, events, emotions, atmosphere and other elements experienced during interaction with a given Web site, elements meant to induce customer goodwill and affect the final outcome of the online interaction (ibid).
17
Literature Review
Customer's attention to the website is not only important for the marketing site but it also for the informative site for those customers who are more interested in informational content such as for ex news, weather, sports etc. These are online intermediaries who are competing for the attention of the public. (Constantinides, 2004)
2.2.1 Considerations and ways to build the customer experience online From Geissler (2001) theory, he highlights seven aspects that can promote online service in terms of customer experience. Creating awareness Research suggest that's firms should make sure that's customer know about their website. And it is also important duty of the companies as well to create consciousness among the customers of its website. Marketers should try to advertise the websites and should assist the customers in locating the website. And the best way to help them is through search engines, key words to help searches and domain names, which are descriptive and easily recognized. Steady message Companies while designing its site should try to concentrate on the segmentation, targeting, and positioning because these play a major role. While designing the site the companies should see to that's it has taken target audience into consideration. The main focus should be to attract the attention of the customers. The essential components of the website should mainly focus on who we are, what we can offer, what is inside and how the customer can get in touch with us. User's needs Companies should make sure that's they design the website that's would suit the computer systems of the customer. The site should be easy to navigate and download, to give a pleasant browsing experience the designers should also make use of the controlled navigation, which will enable the customers to know about its site. It is proven fact the most the pleasant experience there are more chances of the customer making the purchase online. Update the Website It is the prime duty of the companies to keep the customers updated about their offerings in order to do so the companies should frequently update the website which plays a vital role to keep the customer updated. At the same time if the companies are offering any discounts of specials should try to convey to the customers at any cost via website. Customer information It is one of the most important steps, which the companies should need to pursue in order to keep up the good relations with the customers online. Feedback from the customer is also important for the better performance of the companies the company 18
Literature Review
should forgo some of the costs in order to build strong relationship with the customers for example offering free shipping for the customers who fill in there personal information will enhance relationship and it is also noted by the one of the designer saying that's Free is the magic word on the web.
Involve the designers Designers have a better understanding of the online marketing approaches when compared to their customers. Companies should always show the importance of the relationship marketing, segmenting, targeting and positioning. The company and client both should play an important and active role in structuring online marketing strategies Relationships Web is considered to be one of the best tools in attaining companies marketing goals. It helps the companies to build strong relationships with the customers, interact with them, and carry out business with them. (ibid) 2.2.2 Key quality factors Cox & Dale (2002) come up with the key quality factors, which facilitate the companies in achieving great customer experience online, and they are as follows. Easy of use Customer confidence Online resources Relation ship services Above factors helps the companies to achieve a great level of satisfaction which make them to return to the website again. Usability The main aim of the usability of the website is to reduce the customer's frustration while navigating the website. Companies must try to see that there is no break of communication with the customer while conducting the business online and that steps should taken so the customer is guided while browsing by providing navigation and search links Customer Confidence For any business gaining trust from the customer it is more important in online business. In other terms its nothing but how the customer feel when he browses the website he should have a pleasant experience in terms of accessibility, speed, and customer service, the companies to make sure that customers find the site safe not only for browsing but also conducting transactions online.
19
Literature Review
Online resources The ability of the website is to give abundant information about the products to the customer to make the right choice which is more suited to him and be able to make the purchase online. If the customers are making the purchase online there is a need that the company should display the products. The companies should also make sure that that once the customer makes the purchase he should be assisted from the time he makes the payment and till he gets the delivery of the product. Also to make the customer happy order tracking or shipment tracking feature should be installed in website. Customer relationship Strong customer relationship is really important in any kind of business so the firms should build strong relationship by offering extra or valuable services. And by customizing the website or by offering discounts and by giving some extra services that would really add value. And it is proved that happy customers make the business grow.
20
Conceptual Framework
2.3 Conceptual Framework
According to Miles & Huberman (1994), a conceptual framework can show both graphically and in words how the research questions fit together. Each research question is conceptualized below, showing which variables from which studies in the literature review will be relied on deductively to collect data. 2.3.1. Web design Regarding the web designs which influence the customer attention to the website, as we have gone through several theories related to our research area. We have decided to base our conceptualization on Cox & Dale (2002) suggested theory for the web design. We found these web designs to be both latest and most extensive and also lot of research has been done by the author and we could build a strong base for our research area which would help us out to move further to the next step i.e. data collection. We have conceptualized the key variables in the following Table 2.1 that we deemed fit for our investigation to our RQ 1.
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Conceptual Framework Table 2.1 Variables Clarity of purpose Purpose How it is organised Links Colour change Lay out Home Pages text and click Pages on the website Registration Communication and feedback Interaction Error free registration Auto responder Graphics and Animation Use of Graphics Use of Animation Search Search engine Fill in forms User friendly registration Accessibility and speed Round the clock service Content Information on the website Delivery information Information about the delivery Frequently ask question FAQs Frequent buyer incentives Discount and offers Shun pop ups Use of pop ups Clear text and grammar Text and grammar Language option English as option 2.3.2 Customer service Constantinides (2004) believes that sites which clearly addresses the client needs and meet the customer's expectations are considered to be one of the most successful website delivering good customer experience. Delivering online customer experience requires special attention for the firms, which are expanding with the Internet presence.
22
Conceptual Framework
In this section we would like to address the considerations and the ways to build the online customer experience. And Geissler (2001) acknowledges seven aspects, which would help the companies to promote the online service in terms of customer experience, and they are as follows and they are considered to be appropriate and recent.
• • • • • •
Creating awareness. Steady message. Users needs. Update the website. Customer information • Involve the designers Relationships.
23
Conceptual Framework
Figure 2.1: Emerged Frame of reference From the discussion above, we are postulating the Frame of Reference for our study below. The above figure 2.1 evidently shows how a combination of website design and customer service can build in great positive e-experience for the customers. The companies should offer a balanced mixture of a good website design and customer service for its growth and success.
24
Methodology
3 Methodology
In the previous chapter, a conceptual framework was presented, which detailed theories of relevance to the purpose and research questions of this thesis. In this chapter we will first discuss the research purpose followed by the research approach and strategy. Then we will review the data collection, sample selection, analyses method, and the quality criteria. Finally we will discuss validity and reliability of our study.
3.1 Research Purpose Research can be carried out in different ways and they can be carried out depending on the research problem before the investigation is started. According to Yin (1989), the research can be classified into three type's exploratory, descriptive and explanatory study. Research conducted should be as flexible guide the reader about the steps being followed or performed during each stage. 3.1.1 Exploratory Research This type of research is conducted when the investigator has a difficulty in giving a structure to the problem (Yin, 1994). According to Sekaran (2000) the study whether it is exploratory, descriptive or explanatory totally depends on the researcher how much knowledge he has gained on the research topic. This type of research is carried out when no information is available and how the problem or research issues are dealt in the past. Also it is suggested that extensive groundwork needs to be done to deal with the situation and one must need to know what exactly is occurring. Interviews can be taken to have a grip on situation and to further proceed on a rigorous research. (ibid) It is also valuable means to find out what is happening to gain into the new insights and to judge the phenomena in a new light. Activities of a traveller can be related to the exploratory research. It is very much flexible and adaptable to change. (Saunders et al., 2003)
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Methodology According to Saunders et al., (2003) there are three principle ways of conducting exploratory research.
• • •
Literature search Having a view of the experts. Focus group interviews
In exploratory research the questions dealt with are usually general and it is more often that exploratory researches are more qualitative in nature. (Zikmund, 2000) The purpose of the research is to gather more and more information as possible concerning a specific problem. Interviews can be considered as the best technique to gather the information in the exploratory research. (Yin, 1994) 3.1.2 Descriptive Research According to Zikmund (2000) the main reason of conducting descriptive studies is to expose the exact profile of the persons, events or the situations and it is also considered to be an extension of the exploratory research. According to Dane (1990) Descriptive Research means either defining a phenomenon or differentiating it from the other phenomenon. The impact of this research is Descriptive research the most extensive descriptive research was done by US Bureau of the census and the main target of their research was to count and to explain the characteristics of the total US population. It is often used to study the difference between the old and new outcomes. Descriptive theory covers the whole subject and depth of the case. It is mostly used when there is no need to investigate cause and effect relationship and when the problem is well structure. (Yin, 1994) Sekaran (2000) also suggested that In order to ascertain and describe the characteristics of the variable, descriptive studies are undertaken. In organizations these studies are conducted to gain knowledge of the characteristics of the group of the employees. The organizations, which follow certain common procedures, are taken to study their characteristics in descriptive studies. 3.1.3 Explanatory Research The goal of the explanatory research is to examine the cause and effect relationship between two or more phenomena. It should also be used when it is important to show that one variable causes or determines the value of the other variables. It is also often conducted to determine whether the cause and effect relationship is valid or not (Dane, 1990). According to Saunders et al., (2003) explanatory studies are carried out which results in building the casual relationship between the variables. And it is also carried to study a particular situation or problem and to explain the relationships between them. The research purpose and research questions of this thesis indicate that this study is more exploratory and descriptive and little explanatory. And this is exploratory as we need to
26
Methodology explore how the website design and customer service is being used to, affect the online customer experience. And as there are some related studies in this area, so our job is to explore new findings, our interests is also to describe the area of research and try to begin to explain the collected data in order to find out the differences and similarities. 3.2 Research Approach: Qualitative In this section we will focus on the ways in which the research may be approached, research can be approached in various ways such as deductive versus inductive, qualitative and quantitative this would be explained first followed by the reasons of this study's approach. According to Gummesson (2000) the research in management and business studies include general management, leadership, and marketing organization, corporate strategy accounting and more qualitative methodology and case studies are the powerful tools. Qualitative methods are used for the data collection in case studies. Qualitative study would be most preferred in the study of the processes in which data collection, analyses and action takes place concurrently. Qualitative approach is characterised by the nearness to the object of research. Mostly selection of the research approach is based on the research purpose and accompanying research questions (Yin, 2003). Trustworthiness credibility and dependability, ability, transferability and conformability are the criteria for the qualitative research. (Flick, 1998). It is a kind of research, which does not use rigorous mathematical approach at the same time it leaves much of the measurement process to the researcher itself, and it is more subjective in nature. (Zikmund, 2000) As we wanted to give a better understanding of our research area and based on the research question we posed above, we will get through information to describe the understanding of the research questions. We will use a frame of reference and aim to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon instead of analyzing data statistically. Qualitative approach will be mostly suitable for this thesis. 3.3 Research Strategy: Case Study Strategies to the research may be of different types. Some of them clearly support deductive research and other to the inductive researches. The different strategies are experiment, survey, case study, grounded theory, ethnography, action research, cross sectional and longitudinal studies and exploratory, descriptive and explanatory studies. (Saunders et al., 2003) Selecting the type of strategy depends on the following. The type of research question posed. The extent of control an investigator has over actual behavioural events. The degree of focus will be on contemporary, as opposed to historical, events.
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Methodology According to Saunders et al., (2003) Case study can be defined as a strategy for doing research, which involves an empirical investigation of a particular phenomenon with its real life contexts using multiple sources of evidence. This strategy is particularly useful to gain an understanding of the context of the research and process being enacted. It is mostly helpful to gain answers to the questions why, as well as what and how. He further states that it is the most suitable way to explore the existing theory. Sekaran (2000) further claims that it's a problem solving technique and it involves in-depth analyses of the situations. It is mostly suitable where the nature of problem seems to be the same. As the purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding how the companies promote website in terms of it design and customer experience. Finally as this is focussed on contemporary time, strategy chosen will be a multiple case study. 3.4 Data Collection Methods: Observation & Interviews Further Dane (1990) suggests that the ways and the means to collect the data should be planned in advance in order to make a good research project. The research should constantly try to check whether the plan is going in the right direction. Based on the research questions posed, as sources of data collection the author will use email, interviews and participation observation which is with the scope of the research According to Sekaran (2000) in different settings data can be collected in many ways and through different sources. It may involve the following interviews, face-to-face interviews, and telephonic interviews. Computer assisted interviews, and through the electronic media, questionnaires, observation etc. According to Saunders et al., (2003) choosing the right method of data collection is very much important and he further explains that structured observation is a systematic and has got predetermined structure and it's a kind of approach where its main aim is to tell how the things are happening rather then explaining how the things are happening. It also allows collecting the data at the time they occur in a total natural setting. The main advantage of the observations is that there is no need to depend on second hand information from the respondents who would put their own interpretation. Considering the nature of the research questions, for the first research question the author would go for a observation as he would personally like to observe the variables concerning to the cases being studied and the second research question would like to rely mostly on the in depth interviews with the company employees to know the companies point of view in depth. And it is also important to know whether the company really cares for the customers means what is announced on the website is being followed or not.
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Methodology 3.5 Sample Selection According to Saunders et al., (2003) sampling is a kind of technique which provides a various ways to considerably reduce the amount of data and there will be a need to collect the data by considering only data from a subgroup rather then all possible cases or elements. Sekaran (2000) further believes that it is process of selecting from a sufficient number of elements from the population and understanding the properties or the characteristics of the similar subjects. According to Sekaran (2000) sampling designs can be divided in two major types i.e. probability and the other one is non-probability sampling. In probability sampling the population has some probable chance of being selected and while in non-probability sampling the elements not have any predetermined chance of getting selected. When conducting research, it is often impractical and impossible or too expensive to collect data from all the potential units of analysis included in the research problem. Thus, from smaller number of units, a sample, are often chosen to represent the relevant attributes of the whole set of units, the population. Due to the fact that samples are not perfectly representative of the population from which they are drawn, the researcher cannot be certain that the conclusions will generalize to the entire population. (Graziano & Raulin, 1997) For our sample selection we have chosen is a food industry and Max and Burgerking as our cases. The reason of choosing the food industry is interesting, unlike all the other businesses such as, automobile, sports, banking, retail and electronics where e-commerce activities are conducted online. Having a web presence in case of food industry is unique our effort is to know their purpose of having a website how they build the online customer experience. And by studying the similar contrasting cases would add confidence to our findings. We are studying Max as it is one of the biggest local Swedish fast food chain which operates all over Sweden and Burger king is food retail chain which operates globally and it would be more interesting to study these two brands operating in Sweden. We would further focus on website in terms of its design and experience and also we would like to see whether they are actually offering what has been promised to the customer's on the website. We could easily find out the differences and similarities existing in both of them and do a comparison based on our thesis perspective. 3.6 Data Analysis According to Sekaran (2000) after the data is collected through various sources such as interviews, observation. The main aim of data analyses has to achieve three main objectives getting a feel of the data, testing the goodness of the data and testing the hypothesis developed for the research.
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Methodology According to Yin (2003) In order to address the initial prepositions of a study data analyses consist have examined, categorizing, tabulating, and testing evidence. Every investigation should have general analytical strategy in order to determine what to analyze and why. The researchers further claims that before the data are actually are analyzed, investigator can choose between two analytical strategies that is either relying on theoretical propositions or developing a case description. There are three general strategies; they are relying on theoretical prepositions, Thinking about the rival expectations and developing a case description. The most common strategy is relying on theoretical prepositions. The result of this is that the collection of data is based on the research question taken from the previous studies. The results obtained from this study is then compared with the results and finding from the previous studies. (Yin, 2003)Two general strategies are suggested either theoretical prepositions that led to the case study or developing descriptive framework to organize the case study. As lot of research has been done within our area of research and therefore our analytical strategy relies on theoretical prepositions. (ibid) We will use within-case analyses and cross-case analysis as discussed by Miles and Huberman (1994). A within case analysis is often used at this phase, which involves comparing the colleted data with the theories used. Being displayed through a cross-case analysis where the cases will be compared with one another further reduces the data. 3.7 Research Quality Criteria The case studies are a type of empirical research, where the quality of the research can be judged by conducting four specific tests. The four different tests can be shown which are as follows. (Yin, 2003) Tests Description Correct operational measures for the concepts being Construct Validity studies, which will enhance accuracy. Building casual relationships whereby certain conditions are shown which lead to other conditions as distinguished Internal Validity from spurious relationship. Building the domain to which a study's findings can be External Validity generalized. It is a measurement that demonstrates the operations of a Reliability study. Source: Adapted from Yin2003, p34 Validity refers to extent to which it measures and what we actually wish to measure. It can be divided into two major forms they are internal validity and external validity. We can achieve the internal validity with the specification of the unit analyses. The development of priori analyses and the collection of the data and analyses are done to test these rivals and at the same time external validity is achieved through the specification of the theoretical relationships, from which the generalizations can be drawn. (Yin, 1993) 30
Methodology
Internal validity refers to experimental treatment was the sole cause of the observed changes in the dependent variable. External validity refers to the ability of an experiment to generalize the results of to the external environment (Zikmund, 2000). It highly important to note that for the quality measurement reliability alone is not sufficient. Reliability is used when the measure is consistent and this before implementing or accepting any measure we must make sure that it is valid. (Dane, 1990) Reliability refers to the extent of which the measures is without bias (error free), which offers consistent measurement across the time. Reliability can also be defined as a measure, which indicates stability and consistency with which the concept are measured and which would help to assess the goodness of a measure (Sekaran, 2000). Reliability is achieved through formal case study protocols and by ensuring that the same procedures are followed in multiple cases. (Yin, 1994) And also we have used well-established literature to build the interview guide, which was purely based on frame of reference. The use of the multiple case studies also has increased the validity as it has provided much information about the research area In order to achieve reliability we have mentioned all the steps right from data collection, sample selection, and interview guide development to actual conduct of interview, data presentations and data analysis. And in order to make it more reliable and valid we also have the recordings of the interviews and for the Burgerking.se site as we have little knowledge of Swedish language we have taken the help of the Swedish student of the Lulea Technical University.
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Data presentation
4 Data Presentation
In this chapter, we will present the empirical data and information, which we collected from the above websites, regarding our research questions. The order of the presentation will be according to the research questions. Firstly overview of the companies will be discussed followed by the data collected will be presented. 4.1 Website design 4.1.1 Case one: Company overview: MAX Curt Bergfors, active chairman of the board together with his wife Brita started the Sweden's oldest and most popular hamburger chain restaurant in the year 1968. Recently the company has opened its 50th chain and is planning to touch the 80th mark by 2009. It has got around 1500 employees and its turnover has been doubled from 212 million SEK in the year 1998 to 438 million Sek in the year 2004. The most important aspect in MAX is the taste and quality of the hamburger they serve. It has also got the highest ratings in all the taste tests conducted in Sweden according to (SIFO and ISI wising 2005). And also it has got the highest customer satisfaction index for third year in a row. They also certified that it has got the best hamburgers in Sweden. It is also proud to announce that it is the only restaurant chain, which offers free the Internet to it customers. And the connection is offered to W-LAN. The consistent quality enables us to guarantee that our burgers taste exactly how you expect them to taste. The purpose of the website www.Max.se is to market the food products offered by their esteem company and to make customers aware of their
• • • • • •
History Financial Locations Logos and recognitions Family login entertainment and max radio Contact info
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Data presentation
Figure 4.1: Default page Source: http://www.max.se/ The moment user visits Max's website, he is prompted to a well-designed welcome page by default. The welcome page is designed in an interactive flash media which highlights some of the important events in max history and why its is liked by Swedish people such as they say about they are ruling in the hamburger food chain since 1968, focus on taste and quality and they always ranked first when the surveys were done independently by the news papers such as customer satisfaction surveys done by (SIFO) and they are proud to say that they guarantee the Swedish meat and beef and also offer deli fresh products which contains very low fat as maximum as 5% and as an alternative Max has introduced Salad to overcome the negative health consequences having French fries which is most common combi snack with various products. Max is proud to say that it's the only restaurant, which offers this low fat contained product across Sweden. They also say that they are expanding there locations with text and logo's showing their best wards in the recent years, along with the complete Swedish and other Sweden food standards logo's. This welcome page is completely designed in Swedish language, which recognizes Max as a Swedish company. There is a Max logo to extreme right corner of the footer.
•
33
Data presentation
Figure 4.2: Home page of Max's Source: http://www.max.se/default.aspx The customer is then prompted to the home page, which is also an index page. This page is also designed in Swedish with complete information related to max. The beauty of this page lies in giving the customer the multiple language option to either view the website in English or in Swedish version. As we have little Swedish language knowledge, we preferred to study the website in English. The concept of the colours change in the links tab is designed only on navigation bar. The combination of colours is mainly white and orange with grey background. The place where the max has given an option to create a login for the regular users and when we move on the cursor to login area it changes to light blue. The OK button, for the login which is black in colour, changes to white. The option where the customer has to login or which gives about the details of the login is blue in colour is turning to light blur when the cursor is moved on to it and once the customer has fill in details to register himself the submit button is actually black in colour changes to light blue and it is also giving an impression as if it is compressed. And exactly below the location maps where the user has been given an option to select the language the flags given are giving impression as if they are compressed. And to the right of footer where we see the link to go to the contact information and the designer's information is changing to light blue which is actually dark in colour.
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Data presentation
And if come to sub headings under the each main heading it is actually represented by an arrow and text, which are both red in colour. When we move on the cursor on it changes to light green. And coming to the contact information of Max the phone numbers and fax and the email id given are giving impressions as if they are compressed same goes with the print option which is given on each page. And the message box where the customer has been given an facility to contact the company the required field where the customer has to compulsorily feed in the information is marked red in colour and the fields which are not required is represented by a ash colour and when the cursor is moved on to it, there is also a small text box which shows that whether information is compulsory or not. And the send button also gives the impression as if it is compressed.
Figure 4.3: Homepage English version Source: http://www.max.se/en/ The layout of the website is divided into main header, a sub header and individual vertical columns or blocks with various images and text content .The main header of the home page has the Max logo on to the extreme left, a welcome note, an image hyper referred to live radio and a family login to the extreme right of the header. The sub header is more dominated on the page with an image highlighting Max's special Hamburger.
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Data presentation There is a vertical left side bar, which is also the index, or the navigation bar. The options on the side bar are hot linked to the rest of the website content pages. The bottom of the navigation bar has a Sweden map with Max logos to graphically show the various Max locations. The rest of the site is subdivided into five blocks with 4 images and one text. The text block is filled with content to gives brief introduction about Max, whereas, the other four hyper referred image are. Max hoarding image hyper linked to facts and financial information A grey scale image hyper linked to historical movements Deli fresh image (which is one of their leading food product) hyper linked to deli fresh content page An interior image of restaurant hyper linked to restaurant locations. The Footer of the page is designed with Sweden and British flag to the extreme left providing the options for the viewers to select web page language. Copyright information is almost at the middle of the footer. Contact information and the guaranteed Swedish logo are placed at the extreme right of the footer. The index is categorized into five main headings with sub-headings as follows. 1 About Max • Expansion Under the expansion subheading they have discussed more about their expansion plans in Sweden and also mention they are planning to open up around 80 restaurants by 2009. And also informed why it is most favourite restaurant of Swedish citizen. • Facts about Max Under the facts the company has informed certain important information related to them such as total turnover and employees. And actual date of commencing of business and their certifications to their credit • Historical movements Historical subheading mostly discusses about there expansion in Sweden from the time they started the restaurant in 1968 till 2005. • Max and the environment Under this subheading the company has discussed the about the important of recycling which in turn would help the environment. 2 Our food • About deli-fresh Here the company discusses about specialty of offering low fat content hamburgers. • Transfat and GMO Here the company tells us they're about their success story how they have succeeded in working on developing non-hydro-generated frying oil without Trans fats. The new oil, which they are using, has got a very less fat content. • Fat statement
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Data presentation In this subheading the company discusses about the fat statement, which they release, every year and they strive hard to reduce the fat content as much as they can 3. Restaurants • Locations: List of restaurants 4. Contact tab • Under this sub heading the company has given out the ways to contact Max. The address and phones and fax number are listed and also have given an option where in customer can fill out a form to get in touch with them. 5. Home (Always leading to the main page) The pages on the Max website is short and the browser could read through the whole text
Figure 4.4: Contact Max info Source: http://www.max.se/en/contact.aspx
However for the interaction in the contact section Max has used very simple form to get in touch with them where in the customer needs to give out their name, phone number, email, subject and the message. Customer can also get in touch with them those who are
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Data presentation not interested to wait for fill out the form can contact are via telephone, fax and email. They also have facilitated by giving an option of contacting any of there location restaurant in the Sweden by providing there phone number and fax number at just one click. A test mail was sent to Max to check how much they are concerned for the customer service and there was no automated response we received though we got the mail response only after 12 hours by a customer service person saying that they will get back to us. The whole website is designed in flash and they have not used graphics and animation in the website. The website has also no search facility as it is doest have much content however the website has provided with a site map to guide the customers with the address and locations of the overall restaurants in Sweden. As the website is more informative and no business is conducted online means as they don't sell anything online nowhere delivery information is available on the site. The user could not find any tab or the link to the frequently asked questions. Also in the website there is no information about the incentives or the rebates or the offers extended by the company. While browsing through the whole site the user will not come across find either the company or the third party pop ups. The language used is simple and the user will not find any grammatical errors in the site and even the text was very clear. The company has given a multiple language option for those who don't understand the language Swedish. The other language, which was given as an option is English which global language of the world, is. 4.1.2 Case Two: Company overview: Burger king In 1954 the first hamburger was grilled in the burger king. It's a large International chain of restaurants, selling burgers, fries, drinks and desserts. Burger king was initially called as Insta Burger king and was opened on December 4, 1954 in Miami Florida. James W Maclamore and David Edgerton got the idea of open the restaurant and they didn't expect that 10 years later there would be 1000 restaurants operating under its name. The main ambition was to service quality food at a good price in a clean and green environment. And they are happy that nobody could stop them to achieve their ambition. By the year 2006 Burger king has got almost 11,000 outlets operating in 61 countries. The total numbers of the employees working are around 3, 40,000 serving around 11.4 million customers everyday. A huge success came to them when they introduce whopper burgerBurger king's parade that made entry into the market in the year 1957. Burger king corporation was incorporated in the year 1972. Their prices seem very low and proudly
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Data presentation announce that anyone can become a happy American by having their burger at just 37 cents. In the year 1976 the Burger king made an entry into the European market by opening a restaurant in Madrid. The purpose of the website www.Burgerking.se is mainly to campaign their offering, list their menus, find a restaurant and create awareness about burger king to inform about the special offers for students.
Figure 4.5: Page loading Source: www.burgerking.se The welcome page of the burger king is designed in a flash media and a user could feel as if the page is getting loaded and once the page gets loaded fully the main page of the website is designed in a very simple manner there by avoiding any misleading or irrelevant links or information. The moment user logs on to the website he could notice a Text box .As the corporation is really concerned about the health of the customers there is a specific information about the allergy information/Nutrient information exactly on the top of the text box on the right hand corner and in the text box user could find the images of the three varieties of burgers which brought them a huge success called whoppers. And exactly below the images a user could find links in a small rectangular box to move on to further pages such as Campaign, Menu, Find a restaurant, about burger king and information for the student. The user could also see small images of the food items on the
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Data presentation extreme left at the bottom and exactly in the middle of the Burger king user could find the logo of the burger king and there is Burger kings slogan " Have it your way" to the extreme bottom right.
Figure 4.6: Homepage of burger king's website Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ How it is organized Burger king.se is designed in a quiet simple attractive flash media. All the WebPages are designed in the same layout making the users more comfortable to browse through the site. The page layout is completely fitted into a single window frame with a space for large image and the menu or the index is embedded as footer inside the frame. The footer has been divided into rows. The top row has the various navigation options, whereas the bottom row is divided into three vertical blocks. In the first vertical block there are small images of various toppings, which add taste to the burger. The middle vertical block has a logo of burger king, which is hyper referred to index page. The last vertical block has got their caption "HAVE ITYOUR WAY". All the links, which are hyper referred in the whole of the site, have been designed light maroon colour and then when the cursed is moved over them it turns to orange. When the cursor is moved on to viken whopen ar du it turns from orange to a bright yellow to give a glowing impression with yellow glair around it. Hyperlink referring to allergic information and nutrient information turns to black to maroon. The colour
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Data presentation change for the link in the entire website has two different combinations the most common colour change is from maroon to orange when the cursor has been too moved to the anchored text the second colour combination for anchored text is from black to maroon. Layout Burgerking.se is completely designed in flash media. The whole website has the same layout on each and every page. We also find a logo of the Burger king at the middle bottom portion of the web page which is hyper linked to home page on each page. The content of the page is very small and also the pages on the website are too short so the user could read through the whole text without scrolling the cursor down. The home page has a background image, which is default image to the entire frame. The home page has an image of three different Burgers with their names published in a colourful oval blocks pasted on to the image. On the top you will find the burger king caption written in Swedish "Whopper you way". The top right corner of the home page has the Vilken whopen ar du logo / Which Whopper are u? This gives the shining impression with hyperlink to the respective page. The browser has to go through a small online questionnaire, which is designed in a flash wherein once the user fill in details it will give which whopper suits you. The home page has the navigation options leading to campaign, menu, find a restaurant, about Burgerking and student. It also has the burger king logo hyper referred to homepage and with the caption "Have it your way" Campaign The display space has been subdivided into two vertical uneven columns the first column is wide enough to hold an image of three whopper burgers just launched. The bottom of the image is followed with a text giving the information about the launch of the three new whoppers i.e. California fresh, Mexican and Western Bacon BBQ which are the three new taste sensations with different flavours Have it your way. The second column also has a small image of happy feet film, which is Christmas big family movie with 12 funny figures will be available during the campaigns, which kids can enjoy while having a meal. We find the ads corner just below the text in the second column there are five different advertisements featured on the net. The five-featured advertisements are. Whopper Bling test HIYW Chicken Royale Nice price meal King Trix When we move the cursor on to this advertisement links we find the arrows at the end of the text move to indicate the anchored or the hyper referred for that advertisement. Once
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Data presentation we click on these links a small streaming pop up emerges to display the relevant ads. The footer of the page remained unchanged.
Figure 4.7: Menu page of the burgerking website Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ Pa menu When we click on the menu hyperlink the display space is loaded with default with great burgers list. Just above the footer we find a new row with list of great burgers, fresh baked banquettes, king delights, king snack, and king extra, king kids and drinks which are the submenu items for menu page. When the mouse is move any of these submenus we find a box popped up with relevant text. The Great burger tab has the list of various burgers offers by Burger king when we select any of featured burger we get an image of the burger followed by text and energy, fat and carbohydrate contents just below the image. In the next columns beside the burger image we have a list of ingredients used in a burger. The next tab which is fresh baked banquettes is also designed the same way with the featured list of items an image followed by text ingredients and an image showing how the ingredients are stacked between the banquettes.
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Data presentation And once we come on to find a restaurant tab the user could see a map of Sweden and locations of the restaurants are actually spotted in red dots. There is a drop down list at the top to move directly to the desired states and once the state is selected we are given a list of locations in those particular cities just below the drop down list. Upon clicking on any of the particular locations the user could view the image of location map and the address just below the image. Then comes the tab which says about Burger king, divided into two uneven vertical blocks the larger box covers information mostly about history, important facts and FAQs and the smaller vertical block which is further subdivided into three horizontal block gives information for the job aspirants, and the persons who are interested in applying for the franchisee and the contact information of the company.
Figure 4.8: Online application form can be seen in a popup window Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ The job section is further subdivided in two sub tabs by clicking on the first the user could read about requirements of working with Burger king. Read more tab has the options where in the browser could actually find out what is expected from the persons who are actually planning to join the esteemed company as Employees, Team Leader, and restaurant chef giving information with text just below the heading and with a image to the right of the text and the second sub tab through which an job aspirant could
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Data presentation actually apply for the job and then when the user click on to it we could see a separate window pops up containing an online application form.
Figure 4.9 Online application form for those who would like to go for franchisee Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ The next horizontal box is for the people who would like to go for the franchisee. This tab is further divided into three vertical tabs to give information about Ideal philosophy, if you are considering, Frequently asked questions with respect to the persons who are applying for the franchisee with text and corresponding image just below the sub head the next tab is an application of a franchisee once the user clicks on this tab a user get pop up window asking for the relevant information for franchisee with burger king logo on the popup window. The next tab is for the contact address, which provides the contact information with an image. All the sub tabs has a link back to the burger king tab. A user could also see the arrows just beside the tab wherein the user could easily find the information by just looking at the direction of the arrows. Now coming to last tab which is students this is again divided in two uneven vertical boxes the larger box gives information how to claim the incentives and the other vertical box has got an image of 10 SKR with burger king logo and slogan embedded on it. And
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Data presentation exactly below the image 10 SKR there is a text and when the cursor is moved on to it we could find transparent text box popping up with a little text in it. This site is basically designed to be informative the user need not register to view the content of the site there is no registration form or registration process in this website. There is no such option for the visitors to give any feed back. However they have provided the address, telephone and fax numbers as the contact information through which customers can communicate or send the feedback to the company. E-mail assistance is missing so there is no question of auto responder. Burger king has not used graphics and animations anywhere in the website and all the website is designed in flash. Search engine not included. Job aspirants and the person who would like to be associated with burger king as franchisee owners have to fill out online application forms. As they don't have the site for commercial purpose means they don't deliver the burgers to home so no information about delivery is mentioned. Burgerking has got round the clock service and are more of informative and interactive nature and do not require frequent updates and is up 24/7. Burgerking.se has done a perfect job by providing only required info crisp and clear. It has avoided providing any irrelevant information. Most of the information has been conveyed in image format giving an advantage to be right on target. Company has declared rebate of 10 Sek especially for the students. And this is clearly mentioned in the student tab. The company has used pop up windows but its only at the time for filling an online application for the job aspirants and for the people who would like to go for franchisee, apart from then the user could see the pop ups anywhere. Burger king has taken utmost care to see that the text and grammar has been used correctly to avoid any confusion or mislead. To see that there is no misunderstanding, the names of the dishes have been spelled the way they have to be and the description is written in Swedish to help the visitors understand better. The browser has no option to study the site in Swedish. Language option in this site is missing. Delivery information Burgerking.se is not an ecommerce website; it has no such parameters or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to meet delivery schedules.
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Data presentation 4.2 Customer Service 4.2.1 Case one: Max Max.se has not taken any major steps to increase the awareness or drive web traffic to their website. The whole motto of having a website for Max.se is to provide information about their organization and product line. They also want to advertise them as much as possible through their website. As Max sells hamburgers which constitutes to major portion of their business as well as their reputation, they believe providing information about there activities on their website is a kind of self advertising concept. They also believe that the propaganda of the website at their retail stores, flyers is quiet enough to drive their targeted audience. They also believe that because they don't sell hamburgers online or carry on any e-commerce activities, it's not that important for them to promote the website or spend any revenue to advertise. They only spend a negligible amount on TV & Radio commercials to promote their website. Max.se has basically targeted teenage group of population varying from 15 to 40 years. Their statistics show that customer ranging at an age of 15 to 40 yrs constitute to major portion of their business. They also have targeted specific customer group and sex through special channels of advertising. Advertising in a beauty magazine targets mostly the female customers and other women related activities, in the same way they advertising on radio channels to target any other specific customers by demographics and age. They have also targeted whole family together by providing family login on their website. Max.se is one of the few websites promoting this kind of logins. Once a member logs in, they have various options to entertain the whole family by listening to radio or entertaining the kids with various interactive video games. Max.se has considered both technical as well as content requirements to ensure that the visitor has the pleasant experience to download and navigate through the content of the website. Considering the technical parameters, the website has avoided extensive use of graphics and animation to reduce the download time and allow the users navigate quickly and easily. They have also used images to link directly to the text content of the relevant WebPages; this allows the user to switch directly to the desired page. Coming to the content or providing the information to their web users, they have very clearly mentioned all the facts related to the product lines along with allergy and nutrient information. They also up have also considered the requirements of their prospective employees who would like to know more about the position/Vacancies at their websites. For the visitors who want to locate the nearest or the desired restaurant locations across Sweden can find then by visiting the relevant tab. All the applicants who would like to apply for any jobs can submit their application electronically online. Max.se always wants their users to be up to date with the activities going on at Max.They update the website frequently when ever there is any new press release; any new openings or positions arise at any of their restaurant locations. They also update the website with their new promotions and campaign time to time to avoid any confusion or discomfort for their customers. They also keep the website updated with competition they
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Data presentation run from time to time for guests and other members. The website is constantly updated with the new products joining their product family to promote these new product lines. They also update the website with the new locations coming up in the future all across Sweden. So we can simply say that the website is updated almost daily to keep the rhythm going. Max.se does collect any information about their customers visiting their website. Max collects and does a survey twice a year to get the information. They also gather customer tastes and other required information by third party service provider's surveys. They outsource this service to ISI Wissing, which is one the leading service provide in surveying across Sweden The web designer has played a major role in designing Max website working along with max's team. As per Max the whole website is designed and based on their Max's graphic manual which guides the complete site. They believe that the whole website should be rich in content as well as should have a pleasant experience. They also believe that there should not be any false information or information leading to hinder or hurt the reputation of Max. Keeping this in mind the web designer had taken measure to meet and match the technical aspects along with Max ethical principles. Max has taken a dual approach to build long-term relationship with their customer. They have completely chosen to attract and retain Swedish customers who log on to their website. The website though is in English version too has a special family login which is exclusive for Swedish speaking customers. So there is motto is to retain this customers who log in to their family accounts and build a good relation with Max. They also have a monthly newsletter subscription for these family customers. They have also tried to attract these so called information gathering website users by providing online entertainment like streaming radio, other resources like job information, location information and franchise information. But as Max is not selling or is active in e commerce activities they have taken enough measures to build long-term relation with all the customers. 4.2.2 Case two: Burger king Burger king does make an effort to promote or campaign awareness programs to attract users online. They promote their website themselves on the flyers and on restaurant locations. They also publish their website details on every promotional material they use to build reputation about their burgers or food offerings. Burger king actively does promote their website by other media such as Google ads and Banner ads on other website. They try to drive traffic from the Internet by using online advertising thru search ads and email campaign. They publish their promotions on various local news media, radio channels and TV to increase the users online. Burger king basically targets male population ranging from age 18 to 35yrs. Their studies show that these males ranging from the above age spend more at their restaurant locations. They also try to concentrate on female customers but no special measures have
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Data presentation been taken to target them. They also target students with by offering various special promotions from time to time and give discounts all round the year. The group of population they target for advertising includes male's students mainly within age range of 18 to 35yrs. They have also targeted the population all across Sweden by advertising on Google ads, which are shown only in Sweden. Now days they also plan to attract kids with happy feet promotional characters interacting with kids on their locations. Burger king has taken the maximum advantage of web design technology, bandwidth and the Internet speed to design the WebPages .The whole website is in flash media so that the users has a pleasant experience of graphics and animation. They have considered the development of the Internet and download speed to see that the users can access the website fast and with ease. They have also taken care of the users who log on to the website for various purposes. Burger king has categorized the users on their website into prospective business partners, students and others who visit website just for information. Taking this into consideration they have designed the website navigation to meet the interest of these category visitors. They have special tabs to browse for students, franchise information and also for Burger king history and ad promotions. Updating the website is a continuous process for Burger king. They update the website with latest information about the new locations being added to their chain. They also add information about the new promotions they have from time to time. They take utmost care about the promotional updates so that they don't conflict with any of the information in store and online. Apart from updating the website for these purposes, they post the new opening or work opportunities arising at their facilities from time to time. They keep the website up to date with the advertisement or TV commercials they use to promote Burger king on TV. They also update FAQ's if something new comes to their knowledge. Burger king doest not carry on any activities to collect any personal or business information from their online users. The only way they collect the information is by doing survey's which is outsourced. Ban track is the official information gathering third party source for Burger king. Ban track does these surveys 4 times a year all across Sweden. The designer has taken special interest in designing the website. The whole website is unique and only few website follow this trend to be completely in flash. The designer has taken both the Internet speed and the users into consideration. As there are more broadband users in Sweden than dial up, they have planned to launch the website completely in Flash. They have also seen that the whole website should give the same impression on each and every page along with the content changing from time to time as per user's request. The navigation has been made very simple and unique. Over the entire web designer had a major role in designing website. Burger king though don't have any personal logins on the web page to attract and keep the track of users, they have tried to build a long-term relation by other means. They keep the website dynamic by changing the content from time to time and also rolling the promotions. They attract the student to their website by offering rebates, these students
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Data presentation constitute to a major portion of their business. They believe that these students who once become the customers of Burger king retain for a long term and become permanent customers.
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Analysis
5 Data Analysis
In this chapter the empirical data will be analysed. To start with within case analysis will be conducted for each of these cases there by comparing it with the theory relied on and with the conceptual frame of reference presented in chapter two. The data will be analysed across the two cases. 5.1 Analysis of Research Question one: 5.1.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max Clarity of Purpose A website is considered well if it serves its function, purpose and at the same time keeps the customer focused (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). According to Cox & Dale (2002) websites should have the clarity to show what exactly they deal with. Max.se has fulfilled this condition by letting the visitors know what Max.se is all about. As soon as the visitors logs on to the website, they have a default page which lets the visitors know that Max.se is a leader in Hamburgers and deals with retail food chain restaurants in Sweden .One will also come to know that Max.se is a Swedish restaurant, as the default page is designed in Swedish. Links As per Cox & Dale (2002) studies, the information on the website should be sensibly organised to retain the visitors else there are major chances of the visitors being switched to a different site. Max.se has successfully organized the web content on the index page, to help visitors navigate through website with ease. They have also provided images links, so that the visitor can quickly switch to selected tabs. They have also given a whole overview about Max.se on index page so that the visitor can understand Max.se at a quick glance. Cox & Dale (2002) further advices that the links on the website should be valid and change colour whenever the customer click on relevant links. This feature of changing the link colours will help the customer know whether they are heading towards the right direction. All the links in Max.se are valid and enough care has been taken to make sure that all-important links when clicked changes their colour. One can easily find where exactly the visitor is in the website by looking at the navigation links on left side bar or the navigation index. Layout Max.se website has been designed in a consistent fashion which gives the user the same impression on each and every page in any particular tab. The middle portion of the page has relevant information changing from time to time as per visitors requested information. The beauty of the page lies on the left side navigation bar which appears consistently on each and every webpage linking directly to home or any other tab. Cox &Dale (2002) also hints that there should be consistency within the pages of the website
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Analysis and is very important that the designers give home on each and every page. From the above we can see that they have fully supported the (Cox & Dale, 2002) theory. Pages text and click According to Cox & Dale (2002) pages on the website should be short and it is most irritating for the customers to scroll the cursor down to read the content. With reference to this feature, Max.se could not live up to Cox & Dale (2002) standards. Most of the pages except home and food have abundant text and it sometimes makes the user distract their attention from the website. In almost every page user needs to scroll through lot of text, which is not advisable. Most of the content on all these pages is simple text and have no hyper-references. The only links that are clickable are the navigation menu on the left side bar. And also we could see that they have allowed the users to create a login in a single page. Communication and feedback While designing the website, interaction and feed back principle between the customer and the company is important (Cox & Dale, 2002). According to Gehrke & Turban (1999), firms should interact with the customers as many times as possible, this would in turn instinct security among customers leading for more chances of doing business. Max.se has published email address, fax and phone numbers for each and every franchise. They have also provided a simple information request form through which the customers can get in touch with them. Gehrke & Turban (1999) also believes that providing auto responder would be a better option for effective communication, and also they don't have the error free filling of forms options and the auto responder too is missing. They have partially supported the theories for the above variable. Graphics and Animation Both Cox & Dale (2002) theory as well as Gehrke & Turban (1999) advises to minimise the use of graphics as well as animation to save the bandwidth and allow the WebPages to load faster. The whole idea of minimising the graphics is to save the number of bytes transferred over the net. Max.se has supported this condition by only using flash on the welcome page. On the rest of the pages used simple text and small jpg images that does not consume the bandwidth. Search engine Providing search engine would make a pleasant experience for customers if they look for something specific (Cox & Dale, 2002). According to Gehrke & Turban (1999), in ecommerce each failed product search is equivalent to a clerk saying no in a physical store. However in this case Max.se has not provided any search engine, as they do not deal with a wide range of products or services. User-friendly registration Website should guide the customers whenever he is creating a login or when he is trying to registers the field or the marks should be self explanatory (Cox & Dale, 2002). Max.se has used a single page registration form and also the web input is designed in a better fashion wherein consumers are not asked for unnecessary information at the same time
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Analysis the fields which required more spaces for example the address field and whereas post code doest require much space as address field requires. Max.se has efficiently done that. And also the fields that are mandatory are shown in red. Accessibility and speed Accessibility is one of the most important factors to be determined while designing the website. Accessibility is nothing but the rate at which the page downloads. (Cox & Dale, 2002) Max.se website has followed this principle to perfection by avoiding use of graphics and animation. The webpage downloads at faster pace, as there is only text content. Max.se website has almost negligible downtime for any kind of site or server maintenance. This site is more of informative and interactive and does not require frequent updates and is up 24/7. Max has fully supported the theory for this variable. Content of the website According to Cox & Dale (2002) the content of the website is vital. The company should take enough care not to mislead or give unnecessary information. Max.se website has clearly defined all the content of the page with accurate information. They have provided all necessary information about the company and it's offering without misleading the customers or providing any unnecessary information. They have published all the facts and history to avoid any kind of confusion and be crystal clear in communicating. They have also published the nutrition and calorie guide along with all the certifications they have from individual authorizing authorities. Delivery information On time delivery plays a vital role in company's promise to fulfil orders. They should try to meet the deadlines on all occasion to keep up its reputation any information pertaining to the delivery or delays should be communicated to the customers to keep them informed and avoid dissatisfaction. Cox & Dale (2002) As Max.se does not deal with any online order booking or delivery there is no such information provided online. FAQs According to Gehrke & Turban (1999) the companies which offer FAQs on the website will boost the user's interest in the companies offering. Max.se has unfortunately not provided any FAQ section. Frequent buyer incentives Companies should timely come up with special offers or discounts which will attract more customers (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). In order to attract customers to make purchase companies should come up with attractive incentives, which would in turn allow the customers to make more purchase or repeat buying. Max.se unfortunately has not provided any information about the incentives, campaign, promotions or discounts on their website and could not love up to (Gehrke & Turban, 1999) theory. Shun pop ups: Companies should try to minimise the use of pop ups which are nothing but the interruptions to the main business ( Gehrke & Turban, 1999). Max.se has done a good job
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Analysis by avoiding any kind of pop up either by third party advertising or their own ads to avoid distraction. Text and grammar Many of the websites, which are hazy, makes customer confused to know or find what the company deals with (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). They suggest that if the firms are using icons, then icons should be assigned for the most important subjects first. It is believed that majority of the users i.e. around 79% just go through the WebPages without actually reading the content. Max.se has used very simple and clear text and images to describe their business. On the main index page the user could easily find the information about the company and what they are into. One can easily click on the images to find the relevant text. Max.se has fully supported this variable by using simple text and grammar. Language option According to Gehrke & Turban (1999) English is considered to be global language and companies should give English as an option on the website. Max.se has provided an option for the users to switch languages. However they have restricted the family login section exclusively to their Swedish customers by providing all the related info in Swedish. 5.1.2 Within case analysis: Case two: Burger King Purpose According to Cox & Dale (2002) website should be clear in its purpose and let the users know what they are into. And also he further claims that the information on the website should be sensibly organised. With reference to guidelines of Cox & Dale (2002) Bugerking.se has been pretty clear, precise and more informative by letting the visitor know what they deal with at the very first glace. The whole website is designed in such a way that the visitor on any page in the website will know the Burger king is a fast food restaurant chain. The name of the website itself gives the visitor clear information that they are one of the leaders in making Burgers. It is only in Swedish version to give a local touch and let the visitors understand it is exclusive for Swedish customers. Links Navigation on the website is unimaginable when the links are not valid (Cox & Dale, 2002). They further claims that the links on the website should change the colour whenever the customer clicks on to it. Burger king has followed this thumb rule of changing the colour for all the text that is hyper linked. Whenever the cursor is hovered over any text or tab with has a valid link the colour is changed from Red to Orange. They have certainly live up to (Cox & Dale, 2002) standards. Layout Lay out and pages on the website actually depend on what the companies are into. It is always important that consistency should always be maintained within the pages of the website. Also it is advisable to have homepage linked on every page. Burgerking.se is completely designed in flash media. The whole website has the same layout on each and
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Analysis every page. We also find a logo of the Burger king at the middle bottom portion of the web page which is hyper linked to home page on each page to fulfil Cox & Dale (2002) advice of having a link directly to homepage. The top portion or the pane of the website is the only part of the page which is loaded with relevant info within the requested tab. Pages, text and clicks According to Cox & Dale (2002) it is always preferable that the pages on the website are not too long else it is very much irritating for the customers to scroll the cursor down to read the whole content. Burgerking.se has done wonderful job by avoiding lot of text going into any tab." a picture worth thousand words" has been the motto for designing this webpage .We find that each and every information on the whole website has been tried to convey in image format. None of the web pages need to be scrolled down to read any text because the website is designed in Flash. They have supported the (Cox & Dale, 2002) theory. Communication and feedback In order to keep the customer updated it is always advisable to communicate and follow the back principles (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se has not met the expectation of Cox & Dale (2002), as there is no interaction between the customers and the Burgeking.se. They have simply provided only their physical address along with Telephone and Fax #'s. Graphics and Animations Slow down in the access of the pages is due to the excessive use of graphics and animations so the companies should try to minimise the use of graphic and animations. With respect to this suggestion by Cox & Dale (2002) Bugerking.se is completely designed against this principle. The whole website is designed in flash which is more interactive and animated in nature and needs more time to download. But due to the advancement in the Internet and broadband the website design is completely justified. Search engine Giving search engine option will really give a pleasant experience for the customers (Cox & Dale, 2002). They further claims that it would be easy for the customers to look for specific information. Burgerking.se did not provide any search option in their website as they really don't need that feature. Burgerking.se is more of informative site with less and easy to navigation content. A visitor or a customer can find the information in the relevant tab directly instead of doing a search. Accessibility and speed The rate at which the page downloads is the called the download speed. It is very important to seen that the web page downloads in less than 8 seconds to avoid customers switching to a different site. Companies should provide round the clock service to its customers to retain and increase the visitor or traffic on the web (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se has a good speed and takes less than a second to download. The server up time is also very efficient with more that 99.9%. It is easy to access the website round the clock at high speed with broadband in use.
54
Analysis
Content It is highly important that the information on the website should not be misleading or irrelevant. Companies should give clear information about its offering. (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se has done a perfect job by providing only required info crisp and clear. It has avoided providing any irrelevant information. Most of the information has been conveyed in image format giving an advantage to be right on target. They have also tried to limit themselves by not providing too much information on the site. Delivery information Companies should be clear when it comes to delivery of the product it is highly important to meet delivery promises to keep their commitment and live up to customers expectations (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se is not an ecommerce website; it has no such parameters or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to meet delivery schedules. It is an informative website and does not accept nor has any provision for online ordering. Frequently Asked questions Companies should always notice about the customer queries and FAQs should be in a well designed (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). Burgerking.se has provided a FAQ's tab to guide the users or the visitors who want to be their business partners or employees by briefly addressing franchisee employment and general information. Frequent Buyer incentives In order to allow customers make more purchases or repeat buying customers should come up with the incentives and offers and these are the marketing tools which the companies should make use of in this IT world. (Cox & Dale, 2002) Burgerking.se from time to time does provide promotional information on their website and also has had a special tab for students. They run discount or rebate promos for students most of the time. Text and Grammar Many websites does not provide clear information what they deal with. It is very important for companies to concentrate on key areas such as bullet lists, brief sentences, short pages, key words and at the same time they should not ignore the spelling and the grammar. (Gehrek & Turban, 1999). Burger king has taken utmost care to see that the text and grammar has been used correctly to avoid any confusion or mislead. To see that there is no misunderstanding, the names of the dishes have been spelled the way they have to be and the description is written in Swedish to help the visitors understand better. Shun Pop ups Companies should try to minimise the use pop ups because they create lot of interruptions for the main business (Gehrke & Turban, 1999) Burger king has absolutely avoided using of any third party or their own popup either to advertise or to promote any new things. The only popup are shown when the customers wants to see the advertisements streamed on the net for Burgerking.se. Even these popup do not distract or irritate any customers as it is only viewed on visitor's request.
55
Analysis Language option: In order to make the customers more comfortable the companies should always try to give the language option. And as English is a global language it is highly recommended that companies should prefer giving English as an option. (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). Burger king has not provided any language option, as they have completely aimed and targeted the Swedish customers. The parent company of Burger king has the English website i.e. Burgerking.se.com. All the regional customers are given an option to view the website in respective languages and Burger king.se is one among them.
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Analysis Table 5.1 (Website design) Cross Case analysis
Sl.no 1 Variables Clarity of purpose Purpose How it is organised 2 Links Colour change Lay out Home 3 Pages text and click Pages on the website Registration 4 Communication and feedback Interaction Error free registration Auto responder 5 Graphics and Animation Use of Graphics Use of Animation 6 Search Search engine 7 Fill in forms User friendly registration 8 Accessibility and speed Round the clock service 9 Content Information on the website 10 Delivery information Information about the delivery 11 Frequently ask question FAQs 12 Frequent buyer incentives Discount and offers 13 Shun pop ups Use of pop ups 14 Clear text and grammar Text and grammar 15 Language option English as option + Support's - Doest not support +/partially supportive Max + + + + + + + + + +/+ + + + +/Burger king + + +/+ + + + + + + + + -
Purpose From the table above we could clearly see that both the food industries giving high importance to the purpose. And make sure that they share the first hand information with the customers. Links on the website are better organised in a better fashion and the customers once click on the tab would easily come to know whether they head towards the right direction or not. Regarding the colour change in Max.se the designer has done a good job by making the links change to a different colour when clicked. In case of the Burger king this feature is partly supportive. Even though the colour of the links changes the colour when clicked the user is not sure in which tab he is.
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Analysis
Links All the links in Max.se are valid and enough care has been taken to make sure that allimportant links when clicked changes their colour. One can easily find where exactly the visitor is in the website by looking at the navigation links on left side bar or the navigation index. Burger king has followed this thumb rule of changing the colour for all the text that is hyper linked. Whenever the cursor is hovered over any text or tab with has a valid link the colour is changed from Red to Orange. But in case of Burger king it is partly supportive because once the user clicks on to the link the colour changes but it turns to its original colour and this leads to confusion for the user. Max.se website layout has been designed in a consistent fashion which gives the user the same impression on each and every page in any particular tab. The middle portion of the page has relevant information changing from time to time as per visitors requested information Burgerking.se is completely designed in flash media. The whole website has the same layout on each and every page. Home The beauty of the page lies on the left side navigation bar which appears consistently on each and every webpage linking directly to home or any other tab in case of Max.se Also we could find the guidelines which have been given by Cox & Dale (2002) have been thoroughly followed by Burger king. We also find a logo of the Burger king at the middle bottom portion of the web page which is hyper linked to home page on each page to fulfil Cox & Dale (2002) advice of having a link directly to homepage. Pages text and clicks When it comes to pages text and click Max.se haven't met the Cox & Dale (2002) standards because on some of the pages of the website we could find a large text wherein the user has to go abundant text which is tiresome for the customer. Whereas. Burger king has done wonderful job by avoiding lot of text going into any tab." a picture worth thousand words" has been the motto for designing this webpage .We find that each and every information on the whole website has been tried to convey in image format. When it comes to registration Max.se has used a simple registration form and mostly the registration is completed in the single page there is no registration available for the Burgerking.se site. Communication and feedback For the interaction Max.se has used a single form through which the customer can contact and give the valuable suggestions to the company. The facility to interact in Burgerking.se is missing. In case of error free registration both the companies haven't done much about and it is also not that user friendly because even when the user types in wrong information or false information the website just accepts the whatever information input by the customer. And there is no arrangement made to check whether the information input is valid or not in both the websites.
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Analysis Auto responder In both the websites are auto responder is missing which is again Gehrke & Turban (1999) theory. Graphics and Animation Max.se has supported this condition by only using flash on the welcome page. On the rest of the pages used simple text and small jpg images, which does not consume the bandwidth. Bugerking is completely designed against this principle. The whole website is designed in flash which is more interactive and animated in nature and needs more time to download. Search In both the cases search engine is missing. When it comes to user friendly registration Max.se is partially supportive because it has met only certain conditions of the Cox & Dale (2002) Theory as the user could see that first of all the even though they have multiple language option the process to create login is in Swedish and at the same time they have also clearly shown the fields which are mandatory are shown in different colour which is a great help for the customer. In case of Burgerking.se no registration is required. Accessibility and speed Both the sites have round the clock service and are more of informative and interactive nature and do not require frequent updates and is up 24/7. As Max.se does not deal with any online order booking or deliveries there is no such information provided online. Burgerking.se is not an ecommerce website; it has no such parameters or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to meet delivery schedules. Content Max.se website has clearly defined all the content of the page with accurate information. They have provided all necessary information about the company and it's offering without misleading the customers and also avoided any unnecessary information. Burgerking.se has done a perfect job by providing only required info crisp and clear. It has avoided providing any irrelevant information. Most of the information has been conveyed in image format giving an advantage to be right on target Delivery information As both the websites are more informative and no business is conducted online means, as they don't sell anything online nowhere delivery information is available on the site. Frequently asked questions Regarding the FAQs Max.se has unfortunately not provided any FAQ section where as Burger king does. Frequent buyer incentives No incentives are offered at Max.se. On the other hand Burgerking.se they have offered a rebate of 10 SKR to students.
59
Analysis
Use of popup In case of pop ups both the companies have strictly following the guidelines of the Gehrke & Turban (1999) about the pops. Both the companies have minimised the used of pop ups and only in certain cases have made an arrangement where in the customer come across the pop ups if they desires something specific. Text and Grammar Max.se has used very simple and clear text and images to describe their business. On the main index page the user could easily find the information about the company and what they are into. One can easily click on the images to find the relevant text and even the Burger king has taken utmost care to see that the text and grammar has been used correctly to avoid any confusion or mislead. Language Option Max.se has provided an option for the users to switch languages. However they have restricted the family login section exclusively to their Swedish customers by providing all the related info in Swedish. So it is partly supportive where no such language options available in Burgerking.se. 5.2 Analysis of Research Question two
5.2.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max Create awareness It is important for the companies to make sure that customer know about the company's website. It is the first hand duty of the companies to create awareness among the customers of its website. And the best way to do it is to advertise the website. (Geissler, 2001) Max.se has not taken any major steps to increase the awareness or drive web traffic to their website. The whole motto of having a website for Max.se is to provide information about their organization and product line. They also want to advertise them as much as possible through their website. They also believe that the propaganda of the website at their retail stores, flyers is quiet enough to drive their targeted audience. They also believe that because they don't sell hamburgers online or carry on any e-commerce activities, it's not that important for them to promote the website or spend any revenue to advertise. They only spend a negligible amount on TV & Radio commercials to promote their website. Steady message According to (Geissler, 2001) the companies should try to concentrate on certain important things while designing its site such as segmentation, targeting and positioning because these play a major role and also see to that the target audience are kept in mind when site is designed. Max.se has efficiently worked on this area by basically targeting all age groups. Max.se has basically targeted teenage group of population varying from 15 to 40 years. Their statistics show that customer ranging at an age of 15 to 40 yrs constitute to major portion of their business. They also have targeted specific customer
60
Analysis group and sex through special channels of advertising. Advertising in a beauty magazine targets mostly the female customers and other women related activities, in the same way they advertising on radio channels to target any other specific customers by demographics and age. They have also targeted whole family together by providing family login on their website. Max.se is one of the few websites promoting this kind of logins. Once a member logs in, they have various options to entertain the whole family by listening to radio or entertaining the kids with various interactive video games. User needs (Geissler, 2001) further claims that companies should design the site, which suits the computer systems of the customers. In order to have a pleasant experience while browsing designers should see to that, the site is easy to navigate and should also make use of the controlled navigation. Max.se has supported the (Geissler, 2001) theory by considering both technical as well as content requirements to ensure that the visitor has the pleasant experience to download and navigate through the content of the website. Considering the technical parameters, the website has avoided extensive use of graphics and animation to reduce the download time and allow the users navigate quickly and easily. They have also used images to link directly to the text content of the relevant WebPages; this allows the user to switch directly to the desired page. Coming to the content or providing the information to their web users, they have very clearly mentioned all the facts related to the product lines along with allergy and nutrient information. They also up have also considered the requirements of their prospective employees who would like to know more about the position/Vacancies at their websites. For the visitors who want to locate the nearest or the desired restaurant locations across Sweden can find then by visiting the relevant tab. All the applicants who would like to apply for any jobs can submit their application electronically online. Update needs Companies should frequently update the website and it should be considered as an important duty of the designer. Customers need to be update about the latest offering and incentives, which would play a vital role in the business success. Geissler (2001) Max.se always wants their users to be up to date with the activities going on at Max.They update the website frequently when ever there is any new press release; any new openings or positions arise at any of their restaurant locations. They also update the website with their new promotions and campaign time to time to avoid any confusion or discomfort for their customers. They also keep the website updated with competition they run from time to time for guests and other members. The website is constantly updated with the new products joining their product family to promote these new product lines. They also update the website with the new locations coming up in the future all across Sweden. So we can simply say that the website is updated almost daily to keep the rhythm going and it supports the theory. Customer Information Feedback from the customer and customer information are most important for the companies which will help the companies to perform better build strong customer relationships with the customers. Geissler (2001) Max.se has not supported this and does
61
Analysis collect any information about their customers visiting their website. Max collects and does a survey twice a year to get the information. They also gather customer tastes and other required information by third party service provider's surveys. They outsource this service to ISI Wissing, which is one the leading service provide in surveying across Sweden Involve the designers According to Geissler (2001) designers have sound knowledge of the marketing approaches. It is highly important that both the company as well as the client play important and active role in structuring the online marketing strategies. The web designer has played a major role in designing Max website working along with Max's team. As per Max the whole website is designed and based on their Max's graphic manual which guides the complete site. They believe that the whole website should be rich in content as well as should have a pleasant experience. They also believe that there should not be any false information nor information leading to hinder or hurt the reputation of Max. Keeping this in mind the web designer had taken measure to meet and match the technical aspects along with Max ethical principles. Relationship In order to attain companies marketing goals web is considered to be one of the best tools. It further helps the companies to build strong relationships with the customers which results in the growth of the business. Geissler (2001) Max has taken a dual approach to build long-term relationship with their customer. They have completely chosen to attract and retain Swedish customers who log on to their website. The website though is in English version too has a special family login which is exclusive for Swedish speaking customers. So there is motto is to retain this customers who log in to their family accounts and build a good relation with Max. They also have a monthly newsletter subscription for these family customers. They have also tried to attract these so called information gathering website users by providing online entertainment like streaming radio, other resources like job information, location information and franchise information. Though Max is not selling or is active in e-commerce activities they have taken enough measures to build long-term relation with all the customers. 5.2.2 Within case analysis: Case two: Burger King Create Awareness Burger king has seriously taken steps to create awareness of their website among the customers. They have almost made use of the all the best-suited ways to bring awareness and feel their presence online. They have mostly relied on Google Ads campaigns and in house advertising for example offering flyers to customer who makes a visit to their restaurant locations. At the same time when something new comes they are not behind to go for television and radio advertising. Burgerking.se has totally met the Geissler (2001) standards to bring the consciousness among its websites and according to the author the companies should strive hard to make sure that customer should know about the website.
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Analysis Steady message According to Geissler (2001) the designers should also concentrate on segmenting, targeting and positioning because these play a major role for the business success. And also the companies should take the target audience into focus to get the attention of the customers. From the activities of the Burgerking.se online we could clearly view that they have kept special attention towards the youth and mainly males. In order to support this they have also specially targeted students. And they are also offered rebate, which is exclusively for the students and wants them to be loyal to them. They have also provided special tabs for visitors who are interested in carrying on business activities with Burgerking.se. They have provided the franchisee information along with the locations and their business expansion plans. User frequency Burgerking.se technically did not consider the user friendly browser requirement as the site entirely is designed in flash a user have to download and install the required plug-in compatible with the browser to view Burgerking.se website. Theoretically Burgerking.se did consider the information any user will be looking for. They have addressed the information such as the location promotions, franchisee information employment information's and other new updates any visitor will be looking for. According to Geissler (2001) the companies should make sure that they design the website which would suit the computer systems of the user. In order to make the customer pleasant while browsing the customer's designers should see to that there is controlled navigation and Burgerking.se has not done much on this front to meet or suit the computer systems of the customers. Update frequency Companies should keep the customers updated about the offerings and whatever is new happening in the company at the same time customers should be conveyed of discounts and offers (Geissler, 2001) Burgerking.se has met the author's expectations Burgerking.se wants to keep their customer up to date with latest happenings in the company. And they think that this is really important for the business success. It frequently updates the websites once in four week and does that for various reasons. They do it whenever they come up with the new promotions and also to do that if any new location is coming up. They also does that if there is any change in the timings and Customer information It is vital for the companies to have the customer's information and get the feedback from the customers companies should try to spend a considerable amount of cost towards building relationship with the customers. (Geissler, 2001) Customer information and preferences are nothing but assets for the company and Burgerking.se believes in the same. However Burgerking.se does takes special care to gathers the customer information in a very unique way. They have a promotion called "Which Whopper are u" where in the customer are asked for the various question about their taste and preferences. At the same time they also get the customer information through their own surveys and through third party sources. The third party normally does the surveys from time to time and Burgerking.se just pulls out information from them.
63
Analysis
Involve the designers The designers did play a vital role in taking major decision to launch the site completely in a different fashion deviating from an orthodox HTML (Hyper Text Mark up Language) website. Designers have been also involved in making the website look elegant and delight the customer with and easy to interact concept. They are also involved in day-to-day activities of updating the website. From time to time management does involve the designers to find ways and alternatives to increase the awareness of the website Burgerking.se has met the Geissler (2001) standards in this case he says that that designers have a better understanding of the online marketing approaches when compared to their customers. Companies should always guide about the importance of the relationship marketing, segmenting, targeting and positioning. Relationship According to Geissler (2001) web is considered to be one of the most important tools to achieve the companies marketing goals. In turn would allow building the strong relationship with the customers. Burgerking.se doesn't do much on this front. From the observation and from the interview we could clearly see that they are just targeting youth and make continuous effort to build relationship with them. Burger king from time to time offers special promotions and offer rebates and mainly target specially youths. They have a special section exclusively for students we can think how much important they are for the company. These students constitute to a major portion of their business. They believe that these students who once become the customers of Burger king retain for a long term and become permanent customers.
64
Analysis
Table 5.2 (Customer Service) Cross case analysis
Sl.no 1 Variables Creating awareness MAX Advertise in retail stores, flyers, Sometimes on TV& radio Teenage population between 15-40 age groups. Family, kids Less use of graphics and animation BURGER KING Through Google ads, banner ads, retails stores also in TV& Radio and other websites Particularly males ageing between 18-35 yrs and kids. Maximum advantage of web design technology, bandwidth and the Internet speed to design the WebPages Update once in four weeks
2
Target population
3
User needs
4
Update frequency
Almost daily
5
Customer information
Own surveys, and also through third party called ISI wising. Yes of course
Surveys, and also through third party called Ban track. Yes of course
6
Involve the designers
7
Relationship
Though family logins, by providing entertainment stuff.
By attracting students
Create awareness Max.se has not taken any major steps to increase the awareness or drive web traffic to their website. The whole motto of having a website for Max.se is to provide information about their organization and product line. Even Burger king has seriously taken steps to create awareness of their website among the customers. They have almost made use of the all the best-suited ways to bring awareness and feel their presence online. They have mostly relied on Google Ads campaigns and in house advertising for example offering flyers to customer who makes a visit to their restaurant locations. At the same time when something new comes they are not behind to go for television and radio advertising. Steady message Max.se has basically targeted teenage group of population varying from 15 to 40 years. They also have targeted specific customer group and sex through special channels of advertising. They have also targeted whole family together by providing family login on their website. Max.se is one of the few websites promoting this kind of logins. Once a member logs in, they have various options to entertain the whole family by listening to radio or entertaining the kids with various interactive video games. From the activities of the Burgerking.se online we could clearly view that they have kept special attention
65
Analysis towards the youth and mainly males. In order to support this they have specially targeted students. And they are also offered rebate, which is exclusively for the students and wants them to be loyal to them. They have also provided special tabs for visitors who are interested in carrying on business activities with Burgerking.se. User needs Max.se has considered both technical as well as content requirements to ensure that the visitor has the pleasant experience to download and navigate through the content of the website. Considering the technical parameters, the website has avoided extensive use of graphics and animation to reduce the download time and allow the users navigate quickly and easily. Burgerking.se technically did not consider the user friendly browser requirement as the site entirely is designed in flash a user have to download and install the required plugins compatible with the browser to view Burgerking.se website. Theoretically Burgerking did consider the information any user will be looking for. They have addressed the information such as the location promotions, franchisee information employment information's and other new updates any visitor will be looking for. Update frequency Max.se always wants their users to be up to date with the activities going on at Max.se. They update the website frequently when ever there is any new press release; any new openings or positions arise at any of their restaurant locations and promotions. Burgerking.se wants to keep their customer up to date with latest happenings in the company. And they think that this is really important for the business success. It frequently updates the websites once in four week and does that for various reasons. They do it whenever they come up with the new promotions and also to do that if any new location is coming up. They also do that if there is any change in the restaurant timings. Customer information Max.se does collect any information about their customers visiting their website. They also gather customer tastes and other required information by third party service provider's surveys. They outsource this service to ISI Wissing, which is one the leading service provides in surveying across Sweden. Burgerking.se does take special care to gathers the customer information in a very unique way. They have a promotion called "Which Whopper are u" where in the customer are asked for the various question about their taste and preferences. At the same time they also get the customer information through their own surveys and through third party sources. The third party normally does the surveys from time to time and Burgerking.se just pulls out information from them. Involve the designers The web designer has played a major role in designing Max website working along with Max's team. As per Max the whole website is designed and based on their Max's graphic manual which guides the complete site. They believe that the whole website should be rich in content as well as should have a pleasant experience. They also believe that there should not be any false information nor information leading to hinder or hurt the reputation of Max.se. Keeping this in mind the web designer had taken measure to meet and match the technical aspects along with Max ethical principles. The designers did play
66
Analysis a vital role in Burgerking.se in taking major decision to launch the site completely in a different fashion deviating from an orthodox HTML website. Designers have been also involved in making the website look elegant and delight the customer with and easy to interact concept. They are also involved in day-to-day activities of updating the website. Relationship Max.se has taken a dual approach to build long-term relationship with their customer. They have completely chosen to attract and retain Swedish customers who log on to their website. The website though is in English version too has a special family login which is exclusive for Swedish speaking customers. So there is motto is to retain this customers who log in to their family accounts and build a good relation with Max.se. They also have a monthly newsletter subscription for these family customers. They have also tried to attract these so called information gathering website users by providing online entertainment like streaming radio, other resources like job information, location information and franchise information. Burgerking.se doesn't do much on this front. From the observation and from the interview we could clearly see that they are just targeting youth and make continuous effort to build relationship with them. These students constitute to a major portion of their business. They believe that these students who once become the customers of Burger king retain for a long term and become permanent customers.
67
Findings and conclusions
6 Findings and Conclusions
In the final chapter, first we will answer the research questions and will draw conclusions based on the data presented and analyzed in the previous chapters. The chapter will we end by giving recommendations to management, theory and future research. 6.1 How can the website are described? In this research question we are trying to describe the websites. Our research question looks into the feature of website design in terms of variables like clarity of purpose, page text and click graphics and animation, content etc. The findings show that the theory is not fully similar to the reality of website design being investigated. Our research shows that clarity of purpose and how it is organised, layout and home fully support with the theories. Round the clock services, information on the websites, use of popup and text and grammar fully go along with the theories studied. Further we could also see that error free registration, auto responder search engine and information about the delivery are contradicting with the theory. The reason may be studied why companies do not provide these facilities in their websites . Under error free registration the company doesn't have feature to validate the customer input before accepting the information. And also both the sites don't have an auto responder. As the content of the site is not that large providing search engine was not a good option. As the sites don't deal with online selling or buying so they haven't provided any delivery information. Companies expressed different opinions in the availability of additional facilities like FAQs, discount and offers, interaction. It is because the nature of website studied in a particular company and also it could be also because usually multinational companies tend to give these additional facilities in their websites. In case of user-friendly registration and English as an option the studied variables are almost contradicting with the theory it is because nature and area of the business located. Usage of graphics and animation, registration, pages on the website shows dissimilarities in the company investigated. One company might be supporting the one of the aspects whereas other company does not. It is because of difference in perceptions about the website of the companies studied. In case of colour change it is almost supporting the theory. The description of website indicates that use of pop ups, text and grammar, information on the website, layout, home, purpose and how it is organised plays a vital role in the user friendly website design. FAQs, discount and offers, colour change, use of graphics and animation are the secondary features that enrich the typical website design.
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Findings and conclusions 6.2 How is the customer service being used to affect the online customer experience? The second research question deals with how the customer service being used to build the online customer experience. And literatures are compared with findings and conclusion is drawn on the basis of reality. The other findings regarding the customer service which affect the online customer experience were as followed:
• • • • • • •
Companies generally use banner ads, retail ads, flyers, Google ads and sometimes-on TV and radio to create the awareness about the product. They are targeting kids, families and youth within the age group of 15 to 40. Companies use less graphics and animation and the advanced web design technology to design the WebPages to keep the site more user friendly. Companies want to keep their customer updates so they update the website frequently. Companies generally collect customer information through surveys and also engage third parties called Ban track and ISI wising to collect the data. Companies hiring the highly skilled designers to design the website. Companies try to build customer relationship by giving offers, providing online entertainment stuff and family logins.
The research also points out that there can be a correlation between customer service and the online customer experience. The findings almost agree with the theory studied.
6.3 Overall Conclusion
After careful observation, study, analysis and finding of two major food giants in the industry from Sweden, we can conclude that though both these websites are designed to meet the customer requirements and at same time fulfil company's objective. They have been designed to target, improve, aware and attract customers across Sweden. Both the websites have similar objectives and used different web technologies, front-end tools to increase the customer experience. Navigating the website, its content and tabs is considered to increase or decrease satisfaction of the customer. Images always give a better impression at the first sight and speak more than words. We found that increase the customer experience by involving the customer as much as possible. Companies has provided family logins where in a customer can log into his personal area to enjoy different kinds of online entertainment features likes Live Radio and Video games for kids. It is very important for any organization to keep its customers and stake holders informed with the activities and developments from time to time. This helps the customers and stakeholders to know what's happening within the organization. It is good trend to post the financial information to highlight financial trends of recent years for interested parties. By publishing data's related to their operations, employment, locations, business development plans and research could add to the customer experience.
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Findings and conclusions Companies have got friendly feedback mechanism to avoid confusion. Websites provide the physical contact information and the locations across Sweden, along with phone and Fax #'s. Website did try to increase the customer experience by providing as much information as possible and it meets all the technical aspects for faster downloads and easy navigation. Website did try to be up to dates with the activities so as the customer's are better informed. To add value to themselves and website, they have published the recognition received from various certifying institution such as complete chicken and Swedish. The web designers along with the team of management members have delivered their best knowledge to ensure that they meet all the expectations of the customers visiting the website. 6.4 Implications In this section, implications (recommendations) for practitioners, theory, and for future research will be made. 6.4.1 Implications for Management Based on our research and analysis the following recommendations are made to management. Though both the websites have done their best to increase the customer experience and promote their business and website awareness, they could have also implemented the following suggestions too.
• • • • • • • •
It is ideal to provide the promotional information in English and Swedish version of the website. It is advisable to have an Auto responder to the customer mails and form submission. This increases the chance of the customer getting involved in feedback mechanism. It is the time to start online and offline delivery because companies like Mc Donald's and KFC have already started their online selling activities. Companies should start a online customer feedback feature to increase customer experience It is ideal to have a search feature in the website. This would have allowed the users to quickly navigate to the desired page and also save the customer time browsing the website. Companies should keep short pages. It is better to have a downloadable file if too much text is involved The tabs/hyperlinks color should change when a particular tab is clicked on the website. This avoids the confusion for the customer and allows easy navigation. Companies should also provide a subscription for newsletter feature where in customers can be informed about all the latest activities.
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Findings and conclusions 6.4.2 Recommendations for Theory Lot of theory has been provided in the previous researches concerning our project, here in this thesis we are trying to explain the combination of good website design and better customer service will bring positive e-experience among customers. We have specifically chosen two food industries and wanted to see how they try to bring positive experience among customers. At last we gave our findings and also drew conclusion based on our research. Based on the empirical data and the interviews, which were held, and the research questions posed which lead to some contribution to our thesis. As our target is to present the combination of website design and customer service which is definitely untouched area, so definitely there are lot of issues can be studied or discussed. 6.4.3 Future recommendations • With reference to study and analysis of this project title "Building e-experience in cyberspace" and the concept addressed in this project we can make few recommendations for future research. • Select website which carry on e-commerce activities and more dynamic in nature. • Study of organizations who carry on order taking, selling, delivering activities on their website in food industry like McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. • Discuss the various parameters, which can affect the online customer experience. • Discuss about various technological factors, which might have an impact on customer experience like use of various database systems, graphical user interfaces, web technologies, browser compatibility.
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References
References
A Chaudhury, DN Mallick, HR Rao (2001), "Web Channels in E-commerce", Communications Of the ACM, 44 (1), p99-104. Alomaim Nasser, Tunca Zihni Mustafa and Zairi Mohd (2003), "Consumer satisfaction @virtual organisation", Management Decision, 41(7), p666-670. Al-Mashari Majed (2002), "E-Commerce A Comparative study of the organizational experiences", And International Journal, 9(2), p182-189. Andrew J.Rohm, Vishal Kashyap, Thomas G. Brashear, George R. Milne (2004). "The use of online market places for the competitive advantage: a Latin American perspective", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 19 (6), p 372-385. BH Schmitt (2003), Customer experience Management, "A Revolutionary approach to Connecting with your customers", books.google.com Burress, Kathryn. (2000) "On-line Customer Care", Business Perspectives, 12 (4), p4, 6p, 2c. Cheung Waiman (1998), "The use of the World Wide Web for the commercial purpose", Industrial Management & Data Systems, 98(4), p172-177 Chinstall P.M. (1997) Marketing research, Cambridge University Press Dane.C. F (1990) Research Methods, Brooks/Cole publishing company. David Limehouse (1999) "Know your customer", Work Study 48(3) p 100-102. Efthymios Constantinides, (2004). "Influencing the online consumer's behaviour: the Web experience". The Internet Research, 14(2), p14-16 Ellinger, AlexanderE, Lynch, Daniel F. Andzulis, James K, Smith, Ronn J (2003), "B-to- B E-Commerce: A Content Analytical Assessment of the motor carrier websites'', Journal of Business Logistics, 24(1), p199-220, 22p. Eyong B Kim & Sean B. Eom (2002) "Designing effective cyber store interface", Industrial Management & Data systems", 102 (5), p 241-251. Freedman, Lauren, (2002) 6 Golden rules of online customer service, Catalog Age, Vol. 19 (5), p55 Flick Uwe (1998) An introduction to qualitative research sage publication London Thousand oaks.
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References Foster, T. (1998) Industrial Marketing Communication- An empirical investigation on the use of marketing communication tools Lulea University of Technology, Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences, 97187 Lulea Sweden. Gary L. Geissler, (2001)."Building customer relationships online: the Web site designers' perspective". Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(6) p. 4-5. Gehrke Dave & Turban Efraim (1999) Determinants of successful website design Relative importance and Recommendations for effectiveness, Proceedings of the 32nd Hawaii international Conference on system science. Graziano, A.M. & Raulin, M.L. (1997), Research Methods- A Process of Inquiry. 3rd edition, New York: Addison- Harmen Longman Cop. Gummersson. Evert (2000), Qualitative methods in management research, sage publications Inc. Hauble Gerald & Valerie Trifts (2000) "Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids", Marketing Science, 19(1), p 4 - 21. J Cox & G Dale (2002), "Key quality factors in website design and use", International journal of quality and reliability management 19(7), p 862-888 Jimba W Samuel (1998) "Information technology, globalization and Africa's information development", OCLC Systems and Services, 14(2). Khakimdjanova Lola, Jihye Park (2004), "Online visual Merchandising practise of the Apparel e-merchants", Journal of Retailing and Customer Services, 12, p307-318. Kim S & Stoel L, (2004), "Dimensional Hierarchy of retail website quality", Information and Management, 41, p619-613. Kotha Suresh (1998), "The Case of Amazon.com", Europian Management journal, 16(2), p212-222. Lugo & Denise. (2004). "Online retailing ready to go", Investment Dealers' Digest, 70(23), p34-34, 1p; (AN 13357986). McCrea (2005) "Make your websites pop gurus explain how to distinguish your business online". Black enterprise. Miles, M.B. & Huberman, M.A., (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication, Inc.
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References M.J. Taylor, D, (2006). "The Internet marketing: web site navigational design issues". Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24(1), p12 Mutula. M Stephen (2002), "Current developments in the Internet industry in Botswana", The Electronic Library, 20(6). Peter Jones, Colin Clarke-hill & David Hillier (2002), (R) etailing in the UK, "Marketing Intelligence and Planning", 20(4),p229-233. Rao Subba Srinidhi, (2000). "The Internet Service providers in India", Work Study, (49)5, p 4-5. Reynolds, P.D. (1971), A primer in theory construction. New York: Macmillan Publishing Ronan Mclvor, Paul Humphreys, George Huang (2000). "Electronic Commerce: reengineering the buyer and supplier interface", Business Process Management journal, 6 (2), pp 122-138. Saunders Mark, Philip Lewis and Andrian Thornhill, (2003) Research Methods for business students. Pitman publishing. Sekaran Uma (2000), Research methods for business, john wiley and sons, Inc. Simeon, R. (1999), "Evaluating domestic and international Web-site strategies", The Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 9 No. 4. Sue Young Choi, Byounggu Choi and Heeseok Lee(2006), "Categorizing commercial products for customer oriented online retailing", Computers & Industrial Engineering,51(1), p90-101. Su-Jane Chen & Tung-Zong Chang (2003), "A descriptive model of online shopping process: some empirical results", 14 (5), p 556-559. Villeneuve, Claudia E.; Fayek, Aminah Robinson (2003), "Construction Project Websites: Design and Implementation", Cost Engineering, 45(1), p26. Yang, X, Zafar, A., Morry, G., Goh, B., Tahm, M., and Lim, H. (2003). "Consumer Preferences for Commercial Web site Design: An Asia Pacific Perspective", Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 20, pp. 10-27. Yin, R.K. (1989), Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Newbury, US: Sage Publications, Inc. Yin, R.K. (1994), Case study Research: Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
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References Yin, R.K. (2003), Case study Research: Design and Methods, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. Zeithaml, Valarie A.; Parasuraman, A.; Malhotra, Arvind (2002), "Service Quality Delivery through Web Sites: A Critical Review of Extant Knowledge", Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30(4), p362-375. Zikmund. G. W (2000) Business research methods, Hartcourt college publishers.
Internet References: www.max.se (Official website of Max) http://www.burgerking.se/
http://www.answers.com/topic/burger-king (date 28th December 2006 time 4PM) http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/? P=11780 date 30/10/06 at 4.17 pm. http://www.mbadepot.com/quotes/quotes.php? Var_subject=Customer+service (Date 26th September 2006).
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Appendix
Observation Check List Variables Clarity of purpose Purpose How it is organized Links Color change Layout Home Pages text and clicks Pages on the website Registration Communication and feedback Interaction Error free filling of forms Auto Responder Graphics and Animation Use of Graphics Use of animation Search Search engine Fill in forms User friendly registration Accessibility and Speed Round the clock service Content Information on the website Delivery Information Information about the delivery Frequently asked questions FAQs Frequent buyer incentives Discounts and Offers Shun Pop ups Use of pop ups Clear text and Grammar Text and grammar Language Option English as option
Comments
Appendix
Interview Guide
Name of the Company Branch Interviewee Name Designation Contact information
: : : : :
???????????????????????????????????? Main Questions:
1. How would you describe the website awareness activities undertaken by the company?
2. How would you describe the target market for your website?
3. How would you describe the needs of the users while designing the website?
4. How frequently the company updates the website and for what purpose?
5. What are the steps taken by the company to gather the customer information?
6. What would be the designer's role in designing the website?
7. How is the company use the website as a tool to build the long-term relationship with the customers?
doc_603231346.docx
Experience comprises knowledge of or skill of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event.
2007:057
MASTER'S THESIS
Creating a positive e-experience for customers
Raghunath Apte Shashidhar Reddy Gangala
Luleå University of Technology Master's thesis Business Administration Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial marketing and e-commerce
2007:057 - ISSN: 1402-1552 - ISRN: LTU-DUPP--07/057--SE
Abstract
For most companies, developing a satisfying customer experience has a direct impact on their future revenue streams. With the advent of the Internet, they now have to consider creating such "experiences" online, as well as offline. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a better understanding on how to build a positive e-experience in cyberspace. In order to reach this purpose, research questions related to website design and customer service were focused on. Via a review of literature related to these research questions, a conceptual framework was developed and tested. Using a qualitative approach and case study strategy, websites within the fast food industry were used to collect data. The findings indicate that if companies try to concentrate on both website design and online customer service, they can successfully build a positive e-experience in cyberspace for their customers.
i
Acknowledgements
The project study presented by us is done during the fall 05 and spring of 2006 at Lulea University of technology (LTU). We carried out this work in 20 weeks. During this period, we have gained valuable knowledge on customer's experience in cyber space. We would like to show our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the individuals who have helped us writing this thesis. First we would like to thank Mr. Tim Foster who has supervised our work and guided us in preparing and documenting our master's thesis in a traditional manner. His support for us has played a vital role in the success of this thesis. We owe debt of gratitude and thank Mr. Ravikanth Reddy a close friend of ours, Magnus Wallin the restaurant chief from Max Hamburger and Sofia from Burger king. We sincerely thank them for their support and contribution made to make our thesis a wonderful subject to study. We also would like to thank God, colleagues, friends and our parents for their support. Their suggestions have helped us to enhance our work and work more insight. I Raghunath Apte would like to acknowledge my cousin brother Mr. Akhilesh Potdar and my brother in law Mr.Ananth Kulkarni for their encouragement and support all thru my studies in Sweden.
LULEÅ JANUARY 2007
Shashidhar Reddy Gangala Raghunath Apte
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Table of Contents:
1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 1.1 Background?............................................................................................................ 1.2 Problem discussion?................................................................................................. 1.3 Overall Research purpose and Research questions??...............................?.?? 1.4 Remainder of the thesis??????????????????????.?. 2 Literature Review????????????????...????????.... 2.1 Website ?????????????????????????????.. 2.1.1 Customers Attention ???????????????????????... 2.1.2 Website design????????????.?...?............................................ 2.1.3 Guidelines to build a quality website?????????????????.. 2.2 Customer service?????????????????????????? 2.2.1 Considerations and ways to build the customer experience online??????. 2.2.2 Key quality factors????????????????????????.. 2.3 Conceptual framework???????????????????????... 2.3.1 Web design???????????????????????????.. 2.3.2 Customer service?????????????????????????. 3 Methodology???????????..???????????????.?. 3.1 Research Purpose?????????????????????????... 3.1.1 Exploratory Research???????????????????????.. 3.1.2 Descriptive Research???????????????????????... 3.1.3 Explanatory Research?????????????????????.??. 3.2 Research Approach Qualitative????????????????????.. 3.3 Research strategy: Case study????????????????????? 3.4 Data Collection Methods: Observation & Interviews???????????? 3.5 Sample Selection?????????????????????????? 3.6 Data Analysis???????????????????????????. 3.7 Research Quality Criteria??????????????????????... 4 Data Presentation?????????????????????????.... 4.1 Website design????...?????????????????????? 4.1.1 Case one: Company Overview: MAX???...???????????.?? 4.1.2 Case two: Company Overview: Burger king?....????????????.. 4.2 Customer service????????...?????????????????. 4.2.1 Case one: Max??????????????????????????. 4.2.2 Case two: Burger king???????????????????????. 5 Data Analysis??????????.?????????????????.. 5.1 Analysis of Research Question one??...????????????????. 5.1.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max???????????????.??. 5.1.2 Within case analysis: Case two burger king??????????????... 5.2 Analysis of Research Question two??????????????????... 5.2.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max ?????????????????. 5.2.2 Within case analysis: Case two burger king??????????????... 6 Findings and Conclusions??????????????????????... 6.1 How can the website described????????????????????? 6.2 How the customer service being used to affect the online customer iii 1 1 3 4 4 6 6 6 7 12 17 18 19 21 21 22 25 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 29 29 30 32 32 32 38 46 46 47 50 50 50 53 60 60 62 68 68
experience?...................................................................................................................... 6.3 Overall Conclusion????????????????????????? 6.4 Implications??????????????.?????????????... 6.4.1 Implications for Management?????????.??????????? 6.4.2 Recommendations for Theory????????????????????. 6.4.3 Future recommendations??????????????????????. References?????????????????????????????...
69 69 70 70 71 71 72
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List of Figures:
Figure 2.1: Emerged Frame of Reference Figure 3.1: Research Methodology Figure 4.1: Default page (www.max.se) Figure 4.2: Homepage Figure 4.3: Homepage English version Figure 4.4: Contact max info Figure 4.5. Page loading (www.burgerking.se) Figure 4.6. Homepage Figure 4.7: Menu page of the Burger King Figure 4.8: Online application form can be seen in a popup window Figure 4.9: Online application form who would like to go for franchisee 24 25 33 34 35 37 39 40 42 43 44
List of Tables:
Table 2.1: Variables Table 5.1: Website design (cross case analysis) Table 5.2: Customer service (cross case analysis) 22 57 65
Appendix
Observation Check List Interview guide
v
Introduction
1 Introduction
This chapter provides the reader with an insight into the research area. We begin by briefly discussing the background followed by the problem discussion. The problem discussion ends with the overall purpose of the study and specific research questions. 1.1 Background A new revolution had begun at the end of 20th century and with the start of 21st century, which was so called Information revolution. This revolution was a result of the convergence between information and communication technologies, thus with the help of this convergence, it is now possible to access and process business activities even from remote locations (Jimba, 1998). The Internet now affects every part of the human life, ranging from business to education. By the end of the year 2010 the data on the Internet is estimated to be 1 zeta byte, which is equal to 10*21 gigabytes. This means people will be spending more time on the Internet. (Mutula, 2002) According to ZD.net research there will be 713 Million users worldwide by the year 2006. By taking this into account the companies have to adapt to the culture of the Internet and it should also provide the feature to interact with one another. The Internet also provides opportunities for companies to build strong and profitable relationships with their customers (Kotha, 1998). Rao.Srinidhi (2000) observed growth of the Internet is a result of a "virtual circle" whereby the Internet users spend increasing amounts of time on the Internet, which makes them more receptive to superior content, which attracts more companies to create Websites. The Internet, which began as a messaging and recreational tool has now emerged as a powerful information medium and has evolved into the basic carrier of this new phenomenon of e-commerce. (ibid) Chen & Chang (2003) views that the distinctive advantage for the Internet marketers over traditional offline marketers, The Internet is able to reach large number of consumers scattered around various geographic locations including those areas where it is hard to reach within fractions of seconds. Another advantage is that they are able to reach out to younger generations who are heavily sought by the marketers. Kotha (1998) also emphasises that companies should strive to build strong online communities, which would in turn, build loyal customers and result in high economic returns. According to Mashari (2002) for many business organisations The Internet and e-commerce have become necessities. Many companies have started to use e-commerce as a tool at various levels of their business in order to improve the customer's experience, aid with decision-making, and to lower overall costs. (ibid) According to Mclvor et al., (2000) e-Commerce involves automation of the various businessto-business and business-to-consumer transactions, as well as a process of doing business electronically. It further involves reducing clerical procedures and eliminating paper handling. Burress (2000) further explains that pure e-commerce companies are also seeking to implement the latest website technologies so that customers have an option for
1
Introduction
communicating with them that fulfils the customer's expectations and using it to learn if the customer chooses to communicate via a particular medium; the customer expects the response to be with the same medium. With the help of the Internet, firms also have the scope of transferring goods and services not only through the traditional retail outlets, but also through an online virtual store. At the same time, the Internet also allows the consumer to effectively search for lower prices on the net, using its tools and to decide on alternatives, compare the prices and decide on the best alternative (Hauble & Trifts, 2000). Retailing has changed its trend and now people have been shifting from traditional shopping channels to e-commerce. It is also projected that online sales will rise to 63 million US house holds by 2008. In the developing countries like India the B2C e-commerce is projected to increase to $400 million by 2005, compared to $10.6 million in 2001. (Khakimdjanova, 2004) According to Forester Research, Inc. and shop.org retail, online sales will grow 27 % by 2006. Which would be approximately $144 billion in sales compared to $114 billion last year? Research also confirms that 79 % of all online retailers were profitable. (Lugo & Denise, 2004). Further Choi et al., (2006) believe that with the arrival of the Internet customers have become more powerful. It helps the end user's customized information at a relatively very lower cost, and if they don't like the product or information they are just one click away from leaving. Buying on the web is altogether different from physical shopping because the customer cannot touch or see the product physically. Furthermore, the quality of the product is difficult to judge online. It is up to the online retailers to use IT for handling out the information in a very effective way for their customers. (ibid) Websites are becoming increasingly import to customers, and the company CDnow.com has stated their vision as: "Make every visit to the site, whether for browsing or buying, a valuable and rewarding experience" (Jones, 2002). A website plays a vital role in building online experience between the producers and consumers. It can also help companies to replace 800 numbers (help lines), paper based documents and investment made easy for hosting in the websites to save time and pleases the customers at as well. (Chaudhury, 2001) Choi et al., (2006) confirm that a website should be developed in a way so that it creates a match between the available information and its design. It is also important to note that perspectives of the online buyers should be taken into consideration when developing online strategies to attract online consumers. A study by Kim & Eom (2002) suggests that companies should provide the webpage that is easy to access, making the customers happy. This in turn leads to business success. For online shoppers, shopping should be convenient as much as possible; it should also provide some convenient features such as E-wallet. Also the website should be designed from the customer's perspective and should see that there are no dead or broken links. (ibid) Ellinger et al., (2003) believes that Internet presence provides firms with opportunities to enhance business offerings in a cost effective and practical manner. It can help companies increase profitability, reach new markets, improve customer experience, distribute products faster and communicate more effectively with supply chain partners. 2
Introduction
"There are three things which are vital to business success: the customer experience, great employees and cash flow - Howard Shultz, Founder, Starbucks". Further he argued that the first preference has to be given to customer experience. (http://www.mbadepot.com) According to Rohm et al., (2004) most of the customer's shop at an electronic market place, from a predominantly physical market place it also enables a platform for many buyers and suppliers to come together by expanding the choices. Buyers, suppliers and producers gain benefit in different ways. (ibid) This new medium not only attracts new customer but also provides an opportunity for the companies to build the customer experience. (Zeithaml et al., 2002) 1.2 Problem discussion According to Schmitt (2003) most companies treat their customers as the greatest source of assets and the secret behind the companies' growth and profitability should be tried out by a simple formula: Analyze the customer experience, and the company strategies should be build in such way which should focus mainly on customer experience. It has also been shown that a higher customer experience has a direct impact on future revenue streams (ibid). Although companies have realized the importance of applying IT technology in the process of business-to-customer relationships, there is still a lack of research on effective ways to attract customer attention to websites and then using online customer service to reduce costs and improve the value of product. (Villeneuve et al., 2003) Alomaim et al., (2003) state that a strong basis for an organisation's success can depend on the customer's requirements. Giving something more than what the customer needs is an indication of the fast and growing quality by these organisations and it is their responsibility to identify the customer's needs in order to give the best customer experience. Yang et al., (2003) explain that the primary task of a website is to attract a steady stream of interested users to visit the firm's online presence. An established brand of a well known company, the URL or web address, is itself a competitive advantage, a tool to attract users to the firm's online presence. It has a significant impact on the number of hits a website gets and may even translate into actual purchases via the website. Regardless of how customer acquisition is accomplished, it is imperative that the first rule of business in e-commerce is to bring current and potential customers to the website and make them feel the gratification of online shopping. According to Simeon (1999), the most essential feature of a website is the presentation of information about products, services, people, events or ideas. Websites with strategic orientation accentuate both the gathering and diffusion of information. Limehouse (1999) believes that technology helps companies with the way they work, approach quality of the service they provide towards the customer, pushing such companies to constantly update the technology in order to meet needs of its customers. If we miss out to improve the customer experience then our competitors will. Positive experience on the website builds a strong confidence in the customer about the website. (Yang et al., 2003)
3
Introduction
The special features offered by the Internet for a user is that is free to browse most sites and pick the desired information and services that are being sought. It becomes essential for companies to design websites in such a manner that the user wants to spend long hours or return to the websites at a later time. Websites should be dynamic in order to capture eshopper's attention (Khakimdjanova, 2004). According to (Kim & Stoel, 2004) many firms websites serves not only as a medium to share the vital information to its shareholders and public, but also to offer transaction capabilities, thereby providing additional feature to serve its customers. As websites plays a vital role through which companies can have a constant contact with their customers, so it is important for the companies to gauge the quality of the websites. It is also important to constantly check weather the websites offer quality of information to give a better customer experience to its users. (ibid) It is also an interactive process. Through an online customer experience, companies can get more information on customer feedback and consumer feelings before and after sale. This is one reason why companies should continue to improve their customer value (Freedman, 2002). Furthermore, Alomaim et al., (2003) suggest that though companies think that customer experience is of importance, some of online companies are paying less attention towards it. After the dot-com crisis, which led many companies to shut down their businesses, there has been a lot of change in the companies' attitude towards the customer experience. This project is developed to have a better understanding of how websites can provide efficient and better customer experience. In later chapters, this project will discuss more effective ways to make website "dynamic" and provide high value of customer online transaction. 1.3 Overall Research purpose & Research Questions Considering the discussion above, the purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of how companies use websites to create an online customer experience. In order to fulfil this purpose the following research questions are stated: RQ1: How can the website are described? RQ2: How is customer service used to affect the online customer experience?
1.4 Remainder of the thesis The whole thesis is divided into six chapters. In the first chapter, a brief introduction to the area of research was presented, followed by problem discussion, and then overall purpose and the research questions investigated are discussed. Second chapter constitutes more of theories or literature reviewed by the previous research, and it is carried out within the area of research thereby covering overall purpose of the study, which could serve as the basis for further research. Conceptual framework further brings down the theory on to the topics on 4
Introduction
which the research could be relied on. Under chapter third a brief idea of methodology is presented. Data collected thorough various sources such as interviews and observations are presented under chapter four. Chapter five which is called as data analysis provided a brief idea on how the collected data was examined and analyzed. In the last chapter i.e. chapter no six findings and conclusions based on the research are drawn. Thus at the end of the chapter six a brief implications for further research and recommendations to the management were given.
5
Literature Review
2 Literature Review
In the previous chapter, an introduction and background to the research area of this study was presented as well as overall purpose and research questions. This chapter presents a review of literature relating to each of the two stated research questions. 2.1 Websites The Web presents new opportunities and challenges to establish, build, and manage customer relationships (Geissler, 2001). A good website presents new opportunities and challenges to establish, build, and manage customer relationships. To establish relationships with online customers, it is imperative that a firm understands the user experience and how people interact with the Web. (ibid) It is always believed that the first impressions are the best impression. It also applies while designing the website. The company's front page should be as simple as possible and the company should also see that they don't use heavy graphics and replace them with the services they provide and it also should be noted that the websites should have the feature of contacting the owner for the estimate or for the additional information. Next page of the web should feature the portfolio, suggestions or complaints received from the customers, and also a link where the customer can mail the company. (Taylor, 2006) 2.1.1 Customer Attention McCrea (2005) believes that the companies should focus mainly on designing user friendly website and but Germans believes that's the company are still not following this basic principle. The more simple the website is the more would be the pleasant visiting experience for the customers. He also suggests that companies should use the clear language, and also have the proper navigation bars to direct the customers to necessary information. The companies should design the websites in such a way that it should attract the new customers. And at the same time it should also make sure that the customers who have browsed the site should return back. Attracting customer is important but at the same time making them to return to the websites is more important. (ibid) McCrea (2005) also hints companies should conduct surveys and self assessment tests which should be actually related to the product and service line, which would in turn make the customers more educated about the companies offerings, and this could be done just by starting a blog or chat for the customers. Basics should be clear it is almost important that the companies should see to that there customers should not get turnoff by the poor navigation or the broken links on the website and it a must for the company that they clearly mention what exactly they are offering and how they are different from the competitors. (ibid) It is also believes that's companies should always make sure that's they give royal tour to the customers on their website. Before designing the website companies should try to know what
6
Literature Review
exactly the customer wants from their website, and the suitable format to present the information which is like by them. (McCrea, 2005) 2.1.2 Website design Gehrke & Turban (1999) recommends the following to make the website attractive and splashy. Page Loading Speed Most customers complain about the slow speed of the website and it was believed to be 77%. It is also believed that most of the potential customers who feels that it is taking lot of their valuable time for the webpage to load they have clicked the stop button and taken the business elsewhere. It is highly recommended that companies should minimise use of heavy graphics and lot of animation. Graphics It is suggested that's companies in order to not to have backslash from the customers, should minimise the use of graphics and text to 60 KB in a particular page. And this 60 KB should be allocated in between the most important elements of the website such as for HTML page text 5KB, Background image 5KB, Logo 16KB, navigation bar 8 KB, Navigation buttons 16KB and for the award logos around 10 KB. And if the company's follows this basic rule then it will be easy for the companies to load the page, which would in turn make the customers happy. Animation or multimedia plug-in requirements The main reason for the slow loading of a page is because of the animation. And he strongly recommends companies should try to lessen the use of the animation and at the same time advices that the content should cover almost 80% of the website. Thumbnails Companies should try to provide a thumbnail wherever they feel that's downloading is must. And customer would be happy when he enjoys freedom by having a choice to access particular information. Text Giving an option to the customer to download the text will not only increase the speed but also there is chance there can be more number of users might access the page and bring in business. Content & Graphics Content of a company is the most important for the customers. So the companies should make sure that the content is downloaded first then the graphics follows because by the time the customer reads the content the graphics will get downloaded.
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Literature Review
Business Content The content of the website plays a major role when it comes to attracting the prospective customer. Because the eminence and the usefulness of the content conclude how many customers it can attract. At the same time it is also seen that if the content of the website is not so good then within a fraction of second customers will switch to a different site. Remedies are as follows. Text & Grammar Many of the websites are hazy and the customer who often visits the website has no sign what the company deals with. He suggests that's if the firms are using icons then should assign for the most important subject first. It is believed that majority of the users i.e. around 79% just go through the WebPages without actually reading what exactly the content is. And this is because either the contents are too long and it is too tiring or the users are too busy. He also focuses on the areas where the companies need to concentrate and they are as follows bulleted lists, brief sentences, short pages, keywords, colourful, one idea per paragraph and headings of the paragraphs are compulsory. And at the same time the firms should not ignore the spelling and grammar. Contact information Providing contact information on each and every page will benefit the company and if the company doest do that then there is fear of loosing the business. Firms should make sure that they interact with the customers as many times as possible this would instinct security among the customers and there are more chances of the customers who are interested in doing business. Posting online discussion, message boards or online chat can do interactions. Colour & Texture It is like better to use colours for example if the background is in black colour green is most suited for the text. Updating the site It is highly recommended that the site should be updated frequently which would in turn develops interests among the customers to browse the site more and also and it is suggested that's by updating the website with the current offerings means more business to the company. Login or registration Firms should not ask for unnecessary privacy information from the customers if it is not required. Thus for example if the customers are asked to register to access a particular page then he will switch to a different site instead of moving ahead with the same site.
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Literature Review
FAQ's It is mostly seen that's the companies which creates Frequently Asked Questions will boost the users interest in knowing what exactly is offered on site. Under Construction Signs This is one of the most deadly sins of the website which the companies should avoid. And if the company is keeping the under construction signs then the company should give the actual date of reopening of the site for the users. He also suggests that's the company should make sure that's if there are no major changes to the website then he recommends to update it without going offline Navigation Efficiency User-friendly and efficient navigation, is a must if not there are more chances of user getting confused, vanished and will move to different site without the much loss of time. He also recommended the following. Links It is confirmed that dead links which doesn't work are the most frustrating design faults of the website. Before designing the website the designers should keep in mind two things 1.) What will the customers if they click on this link? 2.) Why the customers want to get that? Use of frames The main reason why the company wants to use the frames is to make the company's logo visible from all the underlying pages. They recommend lessening the use of the frames because it makes the book marking difficult and some of the browser's doest get the proper support for it. It often happens that's some of the frames do not scroll down and When it is required and when it is not required they just scroll down. He believes that use of the frames if the layout is really simple. Navigation There should be consistency in navigation and also suggests that's the firms should provide the consumers alternate ways to navigate the site he highly recommends the use of the hyperlinks, buttons, search engines and drop down menus these all will add up to the user friendliness of the website. Search engine It is preferable to have a search engine for a large site. In e-commerce each failed product search is equivalent to clerk saying no in the physical store. He suggests the search engine to be very simple should be ease to use.
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Literature Review
Hot buttons In order to make the website splashy and dynamic the companies should give a personalized effect to the webpage. He further recommends use of paint blobs, 3D effects or some attractive textures to the site. And also advices that use of the flash 2 software which allows the customer to know more what exactly the button is for or what it is used for. And there should also be an option of click button by adding this feature customer can directly approach to the particular button without much searching for it. Using links in the pages rather then subsequent pages Using links in long pages is really acceptable because if the links are provided it is very easy for the subsequent pages to reload. Site maps Providing site maps will make the customer happy as they can jump on to the required page without much difficulty. Shun pop ups It is highly recommended that firm should try to minimise the use of the popup because it eats lot of the customer's time. And they are nothing but interruptions for main business. Security This is one of the most important concerns with the development of the websites and has also recommended the following to overcome this. He suggests that's in order to make the customers comfortable to implement the SSl or SET technology which will enable them do the financial transaction securely. And it is also believed that using of the words like "secure server" will make the customers satisfied and feel secure. Further he recommends that's by bringing the Cyber Cash, Cyber Source, IC verify, Open Market, Verifone, Verisign, IBM the Internet Division and Clear Performance. Copyrights The owners should copy right whatever they are doing on their website. And the best way to do this is to secure MD5 hash code for the files and then advertise the hash code in the newspaper. It is recommended to download 38KB zip file to make it as an electronic copy. And it is important to note that's there should be a place on website to signify that the content or any act on the website is copyrighted. Confirmation of purchase After the online purchase is done it is suggested the company should confirm the purchase and giving the following details to the customer such as transaction code, invoice number and delivery date etc that will make the customer happier.
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Literature Review
Marketing/ Customer Focus Website is considered to be good if it really serves its function. If a website is created to market a particular product or services then it should be judged on how well it solves its purpose and at the same time it is important that it keeps the customers in focus. A website which is created to market the products and services has got three main important objectives. 1.) Creating awareness 2.) Generate traffic 3.) Impel the customer to make the purchase. Following are the recommendations to promote the site. Record the key words from the business and then advertise in big search engines like Yahoo or Hot Bot. Each product should have its own page and it is important to register with the search engines. It is also important to note that's there is special section, which often says about the expresses about the press release, or if something important news has to be conveyed to the customer. It is good practise to have a URL for all the important links for advertising, classifieds and journals etc. Whenever something new is coming up with the company it is highly recommended to publish an email newsletter. In order to grow the business advertising of the website on TV, radio and other medium is a must. E-mailing customer about the important updates of the company or when something new is going to be added to the website. At the same time companies should try to collect email addresses of the customer but it is important to note that's companies don't send spam mails. Customer requirements One way to grab the customers is to offer what they are interested in. If the firm know what exactly customer requires then it will really becomes easy for the firms to serve them better. The following are the ways to find out what the customers wants those who use carts for shopping. (Cookie) is considered to be a small file, which contains the cart number, which is transmitted to consumer's web browser's hard disk. (Temporary IP number) This is something, which is assigned automatically to Users ISP provider. (Randomly generated cart number) In this case it is attached to the URL to follow the users to other site. And he also suggest some other ways to trace what the customer wants from the firm such as conducting surveys or requesting them to go through some questionnaire and also conducting research in the offline market will also solve this purpose. Alternatives payments methods Companies should give more options for the payments after the customer makes the purchase will make the transaction smoother which will also result in more sales. Thus by allowing the customer choice of payments will make the customers happy.
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Literature Review
Business practises Companies in order to be market leaders should gain the trust of the customers and should be open with the customers about the business practises they follow. And it is good that's the company should disclose everything on their home page to gain trust. Domain names should be simple and easily remembered. And it should contain. Auto responder For the betterment of the communication the auto responder should be always running thus for examples if the customer mails the company at least he should get an immediate reply of the mail received by the company. Information should be attractive The information on the website should be attractive which would result in customer spending more time on the site. And the customer spending more time on the site means there are more chances of purchasing. Offer discounts incentives Companies should timely come up with special offers or discounts, which will lure the customer to purchase more. English as option As English is considered to be a global language it's should be used as a medium for developing the site or at least offer English as option. By offering the choice of language will make the customers more comfortable to deal with the website. 2.1.3 Guidelines to build a quality website Cox & Dale (2002) suggest the following guidelines for a quality website. Clarity of purpose Website should be clear in its purpose it should disclose clearly what exactly they are dealing with. It is also important the information on the website should be sensibly organised. On the other hand if the customer finds it difficult to find the desired information then there are major chances of customer switching to a different site. It is also recommended to offer instructions which will help the customer to navigate on the website easily. Design When designing the website usability is the key factor to determine the quality of a successful website. "Web performance and the design are currently largest obstacles to online purchase". The website is almost the backbone of any of the companies so it should take utmost care when designing it because it reveals the real image of the firm. It is only through the company's website the consumers would able to decide what the firms wants to convey them.
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Literature Review
Links Without the valid links the navigation on the website is unimaginable. Its always better that's colour changes whenever the customer clicks on the link so that's customer would know whether he is heading towards the right direction or not. It is also recommended that the websites features graphics in such way that's when the mouse or the cursor is moved on them it changes to text. It is also important that the customer should find the navigation links easily instead of spending time to find them. It is better to give the main navigation links on the homepage under the menu bar or at the bottom of the home page which will make the customers easy to trace them in turn would make the users navigating a pleasant experience. Lay out and the pages of the website mainly depend on what the companies are into. But the companies should try to maintain consistency within the pages of the website. The designers should step into the customer shoes so that they would feel how exactly the customer feel when he browses any particular site. Also suggest that it would be a wonderful experience for the customers if the designers give "home" on each and every page, which would allow the users to directly go to the home page instead of clicking back button, which would be a irritating for the customer. Sites, which uses site map or which gives clear direction about the site is often successful. It is also a great help for the customer because they can directly go to desired page without wasting a lot of time. Pages, Text and Clicks The pages on the website should be short because it is really irritating to scroll the cursor down to read the content and in exceptional cases it is recommended to have scrolling page if the information is laid out well and is not that long. The author has appreciated Amazon.com for one click order process, which will allow the customers to purchase with just one click. It is also recommended that's if the customers are allowed to register or open an account then it should be done in one page itself. They further hints at designing the website the companies should also make sure that they don't commit any mistakes because it will lead to frustration. Communication and feedback Communication and feedback principle between the company and customer are really important while designing. The main aim is to keep the user updated about what exactly happening in the company for examples if the user has placed an order there should be a feature where in he can track the order delivery status and notify the customer if there are any errors while entering date. And this feature is mostly used by all the websites for example if the customer enters any wrong information the field automatically changes to red. He further confirms that websites, which uses lot of white pages or empty spaces, are less successful when compared to others.
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Literature Review
Graphics and Animations Excessive use of the graphics and animation will slow down the access of the pages and this will lead to irritation. He recommends minimising the use of the graphics. Colour also plays important role in designing the website which should not be ignored. Website should not look dull which will have a negative impact on the company. Company should minimise the use of the animation because that's would distract the attention of the user. And it is believed that most of the consumers use low modem connections which doest supports the animations. It is highly recommended that companies should actually give options for the user whether they want to access the site with or without animation. This will make the customer more happy because for a customer who just wants to have information can do it fast and more quickly. Search Use of search engine within the website will make a pleasant experience for the customers and he further states that's customer would look for this option when they want something specific from the website instead of going through the navigation links. Once the customer hits the search button the desired results should be programmed in an order and the search results should be relevant at the same time preferably in one page. It is also important to note that's once the user hits the search button he should not be welcomed with the popup advertisement and other stuff which will irritate the customer and there are chances of he not returning to the website or just end the further process. Fill-in forms Whenever the registration from the consumers is required for example when is making a purchase or when is trying to create a login website should guide the customer while when the customer is undergoing this process. The areas where the customer is filling his personal details should be self explanatory .It should also be noted that's websites should not burden the consumers with unnecessary information. The website input field should be designed in such way that's for examples address input field should have more space to enter the required address at the same time the post code field doesn't require much space when compared to the address field. Accessibility and Speed Accessibility and speed is one of the most important factors to be determined while designed the website. Accessibility is nothing but the rate at which the page downloads. The faster it is the more the customer would be happy. They also believed that's the firm would loose 10% of its customers if the desired page takes 8 seconds to download. The only purpose of using this technology is for speed and convenience and if this were not achieved then customer would no longer be interested in using it.
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Literature Review
Firms should give 24/7 services to its customers because it is believed that half of the ecommerce activities will be done after the normal working hours by 2003. It is also important that's companies should try to find out at what times the customers normally do visit there sites. Content Content of the website plays a vital role while designing the website. Lot of care has to be taken, firms should see to that's they don't provide any misleading or irrelevant information which is not required by the user. And if this happens there are more chances of customer switching on to the competitors site. Companies should give clear information about its offering such as there wide range of products and also it should discuss the policies about the dealing with it. Selection Offerings of the company should be related to its business and easy way to access them is also important Often seen that customer has to go through surveys or the questionnaires before actually selecting wide range of products and that would irritate the customer many of the times. So it is highly important that's company should take care of this issues seriously. It is preferable to either display the range of the products on the home page it self or give the direct links to view them. Product/ Service information and availability Whenever the company displays the range of products on its website it should give the clear total information about it such as which brand does it belong to, price, features, discount if any it weight, size and colour etc. Information provided should be genuine should not by any chance mislead the customers. And it is also important to note that's the information relating to the product should be displayed just by its side and it will be really helpful for the customer otherwise customer has to spend lot of time to know more about it. If a firm is advertising about a product on a particular page it should make sure that it gives enough information about the offering, conditions of purchasing what ever required for purchasing should be made available to customer which will allow him to make a convenient online shopping experience. They further states that the company when displaying the range of products also should make sure they have enough stock if by chance if the a particular product is out of stock it should be immediately updated on website. So the companies should stress on giving the real time information to customers in order to make them happy. Delivery Information It is also important that the information about the shipping such as delivery time, shipping costs should be clearly stated on the home page which will not confuse the customer while making the purchase and it is highly important because if the customer likes what is offered by the company then he will move further with the order process. At the same time timely delivery plays a vital role if the company promises a time for the delivery it should try to make it at any cost to keep up its reputation. 15
Literature Review
Policies, Charges, terms and conditions It is important for the companies to clear state its policies, Terms and condition make sure that's the customer know about them before going entering into any sort of dealing with it. And also if the sale it international then the company should clearly indicate if they are going to charge extra taxes if any. Terms & Conditions play a major role when the customer wants to cancel order or return back or while settlement of the disputes. Security and Reliability One of the main concerns of the online business is security and reliability of the transaction. They further suggest that security policy should be made available to the customer on all the pages of the website. Mostly it is seen that's the customer are worried when disclosing the credit card details online. And also it is noted that customer don't like to give out their personal information which is the main hindrance for smooth online shopping. Most of the customers do not want the company to store in the database. It is compulsory for the companies to state their physical and address and contact details. And at the same time it is good to disclose the title and registration details to get the customers in to confidence and to show them that the company is really in existence. Customer Service Customer service is one of the main areas where the companies need to devote its major time. And steps should be taken to deliver the quality service to the customer. As most of the business is conducted via the Internet in this e-commerce world and where face to face interaction is non existence companies must take steps to give the phone lines where in customer can call and resolve there issues and the customer which don't operate 24/7 should provide email assistance to the customers. So the contact details of the company must be made available on each and every page of the website. It is seen that's some of the company's give the contact information at the bottom but it is recommended to give it in the top of the page with the clear view. And also the companies should timely get the feedback from the customer in order to update the site. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) FAQs should be well-designed manner and while designing the companies should actually look into what type of queries the customers are asking for. And it is most important that's most urgent questions should be answered first and vice versa. And if possible companies should designate links, which would take the customer directly to the answer, which they are looking for. And the better Performa to arrange this is 1. Table of contents 2. List of questions organized by topic 3. Index. 16
Literature Review
Customer Feed back Platforms Companies should create platforms wherein customer can be free to express their opinion or give the feedback to the companies. And it is believed that firms who try to create such interaction are considered to be most successful in business. At the same time companies should have a feature wherein customer can interact with the other customer, which can in turn develop into a customer community. Frequent Buyer Incentives In order to attract customers to make purchase companies should come up with attractive incentives, which would in turn allow the customers to make more purchase or repeat buying. The author further states that these are the marketing tools which the companies should make use of in this IT world where the customer is free to choose the competitor at just one click. 2.2 Customer Service Constantinides (2004) not only for the dot.com type companies but also for the multi-channel vendor's web experience is crucial to influence the customer. Delivering online customer experience requires special attention for the firms, which are expanding with the Internet presence. Half adult the Internet users have abandoned online orders because of negative online experience and around 60% of them have switched brands. Constantinides (2004) believes that sites which clearly addresses the client needs and meet the customer's expectations are considered to be one of the most successful website delivering good customer experience. Website should be considered as an important marketing tool, which helps to build customer relationship. Several academics and practitioners have common opinion about the "online shopping experience" or "virtual experience" as a crucial e-commerce marketing issue. Constantinides (2004) define the online shopping experience as a process of four stages describing the successive steps of an online transaction. Considering that an online customer is not simply a shopper but also an information technology user one can argue that the online experience is a more complicated issue than the physical shopping experience: The Web experience can be defined as the consumer's total impression about the online company Constantinides (2004) results from customer's exposure to a combination of virtual marketing tools "under the marketer's direct control, likely to influence the buying behaviour of the online consumer". The Web experience embraces elements like searching, browsing, finding, selecting, comparing and evaluating information as well as interacting and transacting with the online firm. The virtual customer's total impression and actions are influenced by design, events, emotions, atmosphere and other elements experienced during interaction with a given Web site, elements meant to induce customer goodwill and affect the final outcome of the online interaction (ibid).
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Literature Review
Customer's attention to the website is not only important for the marketing site but it also for the informative site for those customers who are more interested in informational content such as for ex news, weather, sports etc. These are online intermediaries who are competing for the attention of the public. (Constantinides, 2004)
2.2.1 Considerations and ways to build the customer experience online From Geissler (2001) theory, he highlights seven aspects that can promote online service in terms of customer experience. Creating awareness Research suggest that's firms should make sure that's customer know about their website. And it is also important duty of the companies as well to create consciousness among the customers of its website. Marketers should try to advertise the websites and should assist the customers in locating the website. And the best way to help them is through search engines, key words to help searches and domain names, which are descriptive and easily recognized. Steady message Companies while designing its site should try to concentrate on the segmentation, targeting, and positioning because these play a major role. While designing the site the companies should see to that's it has taken target audience into consideration. The main focus should be to attract the attention of the customers. The essential components of the website should mainly focus on who we are, what we can offer, what is inside and how the customer can get in touch with us. User's needs Companies should make sure that's they design the website that's would suit the computer systems of the customer. The site should be easy to navigate and download, to give a pleasant browsing experience the designers should also make use of the controlled navigation, which will enable the customers to know about its site. It is proven fact the most the pleasant experience there are more chances of the customer making the purchase online. Update the Website It is the prime duty of the companies to keep the customers updated about their offerings in order to do so the companies should frequently update the website which plays a vital role to keep the customer updated. At the same time if the companies are offering any discounts of specials should try to convey to the customers at any cost via website. Customer information It is one of the most important steps, which the companies should need to pursue in order to keep up the good relations with the customers online. Feedback from the customer is also important for the better performance of the companies the company 18
Literature Review
should forgo some of the costs in order to build strong relationship with the customers for example offering free shipping for the customers who fill in there personal information will enhance relationship and it is also noted by the one of the designer saying that's Free is the magic word on the web.
Involve the designers Designers have a better understanding of the online marketing approaches when compared to their customers. Companies should always show the importance of the relationship marketing, segmenting, targeting and positioning. The company and client both should play an important and active role in structuring online marketing strategies Relationships Web is considered to be one of the best tools in attaining companies marketing goals. It helps the companies to build strong relationships with the customers, interact with them, and carry out business with them. (ibid) 2.2.2 Key quality factors Cox & Dale (2002) come up with the key quality factors, which facilitate the companies in achieving great customer experience online, and they are as follows. Easy of use Customer confidence Online resources Relation ship services Above factors helps the companies to achieve a great level of satisfaction which make them to return to the website again. Usability The main aim of the usability of the website is to reduce the customer's frustration while navigating the website. Companies must try to see that there is no break of communication with the customer while conducting the business online and that steps should taken so the customer is guided while browsing by providing navigation and search links Customer Confidence For any business gaining trust from the customer it is more important in online business. In other terms its nothing but how the customer feel when he browses the website he should have a pleasant experience in terms of accessibility, speed, and customer service, the companies to make sure that customers find the site safe not only for browsing but also conducting transactions online.
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Literature Review
Online resources The ability of the website is to give abundant information about the products to the customer to make the right choice which is more suited to him and be able to make the purchase online. If the customers are making the purchase online there is a need that the company should display the products. The companies should also make sure that that once the customer makes the purchase he should be assisted from the time he makes the payment and till he gets the delivery of the product. Also to make the customer happy order tracking or shipment tracking feature should be installed in website. Customer relationship Strong customer relationship is really important in any kind of business so the firms should build strong relationship by offering extra or valuable services. And by customizing the website or by offering discounts and by giving some extra services that would really add value. And it is proved that happy customers make the business grow.
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Conceptual Framework
2.3 Conceptual Framework
According to Miles & Huberman (1994), a conceptual framework can show both graphically and in words how the research questions fit together. Each research question is conceptualized below, showing which variables from which studies in the literature review will be relied on deductively to collect data. 2.3.1. Web design Regarding the web designs which influence the customer attention to the website, as we have gone through several theories related to our research area. We have decided to base our conceptualization on Cox & Dale (2002) suggested theory for the web design. We found these web designs to be both latest and most extensive and also lot of research has been done by the author and we could build a strong base for our research area which would help us out to move further to the next step i.e. data collection. We have conceptualized the key variables in the following Table 2.1 that we deemed fit for our investigation to our RQ 1.
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Conceptual Framework Table 2.1 Variables Clarity of purpose Purpose How it is organised Links Colour change Lay out Home Pages text and click Pages on the website Registration Communication and feedback Interaction Error free registration Auto responder Graphics and Animation Use of Graphics Use of Animation Search Search engine Fill in forms User friendly registration Accessibility and speed Round the clock service Content Information on the website Delivery information Information about the delivery Frequently ask question FAQs Frequent buyer incentives Discount and offers Shun pop ups Use of pop ups Clear text and grammar Text and grammar Language option English as option 2.3.2 Customer service Constantinides (2004) believes that sites which clearly addresses the client needs and meet the customer's expectations are considered to be one of the most successful website delivering good customer experience. Delivering online customer experience requires special attention for the firms, which are expanding with the Internet presence.
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Conceptual Framework
In this section we would like to address the considerations and the ways to build the online customer experience. And Geissler (2001) acknowledges seven aspects, which would help the companies to promote the online service in terms of customer experience, and they are as follows and they are considered to be appropriate and recent.
• • • • • •
Creating awareness. Steady message. Users needs. Update the website. Customer information • Involve the designers Relationships.
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Conceptual Framework
Figure 2.1: Emerged Frame of reference From the discussion above, we are postulating the Frame of Reference for our study below. The above figure 2.1 evidently shows how a combination of website design and customer service can build in great positive e-experience for the customers. The companies should offer a balanced mixture of a good website design and customer service for its growth and success.
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Methodology
3 Methodology
In the previous chapter, a conceptual framework was presented, which detailed theories of relevance to the purpose and research questions of this thesis. In this chapter we will first discuss the research purpose followed by the research approach and strategy. Then we will review the data collection, sample selection, analyses method, and the quality criteria. Finally we will discuss validity and reliability of our study.
3.1 Research Purpose Research can be carried out in different ways and they can be carried out depending on the research problem before the investigation is started. According to Yin (1989), the research can be classified into three type's exploratory, descriptive and explanatory study. Research conducted should be as flexible guide the reader about the steps being followed or performed during each stage. 3.1.1 Exploratory Research This type of research is conducted when the investigator has a difficulty in giving a structure to the problem (Yin, 1994). According to Sekaran (2000) the study whether it is exploratory, descriptive or explanatory totally depends on the researcher how much knowledge he has gained on the research topic. This type of research is carried out when no information is available and how the problem or research issues are dealt in the past. Also it is suggested that extensive groundwork needs to be done to deal with the situation and one must need to know what exactly is occurring. Interviews can be taken to have a grip on situation and to further proceed on a rigorous research. (ibid) It is also valuable means to find out what is happening to gain into the new insights and to judge the phenomena in a new light. Activities of a traveller can be related to the exploratory research. It is very much flexible and adaptable to change. (Saunders et al., 2003)
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Methodology According to Saunders et al., (2003) there are three principle ways of conducting exploratory research.
• • •
Literature search Having a view of the experts. Focus group interviews
In exploratory research the questions dealt with are usually general and it is more often that exploratory researches are more qualitative in nature. (Zikmund, 2000) The purpose of the research is to gather more and more information as possible concerning a specific problem. Interviews can be considered as the best technique to gather the information in the exploratory research. (Yin, 1994) 3.1.2 Descriptive Research According to Zikmund (2000) the main reason of conducting descriptive studies is to expose the exact profile of the persons, events or the situations and it is also considered to be an extension of the exploratory research. According to Dane (1990) Descriptive Research means either defining a phenomenon or differentiating it from the other phenomenon. The impact of this research is Descriptive research the most extensive descriptive research was done by US Bureau of the census and the main target of their research was to count and to explain the characteristics of the total US population. It is often used to study the difference between the old and new outcomes. Descriptive theory covers the whole subject and depth of the case. It is mostly used when there is no need to investigate cause and effect relationship and when the problem is well structure. (Yin, 1994) Sekaran (2000) also suggested that In order to ascertain and describe the characteristics of the variable, descriptive studies are undertaken. In organizations these studies are conducted to gain knowledge of the characteristics of the group of the employees. The organizations, which follow certain common procedures, are taken to study their characteristics in descriptive studies. 3.1.3 Explanatory Research The goal of the explanatory research is to examine the cause and effect relationship between two or more phenomena. It should also be used when it is important to show that one variable causes or determines the value of the other variables. It is also often conducted to determine whether the cause and effect relationship is valid or not (Dane, 1990). According to Saunders et al., (2003) explanatory studies are carried out which results in building the casual relationship between the variables. And it is also carried to study a particular situation or problem and to explain the relationships between them. The research purpose and research questions of this thesis indicate that this study is more exploratory and descriptive and little explanatory. And this is exploratory as we need to
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Methodology explore how the website design and customer service is being used to, affect the online customer experience. And as there are some related studies in this area, so our job is to explore new findings, our interests is also to describe the area of research and try to begin to explain the collected data in order to find out the differences and similarities. 3.2 Research Approach: Qualitative In this section we will focus on the ways in which the research may be approached, research can be approached in various ways such as deductive versus inductive, qualitative and quantitative this would be explained first followed by the reasons of this study's approach. According to Gummesson (2000) the research in management and business studies include general management, leadership, and marketing organization, corporate strategy accounting and more qualitative methodology and case studies are the powerful tools. Qualitative methods are used for the data collection in case studies. Qualitative study would be most preferred in the study of the processes in which data collection, analyses and action takes place concurrently. Qualitative approach is characterised by the nearness to the object of research. Mostly selection of the research approach is based on the research purpose and accompanying research questions (Yin, 2003). Trustworthiness credibility and dependability, ability, transferability and conformability are the criteria for the qualitative research. (Flick, 1998). It is a kind of research, which does not use rigorous mathematical approach at the same time it leaves much of the measurement process to the researcher itself, and it is more subjective in nature. (Zikmund, 2000) As we wanted to give a better understanding of our research area and based on the research question we posed above, we will get through information to describe the understanding of the research questions. We will use a frame of reference and aim to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon instead of analyzing data statistically. Qualitative approach will be mostly suitable for this thesis. 3.3 Research Strategy: Case Study Strategies to the research may be of different types. Some of them clearly support deductive research and other to the inductive researches. The different strategies are experiment, survey, case study, grounded theory, ethnography, action research, cross sectional and longitudinal studies and exploratory, descriptive and explanatory studies. (Saunders et al., 2003) Selecting the type of strategy depends on the following. The type of research question posed. The extent of control an investigator has over actual behavioural events. The degree of focus will be on contemporary, as opposed to historical, events.
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Methodology According to Saunders et al., (2003) Case study can be defined as a strategy for doing research, which involves an empirical investigation of a particular phenomenon with its real life contexts using multiple sources of evidence. This strategy is particularly useful to gain an understanding of the context of the research and process being enacted. It is mostly helpful to gain answers to the questions why, as well as what and how. He further states that it is the most suitable way to explore the existing theory. Sekaran (2000) further claims that it's a problem solving technique and it involves in-depth analyses of the situations. It is mostly suitable where the nature of problem seems to be the same. As the purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding how the companies promote website in terms of it design and customer experience. Finally as this is focussed on contemporary time, strategy chosen will be a multiple case study. 3.4 Data Collection Methods: Observation & Interviews Further Dane (1990) suggests that the ways and the means to collect the data should be planned in advance in order to make a good research project. The research should constantly try to check whether the plan is going in the right direction. Based on the research questions posed, as sources of data collection the author will use email, interviews and participation observation which is with the scope of the research According to Sekaran (2000) in different settings data can be collected in many ways and through different sources. It may involve the following interviews, face-to-face interviews, and telephonic interviews. Computer assisted interviews, and through the electronic media, questionnaires, observation etc. According to Saunders et al., (2003) choosing the right method of data collection is very much important and he further explains that structured observation is a systematic and has got predetermined structure and it's a kind of approach where its main aim is to tell how the things are happening rather then explaining how the things are happening. It also allows collecting the data at the time they occur in a total natural setting. The main advantage of the observations is that there is no need to depend on second hand information from the respondents who would put their own interpretation. Considering the nature of the research questions, for the first research question the author would go for a observation as he would personally like to observe the variables concerning to the cases being studied and the second research question would like to rely mostly on the in depth interviews with the company employees to know the companies point of view in depth. And it is also important to know whether the company really cares for the customers means what is announced on the website is being followed or not.
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Methodology 3.5 Sample Selection According to Saunders et al., (2003) sampling is a kind of technique which provides a various ways to considerably reduce the amount of data and there will be a need to collect the data by considering only data from a subgroup rather then all possible cases or elements. Sekaran (2000) further believes that it is process of selecting from a sufficient number of elements from the population and understanding the properties or the characteristics of the similar subjects. According to Sekaran (2000) sampling designs can be divided in two major types i.e. probability and the other one is non-probability sampling. In probability sampling the population has some probable chance of being selected and while in non-probability sampling the elements not have any predetermined chance of getting selected. When conducting research, it is often impractical and impossible or too expensive to collect data from all the potential units of analysis included in the research problem. Thus, from smaller number of units, a sample, are often chosen to represent the relevant attributes of the whole set of units, the population. Due to the fact that samples are not perfectly representative of the population from which they are drawn, the researcher cannot be certain that the conclusions will generalize to the entire population. (Graziano & Raulin, 1997) For our sample selection we have chosen is a food industry and Max and Burgerking as our cases. The reason of choosing the food industry is interesting, unlike all the other businesses such as, automobile, sports, banking, retail and electronics where e-commerce activities are conducted online. Having a web presence in case of food industry is unique our effort is to know their purpose of having a website how they build the online customer experience. And by studying the similar contrasting cases would add confidence to our findings. We are studying Max as it is one of the biggest local Swedish fast food chain which operates all over Sweden and Burger king is food retail chain which operates globally and it would be more interesting to study these two brands operating in Sweden. We would further focus on website in terms of its design and experience and also we would like to see whether they are actually offering what has been promised to the customer's on the website. We could easily find out the differences and similarities existing in both of them and do a comparison based on our thesis perspective. 3.6 Data Analysis According to Sekaran (2000) after the data is collected through various sources such as interviews, observation. The main aim of data analyses has to achieve three main objectives getting a feel of the data, testing the goodness of the data and testing the hypothesis developed for the research.
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Methodology According to Yin (2003) In order to address the initial prepositions of a study data analyses consist have examined, categorizing, tabulating, and testing evidence. Every investigation should have general analytical strategy in order to determine what to analyze and why. The researchers further claims that before the data are actually are analyzed, investigator can choose between two analytical strategies that is either relying on theoretical propositions or developing a case description. There are three general strategies; they are relying on theoretical prepositions, Thinking about the rival expectations and developing a case description. The most common strategy is relying on theoretical prepositions. The result of this is that the collection of data is based on the research question taken from the previous studies. The results obtained from this study is then compared with the results and finding from the previous studies. (Yin, 2003)Two general strategies are suggested either theoretical prepositions that led to the case study or developing descriptive framework to organize the case study. As lot of research has been done within our area of research and therefore our analytical strategy relies on theoretical prepositions. (ibid) We will use within-case analyses and cross-case analysis as discussed by Miles and Huberman (1994). A within case analysis is often used at this phase, which involves comparing the colleted data with the theories used. Being displayed through a cross-case analysis where the cases will be compared with one another further reduces the data. 3.7 Research Quality Criteria The case studies are a type of empirical research, where the quality of the research can be judged by conducting four specific tests. The four different tests can be shown which are as follows. (Yin, 2003) Tests Description Correct operational measures for the concepts being Construct Validity studies, which will enhance accuracy. Building casual relationships whereby certain conditions are shown which lead to other conditions as distinguished Internal Validity from spurious relationship. Building the domain to which a study's findings can be External Validity generalized. It is a measurement that demonstrates the operations of a Reliability study. Source: Adapted from Yin2003, p34 Validity refers to extent to which it measures and what we actually wish to measure. It can be divided into two major forms they are internal validity and external validity. We can achieve the internal validity with the specification of the unit analyses. The development of priori analyses and the collection of the data and analyses are done to test these rivals and at the same time external validity is achieved through the specification of the theoretical relationships, from which the generalizations can be drawn. (Yin, 1993) 30
Methodology
Internal validity refers to experimental treatment was the sole cause of the observed changes in the dependent variable. External validity refers to the ability of an experiment to generalize the results of to the external environment (Zikmund, 2000). It highly important to note that for the quality measurement reliability alone is not sufficient. Reliability is used when the measure is consistent and this before implementing or accepting any measure we must make sure that it is valid. (Dane, 1990) Reliability refers to the extent of which the measures is without bias (error free), which offers consistent measurement across the time. Reliability can also be defined as a measure, which indicates stability and consistency with which the concept are measured and which would help to assess the goodness of a measure (Sekaran, 2000). Reliability is achieved through formal case study protocols and by ensuring that the same procedures are followed in multiple cases. (Yin, 1994) And also we have used well-established literature to build the interview guide, which was purely based on frame of reference. The use of the multiple case studies also has increased the validity as it has provided much information about the research area In order to achieve reliability we have mentioned all the steps right from data collection, sample selection, and interview guide development to actual conduct of interview, data presentations and data analysis. And in order to make it more reliable and valid we also have the recordings of the interviews and for the Burgerking.se site as we have little knowledge of Swedish language we have taken the help of the Swedish student of the Lulea Technical University.
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Data presentation
4 Data Presentation
In this chapter, we will present the empirical data and information, which we collected from the above websites, regarding our research questions. The order of the presentation will be according to the research questions. Firstly overview of the companies will be discussed followed by the data collected will be presented. 4.1 Website design 4.1.1 Case one: Company overview: MAX Curt Bergfors, active chairman of the board together with his wife Brita started the Sweden's oldest and most popular hamburger chain restaurant in the year 1968. Recently the company has opened its 50th chain and is planning to touch the 80th mark by 2009. It has got around 1500 employees and its turnover has been doubled from 212 million SEK in the year 1998 to 438 million Sek in the year 2004. The most important aspect in MAX is the taste and quality of the hamburger they serve. It has also got the highest ratings in all the taste tests conducted in Sweden according to (SIFO and ISI wising 2005). And also it has got the highest customer satisfaction index for third year in a row. They also certified that it has got the best hamburgers in Sweden. It is also proud to announce that it is the only restaurant chain, which offers free the Internet to it customers. And the connection is offered to W-LAN. The consistent quality enables us to guarantee that our burgers taste exactly how you expect them to taste. The purpose of the website www.Max.se is to market the food products offered by their esteem company and to make customers aware of their
• • • • • •
History Financial Locations Logos and recognitions Family login entertainment and max radio Contact info
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Data presentation
Figure 4.1: Default page Source: http://www.max.se/ The moment user visits Max's website, he is prompted to a well-designed welcome page by default. The welcome page is designed in an interactive flash media which highlights some of the important events in max history and why its is liked by Swedish people such as they say about they are ruling in the hamburger food chain since 1968, focus on taste and quality and they always ranked first when the surveys were done independently by the news papers such as customer satisfaction surveys done by (SIFO) and they are proud to say that they guarantee the Swedish meat and beef and also offer deli fresh products which contains very low fat as maximum as 5% and as an alternative Max has introduced Salad to overcome the negative health consequences having French fries which is most common combi snack with various products. Max is proud to say that it's the only restaurant, which offers this low fat contained product across Sweden. They also say that they are expanding there locations with text and logo's showing their best wards in the recent years, along with the complete Swedish and other Sweden food standards logo's. This welcome page is completely designed in Swedish language, which recognizes Max as a Swedish company. There is a Max logo to extreme right corner of the footer.
•
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Data presentation
Figure 4.2: Home page of Max's Source: http://www.max.se/default.aspx The customer is then prompted to the home page, which is also an index page. This page is also designed in Swedish with complete information related to max. The beauty of this page lies in giving the customer the multiple language option to either view the website in English or in Swedish version. As we have little Swedish language knowledge, we preferred to study the website in English. The concept of the colours change in the links tab is designed only on navigation bar. The combination of colours is mainly white and orange with grey background. The place where the max has given an option to create a login for the regular users and when we move on the cursor to login area it changes to light blue. The OK button, for the login which is black in colour, changes to white. The option where the customer has to login or which gives about the details of the login is blue in colour is turning to light blur when the cursor is moved on to it and once the customer has fill in details to register himself the submit button is actually black in colour changes to light blue and it is also giving an impression as if it is compressed. And exactly below the location maps where the user has been given an option to select the language the flags given are giving impression as if they are compressed. And to the right of footer where we see the link to go to the contact information and the designer's information is changing to light blue which is actually dark in colour.
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Data presentation
And if come to sub headings under the each main heading it is actually represented by an arrow and text, which are both red in colour. When we move on the cursor on it changes to light green. And coming to the contact information of Max the phone numbers and fax and the email id given are giving impressions as if they are compressed same goes with the print option which is given on each page. And the message box where the customer has been given an facility to contact the company the required field where the customer has to compulsorily feed in the information is marked red in colour and the fields which are not required is represented by a ash colour and when the cursor is moved on to it, there is also a small text box which shows that whether information is compulsory or not. And the send button also gives the impression as if it is compressed.
Figure 4.3: Homepage English version Source: http://www.max.se/en/ The layout of the website is divided into main header, a sub header and individual vertical columns or blocks with various images and text content .The main header of the home page has the Max logo on to the extreme left, a welcome note, an image hyper referred to live radio and a family login to the extreme right of the header. The sub header is more dominated on the page with an image highlighting Max's special Hamburger.
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Data presentation There is a vertical left side bar, which is also the index, or the navigation bar. The options on the side bar are hot linked to the rest of the website content pages. The bottom of the navigation bar has a Sweden map with Max logos to graphically show the various Max locations. The rest of the site is subdivided into five blocks with 4 images and one text. The text block is filled with content to gives brief introduction about Max, whereas, the other four hyper referred image are. Max hoarding image hyper linked to facts and financial information A grey scale image hyper linked to historical movements Deli fresh image (which is one of their leading food product) hyper linked to deli fresh content page An interior image of restaurant hyper linked to restaurant locations. The Footer of the page is designed with Sweden and British flag to the extreme left providing the options for the viewers to select web page language. Copyright information is almost at the middle of the footer. Contact information and the guaranteed Swedish logo are placed at the extreme right of the footer. The index is categorized into five main headings with sub-headings as follows. 1 About Max • Expansion Under the expansion subheading they have discussed more about their expansion plans in Sweden and also mention they are planning to open up around 80 restaurants by 2009. And also informed why it is most favourite restaurant of Swedish citizen. • Facts about Max Under the facts the company has informed certain important information related to them such as total turnover and employees. And actual date of commencing of business and their certifications to their credit • Historical movements Historical subheading mostly discusses about there expansion in Sweden from the time they started the restaurant in 1968 till 2005. • Max and the environment Under this subheading the company has discussed the about the important of recycling which in turn would help the environment. 2 Our food • About deli-fresh Here the company discusses about specialty of offering low fat content hamburgers. • Transfat and GMO Here the company tells us they're about their success story how they have succeeded in working on developing non-hydro-generated frying oil without Trans fats. The new oil, which they are using, has got a very less fat content. • Fat statement
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Data presentation In this subheading the company discusses about the fat statement, which they release, every year and they strive hard to reduce the fat content as much as they can 3. Restaurants • Locations: List of restaurants 4. Contact tab • Under this sub heading the company has given out the ways to contact Max. The address and phones and fax number are listed and also have given an option where in customer can fill out a form to get in touch with them. 5. Home (Always leading to the main page) The pages on the Max website is short and the browser could read through the whole text
Figure 4.4: Contact Max info Source: http://www.max.se/en/contact.aspx
However for the interaction in the contact section Max has used very simple form to get in touch with them where in the customer needs to give out their name, phone number, email, subject and the message. Customer can also get in touch with them those who are
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Data presentation not interested to wait for fill out the form can contact are via telephone, fax and email. They also have facilitated by giving an option of contacting any of there location restaurant in the Sweden by providing there phone number and fax number at just one click. A test mail was sent to Max to check how much they are concerned for the customer service and there was no automated response we received though we got the mail response only after 12 hours by a customer service person saying that they will get back to us. The whole website is designed in flash and they have not used graphics and animation in the website. The website has also no search facility as it is doest have much content however the website has provided with a site map to guide the customers with the address and locations of the overall restaurants in Sweden. As the website is more informative and no business is conducted online means as they don't sell anything online nowhere delivery information is available on the site. The user could not find any tab or the link to the frequently asked questions. Also in the website there is no information about the incentives or the rebates or the offers extended by the company. While browsing through the whole site the user will not come across find either the company or the third party pop ups. The language used is simple and the user will not find any grammatical errors in the site and even the text was very clear. The company has given a multiple language option for those who don't understand the language Swedish. The other language, which was given as an option is English which global language of the world, is. 4.1.2 Case Two: Company overview: Burger king In 1954 the first hamburger was grilled in the burger king. It's a large International chain of restaurants, selling burgers, fries, drinks and desserts. Burger king was initially called as Insta Burger king and was opened on December 4, 1954 in Miami Florida. James W Maclamore and David Edgerton got the idea of open the restaurant and they didn't expect that 10 years later there would be 1000 restaurants operating under its name. The main ambition was to service quality food at a good price in a clean and green environment. And they are happy that nobody could stop them to achieve their ambition. By the year 2006 Burger king has got almost 11,000 outlets operating in 61 countries. The total numbers of the employees working are around 3, 40,000 serving around 11.4 million customers everyday. A huge success came to them when they introduce whopper burgerBurger king's parade that made entry into the market in the year 1957. Burger king corporation was incorporated in the year 1972. Their prices seem very low and proudly
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Data presentation announce that anyone can become a happy American by having their burger at just 37 cents. In the year 1976 the Burger king made an entry into the European market by opening a restaurant in Madrid. The purpose of the website www.Burgerking.se is mainly to campaign their offering, list their menus, find a restaurant and create awareness about burger king to inform about the special offers for students.
Figure 4.5: Page loading Source: www.burgerking.se The welcome page of the burger king is designed in a flash media and a user could feel as if the page is getting loaded and once the page gets loaded fully the main page of the website is designed in a very simple manner there by avoiding any misleading or irrelevant links or information. The moment user logs on to the website he could notice a Text box .As the corporation is really concerned about the health of the customers there is a specific information about the allergy information/Nutrient information exactly on the top of the text box on the right hand corner and in the text box user could find the images of the three varieties of burgers which brought them a huge success called whoppers. And exactly below the images a user could find links in a small rectangular box to move on to further pages such as Campaign, Menu, Find a restaurant, about burger king and information for the student. The user could also see small images of the food items on the
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Data presentation extreme left at the bottom and exactly in the middle of the Burger king user could find the logo of the burger king and there is Burger kings slogan " Have it your way" to the extreme bottom right.
Figure 4.6: Homepage of burger king's website Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ How it is organized Burger king.se is designed in a quiet simple attractive flash media. All the WebPages are designed in the same layout making the users more comfortable to browse through the site. The page layout is completely fitted into a single window frame with a space for large image and the menu or the index is embedded as footer inside the frame. The footer has been divided into rows. The top row has the various navigation options, whereas the bottom row is divided into three vertical blocks. In the first vertical block there are small images of various toppings, which add taste to the burger. The middle vertical block has a logo of burger king, which is hyper referred to index page. The last vertical block has got their caption "HAVE ITYOUR WAY". All the links, which are hyper referred in the whole of the site, have been designed light maroon colour and then when the cursed is moved over them it turns to orange. When the cursor is moved on to viken whopen ar du it turns from orange to a bright yellow to give a glowing impression with yellow glair around it. Hyperlink referring to allergic information and nutrient information turns to black to maroon. The colour
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Data presentation change for the link in the entire website has two different combinations the most common colour change is from maroon to orange when the cursor has been too moved to the anchored text the second colour combination for anchored text is from black to maroon. Layout Burgerking.se is completely designed in flash media. The whole website has the same layout on each and every page. We also find a logo of the Burger king at the middle bottom portion of the web page which is hyper linked to home page on each page. The content of the page is very small and also the pages on the website are too short so the user could read through the whole text without scrolling the cursor down. The home page has a background image, which is default image to the entire frame. The home page has an image of three different Burgers with their names published in a colourful oval blocks pasted on to the image. On the top you will find the burger king caption written in Swedish "Whopper you way". The top right corner of the home page has the Vilken whopen ar du logo / Which Whopper are u? This gives the shining impression with hyperlink to the respective page. The browser has to go through a small online questionnaire, which is designed in a flash wherein once the user fill in details it will give which whopper suits you. The home page has the navigation options leading to campaign, menu, find a restaurant, about Burgerking and student. It also has the burger king logo hyper referred to homepage and with the caption "Have it your way" Campaign The display space has been subdivided into two vertical uneven columns the first column is wide enough to hold an image of three whopper burgers just launched. The bottom of the image is followed with a text giving the information about the launch of the three new whoppers i.e. California fresh, Mexican and Western Bacon BBQ which are the three new taste sensations with different flavours Have it your way. The second column also has a small image of happy feet film, which is Christmas big family movie with 12 funny figures will be available during the campaigns, which kids can enjoy while having a meal. We find the ads corner just below the text in the second column there are five different advertisements featured on the net. The five-featured advertisements are. Whopper Bling test HIYW Chicken Royale Nice price meal King Trix When we move the cursor on to this advertisement links we find the arrows at the end of the text move to indicate the anchored or the hyper referred for that advertisement. Once
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Data presentation we click on these links a small streaming pop up emerges to display the relevant ads. The footer of the page remained unchanged.
Figure 4.7: Menu page of the burgerking website Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ Pa menu When we click on the menu hyperlink the display space is loaded with default with great burgers list. Just above the footer we find a new row with list of great burgers, fresh baked banquettes, king delights, king snack, and king extra, king kids and drinks which are the submenu items for menu page. When the mouse is move any of these submenus we find a box popped up with relevant text. The Great burger tab has the list of various burgers offers by Burger king when we select any of featured burger we get an image of the burger followed by text and energy, fat and carbohydrate contents just below the image. In the next columns beside the burger image we have a list of ingredients used in a burger. The next tab which is fresh baked banquettes is also designed the same way with the featured list of items an image followed by text ingredients and an image showing how the ingredients are stacked between the banquettes.
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Data presentation And once we come on to find a restaurant tab the user could see a map of Sweden and locations of the restaurants are actually spotted in red dots. There is a drop down list at the top to move directly to the desired states and once the state is selected we are given a list of locations in those particular cities just below the drop down list. Upon clicking on any of the particular locations the user could view the image of location map and the address just below the image. Then comes the tab which says about Burger king, divided into two uneven vertical blocks the larger box covers information mostly about history, important facts and FAQs and the smaller vertical block which is further subdivided into three horizontal block gives information for the job aspirants, and the persons who are interested in applying for the franchisee and the contact information of the company.
Figure 4.8: Online application form can be seen in a popup window Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ The job section is further subdivided in two sub tabs by clicking on the first the user could read about requirements of working with Burger king. Read more tab has the options where in the browser could actually find out what is expected from the persons who are actually planning to join the esteemed company as Employees, Team Leader, and restaurant chef giving information with text just below the heading and with a image to the right of the text and the second sub tab through which an job aspirant could
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Data presentation actually apply for the job and then when the user click on to it we could see a separate window pops up containing an online application form.
Figure 4.9 Online application form for those who would like to go for franchisee Source: http://www.burgerking.se/ The next horizontal box is for the people who would like to go for the franchisee. This tab is further divided into three vertical tabs to give information about Ideal philosophy, if you are considering, Frequently asked questions with respect to the persons who are applying for the franchisee with text and corresponding image just below the sub head the next tab is an application of a franchisee once the user clicks on this tab a user get pop up window asking for the relevant information for franchisee with burger king logo on the popup window. The next tab is for the contact address, which provides the contact information with an image. All the sub tabs has a link back to the burger king tab. A user could also see the arrows just beside the tab wherein the user could easily find the information by just looking at the direction of the arrows. Now coming to last tab which is students this is again divided in two uneven vertical boxes the larger box gives information how to claim the incentives and the other vertical box has got an image of 10 SKR with burger king logo and slogan embedded on it. And
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Data presentation exactly below the image 10 SKR there is a text and when the cursor is moved on to it we could find transparent text box popping up with a little text in it. This site is basically designed to be informative the user need not register to view the content of the site there is no registration form or registration process in this website. There is no such option for the visitors to give any feed back. However they have provided the address, telephone and fax numbers as the contact information through which customers can communicate or send the feedback to the company. E-mail assistance is missing so there is no question of auto responder. Burger king has not used graphics and animations anywhere in the website and all the website is designed in flash. Search engine not included. Job aspirants and the person who would like to be associated with burger king as franchisee owners have to fill out online application forms. As they don't have the site for commercial purpose means they don't deliver the burgers to home so no information about delivery is mentioned. Burgerking has got round the clock service and are more of informative and interactive nature and do not require frequent updates and is up 24/7. Burgerking.se has done a perfect job by providing only required info crisp and clear. It has avoided providing any irrelevant information. Most of the information has been conveyed in image format giving an advantage to be right on target. Company has declared rebate of 10 Sek especially for the students. And this is clearly mentioned in the student tab. The company has used pop up windows but its only at the time for filling an online application for the job aspirants and for the people who would like to go for franchisee, apart from then the user could see the pop ups anywhere. Burger king has taken utmost care to see that the text and grammar has been used correctly to avoid any confusion or mislead. To see that there is no misunderstanding, the names of the dishes have been spelled the way they have to be and the description is written in Swedish to help the visitors understand better. The browser has no option to study the site in Swedish. Language option in this site is missing. Delivery information Burgerking.se is not an ecommerce website; it has no such parameters or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to meet delivery schedules.
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Data presentation 4.2 Customer Service 4.2.1 Case one: Max Max.se has not taken any major steps to increase the awareness or drive web traffic to their website. The whole motto of having a website for Max.se is to provide information about their organization and product line. They also want to advertise them as much as possible through their website. As Max sells hamburgers which constitutes to major portion of their business as well as their reputation, they believe providing information about there activities on their website is a kind of self advertising concept. They also believe that the propaganda of the website at their retail stores, flyers is quiet enough to drive their targeted audience. They also believe that because they don't sell hamburgers online or carry on any e-commerce activities, it's not that important for them to promote the website or spend any revenue to advertise. They only spend a negligible amount on TV & Radio commercials to promote their website. Max.se has basically targeted teenage group of population varying from 15 to 40 years. Their statistics show that customer ranging at an age of 15 to 40 yrs constitute to major portion of their business. They also have targeted specific customer group and sex through special channels of advertising. Advertising in a beauty magazine targets mostly the female customers and other women related activities, in the same way they advertising on radio channels to target any other specific customers by demographics and age. They have also targeted whole family together by providing family login on their website. Max.se is one of the few websites promoting this kind of logins. Once a member logs in, they have various options to entertain the whole family by listening to radio or entertaining the kids with various interactive video games. Max.se has considered both technical as well as content requirements to ensure that the visitor has the pleasant experience to download and navigate through the content of the website. Considering the technical parameters, the website has avoided extensive use of graphics and animation to reduce the download time and allow the users navigate quickly and easily. They have also used images to link directly to the text content of the relevant WebPages; this allows the user to switch directly to the desired page. Coming to the content or providing the information to their web users, they have very clearly mentioned all the facts related to the product lines along with allergy and nutrient information. They also up have also considered the requirements of their prospective employees who would like to know more about the position/Vacancies at their websites. For the visitors who want to locate the nearest or the desired restaurant locations across Sweden can find then by visiting the relevant tab. All the applicants who would like to apply for any jobs can submit their application electronically online. Max.se always wants their users to be up to date with the activities going on at Max.They update the website frequently when ever there is any new press release; any new openings or positions arise at any of their restaurant locations. They also update the website with their new promotions and campaign time to time to avoid any confusion or discomfort for their customers. They also keep the website updated with competition they
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Data presentation run from time to time for guests and other members. The website is constantly updated with the new products joining their product family to promote these new product lines. They also update the website with the new locations coming up in the future all across Sweden. So we can simply say that the website is updated almost daily to keep the rhythm going. Max.se does collect any information about their customers visiting their website. Max collects and does a survey twice a year to get the information. They also gather customer tastes and other required information by third party service provider's surveys. They outsource this service to ISI Wissing, which is one the leading service provide in surveying across Sweden The web designer has played a major role in designing Max website working along with max's team. As per Max the whole website is designed and based on their Max's graphic manual which guides the complete site. They believe that the whole website should be rich in content as well as should have a pleasant experience. They also believe that there should not be any false information or information leading to hinder or hurt the reputation of Max. Keeping this in mind the web designer had taken measure to meet and match the technical aspects along with Max ethical principles. Max has taken a dual approach to build long-term relationship with their customer. They have completely chosen to attract and retain Swedish customers who log on to their website. The website though is in English version too has a special family login which is exclusive for Swedish speaking customers. So there is motto is to retain this customers who log in to their family accounts and build a good relation with Max. They also have a monthly newsletter subscription for these family customers. They have also tried to attract these so called information gathering website users by providing online entertainment like streaming radio, other resources like job information, location information and franchise information. But as Max is not selling or is active in e commerce activities they have taken enough measures to build long-term relation with all the customers. 4.2.2 Case two: Burger king Burger king does make an effort to promote or campaign awareness programs to attract users online. They promote their website themselves on the flyers and on restaurant locations. They also publish their website details on every promotional material they use to build reputation about their burgers or food offerings. Burger king actively does promote their website by other media such as Google ads and Banner ads on other website. They try to drive traffic from the Internet by using online advertising thru search ads and email campaign. They publish their promotions on various local news media, radio channels and TV to increase the users online. Burger king basically targets male population ranging from age 18 to 35yrs. Their studies show that these males ranging from the above age spend more at their restaurant locations. They also try to concentrate on female customers but no special measures have
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Data presentation been taken to target them. They also target students with by offering various special promotions from time to time and give discounts all round the year. The group of population they target for advertising includes male's students mainly within age range of 18 to 35yrs. They have also targeted the population all across Sweden by advertising on Google ads, which are shown only in Sweden. Now days they also plan to attract kids with happy feet promotional characters interacting with kids on their locations. Burger king has taken the maximum advantage of web design technology, bandwidth and the Internet speed to design the WebPages .The whole website is in flash media so that the users has a pleasant experience of graphics and animation. They have considered the development of the Internet and download speed to see that the users can access the website fast and with ease. They have also taken care of the users who log on to the website for various purposes. Burger king has categorized the users on their website into prospective business partners, students and others who visit website just for information. Taking this into consideration they have designed the website navigation to meet the interest of these category visitors. They have special tabs to browse for students, franchise information and also for Burger king history and ad promotions. Updating the website is a continuous process for Burger king. They update the website with latest information about the new locations being added to their chain. They also add information about the new promotions they have from time to time. They take utmost care about the promotional updates so that they don't conflict with any of the information in store and online. Apart from updating the website for these purposes, they post the new opening or work opportunities arising at their facilities from time to time. They keep the website up to date with the advertisement or TV commercials they use to promote Burger king on TV. They also update FAQ's if something new comes to their knowledge. Burger king doest not carry on any activities to collect any personal or business information from their online users. The only way they collect the information is by doing survey's which is outsourced. Ban track is the official information gathering third party source for Burger king. Ban track does these surveys 4 times a year all across Sweden. The designer has taken special interest in designing the website. The whole website is unique and only few website follow this trend to be completely in flash. The designer has taken both the Internet speed and the users into consideration. As there are more broadband users in Sweden than dial up, they have planned to launch the website completely in Flash. They have also seen that the whole website should give the same impression on each and every page along with the content changing from time to time as per user's request. The navigation has been made very simple and unique. Over the entire web designer had a major role in designing website. Burger king though don't have any personal logins on the web page to attract and keep the track of users, they have tried to build a long-term relation by other means. They keep the website dynamic by changing the content from time to time and also rolling the promotions. They attract the student to their website by offering rebates, these students
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Data presentation constitute to a major portion of their business. They believe that these students who once become the customers of Burger king retain for a long term and become permanent customers.
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Analysis
5 Data Analysis
In this chapter the empirical data will be analysed. To start with within case analysis will be conducted for each of these cases there by comparing it with the theory relied on and with the conceptual frame of reference presented in chapter two. The data will be analysed across the two cases. 5.1 Analysis of Research Question one: 5.1.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max Clarity of Purpose A website is considered well if it serves its function, purpose and at the same time keeps the customer focused (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). According to Cox & Dale (2002) websites should have the clarity to show what exactly they deal with. Max.se has fulfilled this condition by letting the visitors know what Max.se is all about. As soon as the visitors logs on to the website, they have a default page which lets the visitors know that Max.se is a leader in Hamburgers and deals with retail food chain restaurants in Sweden .One will also come to know that Max.se is a Swedish restaurant, as the default page is designed in Swedish. Links As per Cox & Dale (2002) studies, the information on the website should be sensibly organised to retain the visitors else there are major chances of the visitors being switched to a different site. Max.se has successfully organized the web content on the index page, to help visitors navigate through website with ease. They have also provided images links, so that the visitor can quickly switch to selected tabs. They have also given a whole overview about Max.se on index page so that the visitor can understand Max.se at a quick glance. Cox & Dale (2002) further advices that the links on the website should be valid and change colour whenever the customer click on relevant links. This feature of changing the link colours will help the customer know whether they are heading towards the right direction. All the links in Max.se are valid and enough care has been taken to make sure that all-important links when clicked changes their colour. One can easily find where exactly the visitor is in the website by looking at the navigation links on left side bar or the navigation index. Layout Max.se website has been designed in a consistent fashion which gives the user the same impression on each and every page in any particular tab. The middle portion of the page has relevant information changing from time to time as per visitors requested information. The beauty of the page lies on the left side navigation bar which appears consistently on each and every webpage linking directly to home or any other tab. Cox &Dale (2002) also hints that there should be consistency within the pages of the website
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Analysis and is very important that the designers give home on each and every page. From the above we can see that they have fully supported the (Cox & Dale, 2002) theory. Pages text and click According to Cox & Dale (2002) pages on the website should be short and it is most irritating for the customers to scroll the cursor down to read the content. With reference to this feature, Max.se could not live up to Cox & Dale (2002) standards. Most of the pages except home and food have abundant text and it sometimes makes the user distract their attention from the website. In almost every page user needs to scroll through lot of text, which is not advisable. Most of the content on all these pages is simple text and have no hyper-references. The only links that are clickable are the navigation menu on the left side bar. And also we could see that they have allowed the users to create a login in a single page. Communication and feedback While designing the website, interaction and feed back principle between the customer and the company is important (Cox & Dale, 2002). According to Gehrke & Turban (1999), firms should interact with the customers as many times as possible, this would in turn instinct security among customers leading for more chances of doing business. Max.se has published email address, fax and phone numbers for each and every franchise. They have also provided a simple information request form through which the customers can get in touch with them. Gehrke & Turban (1999) also believes that providing auto responder would be a better option for effective communication, and also they don't have the error free filling of forms options and the auto responder too is missing. They have partially supported the theories for the above variable. Graphics and Animation Both Cox & Dale (2002) theory as well as Gehrke & Turban (1999) advises to minimise the use of graphics as well as animation to save the bandwidth and allow the WebPages to load faster. The whole idea of minimising the graphics is to save the number of bytes transferred over the net. Max.se has supported this condition by only using flash on the welcome page. On the rest of the pages used simple text and small jpg images that does not consume the bandwidth. Search engine Providing search engine would make a pleasant experience for customers if they look for something specific (Cox & Dale, 2002). According to Gehrke & Turban (1999), in ecommerce each failed product search is equivalent to a clerk saying no in a physical store. However in this case Max.se has not provided any search engine, as they do not deal with a wide range of products or services. User-friendly registration Website should guide the customers whenever he is creating a login or when he is trying to registers the field or the marks should be self explanatory (Cox & Dale, 2002). Max.se has used a single page registration form and also the web input is designed in a better fashion wherein consumers are not asked for unnecessary information at the same time
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Analysis the fields which required more spaces for example the address field and whereas post code doest require much space as address field requires. Max.se has efficiently done that. And also the fields that are mandatory are shown in red. Accessibility and speed Accessibility is one of the most important factors to be determined while designing the website. Accessibility is nothing but the rate at which the page downloads. (Cox & Dale, 2002) Max.se website has followed this principle to perfection by avoiding use of graphics and animation. The webpage downloads at faster pace, as there is only text content. Max.se website has almost negligible downtime for any kind of site or server maintenance. This site is more of informative and interactive and does not require frequent updates and is up 24/7. Max has fully supported the theory for this variable. Content of the website According to Cox & Dale (2002) the content of the website is vital. The company should take enough care not to mislead or give unnecessary information. Max.se website has clearly defined all the content of the page with accurate information. They have provided all necessary information about the company and it's offering without misleading the customers or providing any unnecessary information. They have published all the facts and history to avoid any kind of confusion and be crystal clear in communicating. They have also published the nutrition and calorie guide along with all the certifications they have from individual authorizing authorities. Delivery information On time delivery plays a vital role in company's promise to fulfil orders. They should try to meet the deadlines on all occasion to keep up its reputation any information pertaining to the delivery or delays should be communicated to the customers to keep them informed and avoid dissatisfaction. Cox & Dale (2002) As Max.se does not deal with any online order booking or delivery there is no such information provided online. FAQs According to Gehrke & Turban (1999) the companies which offer FAQs on the website will boost the user's interest in the companies offering. Max.se has unfortunately not provided any FAQ section. Frequent buyer incentives Companies should timely come up with special offers or discounts which will attract more customers (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). In order to attract customers to make purchase companies should come up with attractive incentives, which would in turn allow the customers to make more purchase or repeat buying. Max.se unfortunately has not provided any information about the incentives, campaign, promotions or discounts on their website and could not love up to (Gehrke & Turban, 1999) theory. Shun pop ups: Companies should try to minimise the use of pop ups which are nothing but the interruptions to the main business ( Gehrke & Turban, 1999). Max.se has done a good job
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Analysis by avoiding any kind of pop up either by third party advertising or their own ads to avoid distraction. Text and grammar Many of the websites, which are hazy, makes customer confused to know or find what the company deals with (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). They suggest that if the firms are using icons, then icons should be assigned for the most important subjects first. It is believed that majority of the users i.e. around 79% just go through the WebPages without actually reading the content. Max.se has used very simple and clear text and images to describe their business. On the main index page the user could easily find the information about the company and what they are into. One can easily click on the images to find the relevant text. Max.se has fully supported this variable by using simple text and grammar. Language option According to Gehrke & Turban (1999) English is considered to be global language and companies should give English as an option on the website. Max.se has provided an option for the users to switch languages. However they have restricted the family login section exclusively to their Swedish customers by providing all the related info in Swedish. 5.1.2 Within case analysis: Case two: Burger King Purpose According to Cox & Dale (2002) website should be clear in its purpose and let the users know what they are into. And also he further claims that the information on the website should be sensibly organised. With reference to guidelines of Cox & Dale (2002) Bugerking.se has been pretty clear, precise and more informative by letting the visitor know what they deal with at the very first glace. The whole website is designed in such a way that the visitor on any page in the website will know the Burger king is a fast food restaurant chain. The name of the website itself gives the visitor clear information that they are one of the leaders in making Burgers. It is only in Swedish version to give a local touch and let the visitors understand it is exclusive for Swedish customers. Links Navigation on the website is unimaginable when the links are not valid (Cox & Dale, 2002). They further claims that the links on the website should change the colour whenever the customer clicks on to it. Burger king has followed this thumb rule of changing the colour for all the text that is hyper linked. Whenever the cursor is hovered over any text or tab with has a valid link the colour is changed from Red to Orange. They have certainly live up to (Cox & Dale, 2002) standards. Layout Lay out and pages on the website actually depend on what the companies are into. It is always important that consistency should always be maintained within the pages of the website. Also it is advisable to have homepage linked on every page. Burgerking.se is completely designed in flash media. The whole website has the same layout on each and
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Analysis every page. We also find a logo of the Burger king at the middle bottom portion of the web page which is hyper linked to home page on each page to fulfil Cox & Dale (2002) advice of having a link directly to homepage. The top portion or the pane of the website is the only part of the page which is loaded with relevant info within the requested tab. Pages, text and clicks According to Cox & Dale (2002) it is always preferable that the pages on the website are not too long else it is very much irritating for the customers to scroll the cursor down to read the whole content. Burgerking.se has done wonderful job by avoiding lot of text going into any tab." a picture worth thousand words" has been the motto for designing this webpage .We find that each and every information on the whole website has been tried to convey in image format. None of the web pages need to be scrolled down to read any text because the website is designed in Flash. They have supported the (Cox & Dale, 2002) theory. Communication and feedback In order to keep the customer updated it is always advisable to communicate and follow the back principles (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se has not met the expectation of Cox & Dale (2002), as there is no interaction between the customers and the Burgeking.se. They have simply provided only their physical address along with Telephone and Fax #'s. Graphics and Animations Slow down in the access of the pages is due to the excessive use of graphics and animations so the companies should try to minimise the use of graphic and animations. With respect to this suggestion by Cox & Dale (2002) Bugerking.se is completely designed against this principle. The whole website is designed in flash which is more interactive and animated in nature and needs more time to download. But due to the advancement in the Internet and broadband the website design is completely justified. Search engine Giving search engine option will really give a pleasant experience for the customers (Cox & Dale, 2002). They further claims that it would be easy for the customers to look for specific information. Burgerking.se did not provide any search option in their website as they really don't need that feature. Burgerking.se is more of informative site with less and easy to navigation content. A visitor or a customer can find the information in the relevant tab directly instead of doing a search. Accessibility and speed The rate at which the page downloads is the called the download speed. It is very important to seen that the web page downloads in less than 8 seconds to avoid customers switching to a different site. Companies should provide round the clock service to its customers to retain and increase the visitor or traffic on the web (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se has a good speed and takes less than a second to download. The server up time is also very efficient with more that 99.9%. It is easy to access the website round the clock at high speed with broadband in use.
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Analysis
Content It is highly important that the information on the website should not be misleading or irrelevant. Companies should give clear information about its offering. (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se has done a perfect job by providing only required info crisp and clear. It has avoided providing any irrelevant information. Most of the information has been conveyed in image format giving an advantage to be right on target. They have also tried to limit themselves by not providing too much information on the site. Delivery information Companies should be clear when it comes to delivery of the product it is highly important to meet delivery promises to keep their commitment and live up to customers expectations (Cox & Dale, 2002). Burgerking.se is not an ecommerce website; it has no such parameters or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to meet delivery schedules. It is an informative website and does not accept nor has any provision for online ordering. Frequently Asked questions Companies should always notice about the customer queries and FAQs should be in a well designed (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). Burgerking.se has provided a FAQ's tab to guide the users or the visitors who want to be their business partners or employees by briefly addressing franchisee employment and general information. Frequent Buyer incentives In order to allow customers make more purchases or repeat buying customers should come up with the incentives and offers and these are the marketing tools which the companies should make use of in this IT world. (Cox & Dale, 2002) Burgerking.se from time to time does provide promotional information on their website and also has had a special tab for students. They run discount or rebate promos for students most of the time. Text and Grammar Many websites does not provide clear information what they deal with. It is very important for companies to concentrate on key areas such as bullet lists, brief sentences, short pages, key words and at the same time they should not ignore the spelling and the grammar. (Gehrek & Turban, 1999). Burger king has taken utmost care to see that the text and grammar has been used correctly to avoid any confusion or mislead. To see that there is no misunderstanding, the names of the dishes have been spelled the way they have to be and the description is written in Swedish to help the visitors understand better. Shun Pop ups Companies should try to minimise the use pop ups because they create lot of interruptions for the main business (Gehrke & Turban, 1999) Burger king has absolutely avoided using of any third party or their own popup either to advertise or to promote any new things. The only popup are shown when the customers wants to see the advertisements streamed on the net for Burgerking.se. Even these popup do not distract or irritate any customers as it is only viewed on visitor's request.
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Analysis Language option: In order to make the customers more comfortable the companies should always try to give the language option. And as English is a global language it is highly recommended that companies should prefer giving English as an option. (Gehrke & Turban, 1999). Burger king has not provided any language option, as they have completely aimed and targeted the Swedish customers. The parent company of Burger king has the English website i.e. Burgerking.se.com. All the regional customers are given an option to view the website in respective languages and Burger king.se is one among them.
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Analysis Table 5.1 (Website design) Cross Case analysis
Sl.no 1 Variables Clarity of purpose Purpose How it is organised 2 Links Colour change Lay out Home 3 Pages text and click Pages on the website Registration 4 Communication and feedback Interaction Error free registration Auto responder 5 Graphics and Animation Use of Graphics Use of Animation 6 Search Search engine 7 Fill in forms User friendly registration 8 Accessibility and speed Round the clock service 9 Content Information on the website 10 Delivery information Information about the delivery 11 Frequently ask question FAQs 12 Frequent buyer incentives Discount and offers 13 Shun pop ups Use of pop ups 14 Clear text and grammar Text and grammar 15 Language option English as option + Support's - Doest not support +/partially supportive Max + + + + + + + + + +/+ + + + +/Burger king + + +/+ + + + + + + + + -
Purpose From the table above we could clearly see that both the food industries giving high importance to the purpose. And make sure that they share the first hand information with the customers. Links on the website are better organised in a better fashion and the customers once click on the tab would easily come to know whether they head towards the right direction or not. Regarding the colour change in Max.se the designer has done a good job by making the links change to a different colour when clicked. In case of the Burger king this feature is partly supportive. Even though the colour of the links changes the colour when clicked the user is not sure in which tab he is.
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Analysis
Links All the links in Max.se are valid and enough care has been taken to make sure that allimportant links when clicked changes their colour. One can easily find where exactly the visitor is in the website by looking at the navigation links on left side bar or the navigation index. Burger king has followed this thumb rule of changing the colour for all the text that is hyper linked. Whenever the cursor is hovered over any text or tab with has a valid link the colour is changed from Red to Orange. But in case of Burger king it is partly supportive because once the user clicks on to the link the colour changes but it turns to its original colour and this leads to confusion for the user. Max.se website layout has been designed in a consistent fashion which gives the user the same impression on each and every page in any particular tab. The middle portion of the page has relevant information changing from time to time as per visitors requested information Burgerking.se is completely designed in flash media. The whole website has the same layout on each and every page. Home The beauty of the page lies on the left side navigation bar which appears consistently on each and every webpage linking directly to home or any other tab in case of Max.se Also we could find the guidelines which have been given by Cox & Dale (2002) have been thoroughly followed by Burger king. We also find a logo of the Burger king at the middle bottom portion of the web page which is hyper linked to home page on each page to fulfil Cox & Dale (2002) advice of having a link directly to homepage. Pages text and clicks When it comes to pages text and click Max.se haven't met the Cox & Dale (2002) standards because on some of the pages of the website we could find a large text wherein the user has to go abundant text which is tiresome for the customer. Whereas. Burger king has done wonderful job by avoiding lot of text going into any tab." a picture worth thousand words" has been the motto for designing this webpage .We find that each and every information on the whole website has been tried to convey in image format. When it comes to registration Max.se has used a simple registration form and mostly the registration is completed in the single page there is no registration available for the Burgerking.se site. Communication and feedback For the interaction Max.se has used a single form through which the customer can contact and give the valuable suggestions to the company. The facility to interact in Burgerking.se is missing. In case of error free registration both the companies haven't done much about and it is also not that user friendly because even when the user types in wrong information or false information the website just accepts the whatever information input by the customer. And there is no arrangement made to check whether the information input is valid or not in both the websites.
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Analysis Auto responder In both the websites are auto responder is missing which is again Gehrke & Turban (1999) theory. Graphics and Animation Max.se has supported this condition by only using flash on the welcome page. On the rest of the pages used simple text and small jpg images, which does not consume the bandwidth. Bugerking is completely designed against this principle. The whole website is designed in flash which is more interactive and animated in nature and needs more time to download. Search In both the cases search engine is missing. When it comes to user friendly registration Max.se is partially supportive because it has met only certain conditions of the Cox & Dale (2002) Theory as the user could see that first of all the even though they have multiple language option the process to create login is in Swedish and at the same time they have also clearly shown the fields which are mandatory are shown in different colour which is a great help for the customer. In case of Burgerking.se no registration is required. Accessibility and speed Both the sites have round the clock service and are more of informative and interactive nature and do not require frequent updates and is up 24/7. As Max.se does not deal with any online order booking or deliveries there is no such information provided online. Burgerking.se is not an ecommerce website; it has no such parameters or Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to meet delivery schedules. Content Max.se website has clearly defined all the content of the page with accurate information. They have provided all necessary information about the company and it's offering without misleading the customers and also avoided any unnecessary information. Burgerking.se has done a perfect job by providing only required info crisp and clear. It has avoided providing any irrelevant information. Most of the information has been conveyed in image format giving an advantage to be right on target Delivery information As both the websites are more informative and no business is conducted online means, as they don't sell anything online nowhere delivery information is available on the site. Frequently asked questions Regarding the FAQs Max.se has unfortunately not provided any FAQ section where as Burger king does. Frequent buyer incentives No incentives are offered at Max.se. On the other hand Burgerking.se they have offered a rebate of 10 SKR to students.
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Analysis
Use of popup In case of pop ups both the companies have strictly following the guidelines of the Gehrke & Turban (1999) about the pops. Both the companies have minimised the used of pop ups and only in certain cases have made an arrangement where in the customer come across the pop ups if they desires something specific. Text and Grammar Max.se has used very simple and clear text and images to describe their business. On the main index page the user could easily find the information about the company and what they are into. One can easily click on the images to find the relevant text and even the Burger king has taken utmost care to see that the text and grammar has been used correctly to avoid any confusion or mislead. Language Option Max.se has provided an option for the users to switch languages. However they have restricted the family login section exclusively to their Swedish customers by providing all the related info in Swedish. So it is partly supportive where no such language options available in Burgerking.se. 5.2 Analysis of Research Question two
5.2.1 Within case analysis: Case one: Max Create awareness It is important for the companies to make sure that customer know about the company's website. It is the first hand duty of the companies to create awareness among the customers of its website. And the best way to do it is to advertise the website. (Geissler, 2001) Max.se has not taken any major steps to increase the awareness or drive web traffic to their website. The whole motto of having a website for Max.se is to provide information about their organization and product line. They also want to advertise them as much as possible through their website. They also believe that the propaganda of the website at their retail stores, flyers is quiet enough to drive their targeted audience. They also believe that because they don't sell hamburgers online or carry on any e-commerce activities, it's not that important for them to promote the website or spend any revenue to advertise. They only spend a negligible amount on TV & Radio commercials to promote their website. Steady message According to (Geissler, 2001) the companies should try to concentrate on certain important things while designing its site such as segmentation, targeting and positioning because these play a major role and also see to that the target audience are kept in mind when site is designed. Max.se has efficiently worked on this area by basically targeting all age groups. Max.se has basically targeted teenage group of population varying from 15 to 40 years. Their statistics show that customer ranging at an age of 15 to 40 yrs constitute to major portion of their business. They also have targeted specific customer
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Analysis group and sex through special channels of advertising. Advertising in a beauty magazine targets mostly the female customers and other women related activities, in the same way they advertising on radio channels to target any other specific customers by demographics and age. They have also targeted whole family together by providing family login on their website. Max.se is one of the few websites promoting this kind of logins. Once a member logs in, they have various options to entertain the whole family by listening to radio or entertaining the kids with various interactive video games. User needs (Geissler, 2001) further claims that companies should design the site, which suits the computer systems of the customers. In order to have a pleasant experience while browsing designers should see to that, the site is easy to navigate and should also make use of the controlled navigation. Max.se has supported the (Geissler, 2001) theory by considering both technical as well as content requirements to ensure that the visitor has the pleasant experience to download and navigate through the content of the website. Considering the technical parameters, the website has avoided extensive use of graphics and animation to reduce the download time and allow the users navigate quickly and easily. They have also used images to link directly to the text content of the relevant WebPages; this allows the user to switch directly to the desired page. Coming to the content or providing the information to their web users, they have very clearly mentioned all the facts related to the product lines along with allergy and nutrient information. They also up have also considered the requirements of their prospective employees who would like to know more about the position/Vacancies at their websites. For the visitors who want to locate the nearest or the desired restaurant locations across Sweden can find then by visiting the relevant tab. All the applicants who would like to apply for any jobs can submit their application electronically online. Update needs Companies should frequently update the website and it should be considered as an important duty of the designer. Customers need to be update about the latest offering and incentives, which would play a vital role in the business success. Geissler (2001) Max.se always wants their users to be up to date with the activities going on at Max.They update the website frequently when ever there is any new press release; any new openings or positions arise at any of their restaurant locations. They also update the website with their new promotions and campaign time to time to avoid any confusion or discomfort for their customers. They also keep the website updated with competition they run from time to time for guests and other members. The website is constantly updated with the new products joining their product family to promote these new product lines. They also update the website with the new locations coming up in the future all across Sweden. So we can simply say that the website is updated almost daily to keep the rhythm going and it supports the theory. Customer Information Feedback from the customer and customer information are most important for the companies which will help the companies to perform better build strong customer relationships with the customers. Geissler (2001) Max.se has not supported this and does
61
Analysis collect any information about their customers visiting their website. Max collects and does a survey twice a year to get the information. They also gather customer tastes and other required information by third party service provider's surveys. They outsource this service to ISI Wissing, which is one the leading service provide in surveying across Sweden Involve the designers According to Geissler (2001) designers have sound knowledge of the marketing approaches. It is highly important that both the company as well as the client play important and active role in structuring the online marketing strategies. The web designer has played a major role in designing Max website working along with Max's team. As per Max the whole website is designed and based on their Max's graphic manual which guides the complete site. They believe that the whole website should be rich in content as well as should have a pleasant experience. They also believe that there should not be any false information nor information leading to hinder or hurt the reputation of Max. Keeping this in mind the web designer had taken measure to meet and match the technical aspects along with Max ethical principles. Relationship In order to attain companies marketing goals web is considered to be one of the best tools. It further helps the companies to build strong relationships with the customers which results in the growth of the business. Geissler (2001) Max has taken a dual approach to build long-term relationship with their customer. They have completely chosen to attract and retain Swedish customers who log on to their website. The website though is in English version too has a special family login which is exclusive for Swedish speaking customers. So there is motto is to retain this customers who log in to their family accounts and build a good relation with Max. They also have a monthly newsletter subscription for these family customers. They have also tried to attract these so called information gathering website users by providing online entertainment like streaming radio, other resources like job information, location information and franchise information. Though Max is not selling or is active in e-commerce activities they have taken enough measures to build long-term relation with all the customers. 5.2.2 Within case analysis: Case two: Burger King Create Awareness Burger king has seriously taken steps to create awareness of their website among the customers. They have almost made use of the all the best-suited ways to bring awareness and feel their presence online. They have mostly relied on Google Ads campaigns and in house advertising for example offering flyers to customer who makes a visit to their restaurant locations. At the same time when something new comes they are not behind to go for television and radio advertising. Burgerking.se has totally met the Geissler (2001) standards to bring the consciousness among its websites and according to the author the companies should strive hard to make sure that customer should know about the website.
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Analysis Steady message According to Geissler (2001) the designers should also concentrate on segmenting, targeting and positioning because these play a major role for the business success. And also the companies should take the target audience into focus to get the attention of the customers. From the activities of the Burgerking.se online we could clearly view that they have kept special attention towards the youth and mainly males. In order to support this they have also specially targeted students. And they are also offered rebate, which is exclusively for the students and wants them to be loyal to them. They have also provided special tabs for visitors who are interested in carrying on business activities with Burgerking.se. They have provided the franchisee information along with the locations and their business expansion plans. User frequency Burgerking.se technically did not consider the user friendly browser requirement as the site entirely is designed in flash a user have to download and install the required plug-in compatible with the browser to view Burgerking.se website. Theoretically Burgerking.se did consider the information any user will be looking for. They have addressed the information such as the location promotions, franchisee information employment information's and other new updates any visitor will be looking for. According to Geissler (2001) the companies should make sure that they design the website which would suit the computer systems of the user. In order to make the customer pleasant while browsing the customer's designers should see to that there is controlled navigation and Burgerking.se has not done much on this front to meet or suit the computer systems of the customers. Update frequency Companies should keep the customers updated about the offerings and whatever is new happening in the company at the same time customers should be conveyed of discounts and offers (Geissler, 2001) Burgerking.se has met the author's expectations Burgerking.se wants to keep their customer up to date with latest happenings in the company. And they think that this is really important for the business success. It frequently updates the websites once in four week and does that for various reasons. They do it whenever they come up with the new promotions and also to do that if any new location is coming up. They also does that if there is any change in the timings and Customer information It is vital for the companies to have the customer's information and get the feedback from the customers companies should try to spend a considerable amount of cost towards building relationship with the customers. (Geissler, 2001) Customer information and preferences are nothing but assets for the company and Burgerking.se believes in the same. However Burgerking.se does takes special care to gathers the customer information in a very unique way. They have a promotion called "Which Whopper are u" where in the customer are asked for the various question about their taste and preferences. At the same time they also get the customer information through their own surveys and through third party sources. The third party normally does the surveys from time to time and Burgerking.se just pulls out information from them.
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Analysis
Involve the designers The designers did play a vital role in taking major decision to launch the site completely in a different fashion deviating from an orthodox HTML (Hyper Text Mark up Language) website. Designers have been also involved in making the website look elegant and delight the customer with and easy to interact concept. They are also involved in day-to-day activities of updating the website. From time to time management does involve the designers to find ways and alternatives to increase the awareness of the website Burgerking.se has met the Geissler (2001) standards in this case he says that that designers have a better understanding of the online marketing approaches when compared to their customers. Companies should always guide about the importance of the relationship marketing, segmenting, targeting and positioning. Relationship According to Geissler (2001) web is considered to be one of the most important tools to achieve the companies marketing goals. In turn would allow building the strong relationship with the customers. Burgerking.se doesn't do much on this front. From the observation and from the interview we could clearly see that they are just targeting youth and make continuous effort to build relationship with them. Burger king from time to time offers special promotions and offer rebates and mainly target specially youths. They have a special section exclusively for students we can think how much important they are for the company. These students constitute to a major portion of their business. They believe that these students who once become the customers of Burger king retain for a long term and become permanent customers.
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Analysis
Table 5.2 (Customer Service) Cross case analysis
Sl.no 1 Variables Creating awareness MAX Advertise in retail stores, flyers, Sometimes on TV& radio Teenage population between 15-40 age groups. Family, kids Less use of graphics and animation BURGER KING Through Google ads, banner ads, retails stores also in TV& Radio and other websites Particularly males ageing between 18-35 yrs and kids. Maximum advantage of web design technology, bandwidth and the Internet speed to design the WebPages Update once in four weeks
2
Target population
3
User needs
4
Update frequency
Almost daily
5
Customer information
Own surveys, and also through third party called ISI wising. Yes of course
Surveys, and also through third party called Ban track. Yes of course
6
Involve the designers
7
Relationship
Though family logins, by providing entertainment stuff.
By attracting students
Create awareness Max.se has not taken any major steps to increase the awareness or drive web traffic to their website. The whole motto of having a website for Max.se is to provide information about their organization and product line. Even Burger king has seriously taken steps to create awareness of their website among the customers. They have almost made use of the all the best-suited ways to bring awareness and feel their presence online. They have mostly relied on Google Ads campaigns and in house advertising for example offering flyers to customer who makes a visit to their restaurant locations. At the same time when something new comes they are not behind to go for television and radio advertising. Steady message Max.se has basically targeted teenage group of population varying from 15 to 40 years. They also have targeted specific customer group and sex through special channels of advertising. They have also targeted whole family together by providing family login on their website. Max.se is one of the few websites promoting this kind of logins. Once a member logs in, they have various options to entertain the whole family by listening to radio or entertaining the kids with various interactive video games. From the activities of the Burgerking.se online we could clearly view that they have kept special attention
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Analysis towards the youth and mainly males. In order to support this they have specially targeted students. And they are also offered rebate, which is exclusively for the students and wants them to be loyal to them. They have also provided special tabs for visitors who are interested in carrying on business activities with Burgerking.se. User needs Max.se has considered both technical as well as content requirements to ensure that the visitor has the pleasant experience to download and navigate through the content of the website. Considering the technical parameters, the website has avoided extensive use of graphics and animation to reduce the download time and allow the users navigate quickly and easily. Burgerking.se technically did not consider the user friendly browser requirement as the site entirely is designed in flash a user have to download and install the required plugins compatible with the browser to view Burgerking.se website. Theoretically Burgerking did consider the information any user will be looking for. They have addressed the information such as the location promotions, franchisee information employment information's and other new updates any visitor will be looking for. Update frequency Max.se always wants their users to be up to date with the activities going on at Max.se. They update the website frequently when ever there is any new press release; any new openings or positions arise at any of their restaurant locations and promotions. Burgerking.se wants to keep their customer up to date with latest happenings in the company. And they think that this is really important for the business success. It frequently updates the websites once in four week and does that for various reasons. They do it whenever they come up with the new promotions and also to do that if any new location is coming up. They also do that if there is any change in the restaurant timings. Customer information Max.se does collect any information about their customers visiting their website. They also gather customer tastes and other required information by third party service provider's surveys. They outsource this service to ISI Wissing, which is one the leading service provides in surveying across Sweden. Burgerking.se does take special care to gathers the customer information in a very unique way. They have a promotion called "Which Whopper are u" where in the customer are asked for the various question about their taste and preferences. At the same time they also get the customer information through their own surveys and through third party sources. The third party normally does the surveys from time to time and Burgerking.se just pulls out information from them. Involve the designers The web designer has played a major role in designing Max website working along with Max's team. As per Max the whole website is designed and based on their Max's graphic manual which guides the complete site. They believe that the whole website should be rich in content as well as should have a pleasant experience. They also believe that there should not be any false information nor information leading to hinder or hurt the reputation of Max.se. Keeping this in mind the web designer had taken measure to meet and match the technical aspects along with Max ethical principles. The designers did play
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Analysis a vital role in Burgerking.se in taking major decision to launch the site completely in a different fashion deviating from an orthodox HTML website. Designers have been also involved in making the website look elegant and delight the customer with and easy to interact concept. They are also involved in day-to-day activities of updating the website. Relationship Max.se has taken a dual approach to build long-term relationship with their customer. They have completely chosen to attract and retain Swedish customers who log on to their website. The website though is in English version too has a special family login which is exclusive for Swedish speaking customers. So there is motto is to retain this customers who log in to their family accounts and build a good relation with Max.se. They also have a monthly newsletter subscription for these family customers. They have also tried to attract these so called information gathering website users by providing online entertainment like streaming radio, other resources like job information, location information and franchise information. Burgerking.se doesn't do much on this front. From the observation and from the interview we could clearly see that they are just targeting youth and make continuous effort to build relationship with them. These students constitute to a major portion of their business. They believe that these students who once become the customers of Burger king retain for a long term and become permanent customers.
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Findings and conclusions
6 Findings and Conclusions
In the final chapter, first we will answer the research questions and will draw conclusions based on the data presented and analyzed in the previous chapters. The chapter will we end by giving recommendations to management, theory and future research. 6.1 How can the website are described? In this research question we are trying to describe the websites. Our research question looks into the feature of website design in terms of variables like clarity of purpose, page text and click graphics and animation, content etc. The findings show that the theory is not fully similar to the reality of website design being investigated. Our research shows that clarity of purpose and how it is organised, layout and home fully support with the theories. Round the clock services, information on the websites, use of popup and text and grammar fully go along with the theories studied. Further we could also see that error free registration, auto responder search engine and information about the delivery are contradicting with the theory. The reason may be studied why companies do not provide these facilities in their websites . Under error free registration the company doesn't have feature to validate the customer input before accepting the information. And also both the sites don't have an auto responder. As the content of the site is not that large providing search engine was not a good option. As the sites don't deal with online selling or buying so they haven't provided any delivery information. Companies expressed different opinions in the availability of additional facilities like FAQs, discount and offers, interaction. It is because the nature of website studied in a particular company and also it could be also because usually multinational companies tend to give these additional facilities in their websites. In case of user-friendly registration and English as an option the studied variables are almost contradicting with the theory it is because nature and area of the business located. Usage of graphics and animation, registration, pages on the website shows dissimilarities in the company investigated. One company might be supporting the one of the aspects whereas other company does not. It is because of difference in perceptions about the website of the companies studied. In case of colour change it is almost supporting the theory. The description of website indicates that use of pop ups, text and grammar, information on the website, layout, home, purpose and how it is organised plays a vital role in the user friendly website design. FAQs, discount and offers, colour change, use of graphics and animation are the secondary features that enrich the typical website design.
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Findings and conclusions 6.2 How is the customer service being used to affect the online customer experience? The second research question deals with how the customer service being used to build the online customer experience. And literatures are compared with findings and conclusion is drawn on the basis of reality. The other findings regarding the customer service which affect the online customer experience were as followed:
• • • • • • •
Companies generally use banner ads, retail ads, flyers, Google ads and sometimes-on TV and radio to create the awareness about the product. They are targeting kids, families and youth within the age group of 15 to 40. Companies use less graphics and animation and the advanced web design technology to design the WebPages to keep the site more user friendly. Companies want to keep their customer updates so they update the website frequently. Companies generally collect customer information through surveys and also engage third parties called Ban track and ISI wising to collect the data. Companies hiring the highly skilled designers to design the website. Companies try to build customer relationship by giving offers, providing online entertainment stuff and family logins.
The research also points out that there can be a correlation between customer service and the online customer experience. The findings almost agree with the theory studied.
6.3 Overall Conclusion
After careful observation, study, analysis and finding of two major food giants in the industry from Sweden, we can conclude that though both these websites are designed to meet the customer requirements and at same time fulfil company's objective. They have been designed to target, improve, aware and attract customers across Sweden. Both the websites have similar objectives and used different web technologies, front-end tools to increase the customer experience. Navigating the website, its content and tabs is considered to increase or decrease satisfaction of the customer. Images always give a better impression at the first sight and speak more than words. We found that increase the customer experience by involving the customer as much as possible. Companies has provided family logins where in a customer can log into his personal area to enjoy different kinds of online entertainment features likes Live Radio and Video games for kids. It is very important for any organization to keep its customers and stake holders informed with the activities and developments from time to time. This helps the customers and stakeholders to know what's happening within the organization. It is good trend to post the financial information to highlight financial trends of recent years for interested parties. By publishing data's related to their operations, employment, locations, business development plans and research could add to the customer experience.
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Findings and conclusions Companies have got friendly feedback mechanism to avoid confusion. Websites provide the physical contact information and the locations across Sweden, along with phone and Fax #'s. Website did try to increase the customer experience by providing as much information as possible and it meets all the technical aspects for faster downloads and easy navigation. Website did try to be up to dates with the activities so as the customer's are better informed. To add value to themselves and website, they have published the recognition received from various certifying institution such as complete chicken and Swedish. The web designers along with the team of management members have delivered their best knowledge to ensure that they meet all the expectations of the customers visiting the website. 6.4 Implications In this section, implications (recommendations) for practitioners, theory, and for future research will be made. 6.4.1 Implications for Management Based on our research and analysis the following recommendations are made to management. Though both the websites have done their best to increase the customer experience and promote their business and website awareness, they could have also implemented the following suggestions too.
• • • • • • • •
It is ideal to provide the promotional information in English and Swedish version of the website. It is advisable to have an Auto responder to the customer mails and form submission. This increases the chance of the customer getting involved in feedback mechanism. It is the time to start online and offline delivery because companies like Mc Donald's and KFC have already started their online selling activities. Companies should start a online customer feedback feature to increase customer experience It is ideal to have a search feature in the website. This would have allowed the users to quickly navigate to the desired page and also save the customer time browsing the website. Companies should keep short pages. It is better to have a downloadable file if too much text is involved The tabs/hyperlinks color should change when a particular tab is clicked on the website. This avoids the confusion for the customer and allows easy navigation. Companies should also provide a subscription for newsletter feature where in customers can be informed about all the latest activities.
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Findings and conclusions 6.4.2 Recommendations for Theory Lot of theory has been provided in the previous researches concerning our project, here in this thesis we are trying to explain the combination of good website design and better customer service will bring positive e-experience among customers. We have specifically chosen two food industries and wanted to see how they try to bring positive experience among customers. At last we gave our findings and also drew conclusion based on our research. Based on the empirical data and the interviews, which were held, and the research questions posed which lead to some contribution to our thesis. As our target is to present the combination of website design and customer service which is definitely untouched area, so definitely there are lot of issues can be studied or discussed. 6.4.3 Future recommendations • With reference to study and analysis of this project title "Building e-experience in cyberspace" and the concept addressed in this project we can make few recommendations for future research. • Select website which carry on e-commerce activities and more dynamic in nature. • Study of organizations who carry on order taking, selling, delivering activities on their website in food industry like McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. • Discuss the various parameters, which can affect the online customer experience. • Discuss about various technological factors, which might have an impact on customer experience like use of various database systems, graphical user interfaces, web technologies, browser compatibility.
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References
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Internet References: www.max.se (Official website of Max) http://www.burgerking.se/
http://www.answers.com/topic/burger-king (date 28th December 2006 time 4PM) http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/? P=11780 date 30/10/06 at 4.17 pm. http://www.mbadepot.com/quotes/quotes.php? Var_subject=Customer+service (Date 26th September 2006).
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Appendix
Observation Check List Variables Clarity of purpose Purpose How it is organized Links Color change Layout Home Pages text and clicks Pages on the website Registration Communication and feedback Interaction Error free filling of forms Auto Responder Graphics and Animation Use of Graphics Use of animation Search Search engine Fill in forms User friendly registration Accessibility and Speed Round the clock service Content Information on the website Delivery Information Information about the delivery Frequently asked questions FAQs Frequent buyer incentives Discounts and Offers Shun Pop ups Use of pop ups Clear text and Grammar Text and grammar Language Option English as option
Comments
Appendix
Interview Guide
Name of the Company Branch Interviewee Name Designation Contact information
: : : : :
???????????????????????????????????? Main Questions:
1. How would you describe the website awareness activities undertaken by the company?
2. How would you describe the target market for your website?
3. How would you describe the needs of the users while designing the website?
4. How frequently the company updates the website and for what purpose?
5. What are the steps taken by the company to gather the customer information?
6. What would be the designer's role in designing the website?
7. How is the company use the website as a tool to build the long-term relationship with the customers?
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