Behaviour & attitudes: the key to understanding a consumers' relationships with technology

The brilliant guys in the planning team at Digitas did some einteresting online behavioural research recently. Partnering with Compete to get detailed online behavioral data on 3,000 online consumers - the top 700 sites they visit, along with page views and session length.

They then surveyed those consumers to better understand their expectations, attitudes and desires. Then they assessed the data in aggregate, and also developed 6 segments of internet users.

You can download the white paper Tina Bronkhorst wrote about the study here: Download WebDotDigitas.pdf

Some of the key findings:

• Online behavior significantly impacts overall brand experience and attitude; it's not a separate experience for the consumers.

• Nearly 40% of online users would prefer to sample a product before buying it

• 8 out of 10 people forward emails on, to an average of 10 people; the most forwarded emails aren't about sales/coupons, they're about humor and inspiration

• About half of internet users say they've never read a blog - but their behavioral data reveals they've been regularly visiting sites like TypePad

• About half of internet users still have a very functional relationship with the internet - they don't surf, they don't do social networking, they use the internet for tasks like banking and travel planning, and some of them don't even like the 'net very much

By examining behavior and attitude together, it is possible to deepened our understanding of how and why people use the internet. We now know that users' online time and tenure (time online) tell only part of the story - users' attitudes and expectations also provide important insight into their motivations, and help us segment users into actionable segments.

As consumers increasingly use digital channels to learn about and interact with brands, it is critical that brands understand more about their audiences than just where they go online, and how much time they spend there.

To be successful, they need to understand and deliver upon online users' expectations, and enable their behaviors and preferences - for example, the expectations to be able to sample a product before buying, and their desire to share humorous and inspirational content with their friends.