One of the most important aspects of any type of marketing, whether it is on the Internet or elsewhere, is to know your audience. QGM monitors various sources and compiles demographic information in order to provide a clearer understanding of who our audience really is.

The following is our summarization of selected results from the 6th GVU WWW User Survey.

The 6th Survey was run from October 10, 1996 through November, 1996 and was endorsed by the World Wide Web Consortium.

This information has been culled from 100's of pages of the actual survey conducted by the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, who is responsible for the original survey.

What's the average user age?

The average age of users responding is 34.9 years old.

What's the gender ratio & how has this changed over time?

31.4% female and 68.6% male. European users are still predominantly male (80.2%).

What about marital status?

45.7% report being married and 36.7% report being single. More Europeans than respondents from the US report being either single or living with another. Almost 3/4 of those age 19-26 are single, while almost 3/4 of those age 50 and over are married.

How willing are users to pay for access to Web sites?

More than 2/3 of respondents (67.6%) reported that they were not willing to pay fees for accessing web materials. This number is up slightly from the Fifth survey. Respondents unwillingness to pay may stem from their perception of the value of the information currently available on the web and may change as people become used to high-quality professional sites.

Alternatively, it may be a reflection of the fact that many users are already paying a service provider for access and may not be willing to pay again for content. Of those who were willing to pay, most preferred a subscription model.

What is the political profile of Web users?

The largest group of web users fell in the Centrist category (38.4%) followed by Left-liberal (27.3%) and Libertarian (25.1%).

Left-Liberals prefer self-government in personal matters and central decision-making on economics. They want the government to serve the disadvantaged in the name of fairness. Leftists tolerate social diversity, but work for economic equality.

Libertarians are self-governors in both personal and economic issues. They believe the government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and tolerate economic and social diversity.

Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize practical solutions to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on new issues. Many centrists feel that the government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

Why do people not register at sites?

The most widely cited reason for not registering is that the terms and conditions of how the collected information is going to be used is not clearly specified (70.15%).

Users also feel very strongly that revealing the requested information is not worth being able to access the site (69.95%). Over 62% report that they do not trust the collecting site.

Turns out that the time it takes to complete the form is a factor (38.9%), but not as significant as the others.

Much of the remaining difficulties reside in the type of information collected, with 45.33% not registering because of postal mail requirements, 30.74% because of name requirements, and 21.99% email requirements.

How often do people falsify online registration information?

63.1% of respondents said they had never provided false information to a site when registering.

3.4% preferred not to say, which leaves 33.5% who have provided false information.

A smaller percentage of females than males report ever having falsified information. Also, the likelihood of having provided false information decreases with age.

What would users like to see done about spamming?

People were very clear that they do not like to be receive mass emailings, i.e., be spammed.

The majority of people responded in favor of an opt-out system, where a registry would contain the addresses of people who do not wish to receive mass emailings. Note that it is similar to the system already in place in the US that exists to remove people from junk mailing lists. Over 16% responded in favor of imposing an 'impact' fee on the agencies sending the mail.

Where do people access the Web from?

The majority of respondents report that they primarily access the web from home (63.6%). This is an increase from May 1996 where the percentage was 55.4%. In Europe, however, only 36.7% report having their primary access from home (most report having it from work). Across all age groups, most access the web primarily from home, but that is especially true for users over age 50 (77.6%).

How often do people use their Web browser?

The number of hours people user the Web has increased, with one in five users (20.05%) reporting using their browsers over 20 hours per week. Just about one third (30.01%) spend 10 to 20 hours a week on the Web, with 17% spending 7 to 9 hrs/wk and 17.76% spending 4 to 6 hrs/wk. Casual use of under 5 hours per week is down from 16.87% in May of 1996 to 15.18%, further emphasizing the trend towards increased usage. For comparison, in April of 1995, only 28.46% of the users spent more than 10 hrs/wk on the Web. Eighteen months later, nearly twice as many users (50.06%) spend more than 10 hrs/wk!

Why do people use their Web browsers? (multiple answers were allowed)

Simply browsing (77.08%)
Entertainment (63.79%)
Education (53.29%)
Work (50.9%).
Shopping (18.83%) up from 11.1% one year ago.

What are the main problems with using the Web?

Speed is the number one problem of Web users (76.55%), but is not as significant as in past surveys. This is most likely due to the changes in connect speed of users to the Internet.
The next big problems are "finding known info" (34.09%), organizing collected information (31.03%), and being able to find pages already visited (13.41%).
Cost does not seem to be an issue, with only 7.75% reporting this as a problem.

How fast are people's connection to the Internet?

Modems still dominate the day for Web users, with just over half of the users (51.40%)using 28.8 Kb/sec modems and 19.69% using 14.4 Kb/sec modems.

What do people purchase and gather information about on the WWW?

The most popular items bought and information gathered on are computer software and hardware. Over half of the users report using the Web to gather information on software and hardware, with more people using he Web for items over $50 than for items under $50. This gathering corresponds to purchases as well, with between 15% and 30% of the users making online purchases for hardware and software of various prices (15.09% for hardware under $50, 17.43 for hardware over $50, 29.11% for software under $50, and 20.84% for software over $50).

Other popular items sought and bought over the Web include:

Travel arrangements (48.87% sought, 20.63% bought), Books and magazines (43.16% sought, 18.89% bought), Musical tapes, cd's, albums (36.65% sought, 13.66% bought).

This is a substantial increase compared to a year ago, where 44% sought, 9% bought travel arrangements, 39% sought, 11% bought books and magazines, 38% sought, 9% bought musical tapes, cd's, albums.

Stated differently, twice as many people made purchases of travel arrangements, 6% more bought books, and 4% more bought books. Just about all other areas, including apparel, legal services, and personal items have also shown increases in gathering and purchases though the Web.

SOURCE: Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Hopefully, the above survey information will aid you in deciding what materials and information will be most effective in your Internet marketing efforts. QGM is always ready to assist you in these efforts through effective and professional web site design services.

The Author, Gary E. Torello, is President and founder of QGM, an Internet based marketing company that specializes in assisting other businesses get the most out of their involvement on the Internet.

©copyright 1997 QGM

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Professional Web Site Development & Maintenance by QGM All information © copyright 1997 QGM

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