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Love Net: Consumers Click with Online Ads
By Alyona Sidak
iVOX Research Facilitators
A major study of Ukrainian Internet users shows that Internet advertising may be a better investment than many would have suspected.
As Internet penetration has grown and consumers have become more accustomed to using the Internet to research and evaluate their buying decisions, the level of trust in information found online and in various forms of online advertising has grown as well.
To obtain a better understanding of the nation's Internet-savvy consumers and their preferences, iVOX Research Facilitators assembled a panel of 1,500 respondents and assessed their attitudes toward online marketing tools. This data made it possible to draw conclusions about Internet marketing trends.
Internet users have developed the habit of going online to research goods and services before purchasing them. Fully 87% of those surveyed indicated that they check online before buying. To find the information they want, 86.5% rely on search engines, and 62.5% go directly to the websites of the companies that sell the product in which they're interested.
Of the search engines, Google is the most popular, with 71.7% of Ukrainian Internet users relying on it to uncover information. Yandex is preferred by 16.6% of respondent, and 4.1% say they primarily use Ukr.net.
About half of those surveyed use other methods to research goods and services, including specialized catalogues like price.ua that make it easy to compare prices, visit Internet forums or look through articles found online.
From banner ads to unsolicited e-mails, advertising seems to be everywhere on the Internet, yet it hasn't overwhelmed information-hungry consumers: 58% say that they feel that there's just about the right amount of advertising on the 'net, while 37.9% believe there's too much of it, and 4.6% say they actually want more online advertising - a wish that is certain to be granted as marketers explore new and different ways to reach out and touch target audiences.
Internet advertising is not only expected, it is respected: according to the study, the level of confidence in online advertising is high. About 64% of respondents claim that they give online advertising the same weight as advertising in other media, and 11.8% say they actually find e-mails, banners and other ads more credible.
There are still hearts and minds waiting to be won however: 8.9% reported a low level of confidence in Internet advertising, but advertising always has its skeptics: 15.4% reported that they don't trust any kind of advertising.
Since it has been established that Ukraine's Internet users like and use the ads they find online, which form of Internet advertising do consumers favor? Like the World Wide Web itself, consumers are diverse and so are their top preferences.
Not surprisingly, web users liked contextual advertising - ads that use site-scanning technology to ensure that they appear alongside website content on the same subject. About 23% of respondents said this was the most attractive form of advertising. Banner advertising followed close behind, preferred by 20.9% of those polled, but what pleases one person invariably irritates another: 12.4% say they dislike banners.
Ads that use the 'peel-down' format, which required the user to activate the animated ad by moving the cursor over it, is favored by 11.2% of web users.
Respondents say they consider Rich media (52.4%), and direct email (19.9%) obtrusive.
Around 16.5% of respondents claim that they often purchase items they've seen interested online. These consumers identify contextual ads moved 31.3% of them to take action, while banner ads worked for 21.5% and 18.4% were affected by commercial publications.
More than 64% of respondents receive direct email ads. Of these consumers, 42.6% subscribed to the advertising. Of those who received solicited e-mail ads, 60.5% said that they have at some time purchased the goods and services advertised.
Social networks are increasingly being utilized to promote goods and services. Some 16% of respondents did not suspect that their personal information could be used to send them targeted advertising while using a networking site. A small number (4.7%) of Ukrainian Internet users fully support the idea of using ads to pay for the sites they use, but 20.9% are totally opposed to the practice.
iVOX is an independent marketing research agency specializing in online research using online panels and other consumer databases. Polls are conducted using Socratos, an online research platform.
The agency has been active in Belgium since 2004 and in Ukraine since 2008. It conducts online studies for clients including the FMCG and financial sector, communications and consulting agencies, governments, and universities.
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