Social sites catch 90pc of Kiwi web users

Jonathan Sinton says 97 per cent of users research online before making a major purchase. Photo / Supplied

New research into New Zealanders' internet habits has confirmed our obsession with online social networks and our growing trust of what we read on the web.

A Research International-TNS poll of local internet users found nine out of 10 participate in social networks and more than a quarter have made a major purchase based solely on online product reviews.

The findings show the internet has changed consumer behaviour over the past three years and marketers and retailers need to catch up, says Research International marketing director Jonathan Sinton.

Sinton presented the firm's findings to an online marketing conference, Digital Now New Zealand 2009, in Auckland this week.

He said 97 per cent of internet users now researched online before making a significant purchase. Twenty-eight per cent bought goods as a result of reviews they read on the web and 34 per cent said they changed their mind about a product after reading a review online.

"Clearly the role of the salesman is evolving into one of facilitation rather than influence," he said.

"[For example, shoppers] are reading about a new camera in a blog and going and buying it without using any other source of information. In Japan we're hearing stories about retailers taking this to the extreme, to the point where they only stock products that score highly in online news or reviews."

The popularity of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Twitter had encouraged businesses and brands to look at how they could benefit by tapping into social networking, but they needed to tread carefully, Sinton said.

Consumers were put off by social site pages that appeared to be run with a corporate agenda and only 9 per cent of Facebook users, for example, said they were connected to brand-based identities on the network.

Vodafone UK had been successful at attracting users to its Facebook page by using a team of customer service staff who could respond immediately to queries on the site, meaning the telco company could have an "authentic and transparent conversation" with visitors, Sinton said.

He said local phone company 2degrees had also had success on Facebook, emulating the Vodafone UK approach.

Other speakers at the Digital Now conference echoed Sinton's message that marketers needed to change their traditional approach if they wanted their brands to win favour with consumers online.

Julien Leys, founder of Auckland public relations company JML Communications, said enabling staff to make a "personal connection" with customers over the web added credibility to a company's online presence.

David Rose, a digital media specialist for advertising agency G2, said "branded" video content would become an increasingly important outlet for businesses wanting to market online.

It needed to be material that entertained and educated viewers, rather than being focused on pushing a brand - a concept dubbed "dark marketing".

Justin Baird, a specialist in product innovation at Google, said he expected dark marketing to become a force in the music industry as it wrestled with declining revenue from sales following the rise of the internet.

"You can imagine that big brands will become record labels. Coca-Cola may discover some artist ... you'll love their music and you'll know that it was Coke that found them, so there will be that brand association."

Research International-TNS's poll also highlighted a growing local trend among internet users: simultaneous television viewing and web surfing. Forty-three per cent said they watched TV at the same times as browsing the internet on a laptop.

Asked which device they were focusing on at the time, 58 per cent said the computer. Sinton said while that showed TV advertisers needed to work harder to get their message across, the research also showed there was an opportunity for advertisers to use the two mediums together.

Almost three-quarters of internet users said the contents of a TV programme had prompted them to do an immediate online search to find more information, while more than half said they had done the same as a result of seeing a TV advertisement.

SURF'S UP

Research International-TNS says as a result of going online, New Zealand consumers are:
Better informed - 97 per cent of internet users go online to research products before buying and 28 per cent buy based solely on web reviews.
More connected - 90 per cent of those who access the internet use social networks, meaning it is now much easier to make connections.
Multi-tasking - 43 per cent of users say they surf the internet at the same time as watching TV.
Voyeuristic - we are avid readers of online material contributed by others but post less material on blogs and in other web forums than web users in other countries.
Mobile - 33 per cent of internet users access the web from mobile devices.