The World Wide Web as an Industrial Marketing Communication Tool: Models for the Identification and Assessment of Opportunities

This paper discusses the role of the Word Wide Web as communication tool for industrial marketers and its position in the business-to-business promotional mix. Using the well-known industrial marketing concepts of purchasing decision processes and hierarchy of effects models, it introduces a conceptual framework for measuring the efficiency of a Web site. Examples are given of both large and small industrial marketers who are currently using their Web sites to achieve these effects. Efficiency indexes are defined for five Web communication activities and an overall measure of Web site efficiency measure is presented.