The Internet Communication Model

The Internet can be viewed as a many-to-many communication medium, unlike the one-to-many model of the traditional mass media, as illustrated in
Figure 2 (Hoffman et al., 1996).  The model suggests that the primary relationship is between the consumer and the media on the one hand, and between the firm and the media on the other.  Hence, the media becomes a major factor in determining what the consumer sees and how she sees it.  In this model, the media does not just transmit the message from the sender to the receiver, but allows the environments to be created and experienced (Steuer, 1992).  Thus new forms of interactions emerge between the consumer and the Internet, and between the firm and the Internet. From the consumer’s perspective, we can describe some of the interactions as below:

1. Consumer can gather information about products and services, communicate with other consumers and firms for related products and services, and sometimes complete transactions. As the Internet session is a self selected environment of the consumer, the promotion message will be more effective. Internet is also capable of providing an experiential environment to the consumer through virtual reality interfaces thus allowing the consumer to experience some of the features of products before making the purchase decision.

2. Consumer can provide feedback content about the product, to the firm and to other consumers. A positive feedback becomes a good promotion for the marketer. A shrewd marketer can even exploit a negative feedback by solving the consumer’s problem and showing the commitment of the organization to satisfying consumer needs.

3. Consumer can add “collective content” to the medium through discussion  forums like the virtual communities. These discussion forums are rich sources of feedback about the organization and its products and should be closely monitored by the marketer to identify the needs of the consumers.

The Internet also provides capabilities to the firm to enhance the purchase process of the consumers and to understand the consumers better. Some of these interactions are:

1. Firm can interact with Internet for information, and knowledge about consumers and for communication with consumers, and other firms.

2. Firm can add content to the Internet by promoting its products or services on the online media.

3. Firm may provide “hyper-linked” content by bringing in links to other firms related to its product or service.

For example, a real estate firm may bring together other services like mortgage loans, schools, hospitals, shopping, entertainment and civic services, by providing hyperlinks in its Web page.  Thus a consumer looking for real estate has access to all related information which is aggregated by one firm. Through the Internet, marketers can know much more about their consumers then through traditional channels.  This knowledge about the consumers can be used to target the promotion messages for effective marketing.