Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing: A Practical Approach provides a step-by-step and comprehensive

guide to implementing the key aspects of digital marketing. Building on the previous
editions, this fully updated fourth edition takes an approach that prepares students
for an active role in digital marketing.
As well as topic-based exercises, the text also includes practical case-study exercises –
based on theory and recognized good practice – which will ensure that readers will
be able to analyse situations within the work place, identify the most appropriate
course of action and implement the strategies and tactics that will help the organiza-
tion meet its online objectives. Key updates to the new edition include:

• The role of the digital influencer.

• Direct to Consumer (DTC) and omni-channel retailing.
• Individuals’ privacy and the role of organizations in gathering and storage of their
personal data.
• Ethical aspects of digital marketing and its impact on the environment.
• SEO and Google’s development of the ‘zero click’.
• Online ad fraud.
• Updated online resources available via the author’s own site.

This essential text equips advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and executive

education students with the tools to undertake any digital marketing role within a
variety of organizations. Comprehensive support material available online for both
students and instructors includes links to articles and opinion pieces, PowerPoint
lecturer slides and questions based on the chapter material.
With a background in sales, service, marketing and education, Alan Charlesworth
has been involved in what we now call ‘digital marketing’ as practitioner, trainer,
researcher, teacher, writer and consultant since 1996.
Digital Marketing

A Practical Approach

Fourth Edition

Alan Charlesworth
Cover image: © Getty Images
Fourth edition published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Alan Charlesworth
The right of Alan Charlesworth to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
First edition published by Elsevier/Butterworth-Heineman 2009
Third edition published by Routledge 2018
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Charlesworth, Alan, author.
Title: Digital marketing : a practical approach / Alan Charlesworth.
Other titles: Internet marketing
Description: Fourth edition. | Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York :
Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers:
LCCN 2022020399 (print) | LCCN 2022020400 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367706593 (paperback) | ISBN 9780367706586 (hardback) | ISBN
9781003147411 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Internet marketing.
Classification: LCC HF5415.1265 .C488 2022 (print) | LCC HF5415.1265
(ebook) | DDC 658.8/72--dc23/eng/20220512
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022020399
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022020400

ISBN: 978-0-367-70658-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-70659-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-14741-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003147411

Typeset in Utopia Std

by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Access the support material: alancharlesworth.com/DigitalMarketing
This one is for Chris … a man of many shorts and few trousers.
Contents

List of figures x
List of tables xi
Acknowledgementsxiv

Chapter 1 Introduction1

Chapter 2 Digital customers7

2.1 Introduction7
2.2 Online buying behaviour10
2.3 The only way is ethics16
2.4 Digital marketing and the environment23

Chapter 3 Marketing goes digital30

3.1 Introduction30
3.2 Digital isn’t the only option32
3.3 Non-marketers in digital marketing34
3.4 In-house or out-source?39
3.5 Fads, trends, next big things and the occasional sustainable model39
3.6 Digital marketing objectives52

Chapter 4 Search engine optimization61

4.1 Introduction61
4.2 How search engines work66
4.3 Keyword selection72
4.4 On-site optimization77
4.5 Off-site optimization82
4.6 Third-party SERP ranking86
4.7 Enterprise SEO88
viii   Contents

Chapter 5 Website development93

5.1 Introduction93
5.2 Website management and development97
5.3 Usability102
5.4 The basics112
5.5 Content development123
5.6 The global web presence137

Chapter 6 E-commerce and the retail website142

6.1 Introduction142
6.2 Multi- and omni-channel retailing147
6.3 Comparison shopping engines and e-marketplaces, third-party
shopping sites and social shopping150
6.4 Direct to consumer (DTC)157
6.5 The e-commerce website159
6.6 Fulfilment and returns169

Chapter 7 B2B and the B2B website179

7.1 Introduction179
7.2 B2B buyer behaviour180
7.3 B2B website development185
7.4 The B2B e-commerce website191
7.5 B2B e-marketplaces192

Chapter 8 Advertising online195

8.1 Introduction195
8.2 Objectives and management199
8.3 Online ad formats and delivery systems202
8.4 Networked display advertising207
8.5 Search advertising213
8.6 Landing pages221
8.7 Limitations of online advertising224
8.8 Ad fraud232

Chapter 9 Email marketing238

9.1 Introduction238
9.2 Email as a medium for direct marketing240
9.3 Triggered emails, automated response, enquiry response and
admin emails as a medium for marketing messages246
9.4 Email newsletters251
 Contents   ix

Chapter 10 Marketing on social media255

Prologue255
Preface: What’s in a name?256
10.1 Introduction256
10.2 Blogging263
10.3 Consumer reviews and ratings266
10.4 Social networking, social sharing and communities271
10.5 Customer service and support on social media277
10.6 Influencers280
10.7 Strategic considerations for marketing on social media291
10.8 Limitations of marketing on social media299
10.9 Social media use and user behaviour310
Epilogue316

Chapter 11 Metrics and analytics321

Prologue321
11.1 Introduction322
11.2 How analytics are presented and used338
11.3 Limitations of online data347

Index353
List of figures

2.1 The Internet’s potential impact on the buying cycle.11

2.2 The basic AIDA sales funnel.12
2.3 A contemporary sales funnel. 13
5.1 An example of a simple website architecture. 113
7.1 An example of a B2B buying process.181
10.1 The customer loyalty ladder.282
11.1 Shows visit details of the most popular pages of
AlanCharlesworth.com.339
11.2 Which devices were most popular for accessing the site?341
11.3 Where in the world visitors were located geographically
when they visited the site.341
11.4 The top ten locations for visitors to the site.342
11.5 A brief section of the site’s user flow (also known as click
stream).343
List of tables

2.1 User participation in digital activities8

2.2 Preferred method of learning about a new brand, product or
service9
2.3 Where do users turn first when looking for information;
social media or the web?9
2.4 Share of US adults with ‘lower tech readiness’17
2.5 Trust in tech companies19
2.6 How much data is generated every minute of every day?25
3.1 Organizations’ primary approach to marketing31
3.2 Channels used in marketing31
3.3 The most desirable digital marketing skills 2020–202137
3.4 Where use of personalization is most impactful42
4.1 Website traffic sources64
4.2 The clickthrough rate of SERP listing positions69
4.3 Where users click after searching on Google70
4.4 SEO myth-busting: what is NOT a Google search ranking
factor. Note that although these points are NOT ranking
factors, some may add to the usability and/or credibility of
the site.82
4.5 How managers measure the success of their SEO strategy91
5.1 Stanford guidelines for web credibility117
5.2 Global desktop vs mobile vs tablet usage on the web119
5.3 Desktop vs mobile for accessing websites in various
industries120
5.4 Evaluation of high- and low-quality content130
5.5 Website content131
6.1 E-commerce retail sales by country 2021 (in dollars,
billions)147
6.2 Participants’ responses when asked how fashion sites could
break into their select group of favourite shops162
6.3 Mobile vs desktop in e-commerce checkout KPIs164
6.4 Important elements of the online shopping experience166
6.5 Important grocery delivery service attributes176
xii   List of tables

7.1 Primary goals for running marketing campaigns in 2021 183

7.2 Top B2B tactics for acquiring prospect and customer data 184
7.3 What visitors want from B2B websites 186
7.4 What types of content generate leads that convert? 190
8.1 Monthly podcast listening by age group (percentage who
listened to a podcast in the last month) 207
8.2 Keyword matching options 218
8.3 How do consumers describe different ad types? 225
8.4 UK trust in advertising by media type 226
8.5 The average CTRs for different ad platforms 227
9.1 Trends in email marketing effectiveness 240
10.1 Adapted from Zhu and Chen’s social media matrix –
remember this is taken from the users’ perspective 258
10.2 Marketing on social media 261
10.3 Consumers’ preferred channel for sharing feedback about a
product or service 278
10.4 Average inbound daily message response rates by industry 279
10.5 Types of influencers followed by US teens 287
10.6 Who do you follow most? 287
10.7 Who is most likely to give an unbiased review of the product
they are promoting? 288
10.8 Who are most likely to take a product recommendation
from? 288
10.9 What makes a brand best in class on social media? 293
10.10 Most popular social media platforms 296
10.11 Most popular social media platforms 296
10.12 Users’ perceptions of honesty on social media (YouGov
2019) 301
10.13 Brand post engagement rate benchmarks for Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter 302
10.14 Top 20 brands on TikTok by follower count (millions) 303
10.15 Distribution of Facebook and Instagram interactions
(Socialbakers 2019) 304
10.16 Why do people follow brands on social media? 305
10.17 Top reasons a brand gets unfollowed on social media 306
10.18 The main reasons why millennials use social media 306
10.19 Why consumers opt in to brand communications on
smartphones? 307
10.20 Where consumers follow brands? 309
10.21 Platforms that consumers use 312
10.22 Social media use in the US for 2021 313
10.23 How often do you access social media platforms? 313
10.24 US teens’ favourite platforms 313
 List of tables   xiii

10.25 The vast majority of word-of-mouth about brands still takes

place offline315
10.26 Why people share content publically on social media?315
11.1 How marketers use social media336
11.2 How visitors arrive on AlanCharlesworth.com.344
Acknowledgements

All at Routledge who helped make this publication possible – thanks.

Suzanne Pfister at KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd for the proof reading – if any errors
remain it’s because I told her to leave them in.
All the students, trainees and audiences at any event at which I have spoken – if you
hadn’t asked the questions, I would not have had to find the answers.
All those practitioners, writers, commentators, bloggers and researchers who do the
work that keeps people like me informed.
All those organizations that have asked me to monitor or participate in their digital
marketing efforts – you learn more in an hour at the sharp end than you do in days of
reading the theory.
Chapter
1
Introduction
A writer’s job is to make people think again about the things they take for granted. It’s
to question the comfortable banalities that evolve into questionable ‘truths’. A writer
who does not sometimes offend us is providing nothing of value. Why bother to write if
all you’re doing is parroting the platitudes and comfortable notions of the crowd?’

Bob Hoffman, the Ad Contrarian

Okay … I’ll start with a confession. This is an aca-

demic text that starts with a deception; a ploy; a JU ST SA Y I N ’
scam. Really? The JUST SAYIN’ boxes contain
personal comments on subjects.
Well, kind of. You see, in previous editions of this You might disagree. If you do;
book some important stuff was included in the good … discuss them in class as
preface. That is, stuff that helped the reader to an exercise.
understand the hows and whys of the book’s
content and its presentation. And guess what?
JU ST SA Y I N ’
Hardly anyone read it. Indeed, quite possibly, no
one read it. So … I’ve trimmed out the boring Twitter Marketing
stuff and called it Chapter 1 on the chance that it Unless you want a laugh, avoid it
might stand a better chance of being read. at all costs. Remember, posts are
there to make money for the
What follows is important and I’ve divided it into poster – not the reader.
a series of key points – take a few minutes to read
them as they will help you to make sense of the rest of the book.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003147411-1
2   DIGITAL MARKETING

So, in no particular order …

KEY POINT #1

This is a book about marketing on the Internet (see KEY POINT #2). It is not a book
about all marketing. To get the best from this book, the reader should be aware of –
though not necessarily an expert in – common marketing theories, strategies and tac-
tics. It is also the case that online marketing is an element of any overall marketing
strategy, and so the online aspect must mirror or compliment that strategy. For
example; if the organization has decided to pursue a strategy of brand purpose, then
the website, social media postings and advertising must reflect that.

SNIPPET
That’s Internet with a capital ‘I’
Okay, so I’m splitting hairs, but long before the World Wide Web came
along a collection of connected computers was referred to as an internet –
a noun. Naturally, when we then got a collection of connected websites
(yes, that’s websites, all one word), it was referred to as the Internet –
which is a noun that designates a particular being or thing, i.e. a proper
noun, and so – like your name – it is capitalized.

KEY POINT #2

Despite its title, throughout the book I frequently refer to online or Internet rather
than digital marketing. This is deliberate. It has become common for digital to be
used to represent marketing on the Internet, but my contention is that (just about) all
marketing now uses digital technology – and this book concentrates only on the use
of the Internet for marketing purposes.

MINI EXERCISE
The first edition of this book was called Internet Marketing, a Practical
Approach for exactly the reason stated above. Perhaps I should have stuck
with it. Why do you think the title was changed?

KEY POINT #3

Like its first three editions, this is not a book that evangelizes any aspect of digital
marketing with the aim of converting every marketer to its use. In online marketing
there are no certainties; there are probabilities, possibilities and likelihoods – but
nothing is absolute. The essence of this book that underpins every section is that to
 Introduction   3

be effective each element of digital marketing must be assessed in the context in

which it is going to be applied. To paraphrase an old saying;
Some digital tactics are right all of the time; and all digital tactics are right some
of the time; but all digital tactics are never right all of the time.
It depends on the context in which they are being applied.
As Michael Porter notably pointed out;
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.

KEY POINT #4

Any book that has pretensions as an academic text should have appropriate aca-
demic underpinnings, and this book has some. However, the practical nature of the
content means that there are also significant practical underpinnings such as statis-
tics or research findings from commercial organizations. Although there may be an
element of bias in some of these, they are up to date and represent real-world issues,
whereas much of the academic research in the subject area is outdated by the time it
is published – and some is of dubious quality, particularly where the researchers
have no marketing qualifications or experience. Note that my scepticism towards
academic research is not absolute. For more on this subject, follow the link on the
chapter’s web page. In reality, if you’re studying for a PhD this isn’t the book for you.
But if you’re studying to help get a job … you’ll find this book useful.

KEY POINT #5

Following on from the previous point; the COVID pandemic drastically changed
online behaviour over the periods of lockdown. Therefore, much of the practical
research made available at the time of writing was skewed by folks being at home
more than would be normal, e.g. e-commerce sales increased dramatically. There-
fore, on occasion, I have used older data which I believe is still generally accurate
and useful. I also try to stick to what happened research rather than predictions –
particularly from industry experts who tend to predict whatever fits their agenda.

DISCUSSION; what do you think?

As you read this, any impact of the pandemic will – hopefully – have dimin-
ished from its 2020–21 peaks. How much of online buyer behaviour has
returned to pre-pandemic rate – or did it bring about any permanent
changes?

KEY POINT #6

An advantage of experiencing ‘old school’ marketing is that I’m aware of what has
gone before the Internet brought change to our lives, business and marketing – and
4   DIGITAL MARKETING

so recognize when ‘new’ marketers reinvent traditional marketing tactics and pre-
sent them as being new. This theme is a constant throughout the book.

EXERCISE
MINI EXERCISE
New … or re-hashed?
It might have introduced faster, better and more efficient ways of prac-
ticing marketing, but the Internet has brought nothing new to
marketing.
I’ve been saying this since 1996, and I have yet to have anyone successfully
challenge my assertion. Can you?

KEY POINT #7

The length of each section or chapter should not be perceived as reflecting the
importance of the subject within digital marketing – some subjects simply lend
themselves to having more written about them.

KEY POINT #8

Throughout the book I occasionally refer to ‘companies’ or ‘firms’, but in the main
I use ‘organization’. This is deliberately vague. Whenever you see the word ‘organ-
ization’ feel free to replace it with any other term that you feel is relevant to the
context or your own circumstances. As well as ‘company’ and ‘firm’ other exam-
ples might include; ‘government department’, ‘university’, ‘hospital’, ‘foundation’,
‘school’, ‘society’, ‘not-for-profit’, ‘business’, ‘association’, ‘college’, ‘religious
body’, ‘charity’, ‘club’ or any other entity – including ‘individual’. Rarely do I use
the term ‘brand’ in this context. I’m not a believer in referring to a brand as if it’s an
entity in its own right.

KEY POINT #9

I am very much aware that students who use this book as part of their studies are
more likely to find work with SMEs and not go straight to a job as strategic marketer
with a global brand. I have tried to reflect this in the book’s contents – not least with
the case studies.

KEY POINT #10

As with previous editions of the book, some of the chapter exercises are based on a
number of case studies. Although the case studies are fictional, they all characterize
real-life situations – most are based on organizations I have worked with – or ex
students are working at.
 Introduction   5

Completing the exercises in each chapter will not make you an expert –
but it will help put you on the path to becoming one. It’s not enough that
you know something… you have to practice it until you learn it.

KEY POINT #11

Wherever possible, I have avoided promotion of specific brands or products within the
text. This is particularly the case where digital marketing tools, services or technologies
are concerned – naming a particular website-hosting company or software that helps
with search engine optimization, for example. There are obvious exceptions. Try writ-
ing a book on digital marketing without mentioning Google, for example.

KEY POINT #12

Many of the marketers quoted or used for research into online marketing will have
budgets in the millions of dollars/pound/euros/whatever – and so the findings of
such research might be – at best – limited in respect to smaller organizations, in
some cases useless and in worst cases damaging.

KEY POINT #13

Some things change … and some don’t. TikTok, for example, didn’t exist when the
third edition of this book came out. However, best practice in email marketing and
website design was established in the last century. I mention this because there is an
obvious impact on the content of the book in that some sections are (just about) cut
and pasted from previous editions, whilst others have required significant updating –
and some elements are brand new.

KEY POINT #14

For every business or marketing success story featured in TV news, at conferences, in

the business section of newspapers and – more significantly – on a variety of web
pages, there are thousands of untold failures we don’t read or hear about. I make this
point because it is folly to base any marketing strategy or digital tactic on the concept
of ‘well it worked for them’. It didn’t work for many, many more.

KEY POINT #15

Online support

The book has its own website (alancharlesworth.com/Digital-

Marketing), a feature of which is that each chapter has its own
page that includes references to websites that provide more
details and updates on subjects covered within the text, plus
links to information, articles and stories that will enhance the
book’s content.
6   DIGITAL MARKETING

And finally …

1. I have no outside affiliations, e.g. a consultancy or publishing business. The ben-

efit to readers of this is that I have nothing to promote within the text, e.g. mod-
els, concepts or software that are products of those outside interests. As a result,
I have tried to present an objective account of the various aspects of marketing
on the Internet. If there is any bias within the book it is based on my opinion
which is influenced by over 25 years of study, research and practice of marketing
on the Internet – which itself was built on a foundation of sales and marketing
practice in pre-Internet years.
2. Following on from this is that I have been on this planet for over 60 years.
Some readers – usually based on what they might have read on social media, and
typically written by folk much, much younger than me – believe that digital mar-
keting is a young person’s game and older folk don’t ‘get it’. Naturally I would
argue the opposite – though I do appreciate that some of my contemporaries
have applied little or no effort in learning about the subject, which doesn’t help
my argument. But ultimately, would you rather study the point of view of some-
one who – with regard to digital marketing – has been there, seen it, done it and
has the tee shirt … or someone who wasn’t born when that person started seeing
and doing it?
3. I’ve written a number of books on this subject area and I find it impossible to re-
write the basic content in a different way for every book – so there is some repeti-
tion. Sorry.
4. This content of this book is presented in the same manner that I went about my
teaching. To paraphrase Greek philosopher, Socrates;
I cannot teach you anything … only encourage you to think and to question.
Enjoy :-)
Chapter
2
Digital customers
Chapter at a glance
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Online buying behaviour
2.3 The only way is ethics
2.4 Digital marketing and the environment

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Before considering how consumers behave online, it is worth reminding readers

about why they’re using the Internet in the first place. Whilst users might be online to
research or make a purchase, it is more likely that they are there for another reason.
This is important because any marketing that they might come across – or is forced
upon them – is disturbing whatever they were there for in the first place. Research by
Perrin (2020), on behalf of eMarketer, investigated selected activities undertaken by
Internet users in the US (see Table 2.1). Despite numerous newer and trendier appli-
cations since that time, the data found that one of the original applications of the
Internet – email – still holds the top spot. Equally interesting to digital marketers is
that search comes in at number two – though any search is just as likely to be non-
commercial (e.g. lyrics of a song) rather than seeking a product or service. Note also
that time is not a factor in this research – a search on Google, for example, might take
only a minute or two, but a visit to TikTok may go on for hours.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003147411-2
8   DIGITAL MARKETING

Table 2.1 User participation in digital activities

Internet activity Percentage of users

Email users 91
Search users 85
Digital video viewers 83
Digital audio 72
Social network users 72
Digital gamers 58
Smartphone messaging app users 50
Podcast listener 27

Comprehensive research from RRD (2021) proved to be something of a wake-up call

for marketers when their expectations for various marketing tactics were measured
against the behaviour of consumers (see Table 2.2). The question; ‘what is your pre-
ferred method for learning about a new brand, product or service’ suggested that
marketers underestimated some and overestimated other methods.
When Campaign/Harris Poll (2020) asked consumers the question; ‘where do you
turn first when looking for information; social media or the web?’ The results (see
Table 2.3) might surprise some readers, e.g. those who mistakenly think that the web
is all about social media.

SNIPPET
Helping the buyer to buy
The following paragraph is taken verbatim from my book, ‘Key Concepts in
e-Commerce’:
Arguably one of the most significant developments the Internet has
brought to marketing is to give impetus to marketers’ objectives shift-
ing from helping the seller to sell to helping the buyer to buy. Con-
sumers now expect to be facilitated in their research on the product or
service that best meets their wants and needs.

Follow the link on the chapter’s web page for more on this notion.

There are a couple of things that need to be made clear prior to getting started on buyer
behaviour. First off is that in marketing terms the buyer may not have handed over cash
for a product. That would be the norm, but it also includes the customer meeting the
objectives of the marketing efforts. Translating this online; it may be the case that the
aim of a website might be to provide information. Therefore, downloading a pdf might
 Digital customers   9

Table 2.2 Preferred method of learning about a new brand, product or service

Consumers percentage Marketers percentage

Word of mouth (offline) 28 4

Online ad 11 36
Social media 23 32
Streaming service 5 18
Cable TV 12 4

Note: the nature of social media is not identified, but as online advertising is a separate
category it is assumed social media means posts by friends/relatives and brands that
are followed.

be the required sale. Similarly, on a B2B site, the objective could well be to have the
potential customer contact the organization – so as soon as a phone call is made, for
example, the website has made its sale, i.e. met its marketing objective.
Furthermore, it is often the case that use of the term customer is not appropriate to
the selling organization. Universities prefer students, hospitals patients and churches
worshippers, for example – but essentially each of these groups will demonstrate
customer-behavioural traits in choosing the provider of their education, treatment or
religion. It is also necessary to clarify two other terms which are pertinent to the con-
tent of this book; customer/consumer and buy/sell.

• Put simply; a customer is the person who pays for a product – a consumer is one
who consumes it. The customer for a product might also be the consumer (I buy
and drink a bottle of beer) but this is not always the case (I buy two beers, drink one
and give the other to a friend who drinks that bottle). This is particularly relevant in
the case in B2B trading, where the person who agrees the purchase of a product is
unlikely to be the one who uses (consumes) it.

Table 2.3 Where do users turn first when looking for information; social media or the web?

Information on

A business 84% turn to the web

Updates on family/friends 68% turn to Facebook
Daily news (e.g. weather, sports results) 88% turn to the web
Products to buy 85% turn to the web
‘How to’ … 59% turn to YouTube, 34% to the web
Current event articles 85% turn to the web
Ideas on gifts 81% turn to the web
A celebrity 66% turn to the web, 34% to social media
10   DIGITAL MARKETING

• The definition of buy is to acquire by paying. The definition of sell is to transfer own-
ership in exchange for payment. Some decisions to buy are made at the point of
purchase (the vast majority of grocery goods are in this category). In these cases,
having the right product in the right place at the right time for the right price is
enough to sell it. However, for other products the buyer may take a long period –
months or even years – to decide on its purchase (a car, for example); therefore, the
marketer may spend years selling it. Once again, many B2B purchases fit into this
category.

If you are not fully conversant with these issues I suggest you read up on them in
greater detail before tackling the various elements of this book. If you are conversant
with these issues, you have every right to question the use of customer and not con-
sumer in the title of this chapter. Realistically, I could have used either. Or both.

2.2 ONLINE BUYING BEHAVIOUR

As with all aspects of marketing, buyer behaviour

can be divided into consumer behaviour and JU ST SA Y I N ’
industry behaviour. There are just two reasons folk
use the Internet:

Business to consumer (B2C) 1. To save time

2. To waste time
Rather than covering the myriad of theories that
So … whatever marketing you’re
exist in the social science that is customer beha- trying to complete online,
viour, in this section we will briefly consider how remember the user is doing one
people behave online and how that behaviour of these. It will help. A lot.
can be best exploited by the digital marketer.
One way to do this is to take one of the most common models in the subject and con-
sider how it might be applied online. Before doing that, however, it is worth adding
that buyer behaviour is inherent in many (if not most) aspects of marketing – for that
reason the subject re-emerges throughout subsequent chapters of this book. Suc-
cessful website development, for example, is dependent on the visitor being able to
interact with the site (their behaviour) and in Chapter 10 we consider digital market-
ing analytics – much of which revolves around tracking users’ online behaviour.
Perhaps the most commonly used model of buyer behaviour is that which considers
the purchase process as a cycle, taking the customer in the following series of steps:
problem recognition ⇨ information search ⇨ evaluation of alternatives ⇨ purchase
decision ⇨ post-purchase behaviour. Normally presented as a flow chart, Figure 2.1
shows how the Internet can impact on that cycle.
A further consideration is the length of time that the potential customer takes to pro-
gress from problem recognition to purchase. For some products the decision-making
process is swift – with all stages taking place almost instantaneously. For other prod-
ucts the decision is swift by necessity – a distress purchase perhaps. Other product
 Digital customers   11

Figure 2.1 The Internet’s potential impact on the buying cycle.

purchase cycles, however, might be much longer – a new kitchen would be an exam-
ple of this where the buyer might take months, or even years, in coming to a decision.
The aforementioned buying cycle (see Figure 2.1) is a development from the AIDA
concept which has been around since the 1890s. Introduced by salesman St Elmo
Lewis and given even greater prominence when E K Strong included it in his 1925 book
The Psychology of Selling, the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) the model
requires the marketer to ask: did the promotion; grab attention, arouse an interest,
stimulate desire and provide a call for action? Naturally, the flip side to this model is
that it mirrors the buyer’s behaviour in making a purchase – their attention is drawn
to a problem which then sparks their interest, creates a desire and they then take
action to meet that desire. Newer models such as the sales, or conversion, funnel are
12   DIGITAL MARKETING

Figure 2.2 The basic AIDA sales funnel.

also based on the AIDA principle and – like all study into buyer behaviour – is used to
help develop marketing strategy (see Figure 2.2).
Although the funnel concept can be adapted for many similar purposes – brand
adoption, for example – in online marketing is most frequently used in developing,
or assessing websites – where the top of the funnel is the home or entry page and the
exit representing the site’s objective being achieved. The funnel model can be seen as
a useful aid to marketers in that it (unlike the buying cycle which is more linear)
represents the fact that people leave the buying cycle at various stages – hence the
funnel narrows as it progresses to the sale.
A further extension of the AIDA/cycle/funnel concept is to combine them so that cus-
tomer retention is taken into account – and so the process becomes circular, that is the
last stage of one purchase leads directly into the first stage of the next. Commonly rec-
ognized as relationship marketing, this is the concept that sales should not be con-
sidered as isolated events and that customers should be encouraged to develop a
relationship with the supplier – so increasing the opportunities for repeat purchases
from the organization or brand. This is reflected in Figure 2.3, which shows a con-
temporary sales funnel. For example; potential customers might be exposed to an
advert (the widest part of the funnel). People interested in the product might respond
to the ad by ringing up to request a brochure (they enter the funnel). After reading the
brochure, the prospective customer then contacts the firm to arrange a demonstration
of the product and so on until a purchase is made (they exit the funnel at its narrowest
point). At each step the customer can either (a) go deeper into the funnel, or (b) step
 Digital customers   13

Figure 2.3 A contemporary sales funnel.

out by rejecting the offering. Sales (and marketing) teams can then study users’ pro-
gression through the funnel and address issues that cause them to step out at the vari-
ous stages. It is also the case that customers can be rejected at any stage if sales staff
identifies them as not-serious purchasers. Note how the arrows indicate that potential
customers can leave the funnel at any time – though it is also likely that they could join
at any point. If you know exactly what you want you go straight in at purchase (address-
ing this issue is covered in Chapter 6 on e-commerce websites).
It is worth noting that these models are lauded, criticized and debated in marketing –
but this is not the forum for such discussion. Suffice to say that – like many marketing
models – they are better than a blank sheet of paper (or blank screen) when starting
out on the development of a tactic, plan or strategy.
As well as considering the relevance of traditional models in online buyer behaviour,
there are also the behavioural traits of people when they are online.
A number of authors have attempted to segregate online shoppers, but rather than
some of the theoretical academic proposals, I prefer the more pragmatic submission
from digital marketing practitioner and author, Bryan Eisenberg (2011). Most of his
20 forces that influence whether people buy things are fairly obvious (and should not
be new to marketing students or retailers) but the reason I have included it here is so
that you can consider how people would make these purchases online – and more
importantly, how the digital marketer can meet their expectations in making those
purchases. And don’t forget that each category will be specific to each individual –
people buy different things at different times for different prices for different reasons.
Eisenberg’s 20 forces that influence whether people buy things are as follows:

1. Basic needs. We buy things to fulfil what Maslow describes as the bottom of his
hierarchy; things like food and shelter.
14   DIGITAL MARKETING

2. Convenience. You need something now and will take the easiest or fastest path
to get it. Think about the last time you were running out of petrol or were thirsty.
3. Replacement. Sometimes you buy because you need to replace old things you
have.
4. Scarcity. This could be around collectibles or a perceived need that something
may run out or have limited availability in the future.
5. Prestige or inspirational purchase. Something that is purchased for an esteem-
related reason or for personal enrichment.
6. Emotional vacuum. Sometimes you just buy to try to replace things you cannot
have and never will.
7. Lower prices. Something you identified earlier as a want is now a lower price
than before.
8. Great value. When the perceived value substantially exceeds the price of a prod-
uct or service. This is something you don’t particularly need; you just feel it’s too
good of a deal to pass up.
9. Name recognition. When purchasing a category you’re unfamiliar with, brand-
ing plays a big role.
10. Fad or innovation. Everybody wants the latest and greatest of something.
11. Compulsory purchase. Some external force, like something your boss asked you
to do, makes it mandatory. This often happens in emergencies, such as when you
need a plumber.
12. Ego stroking. Sometimes you make a purchase to impress/attract someone or to
have something bigger/smaller and better than others.
13. Niche identity. Something that helps bond you to a cultural, religious or com-
munity affiliation.
14. Peer pressure. Something is purchased because your friends want you to.
15. The ‘Girl Scout Cookie effect’. People feel better about themselves by feeling as
though they’re giving to others; and especially when they’re promised some-
thing in return.
16. Reciprocity or guilt. This happens when somebody – usually an acquaintance,
or someone rarely gift-worthy – buys you a gift or does something exceptionally
nice and/or unnecessary. Now it’s your turn to return the favour at the next
opportunity.
17. Empathy. Sometimes people buy from other people because they listened and
cared about them even if they had the lesser value alternative.
18. Addiction. This is outside the range of the normal human operating system, but
it certainly exists and accounts for more sales than any of us can fathom.
19. Fear. Some things are bought out of fear of anything from flat tyres to personal
protection.
20. Indulgence. Who doesn’t deserve a bit of luxury now and then?
 Digital customers   15

SNIPPET
At four pounds an hour, it’s a bargain
In 1997, I worked on a project to develop a website selling a series of past
times books that featured photo-histories of UK towns and cities. Books
featuring specific towns or cities were readily available in local bookshops,
but our target market was ex-pats who wanted to revisit their past but
could not physically return to their hometowns. The first subject city was
our own – Sunderland. The office sweepstake for the country of origin for
the first order had Canada and Australia as joint favourites. So it was some-
thing of a disappointment when the first online order came in from the vil-
lage of Whitburn, a couple of miles up the coast from Sunderland’s city
centre. Contact was made with the buyer. Why had he paid full retail price
plus postage for a book he could have purchased at a discounted price in
a city centre shop?
On reflection, his reason was obvious – and many others in the still emerg-
ing practice of e-commerce were soon to realize it too. Our customer ran
his own business and worked 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., Monday to Friday. On
Saturdays he played golf. Sunday was his family day. To travel to the city
centre on a weekend, park his car, walk to the shop, buy the book and
return home would take at least an hour, nearer two on busy days. To this
gentleman, ordering online during the evening and paying an extra £4 or
so to have the book delivered to his house was a bargain. He valued his
leisure time at well over £4 an hour.
Fast forward 25 years, and whilst people do bargain hunt on the web, they still
value their time – and so convenience is still a – if not the – key reason for peo-
ple buying online. Note that this notion predates the COVID pandemic which
served to emphasize the advantages of having goods delivered.

Business to business (B2B)

Two issues are significant in B2B marketing, they are that (1) the method of both the
decision-making process and the actual purchase differs from B2C, and (2) the range
of products varies dramatically. The diversity of products purchased by an organiza-
tion means that the marketer must be prepared to adapt their online selling to suit
different product lines. However, in a similar manner to consumer markets, firms
make use of the Internet in their purchasing as a source of information and, some-
times, as a transaction channel via an e-commerce site. For the majority of B2B prod-
ucts and services, although the organization’s online presence can play a significant
role in the commercial buying process, the website is rarely the medium on which
the actual purchase is made. B2B buying behaviour is covered in more detail in
Chapter 7 which covers this and other aspects of digital B2B marketing.
16   DIGITAL MARKETING

2.3 THE ONLY WAY IS ETHICS

Strictly speaking, this section isn’t really about digital marketing – but it is about the
environment in which it exists and is practiced. And, ultimately, that might be more
important than anything else in this book … so if you take nothing else from it, takes this.

Access to the Internet

In the first two editions of this book I addressed the issue of folk who had no access to
the Internet, concluding that;
… many governments have subsidised public Internet access in the more
deprived areas of their countries (in schools and libraries, for example) because
they recognised that a scenario where ‘haves’ had access to information that will
improve their lives (e.g. through access to education or cheaper products)
whereas the ‘have-nots’ did not – a situation often referred to as the digital divide –
and so the have-nots would fall still further behind the haves.
In the third edition I omitted the section, partly as a word-count issue (new stuff
meant some old stuff had to go) but also as I naively thought it was no longer a major
issue. Well, I was proved wrong when during the COVID pandemic it became obvi-
ous that those with no – or limited – access to the web not only existed in significant
numbers but were at considerable disadvantage to those with access. Although there
are still some folk who choose to be without the Internet, the majority of those have-
nots were in lower income groups – a double whammy as these were the folk who
most needed to benefits offered by the web. Research by Vogels (2021) found that in
the US, 24 per cent of adults with household incomes below $30,000 a year don’t own
a smartphone, and 43 per cent with lower incomes have no home broadband ser-
vices with 41 per cent not owning desktop or laptop computer. On a global per-
spective, a report from UNICEF (2020) found that at least a third of the world’s
schoolchildren were unable to access remote learning during school closures caused
by the COVID pandemic. Similar research from the International Telecommunica-
tion Union (2021) produced similar results, suggesting that around 2.9 billion –
37 percent – of the world’s population have still never used the Internet, with the vast
majority – 96 per cent – of those people residing in developing countries.
According to research from Kin + Carta (2021) many folk in the UK and US still face
difficulties when accessing basic online services, with nearly half (49 per cent) of
people having either struggled, or know someone else who has struggled, to gain
access to one or more services over the past year because of how they are offered
online. This includes vital digital resources such as healthcare, education, grocery
delivery and official information relating to the pandemic.
When Pew Research Center (2021) looked at use of the Internet during the COVID
pandemic they found that 90 per cent of Americans said the Internet has been essen-
tial or important to them. However, despite the heavy reliance on the web, the
research revealed that around 30 per cent of respondents had ‘lower tech readiness’ –
 Digital customers   17

Table 2.4 Share of US adults with ‘lower tech readiness’

Age groups Percentage of age group

US adults 30
18–29 16
30–49 17
50–64 34
65–74 54
75+ 68

saying they either were not at all or only a little confident using their computer,
smartphone or other electronic device to do the things they need to do online.
Although it might be expected that older users were the least tech ready, perhaps it’s a
little surprising that the lower age ranges had 16 per cent in this category. See Table 2.4
for the full results.
With dependency on the Internet being established for education, healthcare and
essential information, even those with a connection and skills to use it are still reliant
on connection providers. Whilst local problems are a major cause of Internet-service
failure, sometimes it is the sites themselves that are at fault. For example, the
12 months from December 2020 saw the following:

• December 2020: Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive and other Google services down
for around 90 minutes.
• June 2021: Amazon, Reddit, Twitch, Github, Shopify, Spotify and several news sites
down for an hour.
• July 2021: A DNS bug results in around 50 services, including: Airbnb, Expedia,
Home Depot and Salesforce, to go down for an hour.
• September 2021: Thousands in the UK were left without the Internet as Virgin
Media’s broadband crashed.
• October 2021: Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are offline for six hours.
• Nov 2021: Tesla cars lock out their owners because of problems with the app.
• Dec 2021: An outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) shut down Wi-Fi-connected
devices in people’s homes.
Source: Various news publications

Privacy

It is worth starting this section by reminding readers that data – their data – is a com-
modity that can be sold by those who collect and analyse it to third parties who are
then free to use it as they wish. This has always been a pre-Internet business model,
but the ease of collection and analysis facilitated by digital technology has increased
disproportionately the potential financial benefits of the model. Indeed, for many
18   DIGITAL MARKETING

businesses, their brand – and stock exchange – value is built around the data it
possesses on its customers and uses and its ability to gather more.

GO ONLINE
Follow the link on the chapter’s web page to read ‘These apps collect the
most personal data’. Or maybe you don’t want to find out who gathers
what data on you? No – well try this: Amazon lets many third-party com-
panies ‘tag’ people who visit its website so they can track and follow them
across the web and seamlessly exchange data on them. Sorry.

Zhou and Li (2014) describe the concept of privacy concerns as referring to individu-
als’ beliefs about the risks and potential negative consequences associated with shar-
ing information. This is a reasonable place to start when considering the issue of
privacy online – but what it does not do is relate to people’s actions as a result of
those potential negative consequences. A quick glance at the research (the majority
of which is published in psychology publications rather than marketing) suggests
that as the knowledge of the causes of these consequences has become more com-
mon, not only have the concerns increased, but so too have people’s actions to
address them. Throughout the first decade of the century, research found that
although individuals had concerns about privacy, they did little to address these con-
cerns in their online privacy management – an experience dubbed the privacy para-
dox. However, more recent research – in particular that of Baruh et al. (2017) which
combined 166 studies in its survey – has suggested that those people who are
informed about privacy issues have concerns which they address by using fewer
online services, set stronger security settings and revealed less personal information.
However, that meta-analysis by Baruh and his co-authors also revealed a new para-
dox in that even individuals who have concerns ignore them when it comes to social
media where they seem happy to get involved in uncensored or inappropriate self-
disclosure and allow a wide range of apps to access their data, so making much of
their digital footprint available to the general public – and, significantly, both fraud-
ster and marketers. It would seem that most of us prefer to feel safe and protected
when we go online, but the perceived benefits of using free sites and disclosing per-
sonal information outweigh the perceived risks (Chamorro-Premuzic & Nahai, 2017).

SNIPPET
A poll by the Washington Post-Schar School (2021) asked respondents;
how much do you trust each of the following companies or services to
responsibly handle your personal information and data on your Internet
activity? The results – shown in Table 2.5 – are not encouraging for the
tech sector.
 Digital customers   19

Table 2.5 Trust in tech companies

Company Trust not much/at all Trust a great deal/a good amount No opinion

Facebook 72 20 8
TikTok 63 12 25
Instagram 60 19 20
WhatsApp 53 15 32
YouTube 53 35 12
Google 47 48 4
Microsoft 42 43 15
Apple 40 44 16
Amazon 40 53 7

The digital footprint

At the core of people’s privacy is the digital foot-

print that Internet users leave as they wander JU ST SA Y I N ’
around the web. Every click; every web page they ‘Tracking is just a prettier word for
visit; every ad they are exposed to; every ad surveillance’. Bob Hoffman
they tap on; every search they make; every email
they are sent, receive, open, delete or reply to; every visit to a social media platform;
every tweet they receive; every comment they make on a feedback form; everything
they buy; everything they nearly buy; everything they look at but don’t buy; where in
the world they are when they do these things; when they do all of these things –
minute, hour, day, month and year; how often they do these things; what device(s)
they use to do these things is recorded. To give
you just an idea of how much data we provide, JU ST SA Y I N ’
try a simple exercise; keep a record of your own
Are you one of those folk – I’m
online activity over a week or so – just the web
one – who believes that your
pages would be enough. Then study those pages iPhone is always listening.
to see what they would tell a marketer about you. Welllll … the next smartphone
For many people, that exercise is enough to from Qualcomm has, apparently,
prompt them to turn on all the privacy setting on got an always-on camera.
their devices and surf anonymously.

SNIPPET
A survey commissioned by the Out of Home Advertising Association of
America (OAAA) (2022) found that around three-quarters of US adults say
they are concerned about privacy and the use of their personal information
and online behaviour to target them with online ads.
20   DIGITAL MARKETING

Another simple exercise will also give you some idea of the data that people give to
digital marketers every day. This data comes not from the individual, but from their
mobile phone. So that many apps work, people have the device’s mobile data setting
on. This means that the owners of any app on your phone can track where the phone –
and its owner – goes (Snapchat’s Snap Map facility essentially turns the app into a
tracking device, for example). So; now list everywhere you have been in the last few
weeks. Having done that, review it and assess what it says about you. Shops, for
example, will not only suggest your gender, age and brand loyalty but also your life-
style (health food or vegetarian stores, for example). Other destinations will add to
this data – a gym and a swimming pool, perhaps. It will also tell them where you live.
And work. Once again, considering the data you provide to organizations might con-
vince you to turn off the mobile data options for at least some of your apps.
You now have two examples of how/where organizations can gather data on you.
Add that to information you may already have volunteered to organizations (register-
ing on a website, for example) and any organization in the world can produce a
pretty accurate profile of you. Note that this section is an introduction to the subjects
of personalization and analytics.

SNIPPET
Oops
I could have included many more – but I’ll settle for these two examples of
personal data leakage.
April 2021: 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers and personal data
leaked online.
Nov 2021: WordPress – which powers over 40 per cent of all websites –
exposed the data of 1.2 million of its customers.
Source: News publications

Is help at hand?

May 2018 saw the first major initiative with regard to data protection – the General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which had the aim of protecting all EU citizens
from privacy and data breaches. It applies to all companies processing the personal
data of data subjects residing in the Union, regardless of the company’s location.
The US followed suit on January 1st, 2020 with the California Consumer Privacy Act
(CCPA) which applies to any business, including any for-profit entity that collects
consumers’ personal data, which does business in California, and satisfies at least
one of certain thresholds, including:

• Has annual gross revenues in excess of $25 million;

• Buys or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers or households; or
 Digital customers   21

• Earns more than half of its annual revenue from selling consumers’ personal
information.

Furthermore, the first two months of 2020 saw announcements that:

• The UK’s regulator Ofcom was to have more authority over UK social media,
including new powers for the media watchdog to force social media firms to act
over harmful content.
• After announcing that it would start blocking third-party cookies on its Chrome
browser from early 2022, Google delayed that decision until 2023.

However, although this augured well for a privacy-related future – as many have
suspected – the measures are now being proved to have been largely ineffective, with
profits seemingly overriding privacy issues for many of the major players in the
online environment. March 2022 saw the UK government introduce – as per their
press release – ‘world-first online safety laws introduced in Parliament … new meas-
ures include tougher and quicker criminal sanctions for tech bosses and new crimi-
nal offences for falsifying and destroying data’. Later the same month the European
Commission unveiled the Digital Markets Act which targeted the power of tech
giants. Only time will tell, but for most of us it would seem that the privacy horse has
long-since bolted, while politicians are still working out the best way to close the pro-
verbial stable door.

SNIPPET
When Privacy Shield, the transatlantic data transfer framework was
annulled by the European Court of Justice in July 2020, because of data
protection violations it – effectively – meant that the data on EU citizens
could not be held and processed on servers in the US. This prompted Mark
Zuckerberg to consider shutting down Facebook and Instagram in Europe.
There were many folk hoping that he would.

Online integrity

This section is new to this edition of the book. It is based on the premise that unethi-
cal practices will – eventually – be liabilities. The objective is not to simply offer a list
of dubious actions by some of the major brands (though it may look like that), it is to
raise the profile of these actions and suggest that somewhere along the line organiza-
tions might decide that they do not want to be associated with them. Currently, the
branded social media platforms hold so much power in the digital world that not to
have a presence on them could well be detrimental to any organization that chose to
do so. But as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown, sometimes brands can make
an ethical stand. I did have several high-profile examples to use here as examples of
companies that have declared that they were leaving social media because of the
22   DIGITAL MARKETING

negative impact on mental health and posts about racial and social justice issues.
However, at the time of writing (March 2022) all three had a presence on multiple
social media platforms.
Stories of brands’ misdemeanours abound, however – as do opinions on them. Here
are a few.

• ‘Alleged collusion (Facebook and Google), poor data governance (Facebook) and
egregious conflicts of interest (Amazon) are among the more recent headlines about
these platforms. Consequently, marketers have become cynical or numb to this cycle
… we’ve grown to tolerate and even expect this type of behaviour because, well, it
happens a lot and the businesses we work for rely on the volume of users that are on
those platforms. However, an apathy towards these issues means that they’re likely
to persist: if they can get away with it, they will take more of your levers away, they will
rip off your products, they will find ways to make you dependent on them – because
we were too busy with our work to see the larger picture or because we didn’t care
enough to speak out. George Nguyen, Editor, Search Engine Land. October 26, 2021.
• Trust in the platforms – led by Meta – has diminished (though some might argue
they were never trustworthy in the first place). The basic problem lies in economic
incentives. Social media companies make their money by keeping users on the
platform, and the longer they stay, the more money they make through selling ads
alongside the content.
• ‘In a drab office building near a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, nearly 200
young men and women from countries across Africa sit at desks glued to computer
monitors, where they must watch videos of murders, rapes, suicides, and child sex-
ual abuse. These young Africans work as outsourced Facebook content moderators
…. they perform the brutal task of viewing and removing illegal or banned content
from Facebook before it is seen by the average user’ (Time, 2022).
• December 2021 saw a former content moderator file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleg-
ing inadequate safeguards to protect her mental health against a barrage of trau-
matic videos. Working for a third-party contracting firm called Telus International,
she claimed to have witnessed acts of extreme and graphic violence, including mass
shootings, child rape, animal mutilation, cannibalism, gang murder and genocide.
• HR and moral issues aside, this suggests that uploads to TikTok are far from being
all fun and games.
• Reports on working conditions at Amazon seem to appear in the news so often that
they are not really news anymore.
• Amazon destroys millions of items of unsold stock in one of its UK warehouses
every year (ITV News investigation, 2021).
• In an article published in the MIT Technology Review (Basu 2021), the claim was
made that ‘the Metaverse has a groping problem already’ when a woman beta test-
ing a virtual element was meta-groped in the process. Meta – Facebook as was –
chose to blame the victim, reporting that ‘Meta’s internal review of the incident