Betriebswirtschaft: International Marketing & Sales
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Effective lead management
(2023)
In the last few years the global interest on lead management has increased. This classic topic for marketing and sales departments is aimed at converting potential customers into sales. The following thesis identifies the challenges and solutions for marketing and sales departments in order to process effective lead management. Using data from a literature review and qualitative empirical research, conducted with representatives of marketing and sales departments, the results showed overall and task specific challenges and solutions. The research indicates that overall challenges and solutions regarding the gap between marketing and sales, new processes and data management including data quality, software and silos emerge. In addition task specific challenges and solutions concerning lead generation including purchased leads, lead qualification, lead nurturing and sales specific challenges and solutions conclusively the focus on existing customers, time famine and lead routing were identified. This thesis provides a framework for further studies regarding the challenges and solutions for marketing and sales departments processing lead management.
In an oversaturated market, companies are required to use innovative and, above all, creative advertising methods to capture their customers’ attention, and thus differentiate themselves from rival businesses. To this end, companies have been increasingly relying on the use of humor, a phenomenon that remains highly subjective and is perceived differently by each individual. This master’s thesis, which was completed as part of the International Marketing and Sales program at the FH Vorarlberg, focuses on this phenomenon of humor as well as its impact on advertising perception. With the aid of three different theories, the term “humor” is defined. Furthermore, this study explains and researches the so-called vampire effect, wherein various factors (in this case humor) draw attention away from the actual advertising message. In addition, this thesis takes a closer look at involvement, as a person’s involvement or interest in a brand or product can influence brand and product recall and recognition. An online survey was conducted to determine whether the vampire effect caused by humor is able to influence brand and product recall. In other words, this concerns whether the viewer can still remember the brand and product afterward or whether the humor employed triggers the vampire effect. Furthermore, this thesis explored whether the vampire effect caused by humor is able to influence brand and product recognition. Recall is the retrieval of information from memory without direct cues, whereas recognition refers to the recognition of information when it is presented again. Furthermore, within this context, it was discovered that brand and product recall varies with low and high involvement viewers of the advertisement. In other words, this means that the strength of the vampire effect caused by humor changes depending on the strength of the viewer’s involvement. During the course of this research, it was further observed that the humor employed significantly affects the perception of the advertising message, thus confirming the existence of the vampire effect. This effect also influences both brand as well as product recall and recognition. In both cases, participants in the survey were less able to remember the product and brand in the humorous advertising. Furthermore, it was proven that people with low involvement in the advertised product group are more heavily affected by the vampire effect. As such, they are more likely to not remember the product or brand after seeing the advertisement.
The implementation of direct-to-consumer (D2C) business models has become more important for companies trying to develop a competitive edge and improve consumer engagement in today's rapidly expanding e-commerce market. This master's thesis investigates the important success elements and problems of deploying D2C models in the e-commerce business. The research question focuses on identifying the factors that contribute to the successful transition to D2C models and the obstacles businesses encounter along the way. Through qualitative research using the Eisenhardt method and in-depth case studies with industry experts, this study provides valuable insights into key success factors for direct-to-consumer (D2C) business models in e-commerce.The findings highlight that businesses that effectively implement D2C models utilize key success factors such as a clear value proposition, customer engagement and relationship build- ing, seamless online experiences, targeted marketing and digital advertising, brand identity and storytelling, and flexibility and adaptability. However, they also face challenges related to operational adjustments, marketing and branding investments, competition, and market saturation. Based on these research outcomes, this thesis provides recommendations for businesses seeking to switch to or implement D2C models in e-commerce. These recommendations emphasize embracing a customer-centric mindset, developing digital capabilities, foster- ing strong leadership commitment, leveraging data and analytics, establishing direct customer relationships, optimizing operational processes, building brand trust and credibility, and allocating resources wisely. This master's thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the key success factors and challenges associated with the transition to or implementation of D2C business models in the e-commerce industry. It provides advice to help companies successfully transition to D2C models.
The e-commerce market has been growing for years and this trend seems to be continuing. Online stores for clothing are very successful. It seems that hardly any company can afford not to have a digital presence. This goes hand in hand with the fact that the range of products on offer to customers is getting bigger and bigger. But it's not just the range that's getting bigger, it's also the effort customers have to make to find the right product. For this reason, many successful online stores are already relying on AI. In doing so, companies are creating opportunities for customers that an employee could hardly manage. Implemented on the website, AI can check inventory, update it in real time, predict trends and evaluate customer or user data and make suitable recommendations. This is important for the customer because with the huge choice available, for one thing, personalization is increasingly important and being presented with a relevant selection. A central question is whether the recommendations are trustworthy and whether they can be equated with a real salesperson advising the customer. After all, trust is relevant in longterm customer relationships in that it leads to loyalty and satisfaction, which in turn increases the intention to repurchase. The recommendation tools mentioned are also of particular interest for another reason. On the one hand, they help customers to get a relevant selection of the offer and thus to get faster to the desired one. On the other hand, they are relevant for companies not only because of customer satisfaction, but also because of the chance to reduce returns. The large online stores for clothing offer their customers very generous opportunities to return the goods free of charge. In doing so, the companies have responded to customer wishes, because hardly anything is more important to them when it comes to online shopping: free returns. In this way, customers have minimized the risk of having to keep goods that do not fit or please them. This thesis examines whether recommendation tools can help customers to better assess the sizes and properties of clothing, so that they receive more suitable clothing and do not even feel the need to order several sizes of the same item of clothing. It can therefore be assumed that trust in the recommendations of the AI tools reduces uncertainty, which in turn should reduce the intention to return goods. Another assumption to be tested is that of the perceived usefulness of the recommendation tools. As a prerequisite to get an assessment of these assumptions is the usage of the tools. Therefore, a survey was initiated in the DACH region to assess the extent to which usage influences the factors mentioned. It was found by means of a regression analysis that the frequency of online purchases, mediated by perceived usefulness, explains the influence on trust.
Startups usually have high growth ambitions but only limited resources. Therefore, they are looking for efficient and effective methods to grow their business. However, if they go interna-tional, challenging changes will likely be made if the company is not focused on the global market. The aim of this work is therefore to support startups in the internationalization of their business and to provide guidance from the beginning by using strategic marketing elements to facilitate this process. To achieve this, a qualitative method of analysis was chosen. First, a literature review was conducted on the relevant topics of a startup, strategic marketing, and internationalization. Five success factors emerged from the literature: commitment, strategy, research, marketing mix adaptation, and organization and network. These were then ana-lyzed in more detail in expert interviews. The analysis of the interview results shows that for the internationalization of startups, the commitment to internationalization and a global mindset is of great importance from the very beginning. This is because they influence all supporting and strategic marketing elements.
Nowadays, online marketing is becoming increasingly important not only in the B2C but also in the B2B sector, as evidenced by marketing budget expenditures. Companies pursue overarching goals involving visibility and attention from prospective customers in order to raise brand awareness and as a result, outperform increasing market competition. This begs the question of whether online marketing is appropriate for increasing brand awareness.
The master´s thesis topic developed from both a personal as well as a professional perspective. Private research increased the author´s interest in the topic of online marketing. Furthermore, brands, whose level of awareness needs to be improved, are becoming a more common topic of professional debates. In this way, the research of the current master´s thesis was created.
The aim of this master's thesis was to discover how online marketing can be used to increase awareness of a brand. This will be analyzed by using the brand turn to zero, which offers consulting services for B2B customers in the sustainability industry. In this context, suitable and visible online marketing channels for increasing brand awareness are to be identified. In addition to this, suitable content for the company´s own as well as paid online marketing channels need to be collected. Furthermore, the influence that online marketing has on creating brand image awareness is to be presented.
Research questions are defined in order to achieve the described objectives. Within the scope of the master thesis, one main research question, as well as three sub-research questions, are to be answered based on the literature as well as the generated output resulting from the empirical part. Eight existing B2B customers of turn to zero, originating from com-mercial and industrial sectors, were interviewed in the empirical part. The interview findings were evaluated by using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring.
Research results showed that targeted combinations of online marketing channels are contributing to increase brand awareness. In addition, the research succeeded in determining suitable communication content for various online marketing channels. Furthermore, the in-fluence of online marketing could be investigated more closely in terms of brand image.
Today, industrial B2B manufacturers face a rapidly changing environment, exacerbated by increasing globalization and associated shifts in the competitive landscape. Digital transformation and the emergence of new innovations and technologies are forcing companies to rethink their business models and offerings to integrate digital services to strengthen competitive advantages. Suppliers are becoming more deeply involved in customer processes through digital after-sales services, with the aim of exploiting efficiencies. Following the servitization transformation, companies intend to change their purpose from focusing on the pure physical product to becoming a service provider with emphasis on value creation and the capture of the customer.
To investigate how customer and supplier perspectives agree and what requirements each side has for digital after-sales services, exploratory qualitative research was conducted with customers and suppliers by means of one-on-one interviews. The thesis aimed to assess the status, progress, and future possibilities of implementing digital after-sales services and business models based on them. Research shows that the far-reaching establishment of product-accompanying services with strong connectivity and customer-centricity is primarily relevant. Disruptive business models still require a mind-shift and organizational readiness on the part of both customers and suppliers. In principle, digitization in after-sales interaction is beneficial and should be steadily advanced to make customer processes as well as further developments at the supplier level more efficient and well-founded through the analysis of real data. Overall, this thesis outlines important aspects that need to be considered while developing digital service innovations to deal with customer demands appropriately.
Keywords: Servitization, Digital After-Sales Services, Predictive Maintenance, Remote Monitoring, Digital Interaction, Digital Service Innovation, Digital Service Innovation Process
The presented master thesis of the study subject International Marketing and Sales at the Fachhochschule Vorarlberg in Dornbirn deals with the influence of emotions on the attitude toward hydrogen cars and their purchase intention. For this purpose, an empirical analysis with a correlation analysis was conducted in order to be able to determine the correlations of the individual parameters.
At the beginning of the thesis the hydrogen technology was presented in more detail and by means of suitable criteria it was shown that the hydrogen car represents a certain potential, however, in comparison to the combustion cars and electric cars, the hydrogen car is currently in third place. The relatively long range, the fast-refueling and the sustainability were identified as advantages, while the current high price and the poorly developed refueling station network are currently the biggest ob-stacles to a hydrogen car. It can be seen that research and development of hydrogen cars is being driven forward in many countries around the world, including by the gov-ernment side through the provision of various subsidies. For this reason, the future development of the driving technology remains exciting and simultaneously uncertain.
In the second step of the work, emotions were examined in more detail. The aim was to find out which emotions exist and which of them are predominant when buying a car, and then to find out what influence emotions have on the cognitive process, the attitude, and the purchase intention. It turned out that the majority of the population is highly involved in the purchase of a car and therefore tries to make rational decisions, which makes the influence of emotions more difficult, but not impossible.
By presenting suitable marketing tools for measuring emotions, it was shown that measuring emotions is a difficult undertaking. Measurement is often difficult or expen-sive and involves a great deal of effort. For this reason, beside the presentation of marketing tools, the strategic approach for a marketing campaign was also presented.
Based on the conducted empirical analysis, the influence of emotions on attitude and purchase intention could not be significantly confirmed but it could be proven that the knowledge about hydrogen cars is currently low. One inside is that an increase in awareness increases the purchase intention of hydrogen cars. Furthermore, a signifi-cant correlation between the sustainable attitude and the purchase intention could be proven. In addition, people who like to follow new trends are more likely to buy a hy-drogen car than others. This paper concludes with a brief summary of the findings and an outlook on the potential for improvement of the hydrogen car market.
Keywords: Hydrogen Cars, Sustainability, Emotions in Marketing, Purchase Inten-tion, Attitude, Marketing Tool
In recent years, more and more companies have become aware that a brand also has a social dimension, and with the advent of social media platforms, brand communities have experienced a shift from a traditional offline to more of an online presence. Brands of innovative consumer durables have also recognized social media brand communities as a very significant marketing strategy. It is therefore important to understand the influence of these communities on members' purchase intentions.
This master’s thesis has the goal of demonstrating to enterprises what aspects of a social media brand community will influence the purchase intention of its members and what should be considered in order to enhance it. This will ultimately lead to the following research question: How do social media brand communities influence the diffusion process of innovative consumer durables in the DACH region?
To answer this, a quantitative study has been conducted that has targeted people who are participating in a social media brand community of innovative consumer durables in the DACH region. This involved testing various criteria of a social media brand community and their impact on the diffusion process (purchase intention).
The findings of the study revealed that increased positive electronic word-of-mouth leads to enhanced purchase intention of members. Furthermore, the research has shown that higher identification with a social media brand community, greater engagement, increased entertainment value, faster corporate responsiveness, and reduced occurrence of social spam, do not have a positive effect on the diffusion process of innovative consumer durables.
The alarming degradation of the natural environment is leading many consumers to increasingly demand sustainable products. Since 2017, the global purchase intention of such products has increased by 63%. To respond to the increasing demand, more and more companies have started producing products from sustainable materials such as recycled products. However, purchase intention does not always result in actual behavior and can vary due to different products and in country-specific contexts. Hence, it is the purpose of this study to determine which factors influence the purchase intention of recycled products and whether these factors differ between a developed country such as Germany and a developing country such as South Africa. Furthermore, the study aims to discover whether there are differences in purchase intention with regard to different product categories, whether there is an intention-behavior gap, and whether there are country-specific differences. Finally, target groups of the corresponding countries will be derived. To answer the research questions, a quantitative study was conducted using an online questionnaire in Germany (n = 603) and South Africa (n = 692). The findings demonstrate that the purchase intention for recycled products is significantly higher in South Africa than in Germany, but no significant difference in the factors influencing the purchase intention could be found. However, the factors differ in terms of the extent of their influence. Thus, the factor “Attitude / Environmental Concern” has the strongest influence in South Africa, while the factor “Value / Accessibility” has the strongest influence in Germany. Likewise, a difference could be found concerning the products, with the purchase intention for mobile phones generally smaller than for t-shirts and toilet paper. In a country-specific comparison, however, purchase intention for t-shirts is significantly higher in South Africa than in Germany. An intention-behavior gap was identified for the sample, and it was found that the age groups 25 to 49 have the strongest purchase intentions and that the purchase intention increases significantly with increasing education level.