Hitwise Intelligence - Sandra Hanchard - Asia Pacific

Analyst Weblog

What are Western Australian users doing online? Localising content

June 29, 2009

Following on from an excellent post by Robin on local Internet data in the UK, I thought I would share an Australian example of our ability to create mini-panels based on users with specific characteristics - in this case users in Western Australia. Like the rest of the population, WA users had the highest volume of visits to Search Engines and Social Networking and Forums. It’s useful however to understand where WA users differ from the rest of the population, particularly for creating content serving the local community. The below table provides a top-line view of the industries that WA users are more likely to engage in compared to other Australians.

Sports categories featured prominently in the industries that WA users were most likely to visit, with Soccer attracting the highest index of 164 (100 is the online average), ahead of AFL – Football with an index of 149. Sporting codes that attracted low visits by WA users were Snow Sports (makes sense geographically) Athletics and Motorsport.

Regional targeting can be cross-tabbed with other metrics, such as Search terms and website visits. This can be useful for brands wishing to benchmark the local awareness of their services, or for advertisers looking for the most targeted websites to reach local audiences. The below table highlights leading search terms used by WA users. I have filtered the list to terms with an index higher than 120 so that you can get an idea of localised behaviour.

A quick glance shows that ‘myspace’ attracted high search volumes by WA users, and was 24% more likely to be used than in other Australian states. Classifieds brand, ‘Quokka’ notably stood out with an index of 803, while ‘perth now’ had an index of 666. The most popular generic term on the list was ‘perth weather’, surprising, as I always thought the answer to that was always “fine” :)

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Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 10:26 PM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Local | News and Media | Sports

Time to Shop Around? Opportunities for Financial Comparison Sites

June 25, 2009

The recent increase in mortgage interest rates by the majors has prompted financial commentators to encourage consumers to shop around for deals from a range of financial institutions. Searches for ‘home loans’ by Australian Internet users accordingly doubled during the week ending 20 June 2009, reaching the highest point in search volume since late April 2009. Given the importance of comparison shopping in the finance industry at this time, here is an update on the leading financial comparison websites, including websites dedicated to specific financial products.

Infochoice dominated financial comparison websites clearly with over 50% market share of visits for the week ending 20 June 2009. Infochoice significantly increased its market share in visits from 32.7% the previous week, due to a sharp increase in referrals from Yahoo!7 Finance. You’ll also notice that the top 15 websites feature a number of financial comparison websites dedicated to credit cards, with Credit Card Offers ranked at 10th position. This suggests there are opportunities for comparison websites focused on term deposits and home loans to increase their market share, especially in the current economic environment. The analysis below provides an indication of the types of websites that received the most traffic on product-related terms.

The pie charts illustrate that financial comparison websites were more likely to receive traffic on searches for ‘credit cards’ and ‘term deposits’ than 'personal loans' and 'home loans'. The leading website to receive traffic on searches for ‘credit cards’ was creditcards.com.au with 31.7% of clicks, while the leading website to receive traffic on searches for ‘term deposits’ was Rate City Australia, with 21.2% of clicks (4 weeks ending 20 June 2009).

Non-bank lenders and banks dominated search traffic from ‘home loans’, with financial comparison websites notably missing from the top 10. Given that consumers will be increasingly looking for ways to optimise paying their home loan off, financial comparison websites should be prioritising home loans content.

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 03:20 PM | (2) | (0)
In Categories Banks and Financial Institutions | Financial Comparison

Government website visits up 10.4% in Australia year-on-year in March 2009

May 07, 2009

We've just published a new Hitwise Australia Online Government report, demonstrating that government website visits were up 10.4% year-on-year in March 209. This growth suggests that the community is finding online government services increasingly useful. Australian visits to government websites also outstripped US and UK usage in March 2009.

However, Government agencies need to ensure that the online delivery of their services is meeting the needs of the community, particularly as the Internet becomes a primary point of contact between organisations and users.

As times get tough during the economic downturn, government will play an increasingly important role in providing vital services to the community. The effective delivery of these services through the online channel can result in cost-savings for government and potentially improve community well-being.

Key findings from the report, including a case study on how the Australian community reacted online to the Victorian bushfires in 2009, are as follows:

• Government Agencies should benchmark their websites against similar departments and industry players. The Bureau of Meteorology was the leading Government – National website with an overwhelming 44.8% share of visits in March 2009, and was also the leading News and Media website ahead of major publishers.

• Victorian Bushfires searches dropped off 4 weeks after the crisis. Search analysis can help inform governments of the peak window for community awareness around a given event. Agencies can use also search data to measure awareness of government services.

• Search Engine Optimisation should be used by government websites to compete effectively with the commercial sector. Searches around the Victorian bushfires also demonstrate that the community was more likely to turn to News and Media websites than online government services for vital updates, appeal information, and education around bushfire safety.

• Agencies can determine who they can use for information dissemination based on websites that receive the most traffic on searches. The leading media players to receive informational bushfire searches during the height of the Victorian Bushfires were ABC News Online, Google News Australia and The Age.

• Social Media can be used by government to connect with a broad spectrum of the community. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia all ranked amongst the top websites visited by Australians in March 2009, with each network displaying different audience strengths.

You can also register here to listen to Government webinar next week - presented by Hitwise Research Director, Alan Long and myself.

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 12:19 PM | (0) | (0)
In Categories Community | Government

What gadgets are early adopters searching for?

April 28, 2009

Later this week I’ll be sharing some insights at the Australian Retail Symposium 2009 on how specific demographic segments search for retail brands and products. I’ve looked at searches by Australian households in our Hitwise Lifestyle segment, ‘Young Ambition’, who are early adopters of technology and are likely to research products over the Internet. Here’s a sample of their leading electronics search terms during March 2009:

• ‘mobile phones’ was the leading product-related search term, but ‘Young Ambition’ were much more likely to search for ‘mobile phone reviews’ with an index of 485 compared to the online population average (100).

• ‘iphone accessories’ attracted higher volumes of search than ‘iphone,’ suggesting that ‘Young Ambition’ are seasoned iPhone users and are now looking for the latest accessories.

• ‘Omnia’ and the ‘LG Web Slider’ are providing strong competition to the iPhone amongst ‘Young Ambition’ households, with high search volumes compared to the online population.

• ‘navman’ and ‘tomtom’ searches were over-represented amongst ‘Young Ambition’ during Christmas 2008 but were under-represented during March 2009. This suggests that navigation products are becoming less of a fad amongst early adopters.

• ‘headphones’, 'cameras' and ‘laptops’ were other leading product search terms. ‘Sennheiser’ related terms also appeared in the long-tail of ‘Young Ambition’ searches.

Retailers can gain an understanding of the products and brands that resound with specific consumer groups by drilling into their search behaviour. Stay tuned for a similar analysis on high-end shoppers and suburban families.

Posted by Sandra Hanchard at 12:44 PM | (3) | (0)
In Categories Early Adopters | Electronics | Shopping and Classifieds