Newsletter #110 Your Website: A Key Buying Influence

Created on 18/12/06

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Our last newsletter (16th Novewmber, 2006) was "Keep It Simple Superstar".

Feature Article

It’s been acknowledged for sometime that the Web is a fantastic resource for researching and comparing products and services. A new survey conducted for the Consumer Electronics Association and Yahoo in the United States has revealed that 77 percent of products purchased in the consumer electronics market were influenced by online research. Of the products researched online, nearly half of that group then purchased offline.

The OECD provides perhaps the best set of data related to broadband penetration throughout the developed world and in June this year released an update. It showed that Denmark had the most broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants (29.3), followed by Netherlands (28.8) and Iceland (27.3). At the bottom of the list was Turkey with 2.7 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

Broadband subscribers find it far easier to research and shop online. The PEW Internet and American Life Project reported in March this year that the share of Americans who say the Internet has improved their ability to shop has doubled from 16% to 32% since March 2001.

So what does this mean for your business?

1. Although there is not the data available we can assume that the use of the Internet to research and buy products will be less in countries that do not have high broadband penetration.



2. As broadband penetration increases the Internet will have more influence in buying decisions.



3. The rate of the broadband increase will depend somewhat on how much competition there is in the local telecommunications market.

There is no doubt that the trend is upwards and that the Internet will be even more important in the future. Even though people may not necessarily buy directly from your site, what they find on it will be a key influence on their eventual purchase.

Our checklist for website owners is therefore:

1. Does your website play a significant role in your overall marketing plan? What resources have you allocated to encourage potential customers to find your site?



2. Make sure your site clearly showcases your products and services and allows potential buyers to drill down to get the information they need. If you have technical specifications, make them available.



3. Ensure that your site is up to date. There is nothing worse for a potential purchaser than to find that a product they are interested in on your website is now not manufactured. They won’t bother coming back.



4. Wherever possible provide up to date pricing. For companies who provide services, you could give ballpark estimates or a range of potential costs for basic services.



5. Are you reviewing your website statistics just as you review other business data? Do you know how much you sold online, how many visitors you had and how many enquiries you have received?

Your online presence needs to be taken seriously because your potential customers will be doing so.

Hot Tips

Newbies

Got lots of unread mail in your inbox but it's scattered throughout and hard to view? In Outlook Express click on the folder you want to view then click on "View", "Current View", "Hide Read Messages". In Outlook all unread mail should go into the Unread Mail folder.

Power Users

If you're a Power User you might not be using Internet Explorer, more likely Firefox or Opera. However if you do use IE then make sure you are using IE7. Yes the latest and biggest update Microsoft has done this millenium with improved security and (gasp) tabbed browsing (Firefox/Opera have had this for several years). Click here to download: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx

Interesting Sites

del.icio.us (say as "delicious") is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. On del.icio.us you can keep links to favourite articles, share your favourites and discover new things from others. del.icio.us is also an example of a "domain hack" where an uncommon combination of letters forms a common word or phrase.http://del.icio.us/

InsiteFul Quotes

"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them." Alfred North Whitehead

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

Archives

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

Internet Strategy | Website Design | Website Promotion | Web Text Messaging | Email Newsletters | Online Sports Games | Content Management