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Customers.Com : How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond

Customers.Com : How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is the best book I have read on the Internet/E-Commerce
Review: There is no hype, and it's mercifully free of technology emphasis (Java, XML, etc. get scarcely mentioned). Instead, it's all case studies and actual data. Patty Seybold focuses on business issues - what have companies like Amazon, Cisco, American Airlines done to make their sites so succesful, and what does this mean for their business? Where most of the books I have been reading have been product or technology focussed (even when they say they are not), this book is business and customer focussed, and the whole emphasis is on how the companies in the case studies have applied the technology to serve customers better, and how this feels from the customer's point of view.

I don't often rave like this about a book, but this one is spot on. It explains brilliantly why many web sites have been successes but others have been disappointments. It should be required reading for anybody who wants their Internet site to work.

Each case study is preceded by an executive summary, and followed by "Lessons Learned", in which the author summarises the key points that the reader should take away from the case study and consider in their own situation. Shock, horror - the author has focussed on her customers (readers) and what they will gain from the book, instead of (like most authors) focussing on the subject matter and leaving the reader to understand as best they can.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I think I WANTED to like this book more than I did
Review: I've been a Patricia Seybold fan for awhile, and I so anxiously awaited this book that I bought it from the first place that had it in stock.

I was a bit disappointed. Maybe it's just me, and I actually know a lot more about e-commerce than I thought, but I didn't get any real insights from the book. The strategies seemed more like platitudes I'd heard over and over before, and the framework for implementation was vague enough that it would take an experienced consultant to flesh it out to the point of usefulness.

But perhaps that is the point. One can't expect everything from a book, and there are some things this book does exceptionally well. The case studies alone are well worth the purchase price, and Patricia's Rx (a section discussing each case study) offers some good ideas for implementation.

I wavered between three and four stars for this book, and went with stars because I think a lot of my disappointment was due to too high expectations. I would recommend this book as part of an e-business "trinity" along with Larry Downes & Chuka Mui's excellent "Unleashing the Killer App" and Winston, Stahl & Choi's "Economics of Electronic Commerce." Economics of E-commerce gives the background, Killer App the theory, and customers.com gives the examples that lead to understanding.

All in all, an worthwhile read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's the Best! A great road map to e-business success.
Review: Customers.com is well written with idea after idea how an e-business can succeed in the Net Economy.

The advice in this book is priceless and very pragmatic. This is one of the best books I have read on the internet economy and is useful at all organizational levels ... CEO, VP, Webmaster, Marketing Manager, etc.

With this book, the author proves herself as a top caliber business consultant ... the consul she provides in this book is easily worth 500 times the price of the book.

As an example, Seybold lists Five Steps to Success in Electronic Commerce. These are somewhat simple strategic steps ... but miss or falter on one of these steps and you are in the proverbial valley of e-business failure.

Seybold mentions the concept of a CCO (Chief Customer Officer) ... an original and superb idea from her. If a CIO helps manage information and a CFO helps manages finance, then the CCO helps manages CUSTOMERS.

Her book packs a terrific punch. I hope she writes another book soon as good as this one.

This book exceeded all my expectations as a reader, so mark me down as a highly satisfied reader and customer of Customers.com.

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: Stories for Businessfolks & Technologists to Share
Review: Hi! Thanks for stopping by! In case you're wondering, I'm the daughter of John W. Seybold, the original "father of electronic publishing" and the younger sister of both Jonathan Seybold, (desktop publishing and Seybold Seminars) and of Andrew Seybold, the guru in mobile & wireless computing. And, yes, we have pretty interesting family gatherings! Now that I've clarified the Seybold family dynasty, let me tell you about the thinking behind my book.

My Boston-based consulting and research company, the Patricia Seybold Group, has been the guiding light in distributed computing for over 20 years. Our customers are early adopters of computing technologies. We began researching best practices in electronic commerce in 1994. We started by looking at a lot of Web sites. After about 6 months, I realized that the most successful Web-based Ecomm ventures all had something in common: they made it easy for customers to do business with them! Once I had this ephiphany, I broadened my research beyond the Web to look at all the ways that companies are using today's technologies to reach out to customers and to interact with them--telephony, kiosks, smartcards, hand-held devices, etc. Sure enough, I discovered that you can save a lot of money, time and effort if you develop a unified E-Business strategy that combines the Web, your call centers, and all your other customer touch points. I also learned that 75% to 80% of the hardest work is BEHIND the Web site--integrating applications, systems, and information into streamlined customer-centric business processes. Some of the trickiest work is building consensus and momentum around the thorny organizational issues, like who "owns" your customer information!

So, please don't think of this as a book for technologists. It's really a book for teams of business executives and their technology visionaries to use as a way to build a common understanding of best practices and approaches. I use stories* -- lots of them -- so that you can easily assimilate the issues and the lessons. I hope you enjoy it!

I'd love to hear from you! -- your reactions, questions, and your own success stories...maybe I can feature your organization in the next edition!

*There are 16 case studies in this edition: Amazon.com, American Airlines, Babson College, Bell Atlantic, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, Dow Jones, General Motors, Hertz, iPrint, National Semiconductor, National Science Foundation, PhotoDisc, Tripod & Wells Fargo.

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: About This Book
Review: Patricia Seybold is one of the few people with the credentials and experience to write the one book on electronic commerce everyone in business must read.

Seybold has advised major companies not only on the technical requirements for a successful electronic commerce strategy, but also on the management, marketing, sales, and customer support systems necessary to create an infra-structure that seamlessly blends a company's e-commerce initiative with its overall business.

It all starts with customers. For the past several years, Seybold has been working with electronic commerce pioneers who have made life easier for their customers by figuring out what they want and designing their Internet strategy accordingly. Seybold's guide is packed with insights on how both Fortune 500 giants and smaller companies have created e-commerce initiatives that place them well ahead of their competitors.

Some examples:

National Semiconductor made huge improvements to its bottom line by targeting the right customers (not always the ones who make the final buying decision) on its Web site.

Hertz coordinated its e-commerce strategy with its entire business so that it is now head and shoulders above its competitors in owning the customer's total experience.

The National Science Foundation streamlined its customers' business processes by involving all stakeholders in the development of its Web strategy.

Wells Fargo provides its customer sales and service representatives with a 360-degree view of its customers, providing one-stop shopping via the Web and making its on-line banking services the fastest-growing part of the company.

iPrint transformed a commodity business by using the Web to let customers help themselves in designing the end product exactly as they want it.

Boeing designed its Web site to help customers do their jobs more effectively.

Dow Jones delivered personalized service with its electronic version of The Wall Street Journal, showing that customers will pay for information of value on the Internet.

Tripod grew from a start-up to a company with over a million members by fostering a vibrant on-line community.

With additional in-depth examples from American Airlines, Amazon.com, Babson College, Bell Atlantic, Dell Computer, PhotoDisc, General Motors, and Cisco Systems, Customers.com is an exceptionally rich source of ideas and information: the one book you need to stay in business in the rapidly changing era of electronic commerce.

Praise for Customer.com

"In the Net economy, business issues and technology issues go hand in hand. Patricia Seybold's insightful book shows how companies can use technology to streamline business processes and keep customers coming back for more." --James L. Barksdale, president and CEO, Netscape

"Terrifically useful. If you have any interest in implementing a Web site for e-commerce, you really must read this book." --Geoffrey Moore, author, Inside the Tornado and The Gorilla Game

"Even if you're very, very good at being a dinosaur, you're still extinct. Patty's excellent prescriptions bring you right into the Interactive Age. A must-read if you expect to make a profit a year from now." --Martha Rogers, co-author, The One to One Future and Enterprise One to One

"Customers.com hits the core issue of e-business head on. A very informative, fun, and easy read." --Gideon Sasson, executive vice president, online brokerage, Charles Schwab

"This is the book for creating a serious Web strategy! I'm going to give copies to all my friends who are extending their businesses to the Internet." --Bill Joy, co-founder and vice president of research, Sun Microsystems

"The case studies in Customers.com are a treasure trove of insights into the real-world challenges facing anyone seeking to do business on the Internet. . . . Excellent reading for executives, producers, and technical managers alike." --Joel Ball, director, business intelligence, Disney Online

"Seybold reveals the secrets for profit in the digital economy with laser-like principles and practical tips." --Nicholas Rudd, chief knowledge officer, Wunderman Cato Johnson

"Patty Seybold has nailed it right on the head. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to prosper in the next generation of business." --Irving Wladawsky-Berger, general manager, Internet Division, IBM

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Self Helped, jobs done excellent, decreased time waste
Review: Target the Right Customers
1. Focus your electronic commerce efforts on your most profitable customers.
2. In deciding what information to put out start with the most requested information your call centers put out.
3. Think about marketing offers you can make electronically that are not practically to do any other way.

Own the customer's total experience
1. Identify each step or business event where the customer is most likely to interact with your firm and streamline each of those steps.
2. Reassure the customer at each step
3. Capture the customers profile and off them the oportunity to change their profiles at any time and to select a set of profile defaults.
4. Give customers access to their entire transaction history.
5. Let the customer specify if they want proactive notification.
6. Recruit thousands of business partners who can represent your firm to customers
7. Make it easy for your suppliers to deal with you.
8. Focus on excellence in the customer experience.

Streamline business processes that impact the customer
1. Use online forums to overcome internal organizational barriers to success.
2. Use streamline electronic forms that are visible to all legitimate parties involved.
3. Make the right bets on technology

Provide a 360 degree view
1. Layout the groundwork
2. Start by focusing on the convenience of the customer
3. Target your most profitable customers
4. Use middleware to pull customer information together
5. Make sure the answers and information that your customer receives are identical
6. Don't let technology limit your vision
7. Begin by offerring information then transactions

Let Customers help themselves
1. Cooperation is the name of the game on the internet
2. Provide information on the web that helps the customer make a decision or answer a question
3. The best combination is where the person can access the information they want but get a person on the phone if needed.
4. Customers design their own products

Help the customer do his job
1. Make it your goal not to waste the customers time
2. The best website offer at least three different types of search engines
3. Keep track of what the customer looks for and does not find
4. Use electronic mail for targeted marketing
5. Listen to the customer tell you what they need to appear on their bills.
6. Make it easy as possible to help the customer help their customer use your product.

Deliver personalized service

Foster Community


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good book but needs updating now.
Review: With so much changes in the internet business, this is a good reading to understand how should you start, but new technologies are available now. This book was written in 98, so Patricia Seybold should rewrite.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An education in itself...
Review: Being a college student, I was at first reluctant to read Seybold's book as a class assignment. In hindsight, it's one of the best decisions I could've made. This book presents dynamic ideas that are being overlooked at universities today. Rather than focusing on the "how to's" Customers.com gives you the "why's" of the customer market. Talk about making me think! Not only did this book provide an excellent point of reference for class discussions, I found myself unconsciously transferring the knowledge into my job. One thing to take note of: THIS IS MORE THAN A TECHIES BOOK! Anyone in business will undoubtedly benefit from reading it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The title says it all.
Review: Although this book was written in 1998 (I read it in Dec 98) the main themes still hold true. The author takes bricks-and-mortar business concepts and applies them to the on-line world. Obviously some material is dated but in general her theme of identifying the true customer and focusing on what the customer wants can be used in any business environment. She cites numerous recent examples of how companies used the Internet to re-invent their business models. Most of the chapters are written in MBA-type case studies. Ms. Seybold however, was wise enough to remove the technical jargon and put it in a seperate section at the end of each case. The non-tech person can read this book easily without being bogged down by technical information. Likewise, tech people will find the actual details of the implementation strategy somewhat interesting. I would give it more stars but their have been a few books written recently on internet strategy that are slightly more timely.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Patricia Seybold "gets it"!
Review: I bought Customers.com on Friday afternoon and finished it the following Tuesday. I even put aside the latest Tom Clancy to read it.

As a project manager for an organization that is beginning a rapid movement to e-commerce, the insights offered were invaluable. Too often we focus on improving our internal systems and neglect to focus on the customer-facing applications.

Patricia Seybold "gets it" - and so do the 16 companies she profiles in this book. With examples of successes (and shortcomings) from companies covering a wide spectrum of businesses, I found dozens of real life, practical examples that I can begin to use now.

The style is easy to read. Each case study describes what the subject organization did right, what they did wrong, and what their next steps should be.

I heartily recommend this to anyone (business or technical) who is or will be involved in e-commerce. Whether you're defining business and/or technical strategy or implementing, this book is for you.


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