Title: The use of digital channels to create customer relationships

Authors: Kristina Heinonen, Thomas Michelsson

Addresses: Department of Marketing, Hanken School of Economics, P.O. Box 479, FIN 00101 Helsinki, Finland. ' CERS Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management, HSE Executive Education, P.O. Box 479, FIN 00101 Helsinki, Finland

Abstract: The interest in relationship marketing and especially relationship dynamics among academics and practitioners is growing. The focus is on expanding maintaining relationships to the whole relationship life cycle, including relationship initiation. However, research concerning relationships in a digital context or in a context where customer-company interactions occur through technology interfaces is scarce. To our knowledge there is no research on how the relationships begin in such a context. This paper explores the role of digital channels in the creation of customer relationships. Digital channels denote methods for customer-company interactions through technology interfaces such as e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), and webpages. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with business executives. The findings indicate that identifying relationship initiation is challenging and that the initiation differs between Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C) relationships. Digital and interpersonal contacts are frequently used simultaneously in creating customer relationships. Digital marketing activities such as search engine advertisements and direct e-mails are important. The paper integrates a digital perspective to relationship dynamics research. It contributes to e-service research by focusing on relationship dynamics. It also extends relationship marketing research by exploring relationship initiation.

Keywords: digital channels; customer relationship management; CRM; internet marketing; mobile phones; cell phones; customer-company interaction; relationship marketing; life cycles; technology interfaces; direct e-mails; electronic mail; short message service; SMS; webpages; web pages; world wide web; relationship initiation; business-to-business; B2B; business-to-customer; B2C; digital contacts; interpersonal contacts; digital marketing; search engine advertisements; internet advertising; e-service research.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2010.030430

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2010 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 21

Published online: 16 Dec 2009 *

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