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Key Findings Newsletter - Marketing/Planning

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Website Categories Gaining the Most Visitors

Website categories that gained the most new visitors in 2007 include politics (35%), women's community (35%) and entertainment news (32%). The following chart lists other categories posting significant increases.

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Growing Enrollment in Foreign Language Classes

Foreign language classes in US colleges show the highest enrollments in Spanish (52%) and French (13%). Since 2002, Spanish class enrollments have grown 10.3%, compared to a 2.2% rise in French. Languages with the fastest growing enrollments are Arabic (up 127%), Chinese (up 51%), American Sign Language (up 30%), and Japanese (up 28%).

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Views on Religious Tolerance

Some 70% of Americans with a religious affiliation say that their religion is not the only way to eternal life. Details on this view by faith are: mainline Protestants (83%), members of historic Black Protestant churches (59%), Roman Catholics (79%), Jews (82%), members of Evangelical churches (57%), and Muslims (56%). This Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study also showed that 68% believe there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion.

About 25% of Americans left the faith of their childhood, including 44% of Protestants who changed denominations as adults. More than one-quarter of people who are not affiliated with a faith still decide to attend religious services at least occasionally.

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Media Multi-tasking Among Internet Users

More than eight in 10 people (82.4%) use more than one medium at a time. Television is the most popular media to combine with Internet use. Some 75.6% have gone online while watching TV, with 42.9% doing so regularly. Men aged 18-24 (51.2%) are more likely than the average adult (15.9%) to say they frequently or always go online when watching TV.

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Online and Mobile Activities

While virtually all age groups use e-mail, the chart below shows which other activities online users - who own cell phones - participate in by age.

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Social Networkers' Preferences

Most 18-25-year-old social networking users (80%) visit these sites at least once a month. However, 72% say they would stop going if they had to pay a fee. Other user preferences are detailed in the chart below.

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Internet Is Most Common Source for Used Cars

In 2007, 72% of used car shoppers (who are Internet users) conducted at least some of their shopping process online, with 94% finding consumer-generated rating and reviews at least somewhat helpful. About 23% of used car shoppers ultimately found the car they purchased online, a 44% increase from 2006. This was the first year that the Internet surpassed all other shopping methods in locating the vehicle they purchased.

Women take 15.9 weeks to find their car and men take 14.1 weeks. Men (49%) are more likely than women (38%) to know what make of car they want before they begin shopping. While women (22%) are more likely than men (13%) to be open to any vehicle that meets their requirements.

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Cable Television Channels vs. Packages

More than one-half of cable subscribers (52%) want to be able to pay for individual channels rather than pay for a full package, as is currently required by cable companies. Some 35% like the package system, and 12% are undecided, with 71% saying they don't like to pay for channels they don't watch.

One concern for the pay-per-channel option is that smaller, lesser-known channels would not be able to survive. Women (47%) are more likely than men (37%) to be concerned about this problem.

A large majority of subscribers (82%) think the cost of cable is too high, including 46% who say it is much too high.

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US Political Ad Spending

US political campaign spending on television ads is expected to reach $3 billion in 2008, up from $2.3 billion in 2006 and $1.7 billion in 2004. Less than 2% of political ad budgets will be spent online, much less than the 50% to 80% of the budgets that will be spent on broadcast TV advertising.

In many cases, the push TV ads are sending people to the candidates' Web sites, where they are greeted with requests for donations, e-mail addresses and campaign merchandise for sale. So, while the Internet is not getting its fair share of political ad dollars yet, it is already being used as a commanding one-two punch to raise awareness and funds.

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Latinos Online

More than one-half (56%) of Hispanic-Americans surveyed said they spent at least one hour online each day, which was slightly more than the 50% who spent an hour or more watching TV. Three-quarters of respondents say they multitask, indicating they always or very frequently used the Internet and TV simultaneously. Of those, 44% e-mailed or instant messaged about the shows they were watching and 40% researched products being advertised on TV. More than one-third went to the Web site for the show being watched.

Although individual Hispanic-American Internet usage is greater than that of the general US population, the group is still under-represented online, especially in broadband access. While 50.8% of all US households are online via broadband, only 35.2% of Hispanic households have this technology.

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Medical Tourism

Nearly 40% of US healthcare consumers say they would travel outside the country for medical treatment, if the quality was the same and the cost was cut in half. Men (44.5%) are more likely than women (33.3%) to consider a trip abroad for treatment. Other factors affecting interest in medical tourism are detailed below.

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Retail Promotions and Health Benefits

Nine in 10 people who received health coaching as part of a retail promotion (such as a product demonstration) said they found it valuable to their health. Almost two-thirds (64%) changed their dietary habits as a result of what they learned. Some 54% visited the promotional sponsor's website and 43% went to see their doctor.

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Consumer-Driven Health Plans

Today, more than four in 10 employers (42.8%) offer a consumer-driven health plan. These include plans with a health savings account (offered by 23% of employers); a high deductible plan with health reimbursement account (12%); and a high deductible plan without a health reimbursement account (9%). Some 91% offer a dental plan and 86% offer a mail-order prescription service.

In consumer-driven health plans, consumers have the primary decision-making role regarding what care they receive. One study found that patients of these plans were twice as likely as patients in traditional plans to ask about cost, three times as likely to choose a less expensive treatment option, and chronic patients were 20% more likely to follow treament regimes carefully. However, these consumer-driven plans can cause consumers, especially those less wealthy and less educated, to avoid getting needed health care because of the cost burden and the inability to make informed choices. Also, those with chronic conditions like diabetes are at a disadvantage since the high annual deductible (typically around $3,000-$4,000) doesn't allow them to save money in their accounts.

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Physicians' and Patients' Online Preferences

Virtually all US physicians use the Internet for professional information, and 83% of them say the Internet is essential to their practice. However, two-thirds of doctors do not communicate with their patients online - with the primary reason being concerns about liability.

In a patient survey, more than one-quarter of respondents said they would be willing to pay extra to get same-day appointments and electronic access to their medical records and test results. Interest in other online tools is detailed in the following chart.

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Workers Looking for New Jobs

More than four in 10 workers (41%) are looking for new jobs, including 17% who are actively looking and 24% who are passively looking (posting a resume online that wasn't for a specific job, or listening to a job offer that comes their way).

Men (60%) are more likely than women (52%) to think it will be easy for them to find a new job. Men are also more likely to have been approached by a recruiting company or hiring manager within the prior year (36% vs. 28%).

Specifically, managers (64%) think it would be easy to find a new job, compared to 48% of non-managers. However, managers (15%) are less likely than non-managers (19%) to be actively looking, as well as passively looking (21% vs. 26%). One reason for this difference is that managers typically feel more valued by their companies (72% vs. 56%).

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C-Level Executive Turnover

Corporate suite turnover continues at a rapid pace for the top US companies as well as other influential businesses throughout the world. In the first quarter of 2008, management turnover increased 55% for CEOs, 11% for CFOs and 10% for other C-level management compared to the prior year. Similar increases were reported for 2007 and 2006. The main factors behind these record high numbers include corporate performance as it's related to the executives' responsibilities; growing domestic and international competition; and increasing market instability.

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Loss of Baby Boomer Workers

In the next five years, 40% of Baby Boomers are expected to retire, resulting in a costly skilled labor shortage for US manufacturers.

A 2008 survey of 100 senior manufacturing executives representing companies with $10 million to $1 billion revenue was conducted. Eighty-one percent of respondents said they would be affected by the shortage, estimating this will cost them an average $52.2 million each. The cost is higher for companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, where 44% say the workforce shortage will run $100 million over five years.

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Corporate Blogging Down

In a recent survey of 189 business-to-business marketers, 53% said blogs were either marginal or irrelevant in their 2008 marketing strategy. Looking back, 36 companies started corporate blogs in 2006 with the number falling to 19 new blogs in 2007. This year, only three new blogs were launched in the first quarter.

Blog marketing experts suggest that these marketers give corporate blogging another try by polishing voice on other public forums first, becoming a resource rather than simply promoting the brand, and finding a way to fill a unique niche with their customers.

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