An Exploratory Study of Marketers’ Perceptions of the Internet
Reciprocal Communication Forms as Marketing Communication Tools
The Internet has dramatically changed the way organizations communicate with consumers. This study examines South Korean marketers’ perceptions of reciprocal communication forms (e.g., e-mail, comment, chat with webmaster, bulletin board, and survey) in terms of the extent of use, marketing cost reduction, usefulness, informativeness, credibility, barriers, and prediction of future use. A sample of Korean marketers found that the content of consumer feedback is more important than the Internet form in which it is delivered. Even marketers using at least one of the reciprocal communication forms wonder about the credibility of the information they receive and the lack of response. These phenomena might reflect that those forms have not yet reached the stage where they are seen as useful in replicating traditional communication with consumers. Managerial implications are discussed.