Women Bloggers: Sunday Stats Ed9

This week’s statistics talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart: Blogging. Although, many of the women who participated in this particular survey seem to be even more addicted to this tremendous Web 2.0 marketing tool than I am, however hard it may be to imagine! Today’s stats are from a survey of over 6000 women by BlogHer, in conjunction with Compass Partners.

If you’re looking for the profile of the women blogger, look no further.

The Statistics

• 15.1 million women publishing in the blogosphere each week
• 21.1 million women read and comment within the blogosphere each week
• Of those women who blog…
  • 68% are between ages 25 and 41
  • 66% have completed, at least, college
  • 46% earn over $75,000 per year (comparably higher then the general population)
  • 58% have children still living at home
  • 45% are employed full time
  • 20% have completed a masters or doctorate degree

Women are so passionate about blogging, large percentages said they would give something up to continue participating in the blogosphere:

• 55% would give up alcohol
• 50% would give up their PDAs
• 42% would give up their i-Pod
• 43% would give up reading the newspaper or magazines
• only 20% would give up chocolate

Some women are shifting their time spent with other types of media due to blogging:

• 24% of women surveyed watch less television because of blogging
• 25% read fewer magazines because they are blogging
• 22% read fewer newspapers because they’re blogging

In addition:

• More than half of women surveyed consider blogs a reliable source of advice and information
• Half of women surveyed say blogs influence their purchase decisions

Statistics Summary

The typical female blogger is between 25 and 41, has a college undergraduate degree, has a full time job and children still at home. Many would give up their electronic devices, access to other media and even chocolate in order to continue the blogging activity.

Bottom line, blogging is becoming an increasingly popular and addicting technology and marketing tool, replacing many types of media as a more reliable source of advice, information, and entertainment.

Venting About Your Customer Service: Sunday Statistics Ed. 8

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Statistics!

Okay. You got me. It’s not Sunday. Forgive me, as I am a full 24 hours late in writing this post.

However, I hope you can still utilize the following information to help you in your marketing decisions and audience profiling.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about writing some bad reviews of some companies who have disappointed me greatly within the past few weeks. Because the services and products provided by these companies would not entirely relevant to my readers, and because I’m sure it would turn into a venting session by me, I decided against it, and instead, retold a story I heard that is related, but more relevant to my audience.

Today I found a study conducted by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) entitled, “Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media,” which discussed the relationship between customer care and the importance of social media.

The Statistics

Says Dr. Ganim Nora Barnes, senior fellow at the SNCR, “… 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+…”

As social media becomes used by more individuals, consumers are using it even more frequently to share their customer service experiences and learn about others’ experiences before making purchase decisions.

• 74% of participants agree or strongly agree that customer care experiences shared online through social media is an important determinant in purchase choice. Only 8% disagreed with this statement.
• 59.1% of respondents use social media to “vent” about a customer care experience (Like I wanted to do!)
• 72% of respondents decide to research a company’s services and customer service before purchasing or doing business with a company, at least occasionally. Search engines are used most frequently when conducting this type of research.
• 81% of respondents believe blogs, online rating systems, discussion forums, and social media channels can help to give consumers a greater voice regarding customer care, and get the word out about a company’s good or bad customer service.
• less than 33% of respondents believe that businesses take customers’ opinions seriously
• Search engines are felt to be the most valuable online tools for this research

Statistics Summary

What should we take away from this? Your customers are using the internet and social media to talk about your company- good and bad. Your customers are using the internet and social media to find out what others think about your company to determine if they do business with you.

If you haven’t, sign up for Google Alerts- make sure you have an alert for your name and your company name, so you can be notified whenever anybody is talking about you in the blogosphere…good or bad.

(Photo Credit: by Matt Callow)

One Simple Reason to Love Your Customers

I recently heard a story about an individual who had an extremely positive experience with the customer service department of an online retail store. I thought that it was THE shining example of how ALL customer service departments should treat their customers. After having a particularly bad experience at a venue I attended today, I thought this story should be shared to inspire you to make your customers loyal to you.

The individual I am talking about today, whom we will refer to as Daisy, ordered a few items from this online retail store. After receiving these items, Daisy tried them on and discovered that they did not fit the way she would have liked. At the time, the store had a 30 day return policy. Daisy didn’t return the shoes right away. After about 32 days, Daisy called the customer service line and explained to the representative:

“Listen, it’s been over 30 days since I received these items, but they don’t fit and I’m not going to be able to wear them. My mother has been sick and I forgot to return them right away. Could I still return them for a full refund?”

Let’s pause right here so I can ask you a question:

What is your customer service representative trained to do in this situation?

The customer service department of this company simply told Daisy that this would NOT be a problem. But this isn’t the end of the story.

This company arranged for a UPS truck to arrive at her house and pick up the items for her the very next day so that she wouldn’t need to make another trip.

But that STILL isn’t the end of the story.

Daisy received a flower delivery shortly thereafter from the company’s customer service department with a card wishing that her mother would get well soon.

How many people do you think Daisy told about her experience with this company? You can bet that Daisy will be shopping at this store again.

Go the extra mile for your customer. They’ll pay you back with loyalty, future service, and an abundance of referrals to their friends.

Why websites don’t convert

The majority of organizations’ websites serve as the hub of their communication- with each other and with their customers. Unfortunately, the majority of organizations fail to use this potentially effective tool to successfully reach and convert any potential new and returning customers.

On Thursday, April 18, at the beautiful Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, PA, Holly Buchanan of Future Now Inc, based in New York City, spoke at eBizITPA’s King Conversion: Websites that Sell conference, pointing out the obvious and sharing the not so obvious reasons why your websites may not be reaching its full potential.

I was lucky enough to attend the event, and feverishly wrote down as much as I possibly could so that I would remember every tip that she mentioned. It was a tremendous presentation, I only wish those of you who missed out could have attended.

I’m part of the Erie eMarketing Special Interest Group (SIG), and often cover these types events for the eMarketing SIG Blog. This conference resulted in a two part post series for this blog. To learn why websites don’t convert, and how you can increase your website conversion, visit the links to the following two posts on the eMarketing SIG Blog:

Holly Buchanan Increases Conversion during the King Conversion Conference

• Part I
• Part II

Were you lucky enough to be able to attend the event? Please leave a comment discussing the value you gained by attending the conference!

Where are we watching Online Video: Sunday Statistics Ed. 7

As previously discussed, online video is a very large part of Web 2.0 and the online environment as we know it today. So, what are the sites and online locations where individuals go to search for and watch online videos?  I found a recent study by Nielsen Online’s online video measurement tool, VideoCensus(*pdf). Enjoy!

The Statistics

• In February 2008, there were 115,799,000 unique online video viewers, each averaging about 55 streams each during that month. That’s almost two video streams per day.
• YouTube was the site with the most total streams and unique viewers in February 2008, with 2,918,799,000 streams and 70,222,000 unique YouTube Video viewers.
• The closest online video site was Fox Interactive Media, with about 405 million total streams and 21 million unique viewers.
• Fox Interactive Media was followed by Yahoo!, MSN/Windows Live, Nickelodeon, Google, Disney Online, Turner Entertainment New Media Network, ESPN, and AOL Media Network.

The target audience for many online video creators are younger individuals, as they believe they are most likely to be utilizing online video. The top online destinations for video consumers aged 12-24 are as follows

1. Broadcaster (66% of unique viewers are between 12-24)
2. Buzznet.com (65%)
3. Gaia Online (62%)
4. Warner Brothers Records (61%)
5. Facebook (60%)
6. iMac (56%)

In conjunction with a previous Sunday Statistics edition I released, there is an interest in online video activity of individuals aged 55+. Here is what they are watching:

• 74% of eBay viewers are made up of Video Consumers 55+
• 53% of Glam Media viewers are made up of video consumers 55+
• 52% of the Onion viewers are made up of video consumers 55+

Statistics Summary

I believe this round of Sunday Statistics revealed some particularly interesting realities in the world of online media.

Personally, I watch the most online videos at ABC.com, as I usually am not able to catch the shows I like to watch when they are on regular television. I was surprised to see that ABC was absent in the top ten sites for online viewing. However, I was not surprised at all to see that YouTube was by far the most popular site for online videos, accumulating 7x the amount of the total streams accumulated by the closest competitor, Fox Interactive Media.

In regards to the most popular sites for the 12-24 age group, I was extremely surprised to see that only 60% of the online video viewers of Facebook fell into that age group. However, I suppose this proves that those who did not “grow up” with Facebook during college are joining now to benefit from the networking possibilities available.

Small Business Insights: Sunday Statistics Ed. 6

Although it’s a little later then I usually publish Sunday Statistics, I decided to give you a good strong dose of some numbers about small business owners. If small business employees and owners are your target, be sure to soak in these statistics to better understand and market to your audience.

The Statistics

This week’s numbers come from a March 2008 free whitepaper offered by Experian, The small-business owner –an in-depth B2B marketing study of owners of multiple small businesses.

Business Owner Profile: when compared to the overall population, business owners are more likely to:

• have incomes >$75,000
• be married with children
• be college educated
• Reside in a household where the head of the household is between 45 and 69 years
• Live in higher-value homes, usually valued at $300,000 or more
• donate to environmental and political causes.

Multiple Business Owner Profile: When compared with the overall population, owners of more than one business are:

• 41% more likely to have household incomes >$125,000
• 47% more likely to reside in the wealthiest neighborhoods and have higher mortgages, usually > $200,000
• 26% more likely to have undergraduate and graduate degrees
• more likely to be looking to purchase a new vehicle
• 38% more likely to have “work hard, play hard” attitudes
• more likely to be refined in their interests and activities, show interest in cultural arts, books, golf, music, skiing, tennis, and foreign travel.

There is a direct correlation between the amount of business an individual owns, his or her income, education level, and total loan or mortgage amount.

Statistics Summary

If you’re interested in more specifics about the small business owner, I would strongly recommend checking out the free whitepaper by Experian, as there is a much more extensive profile provided.

Based on the statistics I’ve shared, the small business owner is an educated individual living in a wealthy neighborhood and making about $100,00 per year. They don’t mind investing in real estate, even if it means a large mortgage. They have refined tastes, interested in the arts and many “upper class” sports, and likely to contribute to political and environmental charities.

If you target small business owners, you should learn more about their refined tastes and alter your marketing and advertising materials to mimic their tastes.