Loyalty.com: Customer Relationship Management In the New Era of Internet Marketing.

Frederick Newell. McGraw-Hill, 325 pp.

Don't be misled by the title: loyalty.com is much more about modern precepts on marketing than about the Internet per se. More than anything, it's a sequel to Newell's 1997 volume, The New Rules of Marketing, updated to reflect new thinking spurred by the rise of the Internet. Newell, a consultant and expert on customer relationship management (CRM), looks over the broad field of marketing to consumers and how to win their loyalty. He examines everything from the evolution of coupons and frequent-flyer programs to marketing to Baby Boomers and women. CRM requires knowledge and time, he suggests; like a fine wine, it can't be rushed.

CRM has bee hoisted to new heights by the massive computer power that developed in the 1990s and now the Internet -- which Newell calls "the most powerful form of communications ever developed" -- will take it higher still. But Newell insists that companies can't just try to leverage the speed and cost savings the Net brings; they must use it to communicate more effectively with customers.

Newell writes cleanly and crisply, and the book is organized into short, focused chapters that pack in a good deal of advice -- much summarized in bullet form. Companies in the book are drawn from both the Old and New Economies. There is some redundancy, but for a crash course on modern marketing, loyalty.com fills the bill.