Why Do They Do It? Understanding Digital Consumer Behavior
The commercial Internet is barely a decade old but already it has undergone dramatic changes, transforming users from passive readers to engaged, interactive participants who largely control what they see and how they want to see it.
In July 2007, we surveyed 476 consumers across all demographics and geographies in the United States to examine the desires, frustrations and digital consumption habits of today’s connected consumer. How do these consumers discover things? How quickly do they adapt to emerging technologies and UI conventions (tag clouds, social media, etc.) What drives their desire to purchase (or not) online? How has video changed the digital landscape in recent years?
The majority of today’s consumers are actively personalizing their digital experiences and sampling niche content and video with increasing frequency. That was perhaps the key finding in our first annual Avenue A | Razorfish Digital Consumer Behavior Study.
We’ve reached a collective digital tipping point as a majority of consumers are tapping into a variety of emerging technologies and social media to increasingly personalize their digital experiences. From recommendation engines, to blogs, to customized start pages, today’s ‘connected consumer’ navigates a landscape that is much more niche and personalized than we ever expected.
The desire to personalize and sample niche content greatly impacts consumers’ digital behavior across all industries and verticals. According to our survey, nearly 70% of consumers read blogs on a routine basis, and 41% have their own blog or post frequently to blogs. In fact, 46% of consumers who responded to the survey read four or more blogs on a regular basis. The trend toward niche content is similar for music and video consumption as well. Sixty-seven percent of consumers watch videos on YouTube or similar sites on a regular basis and 42% purchase music online.
The level at which today’s consumers interact socially online can’t be overstated, and it isn’t confined to MySpace and Facebook. This fundamental shift will affect all digital properties in the coming years.
More than 50% of respondents said social networking sites help them stay in touch with people. The second most common motivation was meeting new people. While neither of these statistics are too surprising, the desire to participate online—whether as individuals or as part of a larger community—is clearly strong:
- 49% have uploaded a video in the past 3 months.
- 41% write or post to blogs
- 53% share bookmarks with others through services like del.icio.us
- 41% use photo-sharing sites such as Flickr
- Mobile Usage Still Nascent
While the adoption of Web 2.0 features has clearly entered the mainstream, the usage of mobile data services certainly has not. Our survey, released on the heels of Apple’s iPhone launch, finds the U.S. mobile data services market still nascent.
Given the sweeping changes in online consumer behavior, marketers and publishers should take the following steps to creating exceptional experiences for today’s consumers:
- Make content portable. Ride the personalization wave by making your content portable. RSS offers a great means for users to subscribe to your content and get frequent updates. Widgets enable consumers to have deeper and richer experiences with a website’s features and functions anywhere.
- Enable consumer ratings and reviews. Ensure that consumers can contribute and access peer reviews. Retailers should enable consumers to rate and review products. Publishers should allow “commenting” whenever possible.
- Invest in online video. This is the next great growth wave y. Make sure all video assets become digitized and integrated with existing content and services. Look for near-term advances in video advertising to help monetize the effort.
- Think beyond the homepage. Your Web site plays a much less central role in today’s consumer online experience. Think about how search, advertising, social media sites and the blogsphere are related to your digital marketing efforts and invest appropriately.
- Take small steps with mobile. Mobile data usage is still nascent. Take a measured approach to investing and keep an eye on Apple’s iPhone for near-term breakthroughs.
Dave Friedman, president of the central region for Avenue A | Razorfish, is a monthly contributor to Chief Marketer. Contact him at [email protected]. For a free download of the full copy of the Avenue A | Razorfish Digital Consumer Behavior Study, visit www.digitaldesignblog.com.
