Page 245 - Electronic Commerce

Chapter 4

Oxfam coordinated this e-mail effort with other awareness activities it was conducting in the
same time period. The organization sent letters to supporters who had not provided e-mail
addresses and ran ads in two newspapers (The Independent and The Guardian) that carried
messages similar to those in the e-mails.

220 Required:
1. Oxfam used its existing opt-in e-mail list only for this campaign; it did not purchase (or bor-
row from other charitable organizations) any additional e-mail addresses. Evaluate this
decision. In about 200 words, explain the advantages and disadvantages of acquiring other
e-mail addresses for a campaign of this nature.
2. For this campaign, Oxfam chose to use e-mails that contained HTML, audio, and video
elements rather than using plain-text e-mails. In about 100 words, describe the advantages
and disadvantages of using formats other than plain-text in this type of e-mail campaign. Be
sure to identify any specific trade-offs that Oxfam faced in deciding not to use plain-text
e-mail.
3. Oxfam used HTML in the first e-mail, video in the second, and audio in the third. A man-
ager at Oxfam might be tempted to conclude that the sequence of formats used in the
e-mail messages was related to the increase in donations over the six weeks of the
campaign. In about 100 words, present at least two reasons why this would be an
incorrect conclusion.
4. If Oxfam were to undertake a similar emergency fund-raising effort today, it might use social
media. In about 300 words, describe how Oxfam could use Facebook, Google+, and Twitter
in combination with its existing online resources to enhance or replace the e-mail campaign
described in the case.
Note: Your instructor might assign you to a group to complete this case and might ask you to
prepare a formal presentation of your results to your class.

C2. Montana Mountain Biking
Jerry Singleton founded Montana Mountain Biking (MMB) 18 years ago. MMB offers one-week
guided mountain biking expeditions based in four Montana locations. Most of MMB’s new
customers hear about the company and its tours from existing customers. Many of MMB’s cus-
tomers come back every year for a mountain biking expedition; about 80 percent of the riders
on any given expedition are repeat customers.
Jerry is happy with this high repeat percentage, but he is worried that MMB is missing a
large potential market. He has been reluctant to spend a lot of money on advertising. About 10
years ago, he spent $80,000 on a print advertising campaign that included ads in several out-
door interest and sports magazines, but the ads did not generate enough additional customers
to cover the cost of the advertising. Five years ago, a marketing consultant advised Jerry that
the ads had not been placed well. The magazines did not reach the serious mountain bike
enthusiast, which is MMB’s true target market. After all, a casual mountain bike rider would
probably not be drawn to a week-long expedition.
Another concern of Jerry’s is that more than 90 percent of MMB’s customers come from
neighboring states. Jerry has always thought that MMB was not reaching the sizable market of

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