The Cost Of eBusiness Operations And Customer Acquisition

How much does it cost to run an eBusiness operation? What is the true value of an online customer? To find out, Forrester recently surveyed 68 current members of our eBusiness, Channel And Product Management Research Panel to learn about how much they're spending to run online operations, how they're measuring the online channel, and whether they spend more or less to acquire and serve customers online versus in other channels. Results from our survey show that in 2008, overall corporate spending on customer-facing online presence is increasing — from an average spend of $39 million in 2007 to $42 million in 2008 — with the lions' share of that spending going toward the cost of goods, marketing and advertising, and fulfillment costs. Panelists also reported that conventional wisdom about online customers holds true: Acquiring customers online costs less than one-third of the cost of acquiring customers in other channels. Our panelists told us that they spend less to service these customers, as well.