Internet Marketing Research : Opportunities and problems by Oliver Furrer

Keywords : Internet, Market Research, Surveys, Sampling

We organize our discussion around three important themes facing any researcher:

(1)  survey design;

(2)  sampling; and

(3)  field work.

We first develop a typology of Internet marketing survey designs based on the different combinations of the objectives of the survey, the selected sampling unit, and the data collection method to be used. The result of this combination leads us to discuss eight different designs. We then develop a seven-step methodology to identify the potential problems related to sampling and discuss specific problems with the fact the Internet is ever changing. Fieldwork problems are finally presented with a focus on the format of the questionnaire, the use of search engines to obtain a frame and problems related to the sampling units

A typology of Internet marketing survey designs

. A typology of Internet marketing research designs may be constructed around three dimensions:

(1)  the objectives of the survey;

(2)  the sampling units; and

(3)  the data collection method.

The next paragraphs discuss these three dimensions and their content. We then present eight different research designs based on the combination of these three dimensions.

Objectives of the survey

Marketing researchers may use the Internet to meet three different types of research objectives:

(1)    they can study how the Internet is used as a marketing tool;

(2)    they can use the Internet as an alternative medium for traditional questionnaire surveys; or

(3)    they can use the Internet to study Internet consumer behaviors.

The use of the Internet pertains to studies of the way firms use the Internet as a marketing tool. Pitts et al. (1996) noticed that Web sites have been used to achieve the objectives of a number of marketing strategies, for examples to:

·         gain access to previously unknown or inaccessible buying influences;

project a favorable corporate image;

·         provide product information;

·         foster and encourage consumer involvement with the product range;

·         generate qualified leads for sales people;

·         handle customer complaints, queries and suggestions; and

·         serve as an electronic couponing device.

Internet marketing research may be used to study the effectiveness of these uses of the Internet.

The advantage of the Internet is that it can offer a richer support for the questionnaire and it also allows data to be recorded automatically (which is a very important advantage). Internet questionnaire surveys could be used to investigate any traditional marketing research question ranging from firms' marketing strategies and policies to consumer behaviors.

The third type of marketing objectives that could be reached by an Internet marketing survey is the study of Internet consumer behaviors, for example understanding how consumers shop in cyberspace and why they do what they do. Internet consumption includes:

gathering information passively via exposure to advertising;

shopping, which includes both browsing and deliberate information search; and

the selection and buying of specific goods, services, and information (Goldsmith and Bridges, 2001). Volume 4 • Number 3 • 2001 • 123-129

These kinds of surveys are concerned about how consumers use the Internet, how they navigate, how they buy on the Internet, etc. Customer satisfaction related to Web sites could also be studied in the same way.

Sampling units

Three different sampling units could be used in an Internet marketing survey:

(1)  Web pages;

(2)  Web sites; and

(3)  Internet users.

A sample of Web pages could be drawn to survey the design, the content, the advertising space on these pages, or the time these pages remain unchanged, but also the number of visitors that a page has (number of hits) or the time visitors spend on a particular page. 

A sample of Web sites could be drawn to survey firms' Internet communication and marketing strategies, the structure of a site, etc. Finally, a sample of Internet users could be drawn to study their general Internet behavior, or their behavior toward a particular Web site or page. 

A sample of Internet users could also be drawn to ask them to fill in an Internet questionnaire or to send them a questionnaire by e-mail. 

Data collection methods

The third dimension of our typology of Internet marketing survey designs is related to the data collection methods. Three different methods may be used:

(1)  direct observation;

(2)  a questionnaire; or

(3)  an experiment.

The direct observation of the content of a Web site or page could either be done by the researchers or a sample of users. This method may be used to collect objective data such as the number of advertisements on a page or the existence of frames or the number of links inside a particular page; or to collect subjective data such as the satisfaction of users or their reaction to the content or design of a Web page.

Four kinds of format could be used for Internet questionnaire surveys:

(1)  Web sites questionnaires;

(2)  e-mail questionnaires;

(3)  text formatted forms sent by e-mail as an attached file; or

(4) downloadable text formatted form posted at a designed ftp which can be returned by mail or fax.

An experiment can be conducted by the creation of an experimental Web site and by studying users' behaviors towards some manipulated changes in the site. The content, the design, and/or the navigation flow may be manipulated to identify their effect on consumer behaviors.

An international multilingual, multicultural environment

The Internet is a global worldwide network. It is not always possible to identify the nationality, the culture, or the language of a site only by its URL address: a .com address could be located anywhere in the world. This difficulty could create some problems when the goals of a survey are geographically or linguistically limited or when a geographical or a linguistic segmentation is needed. The language problem could equally reduce the ability of the respondents to answer the questions. In these cases, a frame obtained by a search engine, for example, needs to be cleaned of all the addresses that do not belong to the population studied.

Field work problems

Once the survey design has been defined, and once a sample has been drawn, some practical problems subsist. Among these problems, the most important are:

·         the format of the questionnaire;

·         the use of research engines to obtain a frame; and

problems related to the sampling units