Richard van Hooijdonk

Modern surfer focuses on content

The Online Publishers Association recently published a study on the time spent on different categories found online. The categories were defined as content, searching, commerce and communication. The study shows that half the time spent online, is spent on content. One of the reasons brought up is that searching has been improved greatly in recent years, making it easier to find the desired content. Also, the popularity of streaming online video influences the time spent on online content. In four years time, content's share in internet time rose by 37%.

The other categories see various fluctuations. Searching rose by 35%, commerce dropped by 5%, communication by 28%. The current split between categories:
- Content (47%)
- Searching (5%)
- Communication (46%)
- Commerce (2%)

Surfers' continuous search for news, entertainment and information has positive effects on the time spent on content. The appearance of social networks also has an effect on this, as this particular type of website is cast as both content and communication.

Internet improves daily activities

The role of internet in consumers' daily lives keeps on increasing. Postbank's study 'Online or offline?' confirms this as it shows that internet is being used by people of all ages these days. Most consumers are convinced that internet has caused many improvements in their daily lives. For instance, 66% considers online banking a significant improvement. Meanwhile, 57% finds that internet offers a wider range of information. Other praiseworthy online elements are sending e-mails, planning routes and buying and selling second hand products. Young people especially consider internet the primary source for finding information.

When it comes to personal contact and interaction, internet does have some catching up to do. Birthday cards are still sent by mail mostly, because a card by mail has a larger impact than a digital birthday card. Also, only 16% of respondents says to be willing to meet people through dating sites. Although travelling arrangements are done online a lot, consumers still prefer personal appointments. Shopping online or in real life is considered practically equal.

Bright future for IPTV and mobile media

Traditional television commercials may still generate the highest revenue, the medium is about to be caught up to. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and mobile media are the prime opportunities for advertisers to offer content aimed at specific target audiences.

IPTV lets advertisers control content and frequency for specific target audiences. Besides television commercials other content can be offered through IPTV as well, including screensavers, streaming video and click through functions. Not only international or large national advertisers benefit from this: local advertisers also benefit from these developments. Last but not least, IPTV has an excellent chance at reaching target audiences previously not interested in electronic media.

Besides IPTV mobile media offers these advantages as well. One thing advertisers do have to keep in mind when it comes to mobile media is consumer privacy. But when this is done, mobile media will be an important competitor to traditional television advertising.

Interesting campaigns can be used to entice consumers to watch commercials. Virgin Mobile USA for instance used its 'Sugar Mama' campaign which let mobile callers call for free in return for watching the mobile commercial. The mobile medium isn't just limited to such 'on-demand' commercials: advertising on mobile websites is also gaining momentum.

Reliable personal contact more important than ease of use in booking vacations

Many travel agencies let internet users book their travelling arrangements online. The number of bookings done online is rising continuously. The British holiday planner however appears to put more faith in service and personnel: 60% of British consumers prefer personal contact when booking their holidays, be it by telephone or at a travel agency itself. Research agency The Listening Company and the London School of Economics came to these conclusions.

British consumers on holiday advise others to book by telephone (81%). 80% recommends booking through a tour operator. Booking online is recommended less often: only 77% advises fellow consumers to book online.

Although booking holidays online is often praised for its ease of use and efficiency, the reliability of personal contact is still preferred by British consumers. Face-to-face contact in particular is appreciated. One perculiar detail from the research results is that young people and men in particular are least likely to name their tour operators, travelling destinations or airline agencies.

Online consumer wants special treatment

Online consumer behavior is constantly evolving. Where consumers used to be conservative and careful, now their online behavior is much more edgy and strongheaded. Marketers have their work cut out for them to try and keep up with these trends.

Online consumers barely show any loyalty towards previously used webstores. Even worse, a Quidco study ('Online Shopping Report') shows that only one in three British consumers actively revisits familiar websites. The other two thirds start a digital search, mostly starting with search engines or comparison websites.

Through this digital search, consumers manage to find bargains and new products all on their own, meaning they rely less and less on traditional banners or e-mail advertising. 35% of respondents prefers not to be hassled by these advertising methods. Also of interest is that 95% says not to give any merit to a website's design and layout, while online payment methods are gaining consumers' trust. Quidco's study shows that less than a quarter of respondents still has issues with paying online.

Influencials bottleneck in viral marketing campaigns

Viral marketing has gained its foothold among marketers. New possibilities such as YouTube, Hyves and MySpace have contributed greatly to this. However, Jupiter Research got curious as to whether or not the message actually reached the masses. Their study shows that only 15% of viral campaigns manage to move users to pass on the message to others. Jupiter Research reckons this is because many companies use the wrong methods. The most common method is to send the message to so-called influencials, hoping they'll pass it on to others. If they don't, the whole plan ends then and there.

Jupiter's study suggests to differentiate between relatively older internet users and younger users. Older users make significantly more use of e-mail while they occasionally watch an online video. Younger users on the other hand visit social networking sites, one of the breeding grounds for viral marketing campaigns. Older internet users are more likely to pass on viral e-mail campaigns while younger surfers don't bother. Importantly, this means older users may be the more important target demographic. Not only are they more likely to involve themselves in the campaign, they're also more likely to be the deciding parties on product and service purchases.

When marketeers find themselves working with social networking sites, it's important to know the audience before confronting it with viral campaigns. Should a marketer fail to do so, this could even have a negative effect on the product or brand. Jupiter: "He who tries too hard creating an entry in social networking sites by bombarding audiences with viral campaigns, may find out the hard way that's not what they should be doing."

Positive online brand experience helps brand loyalty

The number of hours consumers spend online, makes internet the largest marketing channel of all. For marketers, this means they have to adapt their ways of branding. Creating loyal customers is now subordinate to creating loyal brands instead. The experience internet users have with an online brand becomes the most important thing a brand has to offer. Much of the interaction online for instance is nothing more than an attempt to offer a positive brand experience.

Such a strategy offers marketers three distinct advantages: a structural asset advantage, a scale advantage and process advantages. The asset advantage can be found in creating customer communities. The scale advantages would be collecting, interpreting and using information acquired through interactive online applications. The process advantages are, for instance, networks of partnering businesses created to develop innovative programmes. Such programmes will be particularly successful when the creative, media, promotion and analysis elements co-operative tightly.

Internet gaining on traditional media

Internet is fast becoming the most used form of media for news, entertainment and sports. MediaWeek asked Lightspeed Research to look into the matter, who then asked 2,000 people what medium they prefer for said content.

David Day, chief executive at Lightspeed, says internet is quickly gaining on traditional media such as television, radio and print. Sports content is one particularly strong example, as twice as many people prefer to look up their sports information online instead of hearing it from the radio. 24% says to have stopped using teletext for their sports results, they prefer looking it up online. When it comes to the most up to date content however, 80% still reaches for the television remote. Of this group, 20% uses interactive television and 30% uses teletext. 50% of respondents listens to radio and uses print media; 40% uses internet.

Internet as extension to magazines

Although consumers spend more and more time online, this doesn't necessarily mean doom and gloom for print magazines. In fact, when magazines manage to use internet as an extension to the print form it can even have big advantages. Unfortunately, because of the inherent differences between magazines and newspapers, this theory doesn't apply to newspapers.

Some users stop reading print newspapers entirely in favor of reading online newspapers. Magazines however appeal more to people and manage to offer exclusive content. Internet can be used to offer additional content and extra services, such as an online community. A community of people who all have a subscription to a magazine, for instance. Such a community would obviously have to be of significant size to compete with already existing communities, but if added value is offered consumers will recognize that.

Before magazine publishers run off to their computers to launch community websites, a word of warning though. While women enjoy reading a magazine and then discussing it online, men strongly prefer to read their magazines privately, without then joining an online community. Magazines aimed at men should, it seems, be a bit more careful in what they set up online.

Strategic tools reinvent customer value

Before the introduction of this tool, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) was used to measure customer value. CLV however does not allow for Customer Referral Value (CRV) to be taken into account. CRV includes customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth advertising by the customer.

The new tool allows clients to be categorized in four different groups. The CLV, CRV and value of the purchases are all measured. The first category of customers is the afluents. These customers purchase regularly, but don't advertise. The second category is the advocates. They purchase less, but do a lot of word-of-mouth advertising. The third category is the cham pions: they purchase a lot and adv ertise regularly as well. The  fourth and final category is the missers: customers who rarely purchase or advertise, if at all.

Research shows that returns are higher than investments when companies base their marketing efforts upon segmentation. The new strategic tools offer marketers a helpful hand in making their decisions.