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

* 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 . . . a product to be prepared, packaged and

For better or worse, election campaigns are
now intrinsically linked with political market-
ing strategies. UK elections have witnessed
increasingly sophisticated marketing techni-
ques deployed to woo, or indeed scare, voters.
Brown and Coates (1996) state that politics is
becoming:
————
— focus groups and target potential supporters
*Correspondence to: Graeme Drummond, Senior Lec-
turer in Marketing, School of Marketing and Tourism,
Napier University Business School, 219 Colinton Road,
Edinburgh, EH 14 1DG, UK.
E-mail: g.drummond@napier.ac.uk
marketed with the appropriate brand
image after careful market research by
advertisers and public relations experts
into what people want.
While the ‘marketing approach’ to politics
has many detractors, it is now an integral part of
the process. Political parties invest in state-of-
the-art media centres, make extensive use of
with subsequent political policy akin to a
‘branded product’. For example, Hayes and
McAllister (2001) observe the Labour party
having placed considerable emphasis on

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
182
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 web-
based marketing activity. This paper examines
the role of political parties’ websites in the run-
up 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:
1. Determine which website evaluation cri-
teria are deemed important by the first-time
voters group.
2. Evaluate how well those criteria are pre-
sented 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
Popular opinion suggests that young (poten-
tial) 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 participa-
tion is highlighted by numerous commenta-
tors. Mirron (1999) argues that non-voting
threatens democracy and undermines elected
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Graeme Drummond
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 disen-
gagement 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 evapora-
tion 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 inha-
bitants 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 market-
ing 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
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
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 participa-
tion 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 commu-
nications technologies perceived as a primary
driver capable of shaping marketing efforts.
Specifically the internet could shift electioneer-
ing (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.
183
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, visi-
tors 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 transac-
tions 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
184
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:
* Attracting—refers to the means of attracting
interested people to a website. For example,
search engines, media advertising and pro-
motional items baring web addresses.
* Informing—relates to the ability of the
website to provide and exchange informa-
tion with interested parties.
* Positioning—refers to activities which dif-
ferentiate the site from competitors.
* Delivering—relates to the technical infra-
structure 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. Schu-
bert (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.
Graeme Drummond
(2005) report the EWAM construct as impor-
tant 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 pre-
cursor 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 inform-
ing, 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
Political parties’ use of web based marketing 185

Table 1. Web site evaluation criteria

Question Category Question Scale

Number

1 SEA How did you search for the websiteof a service provider? Open-ended
2 SEA If using the web search engine what keyword did you use? Open-ended
3 SEA If using the web search engine, how did you choose the Open-ended
service provider from the search list?
4 SEA Product was easily found (Sowards, 1997; Misic and
2,
1, 1, 2
Johnson, 1999; Schubert, 2003)
5 INF Content was well structured (Schubert, 2003)
2,
1, 1, 2
6 INF There was reasonable quantity of information (Schubert, 2003)
2,
1, 1, 2
7 SYQ Fast load time for homepage and sub-pages (Sowards, 1997;
2,
1, 1, 2
Misic and Johnson, 1999)
8 DES Multimedia (video, audio) used effectively (Palmer and Griffith, 1998)
2,
1, 1, 2
9 DES Colour used effectively (Palmer and Griffith, 1998; Misic and
2,
1, 1, 2
Johnson, 1999; Zhang and von Dran, 2002)
10 DES Colour used consistently throughout the site (Palmer and Griffith, 1998;
2,
1, 1, 2
Misic and Johnson, 1999; Zhang and von Dran, 2002)
11 DES The site was conceptually exciting (Misic and Johnson, 1999)
2,
1, 1, 2
12 DES Graphics and art served a purpose (Misic and Johnson, 1999)
2,
1, 1, 2
13 NAV Clear navigation (Huizingh, 2000; Zhang and von Dran, 2002)
2,
1, 1, 2
14 DES Reasonable graphics size (Misic and Johnson, 1999)
2,
1, 1, 2
15 CRE Wording on the pages was professional (Zhang and von Dran, 2002)
2,
1, 1, 2
16 NAV Good site map available (Sowards, 1997; Zhang and von Dran, 2002)
2,
1, 1, 2
17 NAV Good site search available (Jenamani et al., 2002; Zhang and von
2,
1, 1, 2
Dran, 2002)
18 CRE Throughout contact information (address, telephone number)
2,
1, 1, 2
for the service provider available (Zhang and von Dran, 2002)
19 PRI I trusted my personal details would be kept confidential
2,
1, 1, 2
(Schoenbachler and Gordon, 2002)
20 INT The Internet is my main source of party political information
2,
1, 1, 2
in the forthcoming election
21 INT Web site content/information would influence my voting decision
2,
1, 1, 2
22 INT People should be able to vote via the Internet
2,
1, 1, 2

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

2002) and be fast enough loading to retain Data collection

attention (Sowards, 1997; Misic and
Johnson, 1999). Table 1 elaborates.
Influence/Intent
Intent (INT)
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 int-
ention 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 adminis-
tered 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 impor-
tant) 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

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
186 Graeme Drummond

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 respon-
dents 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 partici-
pants 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 particu-
lar 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 respon-
dents were required to evaluate three
websites as part of this exercise; numbers
were restricted to 30 due to time availabil-
ity. An empirical study of 30 voters can only
provide a limited picture of website design
and influence. However, data should pro-
vide 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 Category Question Average score Average score

Number for importance for presentation

La Co LD

4 SEA Product was easily found 1.8 1.2 1.4 1.4

5 INF Content was well structured 2.0 0.7 1.4 1.4
6 INF There was reasonable quantity of information 1.7
0.3 1.1 1.1
7 SYQ Fast load time for homepage and sub-pages 1.2 1.1 1.8 1.1
8 DES Multimedia (video, audio) used effectively 1.8
1.7
1.6
1.3
9 DES Colour used effectively
0.7 0.5 1.2 1.3
10 DES Colour used consistently throughout the site
0.8
0.3
0.1
0.9
and associated with the party
11 DES The site was conceptually exciting 1.6
1.7
1.5
1.1
12 DES Graphics and art served a purpose 1.5
0.5
0.7
0.9
13 NAV Clear navigation 1.6 1.5 1.3
0.1
14 DES Reasonable graphics size
0.3 1.8 1.7 1.8
15 CRE Wording on the pages was professional 1.8
0.8
1.4 1.2
16 NAV Good site map available 1.2
0.2 0.8 1.2
17 NAV Good site search available 1.8 1.6
1.0 1.9
18 CRE Throughout contact information (address,
1.3
0.1
0.9 0.2
telephone number) for the service provider
available
19 PRI I trusted my personal details would be 2.0
1.2
1.4 1.3
kept confidential

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

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
Political parties’ use of web based marketing
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
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 sum-
marised in Table 3.
Analysis of results
Questions 1–3 examined how participants
accessed the parties’ websites. Most respon-
dents accessed via a search engine (26 of 30)
with Google by far the most common applica-
tion 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 demon-
strate little awareness of parties’ websites
during a period of intense political campaign-
ing. Marketing initiatives such as the Liberal
Democrats campaign website baring the elec-
tion slogan—The real alternative (www.ther-
ealalternative.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.
187
Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly Average
Disagree Agree Score
3 9 12 6 0.5
9 14 6 1
0.8
2 0 15 13 1.2
communication. Websites seemed to be pas-
sive in format e.g. simply tagged to the end of a
promotional communication.
Schubert (2003) proposes websites evalua-
tion via a grid system which combines impor-
tance/presence of criteria given in Table 1. The
grid is subsequently divided into four sub-
categories (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
188
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. Cred-
ibility and Privacy.
The Schubert evaluation grids (see Figures
1–4) display a degree of commonality among
the parties in most evaluated criteria. Interest-
ingly, Figure 4 shows the Liberal Democrats
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Graeme Drummond
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
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
Political parties’ use of web based marketing
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 improve-
ment required category or score well in areas
viewed as unimportant (e.g. reasonable gra-
phics 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 informa-
tion about political parties. However, a few
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
189
appear to be influenced by the political party
websites, with only 23% indicating web con-
tent/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.
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 recom-
mended.
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 stimu-
late support. Political parties are recom-
mended to examine ‘awareness efficiency’
(Berthon et al., 1998–see previously) with
greater emphasis/resources allocated to
marketing party websites. Actively market-
ing websites to first-time voters offers a
means of communicating with this impor-
tant 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
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
190
web design (e.g. navigation, fast load pages,
etc.), design relating to use of graphic/multi-
media and conceptual interest are less
favourably perceived with little appealing
to the target voter group. Schubert’s evalua-
tion grid categorises design as an area all
parties require to improve. Bowers and
Gunter (2001) describe ‘contact and con-
version 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 recom-
mended that political parties review ‘con-
tact 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 engage-
ment is achievable by redefining political
debate in a more participative, focused,
localised and immediate fashion. Web-
based technology and design offer the
potential to achieve this.
3. As previously stated, privacy (in relation to
personal details) was important to respon-
dents 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. How-
ever, 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 evalua-
tion criteria. EWAM could provide the basis
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Graeme Drummond
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 Uni-
versity in Edinburgh. Specific research inter-
ests include: Customer reluctance and
associated confusion effects, applying market-
ing concepts to the police service and the
application of problem-based learning within a
marketing context. Additionally, he has co-
authored two marketing textbooks.
References
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 Pub-
lic 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 Watten-
burg M (eds), Parties without Partisans. OUP:
Oxford.
Hayes C, McAllister I. 2001. Women, electoral
volatility and political outcomes in Britain.
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006
Political parties’ use of web based marketing
European Journal of Marketing 35(9/10): 971–
983.
Henn M, Weinstein M, Wring D. 2002. A genera-
tional apart? Youth and political participation in
Britain. British Journal of Politics and Interna-
tional Affairs 4(2): 167–192.
Huizingh E. 2000. The content and the design of
websites. Information and Management 37(3):
123–134.
Jenamani M, Mohapatra PK, Ghose S. 2002. Bench-
marking for design and evaluation of corporate
websites. Quarterly Journal of Electronic Com-
merce 3(4): 391–415.
Jowell R, Park A. 1998. Young People, Politics and
Citizenship: A Disengaged Generation?. Citizen-
ship Foundation: London.
King A (ed.). 2002. Britain at the Polls 2001.
Chatham House Publishers: New York.
Lee FK. 2003. A model for monitoring public sector
website strategy. Internet Research 13(4): 259–
266.
Li S, Holeckova K. 2005. Evaluation of UK car
insurance brokers’ websites: some preliminary
findings. Marketing Intelligence & Planning
23(1): 77–88.
Miron D. 1999. Grabbing the non-voter. Handbook
of Political Marketing. Sage: London.
Misic M, Johnson KL. 1999. Benchmarking: a tool
for website evaluation and improvement. Inter-
net Research 9(5): 383–392.
MORI 1998. Polls and Surveys archive, www.
mori.com
MORI Survey. 2001. Attitudes to Voting and the
Political Process, A study conducted for the
Electoral Commission, www.mori.com
Norris P. 2000. A Virtuous Circle. Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge.
O’Donohoe S. 1997. Leaky boundaries. Intertex-
tuality and young adults’ experiences of advertis-
ing. Buy this Book. Routledge: London.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
191
Palmer JW, Griffith DA. 1998. An emerging model
of website design for marketing. Communica-
tions of ACM 41(3): 45–51.
Parry G, Moyser G, Day N. 1992. Political participa-
tion and Democracy in Britain. Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge.
Pirie M, Worcester R. 2000. The big turn-off:
attitudes of young people to government, citizen-
ship and community, Adam Smith Institute.
Rosen S. 1997. Under construction. Communica-
tions World 14(4): 5.
Schoenbachler DD, Gordon GL. 2002. Multi-
channel shopping: understanding what drive
channel choice. Journal of Consumer Marketing
19(1): 42–53.
Schubert P. 2003. Extended Web Assessment
Method (EWAM): evaluating electronic com-
merce applications from the customer’s view-
point. International Journal of Electronic
Commerce 7(2): 51–80.
Simeon R. 1999. Evaluating domestic and interna-
tional website strategies. Internet Research 9(4):
297–308.
Smith L, Branigan T. 2005. Election 2005: Two-
thirds of First-time Voters Care About Issues by
Still Will Not Vote. The Guardian May 3: 7–8.
Sowards SW. 1997. Save the time of the surfer;
evaluating website for users Library. Hi-Tech
15(3–4): 155–158.
Taylor C. 2004. Campaign aides: The selling of
a president—the online version. Adweek
November 22
Ward S, Gibson R. 2003. On-line and on message?
Candidates websites in the 2001 General Elec-
tion. British Journal of Politics and Interna-
tional Relations 5(2): 188–205.
Zhang P, von Dran G. 2002. User expectations
and rankings of quality factors in different
website domains. International Journal of
Electronic Commerce 6(2): 9–33.
Int. J. Nonprofit Volunt. Sect. Mark., August 2006