Enhancing on-line customer trust : animated advisor design and prototype

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 53).The emergence of e-commerce has significantly increased customer power and introduced many challenges to the traditional push-based marketing practices. Many businesses nowadays are considering repositioning their strategies to develop trust-based long-lasting relationships with an increasingly loyal customer base instead of bombarding passive customers with marketing campaigns. General Motors took a leading first step in this direction by launching an on-line tool, Auto-Choice-Advisor, that provides its visitors with unbiased advice on the vehicles that best fit their preferences. This document proposes trust-building enhancements to the Auto-Choice-Advisor site through the incorporation of a trusted animated advisor. It begins by reviewing the premise of trust-based marketing. It then presents simulation results that internally validate the "listening-in" methodology, an approach that listens to virtual dialogues between on-line customers and virtual advisors to identify viable new market opportunities. The document then builds on the findings and presents a design and a prototype for a new animated Auto-Choice-Advisor. Finally, the possibilities for future work are summarized.by Rami Musa.M.Eng