Political Marketing

Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark. 11: 181–191 (2006) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/nvsm.23

Political parties’ use of web based marketing: Some preliminary findings relating to first-time voters in the 2005 general election Graeme Drummond* Napier University Business School, UK *

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This paper examines the marketing of political parties, via websites, in the 2005 UK general election with specific reference to first-time voters (age 18–24). Common perception views young voters as predominantly politically apathetic and less likely to vote than older generations. However, research literature suggests given the right message and medium, the group will engage in the political process. Could the Internet provide a path to engaging younger voters and will websites become a key marketing vehicle for political parties? Young voters were asked to review political party websites using an extended web assessment method (EWAM), which is an evaluation tool created to determine both the importance and presence of website evaluation criteria. Preliminary research suggests that respondents felt the Internet had a significant role to play in the election process and marketing of campaign messages. However, while political parties scored well in relation to the technical/software aspects of website design, participants felt website material had little appeal and were ineffective in influencing voter intent. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction For better or worse, election campaigns are now intrinsically linked with political marketing strategies. UK elections have witnessed increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques deployed to woo, or indeed scare, voters. Brown and Coates (1996) state that politics is becoming:

. . . a product to be prepared, packaged and marketed with the appropriate brand image after careful market research by advertisers and public relations experts into what people want.

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*Correspondence to: Graeme Drummond, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, School of Marketing and Tourism, Napier University Business School, 219 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH 14 1DG, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

While the ‘marketing approach’ to politics has many detractors, it is now an integral part of the process. Political parties invest in state-ofthe-art media centres, make extensive use of focus groups and target potential supporters with subsequent political policy akin to a ‘branded product’. For example, Hayes and McAllister (2001) observe the Labour party having placed considerable emphasis on

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contacting voter, in marginal seats, who potentially might switch allegiance. Given the importance attached to marketing within the context of an election campaign web-based marketing can be expected to play an increasingly prominent role. Indeed, US commentators (Taylor, 2004) dubbed the 2004 US presidential campaign as: . . . the one in which the Internet came of age. Arguably, the UK General Election of 2005 will follow suit with increasing importance attached to webbased marketing activity. This paper examines the role of political parties’ websites in the runup to the 2005 UK General Election. Websites were evaluated from the perspective of a selected group of voters (first-time, undecided voters aged 18–24). The study aims to:

Graeme Drummond

Popular opinion suggests that young (potential) first time voters are disinterested in politics, apathetic to political messages and far less likely to vote than previous generations. King (2002) shows a decline in voting, particularly among young voters. Numerous qualitative studies reviewing factors such as party membership and voting behaviour (Parry et al., 1992; Jowell and Park, 1998; Pirie and Worcester, 2000) reinforce this view. Indeed, MORI (2001) estimated that only 39% of 18–24 year old voted in the 2001 general election. An earlier MORI poll (1998) shows only 60% of those aged between 18–24 where registered to vote compared to 92% of the general public. The importance of first-time voter participation is highlighted by numerous commentators. Mirron (1999) argues that non-voting threatens democracy and undermines elected

politicians, while Dermody and Scullion (2003) note problems in relation to ‘ . . . low voter turnout at recent elections, a growing sense of cynicism towards political actors and disengagement with political systems’. The Electoral Commission (2002) reinforces the point—A central worry for those concerned with the state of democracy in Britain is that young voters may be suffering from what Eliasoph (1998) has termed ‘the shrinking circle of concern’; that widespread indifference to and ignorance of politics is causing an evaporation of the concepts of citizenship and participation. Clearly, the challenge of motivating young voters impacts directly on political parties. Smith and Branigan (2005) cite concerns relating to young voters turnout driving parties to target seats with large student populations. For example, Liberal Democrat strategists targeted university towns where student inhabitants outnumbered the swing required for electoral victory. While such trends are worrying for political parties and society in general subsequent research (Henn et al., 2002, Dermody and Scullion 2003) questions the premise that young voters are disinterested/unaware of political campaigns/messages. Dermody and Scullion (2003) examined young people’s awareness of the party political advertising in the 2001 election and concluded that— . . . young people may not be as politically disaffected as the literature suggests. Their study showed that young voters are selectively aware of political advertising, and such marketing messages can, given the right message/ media, generate interest/participation in the political process. Additional research (O’Donohoe, 1997; Cova, 1999) suggests that advertising can provide a positive vehicle to engage young voters. Henn et al. (2002) also support the notion that young people are more supportive of the democrat process than conventional wisdom suggests. While not readily inspired by politicians, they are not apathetic to political issues. They display—a different concept of what politics is, and are interested in a different type and style of

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1. Determine which website evaluation criteria are deemed important by the first-time voters group. 2. Evaluate how well those criteria are presented in political parties’ websites in the general election campaign. 3. Establish if website content/presentation would be likely to influence voters.

Marketing the political message to first time voters

Political parties’ use of web based marketing

politics. Their politics is more participative and has an immediate, localised focus. Henn et al. (2002) suggest that young voters could be persuaded to turn out in larger numbers. Given the need to involve the 18–24 age group in the political process, and the concept that this group is more amenable to participation than is generally perceived, the question remains—How best to engage such a group? As this is the Internet literate ‘MTV’ generation, the use of web-based marketing would seem to offer a potential avenue of contact/awareness and generation of party political support. To this end, this research examines the perception of young (18–24) voters in relation to political party websites in the 2005 UK General Election.

Internet marketing and political parties Bowes-Brown and Gunter (2002) report UK political parties increasing efforts to develop their campaign websites. Given advances in technology and internet usage such activity is likely to accelerate. Commentators (Farrell and Webb, 2000; Norris, 2000) report a new era of political marketing with information communications technologies perceived as a primary driver capable of shaping marketing efforts. Specifically the internet could shift electioneering (Ward and Gibson, 2003) by: (1) Delivering party political information directly to voters without media/journalistic/editorial influence, (2) Voters targeted effectively by tailoring web pages to individual concerns with potentially decentralised campaigning placing greater emphasis on local candidates/issues and (3) Developing ongoing dialogue with potential voters via e-mail and bulletin boards and collecting instant feedback by means of online opinion polls. Additionally, Bowers-Brown and Gunter (2002) comment that the Internet offers several advantages in terms of political marketing. The ‘net’ extends ‘marketing reach’ and can engage potential voters in areas where physical presence is limited. Additionally, the multi-media capacity offered by web provision is not readily replicated by other media. The Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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immediacy of websites enables information to be readily updated in response to developing issues and concerns. The Internet is not a political marketing panacea with numerous issues/problems to be reported. Crabtree (2001) reports voters having limited/negative expectations relating to party websites and assuming they will be ‘dull and text-heavy’. Additionally, the web is a ‘pull’ as opposed to a ‘push’ technology. As such it requires members of the public to actively seek it out (Bowers-Brown and Gunter 2001). Clearly, some groups in society have limited web access or interest in online technology, thus the medium has limited penetration within certain elements of society (e.g. socially disadvantaged, elderly). The issue of data gathering via the net is also a concern with Coleman (2000) reporting concerns relating to websites as receptacles of voter data. Notwithstanding the above points, the Internet is a phenomenon which can only grow in importance. Berthon et al. (1998) provides a generalised 5-point criteria facilitating the effectiveness of web-based marketing: 1. Awareness efficiency—it is important to use conventional media (e.g. corporate literature, press advertising etc.) to promote awareness of online activity and website addresses. 2. Locatability/Attractability efficiency— potential ‘customers’ need to be drawn from other websites. Generating ‘hits’ from other websites (e.g. search engines) is vital. 3. Contact efficiency—much importance is attached to converting website ‘hits’ into more meaningful encounters. Ideally, visitors should interact with the information and resource provided on the site. 4. Conversion efficiency—effective websites facilitate actions such as ‘purchase’. The site needs to be persuasive and process transactions efficiently. 5. Retention efficiency—retention can be considered as the process of creating and developing strong relationships with web Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006

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users, where they return to the site on an ongoing basis. The above criteria itemise the goals of effective web marketing. While such concepts are framed in commercial terms they would appear applicable to political web-based marketing with issue of ‘purchase’ being perceived in terms of intent, support or membership.

Party web sites—Evaluation criteria Numerous website evaluation techniques exist. However, rapidly developing technology and a dynamic business environment has made systematic approaches to evaluating strategic Internet use difficult. Researchers (Babcock, 1997; Rosen, 1997) report wide spread use of simplistic measure (e.g. websites hits and customer feedback). Simeon (1999) proposed an AIPD model which is more integrated in nature and examines four key functions: *

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Attracting—refers to the means of attracting interested people to a website. For example, search engines, media advertising and promotional items baring web addresses. Informing—relates to the ability of the website to provide and exchange information with interested parties. Positioning—refers to activities which differentiate the site from competitors. Delivering—relates to the technical infrastructure required to provide information and facilitate transactions.

While this model is commonly quoted in literature, it displays some drawbacks in evaluating not-for-profit organisations. Lee (2003) concludes that the components are very software-orientated and the position may be an inappropriate concept for the public sector. However, elements of the model (particularly ‘attracting’) are likely to prove highly relevant to political campaigning. Schubert (2003) advocates a customer viewpoint to web evaluation and proposes an extended web assessment method (EWAM). Li and Holeckova Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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(2005) report the EWAM construct as important in accessing consumers’ perception of quality and analysing the relationship between attitude, intention and behaviour. EWAM is employed within the context of this study, and is adapted by the author from Li and Holeckova (2005). The adaptation removes reference to purchase/price decisions and replaces these with questions relating to support or voting intent. Table 1 shows the evaluation criteria with reference source (from Li and Holeckova, 2005) clearly annotated. The evaluation consists of three categories with the sub-categories given below:

Search Search (SEA)

One of the main objectives of an Internet presence is to attract interested parties. A precursor to this is the ease with which a specific website can be found. Attracting a target audience is normally achieved via a search engine or direct promotion of the web address by means of media advertising/promotion. Researchers (e.g. Sowards, 1997; Schubert, 2003) highlight the importance of a web ‘product’ being easily found via search engines or directly known by the potential audience— see Table 1.

Site Characteristics Information (INF), system quality (SYQ), design (DES), navigation (NAV), credibility (CRE) and privacy (PRI)

Website characteristics are important in informing, differentiating competitive position and developing an ongoing affinity with target groups. Critical to such tasks are: information content, credibility and privacy (Schoenbachler and Gordon, 2002; Schubert, 2003; Zhang and Von Dran, 2003). Additionally, design has a key role to play in delivering the above (Palmer and Griffith, 1998; Misic and Johnson, 1999). Any successful website must also be easy to navigate (Huzingh, 2000; Zhang and Von Dran, Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006

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Table 1. Web site evaluation criteria Question Category Number

Question

Scale

1 2 3

SEA SEA SEA

4

SEA

5 6 7

INF INF SYQ

8 9

DES DES

10

DES

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

DES DES NAV DES CRE NAV NAV

18

CRE

19

PRI

20

INT

21 22

INT INT

How did you search for the websiteof a service provider? If using the web search engine what keyword did you use? If using the web search engine, how did you choose the service provider from the search list? Product was easily found (Sowards, 1997; Misic and Johnson, 1999; Schubert, 2003) Content was well structured (Schubert, 2003) There was reasonable quantity of information (Schubert, 2003) Fast load time for homepage and sub-pages (Sowards, 1997; Misic and Johnson, 1999) Multimedia (video, audio) used effectively (Palmer and Griffith, 1998) Colour used effectively (Palmer and Griffith, 1998; Misic and Johnson, 1999; Zhang and von Dran, 2002) Colour used consistently throughout the site (Palmer and Griffith, 1998; Misic and Johnson, 1999; Zhang and von Dran, 2002) The site was conceptually exciting (Misic and Johnson, 1999) Graphics and art served a purpose (Misic and Johnson, 1999) Clear navigation (Huizingh, 2000; Zhang and von Dran, 2002) Reasonable graphics size (Misic and Johnson, 1999) Wording on the pages was professional (Zhang and von Dran, 2002) Good site map available (Sowards, 1997; Zhang and von Dran, 2002) Good site search available (Jenamani et al., 2002; Zhang and von Dran, 2002) Throughout contact information (address, telephone number) for the service provider available (Zhang and von Dran, 2002) I trusted my personal details would be kept confidential (Schoenbachler and Gordon, 2002) The Internet is my main source of party political information in the forthcoming election Web site content/information would influence my voting decision People should be able to vote via the Internet

Open-ended Open-ended Open-ended
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2
2,
1, 1, 2

Source: Li & Holeckova (2005) adapted by the Author.

2002) and be fast enough loading to retain attention (Sowards, 1997; Misic and Johnson, 1999). Table 1 elaborates.

Data collection

The EWAM framework was adapted by the author in order to establish if website content was likely to influence provision of party political information, voting intention and facilitate the voting process (see Table 1, questions 20–22). Such criteria replace commercially orientated questions used in previous studies (e.g. Li and Holeckova 2005).

Questionnaires (see Table 1) were administered in the 3 weeks preceding the 2005 UK general election. Respondents were asked to examine the websites of the three main UK political parties—Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat. First, the questionnaire was used to ascertain the importance attached to each evaluation criteria (covered by questions 4–19), by means of a 4-point scale (
2 unimportant,
1 some what important, þ1 important, þ2 very important) with zero used to denote an item as not applicable. Second, the questionnaire was used to evaluate the presence of each criteria with participants being asked to rate factors for each

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Influence/Intent Intent (INT)

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party’s website using the following scale:
2 strong disagree,
1 slightly disagree, þ1 slightly agree, þ2 strongly agree. Again, zero denoted a not applicable response. The data were collected from 30 respondents who met the following criteria: 1. Eligible to vote for the first time (age 18–24). 2. Experienced Internet users. Experienced Internet users were deemed necessary as the exercise required a degree of familiarity with online concepts such as searching for information and website navigation. This permitted respondents to focus on the EWAM framework without skills/confidence mitigating outcomes. A pre-qualifying question was used to determine internet experience with participants having a minimum of 3 years experience. 3. No current political allegiance, but likely to vote in the forthcoming election. ‘Floating’ voters were selected as: (1) Not holding a strong pre-determined political preference

should reduce bias, as those with pre-set political agendas may well favour a particular website. (2) Given they were likely to vote, web content could influence their preference, thus aligning the sample with the objectives of the study. Li and Holeckova (2005) acknowledge the EWAM website evaluations as time-consuming to apply to a single website. Given respondents were required to evaluate three websites as part of this exercise; numbers were restricted to 30 due to time availability. An empirical study of 30 voters can only provide a limited picture of website design and influence. However, data should provide a ‘springboard’ for further research and provide an opportunity to examine the use of the EWAM framework. Respondents were briefed on the objectives of the study and ask to review the importance of each criteria using the
2 to þ2 scale. The average scores for this exercise are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Importance and presence of criteria on Website Question Number

Category

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

SEA INF INF SYQ DES DES DES

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

DES DES NAV DES CRE NAV NAV CRE

19

PRI

Question

Average score for importance

Product was easily found Content was well structured There was reasonable quantity of information Fast load time for homepage and sub-pages Multimedia (video, audio) used effectively Colour used effectively Colour used consistently throughout the site and associated with the party The site was conceptually exciting Graphics and art served a purpose Clear navigation Reasonable graphics size Wording on the pages was professional Good site map available Good site search available Throughout contact information (address, telephone number) for the service provider available I trusted my personal details would be kept confidential

Average score for presentation La

Co

LD

1.8 2.0 1.7 1.2 1.8
0.7
0.8

1.2 0.7
0.3 1.1
1.7 0.5
0.3

1.4 1.4 1.1 1.8
1.6 1.2
0.1

1.4 1.4 1.1 1.1
1.3 1.3
0.9

1.6 1.5 1.6
0.3 1.8 1.2 1.8
1.3


1.7
0.5 1.5 1.8
0.8
0.2 1.6
0.1


1.5
0.7 1.3 1.7
1.4 0.8
1.0
0.9


1.1
0.9
0.1 1.8 1.2 1.2 1.9 0.2

2.0


1.2


1.4

1.3

Note: La ¼ Labour, Co ¼ Conservative and LD ¼ Liberal Democrat.

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Table 3. Web/Internet influence on voter intention (INF) Question

20. The Internet is my main source of party political information in the forthcoming election 21. Web site content would influence my voting intention. 22. People should be able to vote via the Internet

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Average Score

3

9

12

6

0.5

9 2

14 0

6 15

1 13


0.8 1.2

Note: n ¼ 30,
2 strong disagree,
1 slightly disagree, þ1 slightly agree, þ2 strongly agree.

Respondents were then instructed to find the website for each of the political parties and review it using the EWAM framework. Results, for questions 3–19 are again shown as average scores in Table 2. Three additional questions (No’s. 20–22) were used to gauge the potential of the website to influence voting intentions with data summarised in Table 3.

Analysis of results Questions 1–3 examined how participants accessed the parties’ websites. Most respondents accessed via a search engine (26 of 30) with Google by far the most common application used. Google was used by 19 respondents, Yahoo used by 4 respondents, 5 respondents cited the use of other search engines and while only 2 attempted to go directly to each party’s website. Such results are not only reflective of Google’s market dominance, but also demonstrate little awareness of parties’ websites during a period of intense political campaigning. Marketing initiatives such as the Liberal Democrats campaign website baring the election slogan—The real alternative (www.therealalternative.org) seem to have little impact. As a supplement to the research, a content analysis of election advertising material was undertaken to establish the use/prominence made of party websites. In total, 12 adverts were reviewed (4 per party from national press). All contained a web address, but none made any direct reference to it. Surprisingly, there was no attempt to engage potential voters by directing them to party websites for elaboration, additional information or ongoing Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

communication. Websites seemed to be passive in format e.g. simply tagged to the end of a promotional communication. Schubert (2003) proposes websites evaluation via a grid system which combines importance/presence of criteria given in Table 1. The grid is subsequently divided into four subcategories (or quadrants), each representing a generic website strategy: Quadrant 1—Maintain strategy The upper right quadrant is indicative of an effective web presence with respondents giving good scores in important areas. Quadrant 2—Improvement required Upper left quadrant entries indicate poor performance in critical areas, and represent a priority need for change. Quadrant 3—No immediate improvement required The lower left quadrant represents poor performance in relatively unimportant criteria/areas. As such, these can be tackled as resources permit. Quadrant 4—Strategic overkill Lower right quadrant entries are symptomatic of performing well in relatively unimportant areas, indicating available resource could be better used. The EWAM (Schubert 2005) evaluation grids generated by respondent data are shown in Figures 1–4. These display respondent averages (see Table 2) for each party’s website, relating to importance/evaluation of presence of EWAM criteria. For presentation purposes these are amalgamated into: 1. Search, Information and System Quality, 2. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006

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Figure 1. Information and systems quality.

Figure 2. Web site design.

Figure 3. Navigation.

Figure 4. Credibility and privacy.

Website Design, 3. Navigation and 4. Credibility and Privacy. The Schubert evaluation grids (see Figures 1–4) display a degree of commonality among the parties in most evaluated criteria. Interestingly, Figure 4 shows the Liberal Democrats

scoring significantly better in relation to privacy and credibility. Respondents rated confidentiality of personal information as very important with a highest possible importance score of 2. Subsequent average scores relating to the presence of this factor on party election

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websites (La–1.2, Co–1.3 and LD–1.3) show a significant advantage for the Liberal Democrats in an important area. Closer examination of the websites cannot account for this reaction, and it is likely that this is a perception, or ‘halo’, issue. Simply put, the Liberal Democrats are more trusted then their rivals—a party not tarnished by sleaze and negative campaigning. This illustrates that website evaluation cannot be disentangled from previously held beliefs. Additionally, the trust issues may offer the potential for ‘market’ differentiation. Figure 1—Information and System Quality, summarises questions 4, 5 and 6. All parties display broadly similar scores, and are classified within the ‘maintain strategy’. The websites are easy to find, well structured with reasonable quality of information and fast loading. The only ‘outlier’ in the group was Labour, scoring less well (
0.3 as opposed to 1.1) on quality of information. Examination of Figure 2—Website Design, reports all parties fairing relatively poorly with responses either clustering in the improvement required category or score well in areas viewed as unimportant (e.g. reasonable graphics size)—‘strategic overkill’. The use of multi-media (e.g. video/audio clips) deemed important by respondents (average score for importance þ 1.8) received poor ratings (La– 1.7, Co–1.6 and LD–1.3). Similar response patterns were apparent in relation to website’s conceptual interest (La–1.7, Co–1.5 and LD– 1.1) and art/graphics serving a purpose (La– 0.5, Co–0.7 and LD–0.9). Figure 3—Navigation, displays a positive return with websites generally easy to navigate. One ‘outlier’ was Labour’s site map receiving a relatively low rating. Generally, navigation is constantly rated as—‘maintain strategy’. Table 3. summarises responses relating to voting intent and the influence/role of the Internet (questions 20–22). Responses indicate clear support for Internet voting as a means to encourage electoral participation with over 90% in favour of Internet voting. Additionally, a significant (60%) number of first time voters view the Internet as a major source of information about political parties. However, a few

appear to be influenced by the political party websites, with only 23% indicating web content/material would influence their voting intent. In conclusion, the respondent group appears to view the Internet as having a significant role to play in the election process (e.g. provision of information and as a potential voting mechanism), but party websites appear ineffective as marketing tools. This finding aligns with respondents’ view of website design—see Figure 2. Given the limited sample size, a further more expansive study would be merited.

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Conclusions and recommendations It is acknowledged that an empirical study of 30 first-time voters provides a limited picture of current website design and influence with regard to voter intent. Subsequently, reported findings are preliminary in nature and a future more expansive study would be recommended. Preliminary conclusions can be summarised as follows: 1. At a time of intense political campaigning, the target respondent group displayed little awareness of the parties’ websites. While web material was easy to find (via search engines), little evidence exist to suggest the parties proactively market their Internet presence. Examining campaign literature reinforces this point, with web addresses simply appended to the end of adverts/ literature as opposed to being actively marketed as an interactive media to stimulate support. Political parties are recommended to examine ‘awareness efficiency’ (Berthon et al., 1998–see previously) with greater emphasis/resources allocated to marketing party websites. Actively marketing websites to first-time voters offers a means of communicating with this important electoral group which is direct and free from third party editorial control. 2. While political parties score relatively well in relation to technical/software aspects of

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web design (e.g. navigation, fast load pages, etc.), design relating to use of graphic/multimedia and conceptual interest are less favourably perceived with little appealing to the target voter group. Schubert’s evaluation grid categorises design as an area all parties require to improve. Bowers and Gunter (2001) describe ‘contact and conversion efficiency’ as a key stage in online political marketing with the need to engage the user, to turn a ‘hit’ into a ‘visit’ and a ‘visitor’ into a loyal supporter. The research provides little evidence of this occurring. Subsequently, it is recommended that political parties review ‘contact and conversion efficiency’ with reference to appealing to young voters via the use of multi-media and framing political issues differently—to engage first-time voters. Henn, et al. (2002) suggest engagement is achievable by redefining political debate in a more participative, focused, localised and immediate fashion. Webbased technology and design offer the potential to achieve this. 3. As previously stated, privacy (in relation to personal details) was important to respondents with the Liberal Democrats scoring notably better than the other parties. While this may in part be a ‘halo’ effect, it could provide a practical measure of the degree to which a ‘political brand’ is trusted. The correlation between willingness to provide personal data to political parties and degree of trust merits further investigation. 4. The respondent group was amenable to the Internet playing an important part in the democratic process, favouring Internet voting and perceiving the Internet as a source to party political information. However, website content/material appears ineffective in influencing voting intention. This may partly be due to factors outlined above. 5. The extended web assessment method (EWAM) deployed in this study, provides an evaluation tool which examines both the importance and presence of website evaluation criteria. EWAM could provide the basis

Babcock C. 1997. Sniffer tracks more than just web hits. Computerworld 16(4): 63. Berthon P, Lane N, Pitt L, Watson RT. 1998. The world wide web as an industrial marketing communications tool. Journal of Marketing management 14(2): 691–704. Bowers-Brown J, Gunter B. 2002. Political Parties’ use of the web during the 2001 general election. 54(3): 166–176. Brown M, Coates K. 1996. The Blair Revelation, Deliverance from Whom?. Spokesman: Nottingham. Coleman S (ed.). 2000. Elections in the Age of the Internet. Hansand Society: London. Cova B. 1999. From Marketing to Strategy. Sage: London. Crabtree J. 2001. Whatever happened to the election? The Industrial Society. Dermody J, Scullion R. 2003. Facing the future: young people’s awareness of the British general election advertising campaigns. Journal of Public affairs 3(2): 152. Electoral Commission. 2002. Voter engagement and young people, WWW.electoralcommission. gov.uk Eliasoph N. 1998. Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Farrell D, Webb P. 2000. Political parties as campaign organisations. In Dalton R and Wattenburg M (eds), Parties without Partisans. OUP: Oxford. Hayes C, McAllister I. 2001. Women, electoral volatility and political outcomes in Britain.

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to monitor website developments within the political arena.

Biographical notes Graeme Drummond is a Programme Leader for the BA in Marketing Management and a Senior Lecturer in Marketing, at Napier University in Edinburgh. Specific research interests include: Customer reluctance and associated confusion effects, applying marketing concepts to the police service and the application of problem-based learning within a marketing context. Additionally, he has coauthored two marketing textbooks.

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