Habeas: Email Remains Primo Communication Method

by David Goetzl, Friday, May 23, 2008 7:00 AM ET

[snip]

The survey found that 67% of respondents prefer email to communicate online, and 65% feel that will still be the case in five years. And vis-à-vis a younger generation “aging out of email,” the survey found that 65% in the 18-to-34 demo “will favor email to communicate with businesses in five years.”

The research also found that there is a rise in consumer concern about email security issues–with 69% of respondents worried about “being victimized by email fraud scams,” up from 62% a year ago. And perhaps giving marketers pause about advertising on mobile devices, it found that 43% of respondents were concerned about spam and virus threats on their wireless devices, up from 36% in 2007.

One area where the research confirmed some of the opinions of the Ball State students: Daily emails are as unpopular as pop-up ads, ranking together “as the most damaging online tactics to a company’s online reputation.” Ball State junior August Miller, a telecommunications major, said he opens and engages with emails from Apple, in part because they come periodically–but he’s likely to unsubscribe soon from the daily words that come from UrbanDictionary.com.

At the Summit, Alan Chapell, president of Chapell & Associates, said he has a separate Hotmail address he gives companies who insist on obtaining an email address when he signs up for something. The Habeas research found again that some 60% of respondents seem to follow at least part of Chapell’s thinking, and have two or more email addresses, “giving a different address to entities they do not trust while maintaining separate accounts for trustworthy sources.”

From: Online Media Daily

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Posted May 5th, 2008 by Jack Loechner

[lots snipped out, these are highlights]

Among the initial findings of a new study, “Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media,” by the Society for New Communications Research, “… there is a growing group of highly desirable consumers using social media to research companies: 25- to 55-years old, college-educated, earning $100,000+…” said Dr. Ganim Nora Barnes, senior fellow, SNCR.

As social media usage becomes more ubiquitous, says the summary report, affluent consumers are using social media channels to share their personal customer service experiences and learn about others’ care experiences when making purchase decisions.

For more information, please visit the Society for New Communications Research here.

Friday, April 18, 2008

What’s A Blogger?

Bloggers are younger and higher percentages are Hispanic & African American than the general population. A higher percentage of Democrats than of Republicans are blogging.

Now that Blogging might better be called a market segment rather than a market niche, it’s useful with regard to positioning the marketing message to understand what a Blogger looks like, as distinguished from the rest of the population. According to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey, 26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog. Of those:

• 53.7% are male
• 44.7% are married
• 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
• 10.4% are students.

Bloggers tend to be younger, averaging 37.6 years old, compared to 44.8 for adults 18+ (the “general population”). Ethnically:

• 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian (vs. 76.1%)
• 12.2% are African American/Black (vs. 11.4%)
• 3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%)
• 20% of Bloggers are Hispanic, compared to 14.8% of adults 18+

In addition, Bloggers report a lower income ($55,819 vs. $56,811) and are better educated (14.3 years of education vs. 14.2).

Political blogs are becoming increasingly common, especially in this election year, where 24.6% of registered voters say they regularly or occasionally blog. Political affiliation of regular/occasional Bloggers look like this in 2008:

• 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog
• 26.9% of Democrats
• 25.7% of Independents
• 22.9% Republicans

Analysis of Bloggers shows that they are using most forms of new media significantly more than the average market.

Although Bloggers are more likely to use new media, the analysis finds that more conventional forms of media trigger their Internet searches. Magazines, at 51.6%, rank highest, followed by:

• 48.8% reading an article
• 46.1% broadcast TV
• 44.5% cable TV
• 42.5% face-to-face communication
• 39.7% newspaper

Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, concludes ?”Bloggers are a diverse group and not who you would expect…”

For more information, please visit BIGresearch here.

Post your response to the public Research Brief blog.

See what others are saying on the Research Brief blog.

Users over the age of 60 also make up a large and growing segment of the US Internet audience. In 2006 there were 17.7 million Internet users age 62 or older. This group will swell to 25.3 million by 2011. eMarketer projects that this will represent 45.9% of all US citizens age 62 and older, up from 35% in 2006.

Learn more about how to reach older consumers through the Internet. Read eMarketer’s Baby Boomers and Silver Surfers: Two Generations Online report.

More Coupons Used During Hard Times

APRIL 7, 2008
EMarketer Permalink

In a February 2008 ICOM Information & Communications survey, 67% of US consumers said they were more likely to use coupons during an economic recession.

Among 18- to-34-year-olds, 71% were more likely to use coupons in a downturn, while the same could be said of 68% of 35 to 54 year olds and 63% of those ages 55 and over.

Geographically, Midwesterners were most likely to use coupons, with 70% saying they would use them in a recession. This compares with 69% of Westerners, 64% of Northeasterners and 62% of Southerners.

Income did not have a significant impact on participants’ responses — 67% of those earning less than and 68% earning more than $50,000 annually were likely to use coupons during hard times.

In addition, 58% of respondents were interested in paperless coupons that could be downloaded online and used with a frequent shopper card.