A Study of an Application of ZMET in Female Shopping Website EDM Marketing

• Main Authors: Ya-Fen Liu, 劉雅芬
• Other Authors: Ren-jye Sheu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/42142482228811409138

碩士 === 世新大學 === 傳播管理學研究所(含碩專班) === 94 === With rapid growth of the internet shopping market, the female consumer market, a most primitive market with the greatest potential, has not been emphasized until the recent years. Currently, there are only a handful of studies and reports on marketing directed toward women. In electronic commerce, the most commonly used marketing tool, EDM(Email Direct Marketing), has been affected in recent years by junk mail, and have had lower and lower rates of being opened. Therefore, how to prompt female consumers to open their mail has become a very important issue. Additionally, the text and visual design of EDM can also affect consumers in opening mail and in their willingness to purchase. The primary purpose of this study is to discover how operators of female shopping websites can precisely grasp the needs of women shoppers, apply EDM marketing strategies to successfully complete sales. Current domestic studies on EDM marketing emphasize quantification, but it is webpage layout and textual ability that inspires the female desire for beauty so that sensory shopping occurs. ZMET uses pictures collected from consumers as clue to a tool, through metaphors of the pictures, it is possible to explore the subconscious. After understanding the conceptual elements and consensus map in consumers’ minds, marketers can grasp the nature of consumer needs. The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique can be effectively used to explore psychological activity of consumers, acquiring information that may not be acquired by traditional research tools inclined to literal meanings. This study uses two high-profile female shopping websites, PayEasy and Pchome, as research subjects. Research that applies ZMET to female consumers’ ideal or perceived female shopping EDM is used to explore the important conceptual elements of EDM marketing, which is provided as a reference for website marketers, product managers, and designers. This study finds that ZMET combines image and textual communication, and can indeed extract richer, more meaningful, or even imperfectly perceived signals by the interviewees. ZMET thus deconstructs the female shopping website that women shoppers want to see or receive: 1. In terms of titles and texts, “provocative” titles and “concise” texts are more likely to attract female consumers. 2. In terms of layout, the method of “simple image construction” should be used. 3. Overall style should primarily be “warm,” and “sweet and joyful.” 4. In terms of color and background, “pink” and “cute insert pictures” are most favored. 5. Product pricing should allow consumers to feel “elegant but inexpensive.” 6. In terms of product and product endorsers, products that are “unique” and “seasonal and fashionable” should be selected; the endorser should inspire “a sense of trust.” 7. Product photographs should not only have “clear product depiction,” but also “lively picture structures” so that consumers can feel that product is right before their eyes. The metaphor is a crucial tool used to observe consumer thoughts and feelings, then in turn used to understand consumer behavior. Using the interviewees’ mind maps and consensus maps, it is possible to clearly describe their concepts of ideal or perceived female shopping information, and this is used to generalize a comprehensive framework for EDM marketing.