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Internet Research
Understanding the online audience
Caroline Sceats, Analyst Fletcher Research
www.fletch.co.uk
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The web marketplace and its value to the market
researcher

• Introduction
• Who is online in the UK?
• Online buyers

www.fletch.co.uk
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WHO IS FLETCHER RESEARCH ?Fletcher provides
market-leading research and analysis of business
and user activities on the UK web

• Undisputed UK market leader
• Local expertise (Fletcher UK) complemented by
  global view (Forrester)
• Fletchers industry-standard UK data
• Largest UK web analyst team
• Over 1,500 customers
• Rapid expansion into Europe
• Mirroring UK approach for consistent country
  comparisons

June 1997 - Fletcher set up by ex-McKinsey
consultants
Nov 1999 - merged with Forrester Research (FORR),
global leader in internet research
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THE UK INTERNET USER MONITOR Our Internet User
Monitor combines online and offline polling to
profile a large sample of the online population
in a statistically robust way

• FLETCHER ANALYSIS
• Analyse data tables to draw out implications and
  trends for the market
• Produce top quality reports for each individual
  panel site, benchmarking their user data against
  the average

OFFLINE POLLING to weight and cross-check online
sample
2,000

PARTICIPATING SITES Now over 100 UK web sites
allowed link to be placed on site asking every
5-200th user to click through to online
questionnaire Polling runs simultaneously on
panel sites for about two weeks
Households
DATA for initial analysis
C.40,000
ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE (90 questions)
USERS
Overview and cross-tabulations on general release
SITE REPORTS profiling sites users vs. UK average
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RESEARCHING ONLINE USERS THE CHALLENGE
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RESEARCHING ONLINE USERS THE SOLUTIONS
RANDOM
TARGETED
Random dial telephone research Representative Exp
ensive Large sample required
Telephone panel research Date quickly Pre-qualifi
ed Over researched
OFFLINE
Site based research Can be representative Up tp
date Most cost effective
E-mail panels Cost effective Quick Require
control
ONLINE
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UK INTERNET USER MONITOR RESULTS OVER TIME
November 1999 The November wave ran for just
over three weeks, and collected 50,000
respondents.
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November 1999 RESULTS COMPLETION RATES Sites
users varied considerably in how likely they were
to respond to the survey - from over 15 of
requested people to around 2 (average 7.4).
Over two thirds of people who started the
questionnaire finished it - indicating a high
level of user acceptance
of people asked to participate who started the
questionnaire
of people who started the questionnaire who
completed it
Sites
Sites
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ONLINE POLLING COSTS Online polling has a very
different cost structure from telephone polling
large polls, in particular, can be a lot cheaper
Telephone 40 questions Telephone 20
questions Web - 40 Qs Web - 20 Qs
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The web marketplace and its value to the market
researcher

• Introduction
• Who is online in the UK?
• Online buyers

www.fletch.co.uk
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UK ADULT INTERNET USERSThe number of regular
adult internet users in the UK has grown by more
than a third for each of the past three years
Millions of adults
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UK INTERNET USER DEMOGRAPHICSAbout a third of
the UKs internet users have used it to buy online
UK internet population, November 1999
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AGE Internet users, at an average age of 36, are
much younger than the adult population as a whole
How old are you? November 1999
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UK INTERNET USER DEMOGRAPHICSThe majority of
internet users in the UK are men, but younger
women are coming online - November 1999
Female
Male
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UK INTERNET USERS EDUCATION LEVELInternet
users are well educated 40 have a degree or
better compared with 12 national average
What is your highest educational qualification?
November 1999
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UK INTERNET USERS INCOME LEVELInternet users
in general are affluent - average 2,000 per month
What is your households net income per month?
November 1999
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Illustrative
Researchers
Communicators
Super-users approx. 1.5 million
Fun-focused
Shoppers
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Source Fletcher Research
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www.fletch.co.uk
Source Fletcher Research
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The web marketplace and its value to the market
researcher

• Introduction
• Who is online in the UK?
• Online buyers

www.fletch.co.uk
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ONLINE PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR Less than a third of
internet users have bought online. Far fewer
women have bought online than men
Have you ever bought or ordered anything online?
November 1999
No Yes
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ONLINE PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR More experienced
internet users are much more likely to have
bought online than new users
Have you ever bought online? November 1999
Year first online
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IMPORTANCE OF CREDIT CARD CONFIDENCE Trust in
the security of credit card details is a key
driver of online buying
Have you ever bought online? November 1999
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42
No Yes
65
74
96
80
58
35
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Very happy
Somewhat
Neither
Somewhat
Very unhappy
happy
unhappy
Are you happy to give your credit card details
over the internet to pay for goods or services?
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MOTIVATION FOR BUYING ONLINEConvenience, not
price, is the primary motivation for online
buying
What were your reasons for buying online?
selected answers only November 1999
All reasons Main reason
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MOTIVATION FOR BUYING ONLINE BY AGEBut younger
shoppers are more price-focused
What was your main reason for buying online?
selected answers only November 1999
Price Other Convenience
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ONLINE CONVERSION RATE BY CATEGORY Despite the
wide range of goods being investigated online,
consumers are more likely to buy low-ticket items
such as books or CDs
Books
of web shoppers who have bought this category
online
CDs
Computer software
Travel
Tickets
Computer hardware
Flowers
Clothing/shoes
Computer games
Financial services
Cars
of web users who have investigated online
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csceats_at_fletch.co.uk
www.fletch.co.uk