Revlon website Essay Example for Free

Revlon website Essay Csikszentmihalyi (1975, p. 36 cited in Rettie, 2001) states that flow is the holistic experience that people feel when they act with total involvement. Further, Hoffman and Novak (1996, p. 57 cited in Rettie, 2001) believes that flow is something which can stick you through. Further, it is said that flow can be attributed towards repeat usage. Which means, if a consumer is provided something exciting on the website, then probability of consumer visiting website again is very high? In context of Revlon, a consumer visiting website wants to see something different, he wants to have an experience and if that does not happen, them the consumer will not visit the site again. Now, the question is, what Revlon is offering to the audience is very much same as any other website is offering. Revlon is offering a make up look which is not even personalized. This will not increase the traffic on the website and will not lead to consumer satisfaction. Currently, Revlon website is offering very minimal services. The site is not very flashy as it is one of the glamorous companies. Its competitors LOreal has flashy sites with lots of features (Loreal. com) which are missing in Revlon. In a survey done by Csikszentmihalyi (cited in Rettie, 2001) the research involves finding the flow of information was that older woman prefer that if there is interactivity on the site (i. e. if there is lots of things to do on the site they will prefer to go on that site again and again. But if there is no interactivity on the site it does not interest the consumer). Revlon website offers very limited interactivity to the customers, which wont help Revlon to attract new customers and provide satisfaction to old customers. Currently, Revlon site is offering e-mails to consumers. But do Consumers really bother about these e-mails. Hoffman and Novak, 1997, Rettie, 2001, Smith and Shivkumar, 2004 (cited in Chaffey et al, 2006) believes that flow of information is important for site usability. Further, Chaffey et al,(2006) believes that flow for online marketing can be defined as information or experience, which consumer has when he moves from one page to another and also includes interactions like filling forms etc. When this theory was applied to Revlon website, it showed that navigating from one page to other is not difficult and is quite easy. But when it comes to interactivity Revlon cannot compete with LOreal as LOreal offers more tools for interactivity then Revlon. Strauss and Frost (1999) suggest that customers want speed, convenience on top variety when they get from one page to another. Consumer does not want to spend their time on giving password on the net rather; they prefer to have user friendly method on the internet. This is important for the flow of information through the website. The more the website saves time and efforts of the consumer the more likely it is for the consumer to visit the site gain. This will help to increase the customer satisfaction and enhance interactivity on the COMPETITIOR ANALYSIS Revlon is beauty care Product Company for woman. Its main direct competitors are LOreal, Maybelline. According to Chaffey et al (2006) benchmarking competitors website should be based on companies marketing performance, financial performance, marketing communication techniques and services offered. In context of interactivity, marketing communications techniques and services offered should be taken into account for competitors analysis. Based on the above analysis, the recommendations are made for Revlon to come up to its competitors. Revlons competitors have strong interactivity on the website which Revlon is lacking, therefore, future recommendations are set so that Revlon also increases its interactivity on the website and increases the customer satisfaction and interaction. RECOMMENDATIONS After analyzing Revlon website and the competitors. The following recommendations are made which will help Revlon to understand its customer needs and leads to customer satisfaction through interactive media. In view of Avery, Calder and Iacobucci (1998), interactive media has enormous growth. It is used to identify customer needs, sharing of information and creating an experience for the customer. According to Borges, Couto, Natario and Braga (2007), the range of online communication tool is growing with way of support and involving customers and communicating between one to many. In view of Hoffman, Novak, Schlosser, 2000 and Constantinides (2002 cited in Borges et al,2007) internet is not only a place which represents companys image. The main aim of the internet is to attract more customers and changing occasional visitors to prospective customers. With the support of above theories, the below are some of the recommendation to Revlon in order to increase their interactivity on the website, thus it will help to satisfy customers and will help to identify prospective clients as well. 1 ONLINE FORUMS Revlon presently, has no forums (imediacommunication, 2004). Revlon should develop forums which will help customers to interact with each other and with organization also. Chaffey et al(2006) suggests that forums are the means to promote the services of the website. It is a way of connecting to the community. According to Howard (2000) it is essential for a company to innovate on the internet by hosting on line forums, stage on line contest, live messages etc. Loreal, which is the direct competitor of Revlon, has forum, where customer can post their comments, chat with each other, participate in polls, LOreal has online live discussion forum as well (LOreal. com). According to Siegel (2006), forums are an effective way of communicate online and sharing information with people. He has provided an example of Kraft Foods interactive Kitchen where consumers share recipes and email their comments on the site. The best example for forums is YouTube, where customer can leave their comment, can discuss videos with members. Revlon should start opinion poll service, live discussion, sharing of videos on their website. Even though Revlon has certain blogs on search engines but they do not belong to the website. Customers will not find blogs in search engines to post comment, they will visit website to do so. 2 Blogs One of the most common tools for interactive communication is blogging. Blogs can be defined as webpages which are developed or used online for publishing web pages. These Blogs have comments and feedback form which makes consumer feel good. Blogs are also gets comments from other sites as well. These have been successful in media environment (Chaffey et al, 2006). According to Business Blog Consulting customers feel that Revlon should come with blogs where women can discuss their product research, can share good piece of information with other women and even develop online community. Revlon website should start Blog for its customers where they feel that they are involved in company. They can share information about recent style, trends across the world. In view of Russo (2007) where the power of blog can be known is from Perez Hiltons celebrity gossip blogger where he has created a blog which he constantly updates, makes his readers involved by publishing gossips, pictures. Revlon should form a blog which should focus on beauty and cosmetic tips given by its celebrity endorser and consumer can ask questions, post comments about beauty and cosmetics and to create positive effect of their services through these blogs. Revlon should also start competition games for beauty and cosmetic quiz type and then reward the audiences according to some points.