Tony Hingston, Computer Services Group Manager, RMIT Business, Level 8, 239 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 3000. Email: hingston@rmit.edu.au
Stewart Adam, Senior Lecturer, School of Marketing, RMIT University, Level 14, 239 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 3000. Email: stewart.adam@rmit.edu.au
Banner advertising, click-throughs, e-commerce, e-business, electronic commerce, electronic business, electronic marketing, integrated marketing communication, knowledge media, marketing research, permission marketing, online business, online marketing, value transformation, World Wide Web.
The knowledge media (Eisenstadt 1995) capabilities of the Web enables access to the profile of Website guests, as well as a glimpse of their wants and demands, and provides an unparalleled ability to gauge traffic through online business’ selected marketing channels. One data capture method employed today involves the use of banner advertisements which link to ‘forms’ and other means of gathering information, often under the guise of marketing research. Measuring the success of such click-throughs from the advertiser’s point of view is difficult if the online organisation merely records such information and fails to link this data to individual customers. This paper explores the use of click-throughs in the commercial setting as a strategic component of integrated marketing communication. The obstacles to effective and efficient commercial use of click-through data are also examined. Said obstacles range from the failure to use software to effectively analyse, or ‘mine’, the data, to issues associated with storing and maintaining it, and include growing concerns over privacy and consumer protection. It is suggested that how this data is acquired, by whom, and for what end purpose is of critical importance and worthy of examination and discussion.
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