Chapter 12
Developing and Maintaining Effective Websites
Learning Objectives:
By the time students complete this chapter they should be able to:
• Understand the role websites play in customers’ decision-making processes
• Explain each step in the website development process.
• Identify important issues in website design.
relaunch.
Chapter Perspective
Discussion of this chapter needs to focus on the key marketing issue—building websites that
deliver satisfying customer experience and do so in a way that fits both strategy and budget.
“Cool” is just not the issue. Visual attractiveness is a plus, but not a necessity. If technology
Students need to recognize websites as an element of Internet marketing strategy—an important
one but not the only one—that must be cost-effective. Most websites should eventually be
expected to produce a reasonable return on investment, although measuring ROI for
informational sites that are part of a sales cultivation process is not easy. This chapter was
intentionally placed further along in the book to emphasize the fact that websites are only one
aspect of Internet marketing—essential, but alone often not very effective. It can be moved to
earlier in the semester if needed to get the students ready for a project, for example. Immediately
after Chapter 4 works fine.
Introduction Slides 2-4
I would start by asking the students why websites are important? The text emphasizes the fact
that business websites need to be usable to the customer an effective part of business strategy,
not simply exercises in “cool.” As sales grow in both online and mobile, websites need to be
At the highest level, a website can be either informational or transactional. With that in mind, a
site can have one or more of several generic objectives:
• To increase sales revenue
• To increase the visibility of the enterprise
That is a lengthy list, some of which students may not have considered. If you want to spend
some time with this, you could ask them for examples of websites that do each. Our
multichannel environment, the importance of which is emphasized in Slide 6, makes careful
selection of objectives even more essential. If you have time, you can demonstrate some of the
The Website Development Process Slide 7
This graphic in Figure 12.1 summarizes the process. It is not too different from the marketing or
marketing communications planning process and it is worth pointing that out. Planning a
website should be first and foremost a business/marketing planning process. Design has some
special aspects, but good business sense should take precedence over all other considerations.
1. Establishing Website Objectives Slides 8-11
Workable objectives are established on the basis of:
• Enterprise or SBU marketing objectives. Planning objectives form a cascade with the
level above providing the general outlines within which the next level objectives are
established.
• The interactive nature of the Internet. Marketers need to be clear about whether their site
will be a content or a transactional site. Likewise, they need to be clear about the degree
to which it will have an ecommerce or a branding orientation. This will lead to the
If your students are doing an Internet marketing plan or other similar project, they will have to
set objectives for their plan or program. Students tend to have a difficult time setting objectives
that are measurable and realistic so you can refer them back to the initial list of objectives as
The Lipton Tea site is an excellent example of a branding site done well. The Silicon Solar site
represents straight-forward ecommerce, again done well. It is worth going to the Lipton site to
show the wealth and variety of content about tea and to the Silicon Solar to show an efficient
Slide 11 asks how website objectives should be developed and the answer is with both business
goals and the target audience in mind, which leads to the next section.
2. Identifying and Describing the Target Market Slides 12-13
Identifying the target market is another normal part of the marketing planning process. The issue
is to make sure it is carefully done for the special capabilities of the online environment. The
approaches are much the same as offline. In additional to the traditional demographics and
lifestyles data, the text emphasizes the importance of understanding the reasons why people visit
a site (intent is the current jargon) in order to be able to build a site that meets their needs and
3. Designing Website Content Slides 14-15
These slides are an overview of what could be a detailed and lengthy discussion. Most
instructors will probably want to keep it at a rather high level and not go too far into the details.
What content visitors want is more than just a straightforward replication of offline content such
Visuals and graphics are no longer a matter for debate among most web designers but a way to
draw the customer to the site and engage them, particularly videos. Simple and usable are key
themes. Sites that seem to be more glitz than substance are likely to be the products of amateurs
or web developers who have been left without marketing guidance in this important activity.
Students who have their own websites may question that statement. Ask them about site
objectives; also try to get them to evaluate their site against design criteria in the next section.
The eyetracking research illustrated on Slide 14 (Figure 12.3) is an important source of our
knowledge about how people actually use websites. While the technology is not new, it is
dependable and useful. Some commercial metrics programs now build eyetracking into their
4. Designing the Navigational Structure Slides 15-17
The subjects of content and of the site structure and the way a visitor navigates around it are
clearly related. Identification of content comes first, then the designers must find a way to
structure it so that desired information is easy to find and that navigating the site contributes
positively to good customer experience.
A hierarchical structure forms the foundation of navigation planning for the site (Figure 12.4,
Slide 15). There should be a reasonable number of second-level pages—enough to clearly
Another early step in the site design process is to design main pages. Often this is followed by
the design of templates for content pages at the second and further levels of the hierarchy, a
process not illustrated here. The design for a hypothetical home page is a type called a
wireframe (Figure 12.4, Slide 15), implying that it has information the designers will find useful
in developing a satisfactory page. Interactive Exercise 12.1 (Slide 33) lets students try their hand
and build a wireframe.
Major issues in designing the site itself and in creating individual pages include:
• Content
• Navigation
The text uses the Overstock.com, shortcut O.co as an example of site designed for customer
service that allows a large amount of content to be accessed easily. In class, you can choose one
or more sites with which you are familiar and on which you consistently have a satisfactory
choice and that presents an interesting contrast. It is even better if you end up with two sites that
are entirely different in looks and maybe even structure, but that both work very well for the
motives their target audience has for visiting those particular sites.
5. Website Usability Criteria Slides 18-19
Forrester (Table 12.1) has developed 25 criteria for site effectiveness that factor into four
dimensions: value, navigation, presentation, and trust. This is an expert judgment method while
the well-know BizRate (owned by Shopzilla) survey (Table 12.2) of customers presents another
6. Deploying and Tuning the Website Slide 20
Deployment, which is basically getting the site onto a server of your own or at a hosting service,
and site tuning are definitely technical tasks. Students should be reminded that marketers should
7. Measuring, Evaluating, and Improving Website Effectiveness Slides 21-22
This is a high level treatment of this important subject, which is the covered in detail in Chapter
14. If you accept the premise that a lot of websites have a long way to go, then the importance of
measurement and continuous improvement is a given. The web master and assistants need to be
In order to be effective the kinds of commercial metrics discussed in Chapter 11 are essential.
Site testing should also be part of the marketing effort. The basic types of site testing are:
• Concept tests that can be performed using basic marketing research techniques. An
laboratory setting.
8. Relaunch when needed: The Relaunch of Staples.com Slides 23-24
Staples has a successful multi-channel strategy and its website is a centerpiece of that strategy.
Consequently the trade seemed surprised when they embarked on a major relaunch. Staples is
9. Other Website Design Tips Slides 25-26
The text lists a number of things to avoid, like flash animation, automatically loading video and
Providing a Rewarding Customer Experience Slides 27-29
The overriding goal of the website is to provide a rewarding customer experience for visitors,
whether they are coming for information, to be entertained, or to purchase something. Zeithaml
• Physical presence and appearance.
• Cognition
Berry and his colleagues add a useful managerial perspective when they encourage marketers to
understand the clues customers receive in their encounters with the company. Certainly the
corporate website is a place where clues are present and can be carefully managed to produce the
Resources for Website Development Slide 30
However, as the slide suggests, some of the best information comes from the basic business
intelligence all marketers should gather for their product category. I would visit some of these
sites to expose the students to what is out there but the best advice of all is the following: Study
the competition and benchmark against some of the best practices sites (the San Diego Zoo is a
favorite of nonprofit marketers, for example). Usability testing and “listening” in general is by
far the most important resource.
How Much Does It Cost? Slide 31
It is hard to get specific costs for a number of reasons as discussed in the text. The range can be
from several thousands of dollars to multi-millions. Interactive Exercise 12.5 suggests using
Summary Slide 32
Development, maintenance, and/or relaunch of a website is complicated strategic issue in
virtually any enterprise, regardless of size and complexity. It must be a joint effort between
marketing and technical professionals, reminiscent of the requirement that marketing and
many of the factors important in good website design.
Discussion Questions
1. True or False: It is imperative that marketers play the leading role in all stages of the
website development process. Take a position on this statement and be prepared to
defend your answer.
The quick and facetious answer to the question is, “Not unless you want marketers to also
2. What are the steps involved in developing a website? What should the marketer’s role
be in each step?
The list of steps identified by responsibility as they are described in the PowerPoint is:
• Establish site objective—marketing
3. The chapter makes frequent references to both testing and conventional marketing
research. What testing and research techniques are appropriate in the website
development process and what is the role of each?
The specific tools listed in the chapter are:
• Usability tests essentially assess the ability of visitors to perform desired tasks on the site.
The process will be discussed in Chapter 10.
It is helpful—but difficult—to try to make sure that students understand the difference between
marketing research (which in my experience they tend to equate to survey research) and testing.
They tend to be familiar with marketing research, having taken the course or at least having been
research subjects from time to time. I find that undergraduates tend to have a hard time
understanding that testing is something quite different. Testing clearly involves using assessing
4. What is the best way to assess customer satisfaction with a website?
One can look at behavioral measures like abandonment of shopping carts or confused or
incomplete paths through the site (to be discussed in Chapter 14). Behavioral measures have the
5. Explain the concept of “consumer experience.” What is its relevance to Internet
marketing? Contrast that with the role of the consumer experience in the offline
retailing environment.
The concept of customer experience does not differ from the offline to the online environment,
but the ways of producing (satisfactory) experience do. The concept refers to various aspects of
evaluating products or services that relate to that offering. For example, in the online world the
senses of touch and smell cannot be employed, robbing us of two sets of sensory stimuli that can
have great value in the world of physical retailing. On the other hand, the online world has
6. How does a marketer know when a site should simply be improved upon and when it
should be completely redesigned and relaunched?
This is an interesting question that has no definitive answer. One issue is technical. You may
run across a site that has been built in a way that is not scalable. There may be no way to make
Internet Exercises
1. Internet Career Builder Exercise.
This is one of the areas where students often can make a contribution in a job or an internship
2. Think of some specific ways in which a website can support the marketing strategy of
an existing business. In the retail space, Walmart, Target, Kmart, and Nordstrom each
have specific strategies. Examine the sites and outline the extent to which the website
illustrates that particular strategy. Be prepared to discuss the points of strategy
integration between the offline and online marketing efforts.
In carrying out this exercise students should draw heavily from Chapter 2, value chains, Part 2,
Chapters 5-8 and Chapter 10, acquisition, and Chapters 9 and 11, retention and interaction as
3. Identify a website that you judge to have major experience components. Spend some
time on the site and be prepared to discuss your experience in class. Pay special
attention to whether or not you feel the experience components contribute in a
meaningful way to achievement of site objectives and whether the experiences provided
are in line with the needs of the target market.
Students are likely to come in with a lot of automobile sites, game sites, and sports sites. That
would be partly due to familiarity and partly because these sites rather consistently have major
You might want to anticipate the final chapter in the book and ask if any of the students are
playing games or using other web-based services on mobile devices—cell phones and other. We
are in the early stages of developing satisfying customer experiences on mobile devices and the
discussion could be revealing.
4. Examine the list of companies rated by Temkin in Table 12.3. How many of them have
you used and what has been your overall impression? Using your own website
evaluation criteria that you develop from the readings, your experience and other
sources, rate one of the sites in terms of usability.
Many of these sites are banking and investment sites and may be difficult for the students to
relate to, but the retail sites should be accessible so you can have them pick another site. There
5. Choose one of the sites you are tracking and do a careful assessment of the degree to
which it is either easy and pleasant or difficult and frustrating to navigate. Develop a set
of criteria that you consider important in assessing whether a site provides good
navigation or not.
In her book Customer-Effective Web Sites, (Prentice-Hall, 2002) Jodie Dalgleish has a substantial
section on navigation (pp. 239-248). Her eight success factors are as follows:
• Create intuitive navigation systems that mimic customer’s mental processes.
6. Choose a specific culture within the United States, such as Hispanics or African-
Americans, and find some sites that are targeted toward those cultures. Some ideas
some research and find some case studies and examples of good web design for sites
targeted for that culture. What are the values of that particular culture? How does
website design differ for that particular culture than for mainstream websites?
Students typically enjoy this assignment and have no trouble coming up with great examples on
7. Choose a specific country other than the United States, such as China, and find some
sites that are targeted toward that country. Some ideas might include: a Chinese chat
site that also offers games and other features (http://qzone.qq.com). Do some research
and find some case studies of web design for that country. What are the shared values
of that particular country? How does website design differ for that particular country
than for websites targeted for the United States?
Students enjoy doing this research and finding out which colors are appropriate for different
8. Thinking about the “digital divide” from Chapter 13. Are there differences in how the
affluent versus nonaffluent use the web? Find out how those making $500,000 plus use
the web versus those making less than $50,000 per year. What implications does your
research have for marketers seeking to target those segments?
Key Terms
accessibility website design principles that allow physically-challenged people, who may need
special devices like screen readers or voice recognition software, to successfully use the website.
breadcrumb navigational aid showing path user has followed.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) a style sheet language to separate the content of the site from the
presentation style elements, such as layouts, colors, and fonts.