the net result

the net result

this week: dot-com fatigue

Every fortnight, Karen Gee from eDreams.com helps agents and operators to get the most out of the Internet

Can you believe it? One minute the British public is leaping onto the Internet bandwagon, buying PCs for their homes and visiting dozens of Web sites, and the next they’re deciding they’re bored with the whole topic.

These are the headlines from a recent survey carried out by Microsoft Network, the largest portal and Internet service provider in the UK with a 41% market share.

In particular, consumers in their research sample had three main beefs: they’d had more than enough of hearing about bright young things becoming internet millionaires overnight; they were sick and tired of hearing about yet another start-up and how their Web site would change people’s lives; and finally, they considered a discussion about the Internet on a par with hearing someone talk about their new vacuum cleaner.

To be fair, these views related to just 21% of the sample. Still 62% of respondents said they felt the phrase dot com had become hackneyed and outmoded.

This in turn reflects a downturn of media interest in dot coms for anything other than bad news and closures.

The revolutionary Net

While this research claims people have had enough of hearing about how our lives are going to be changed by new Web sites, I can honestly say that my life has been revolutionised.

I manage my time in the most efficient manner by doing the vast majority of my shopping on line including groceries, clothing, gifts, computer hardware and software… the list is endless.

I also do all my research on line: downloading brochures, researching companies, looping up information.

This enables me to spend my precious leisure time doing what I really want, rather than doing chores.

Change of heart

So why is there such a mood change in this area? I think there are two main reasons.

The first is we have probably been suffering from an overload of dot com-related information.

Only a year ago, you could not open a newspaper or magazine without there being articles about the Internet.

Now of course, most people are so tired of reading about it that we have dot-com fatigue.

The second is that because Internet adoption is now so high, it’s no longer a novelty or something we call technology. It’s something that’s the norm, that’s a tool we use to do our job, live our lives. It is part of our everyday.

Despite there being an estimated 10 million Web sites around the world, customers view an average of just six to 12 of them so you have to work really hard to get them to include you in their favourites – and to keep coming back.

The question really is how to do this. Let’s look at some ideas.

Stand out in the crowd

Firstly, keeping your content fresh and up to date is really important. Currency and relevance of information are important criteria that customers look for.

If your content is past its sell-by date and not particularly relevant to your audience, they will drop you like a hot potato and go elsewhere.

With the proliferation of e-mail newsletters, yours can all too easily be deleted before even being opened. Being differentiated is important but being targeted is even more important.

As the generic label Internet user can no longer be used, we have to tailor our message to those individual sub groups whether by age, demographics, interest or other criteria.

If you receive a letter that doesn’t address you personally, doesn’t recognise any of your previous purchases and treats you as though you are completely worthless to that organisation, you’d be pretty annoyed I’m sure. I know I certainly would.

However, what you would find attractive is a newsletter that recognises who you are, contains several messages that are relevant to you and speaks to you as an individual rather than just part of a ‘registered user’ file.

So, while you’re undoubtedly doing a lot of work to build up your customer base, you now have to do twice as much to retain them, inspire them and keep them.

Good luck.

Tired and weary: consumers are sick of hearing about the Web

Attention keepers

1. content: keep your Web site content fresh and relevant so that your customers always find something new when they visit. If you don’t already do this, you need to set out policies for updates and assign responsibilities for ensuring it gets done.

2. E-mail frequency: frequency of contact by e-mail is a hot topic at present. Too frequent and your customers will be unsubscribing in droves. Too infrequently and they won’t be able to remember who you are and may even think you’re spamming them. Getting the balance right is tricky but trial and error will show what the perfect formula is for you.

3. innovation: try to ensure you always have something unique and innovative on your site. It might be a quiz, a competition or a game but it needs to be something original and fun and that will keep your customers coming back time and again. Remember that children and young people are the most frequent Internet users so targeting them through games would probably be successful.

4. targeting and tailoring: ensure relevance to your audience by targeting your customers by appropriate category and by the tailoring messages you send out to meet their specific needs. This is the fastest way to improve conversion ratios.