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 here is no question that offering quality products and responsive
service remain of paramount importance. But quality products and responsive service is not
where the battle for brand equity on the Web will be won or lost. Our extensive research
shows that the path to building brand equity on the Web is not simply a matter of
executing skillful HTML. Experienced users of the Web demand far more. They demand the
tools that will let them quickly find the information they are looking for, and wish to
rely on their own judgment, not yours, as to what related information they need.
Scientists are well-aware of the volume of information available on the Web, and know that
their personal success will be largely dependent on their ability to make sense of it all,
to place related information in context and apply it to their individual areas of
investigation.Your primary "brand builder"
on the Web will be the Web site itself, along with the tools for accessing the information
it contains. You must strive to preserve your brand identity in all aspects of your Web
presence while recognizing brand equity will be built or diminished on new perceptions of
attributes such as "download time," "search engines,"
"hyperlinks," "interactivity," "gateway services" and
"perceived customization." From accessing the site, to the ways in which the
content is presented and integrated, each click of the mouse will enhance or degrade your
customer's online experience, and consequently alter your image.
Therefore, if you are to succeed in extending your brand on
the Web, you must begin to think of your company not just as a supplier of research
products, but also as a value-added service provider. The service you will provide is a
systems approach to the delivery of useful product and technical information, and you must
start to think of your Website "visitors" as Website "users."
This will require unusually close contact with your
customers because people use, and react to, the Web in ways far more numerous than they do
when reading an advertisement, printed catalog or direct mail piece. A user's individual
likes and dislikes may change even within the same online session, as the focus of their
visit changes. Brand equity implies trust and familiarity, and this can not be achieved
without continuous user involvement in the development process.
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