Customers.com: How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond - Hardcover

Patricia B. Seybold; Ronni T. Marshak

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0812930371 ISBN 13: 9780812930375

Publisher: Crown Business, 1998

Synopsis

Patricia Seybold is one of the few people with the credentials and experience to write the one book on electronic commerce everyone in business must read. Seybold has advised major companies not only on the technical requirements for a successful electronic commerce strategy, but also on the management, marketing, sales, and customer support systems necessary to create an infra-structure that seamlessly blends a company's e-commerce initiative with its overall business.

It all starts with customers. For the past several years, Seybold has been working with electronic commerce pioneers who have made life easier for their customers by figuring out what they want and designing their Internet strategy accordingly. Seybold's guide is packed with insights on how both Fortune 500 giants and smaller companies have created e-commerce initiatives that place them well ahead of their competitors. Some examples:
National Semiconductor made huge improvements to its bottom line by targeting the right customers (not always the ones who make the final buying decision) on its Web site.

Hertz coordinated its e-commerce strategy with its entire business so that it is now head and shoulders above its competitors in owning the customer's total experience.

The National Science Foundation streamlined its customers' business processes by involving all stakeholders in the development of its Web strategy.

Wells Fargo provides its customer sales and service representatives with a 360-degree view of its customers, providing one-stop shopping via the Web and making its on-line banking services the fastest-
growing part of the company.

iPrint transformed a commodity business by using the Web to let customers help themselves in designing the end product exactly as they want it.

Boeing designed its Web site to help customers do their jobs more effectively.

Dow Jones delivered personalized service with its electronic version of The Wall Street Journal, showing that customers will pay for information of value on the Internet.

Tripod grew from a start-up to a company with over a million members by fostering a vibrant on-line community.

With additional in-depth examples from American Airlines, Amazon.com, Babson College, Bell Atlantic, Dell Computer, PhotoDisc, General Motors, and Cisco Systems, Customers.com is an exceptionally rich source of ideas and information: the one book you need to stay in business in the rapidly changing era of electronic commerce.

About this title

Review

Lots of books have been written about how to do business on the Internet, but few can match the understanding and passion for making e-commerce work of Patricia Seybold's Customers.com. Drawing on case studies of companies and organizations as diverse as Boeing, Babson College, National Semiconductor, Hertz, PhotoDisc, and Wells Fargo, Seybold identifies what makes e-commerce work successfully. She argues that any e-commerce initiative has to begin with the customer. She writes:

In the electronic commerce world, knowing who your customers are and making sure you have the products and services they want becomes even more imperative than it is in the "real" world.... The corner grocery needs only to approximate what customers really want because the convenience factor brings in the business. But when you eliminate this advantage--when customers can go anywhere to get what they want--you'd better know what they're looking for.

The first section of the book outlines five steps aimed at any organization grappling with the challenge of doing e-commerce right. The final section offers a technology roadmap and suggestions for getting e-commerce initiatives off the ground. But the heart of the book is the 16 case studies of companies that have successfully embraced e-business and e-commerce. Each is well researched, and includes an executive summary and "take-aways" about what each firm did right. If you're looking to develop your business online, this book belongs on your desk, not your bookshelf. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

From the Back Cover

"In the Net economy, business issues and technology issues go hand in hand. Patricia Seybold's insightful book shows how companies can use technology to streamline business processes and keep customers coming back for more." --James L. Barksdale, president and CEO, Netscape

"Terrifically useful. If you have any interest in implementing a Web site for e-commerce, you really must read this book." --Geoffrey Moore, author, Inside the Tornado and The Gorilla Game

"Even if you're very, very good at being a dinosaur, you're still extinct. Patty's excellent prescriptions bring you right into the Interactive Age. A must-read if you expect to make a profit a year from now." --Martha Rogers, co-author, The One to One Future and Enterprise One to One

"Customers.com hits the core issue of e-business head on. A very informative, fun, and easy read." --Gideon Sasson, executive vice president, online brokerage, Charles Schwab

"This is the book for creating a serious Web strategy! I'm going to give copies to all my friends who are extending their businesses to the Internet." --Bill Joy, co-founder and vice president of research, Sun Microsystems

"The case studies in Customers.com are a treasure trove of insights into the real-world challenges facing anyone seeking to do business on the Internet. . . . Excellent reading for executives, producers, and technical managers alike." --Joel Ball, director, business intelligence, Disney Online

"Seybold reveals the secrets for profit in the digital economy with laser-like principles and practical tips." --Nicholas Rudd, chief knowledge officer, Wunderman Cato Johnson

"Patty Seybold has nailed it right on the head. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to prosper in the next generation of business." --Irving Wladawsky-Berger, general manager, Internet Division, IBM

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown Business
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0812930371
• ISBN 13: 9780812930375
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384