Evaluating the effectiveness of customers' communication experiences with online retailers - A study of e-mortgages

Retailers increasingly use the Internet for supporting customer interaction in the delivery of products and services online, whilst simultaneously displacing direct communication to a seller with 'faceless' technology. Research has tended to marginalise the importance of this communication change, possibly because of the lack of appropriate models for evaluating communication effectiveness. This paper therefore seeks to develop and apply such an evaluative model, which is underpinned by communication theory. The context of application is e-mortgage lending - based on the selection of two banks' interfaces - as evidence suggests that this type of e-commerce activity presents difficulties in electronic communication where, for example, the customer need for face-to-face mortgage advice prevails. Findings from the model's application reveal that whilst users respond socially to the interfaces, a number of communication problems can be identified by theme. Reflection is provided on the model's usefulness for evaluating the effectiveness of customers' online communication experiences. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.