Integrating the Web and e‐mail into a push‐pull strategy

This paper looks at the potential for developing customer relationship strategies using the Internet (electronic customer relationship management) (ECRM) with particular relevance for SMEs. Its basis is in qualitative research and it attempts to integrate the two Internet technologies of the Web and e‐mail into a push‐pull strategy. Aspects of “control” of the message in ECRM are examined and in particular whether democratic e‐communities have a part to play for companies looking to improve their ECRM. In arriving at some conclusions, regarding the implications for commercial organisations, draws on published work in the educational arena. The implications may be particularly important for the SME sector. The paper examines why e‐mail and in particular asynchronous text messaging and conferencing are likely to dominate over other technologies such as chat and video conferencing. Communication paradigms used in television and print publishing have been mapped across on to the Web. The resulting “push‐pull” strategy is determined as the most effective way of harnessing the power of e‐mail with Web‐publishing to develop some aspects of a sound ECRM policy. The strategy involves the development of the Web site as a way of capturing opt‐in subscribers (the pull) who receive proactive outbound communications, and managing that e‐mail address list proactively (the push).