Women and the web - are they a different community?
Friday 18th January 2002
Recent research has shown that there has been a marked increase in the use of
the Web by the female sex over the past two years. Statistics from the USA show
that within that country 74.2% of men and 70.7% of women use the Internet. There
is now almost equal use of the Internet by men and women. Furthermore, this
research has shown there are very distinct differences in behaviour patterns
in the use of the Web between men and women. These were amongst the critical
findings: -
Women tend to value the Web as a source of information not as a means of recreation - women go on-line for a particular purpose.
Women are looking for information and news as well as access to content, which empowers them.
Women see the Web much more as a community forum than men.
Women see the Web as a means of making their lives easier.
Women do not tend to be interested in or examine the physical technology
Women are more likely to use interactive features such as discussion forums and online communities as well as forwarding information to friends and colleagues.
Women don't have the desire or time to play on-line and are less interested in fancy graphics and other elaborate ephemera.
Once convinced of the merits and value of a brand through consumption of the services or products, women exhibit a much greater degree of loyalty to the brand than men.
This information is only recently emerging in the USA, where, one must assume, there is the highest number of women with access to the Internet, and where the statistics above indicate there are now as many women using the Internet as men. To what extent the Internet providers of goods and services are adapting or redesigning the focus of their design and access to the female user is not as yet quantified; who knows it may even be anti-discriminatory in this politically correct era, particularly in the USA? There are clearly a number of opportunities, which can be built on these findings:-
Despite the greater work and social opportunities outside the home and family unit, women remain the prime influencers behind whole range of consumer products and services for the home, even where the transaction is not conducted by themselves but instead by their partners or other family members. Whereas selected television advertising and promotion is evidentially focused on the women, the Internet has not yet reached that stage of sophistication in promoting and selling goods and services.
The Web has, in its own way, verified the perception that women exhibit behavioural characteristics in their careers and occupations as both "carers and sharers." Particularly, in the areas of what may be termed "e-learning" and "not-for-profit" activities, the Web provides opportunities for providers to these sectors to target women.
Aside from what may be termed the historic interests of the female gender in commercial promotions around the domestic environment, there are commercial areas where it has been demonstrated women take a greater interest and lead than men. Good examples are health and fitness related products and services.
Statistical findings state that women are self-starters in forming communities, discussion and dialogue on the Web. Any enterprises, which directly or indirectly generate business through the promotion and formation of communities and opinion forming, should gain value in focusing their promotional and marketing resources on the female sex.
Some services and products do not lend themselves to promotion and sales in an on-line environment. Creating ties between off-line and on-line services with specific female interest or through design and delivery, should attract the female users of the Internet.
Design and functionality are clearly important in attracting female users of the Internet. Simple and direct access, uncomplicated and uneffusive in design and navigation, are the features to attract the women Internet users.
The findings that brand loyalty is higher amongst men than women should direct the efforts of commercial enterprises delivering over the Web on women. For those who assert that the key to maximizing revenues on the web is the management and development of the brand, women should clearly come first!
Enhancing services through interactive capabilities and personalisation, research would indicate, are features which enable women to develop a longer-term relationship with favoured brands.
Bob McDowall
Bloor Research