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Driving consumers to engage with a brand online is not always easy and so understanding how consumers find out about the websites they visit is key to unlocking the most effective ways to target them. Latest data from Kantar Media’s Republic of Ireland TGI study into consumer behaviour and characteristics provides insights into how different consumer groups discover new sites.
The top means for regularly finding out about websites is through a search engine, which is a route used by 47% of adults who go online. In second place is word of mouth through friends or colleagues talking about a specific site – which prompts 29% of adults to visit a site. Third is reading about the site online (15% of adults), followed by visiting web pages that are emailed to you (8%) and reading about it in a newspaper (8%).
There are however big differences amongst particular consumer audiences in how they find websites. For example, 15-24 year olds are 42% more likely than the average internet-using adult to find out through chatting with friends or colleagues. This same group are 76% more likely to discover new sites through TV adverts and over twice as likely to find out through adverts on their mobile. On the other hand, 55-64 year olds are 23% more likely to find out through visiting web pages emailed to them.
Some of the most high value internet users are also particularly likely to find out about sites in specific ways. For example, those who buy online more than once a week are over three times more likely than the average internet user to regularly discover new sites by clicking on adverts on web pages they are reading and two and a half times more likely to do so by clicking on ads that pop up while on the internet.
There are also variations in likelihood of site discovery by what consumers buy online. TGI data reveals that those who regularly buy jewellery online are over three and a half times more likely than the average internet user to find out about websites through ads on their mobile, whilst those who regularly buy groceries online are almost three and a half times more likely to discover new sites by clicking ads on web pages. Clicking on web page ads is also the means that those who spend 40 hours or more per week online are particularly likely to discover new sites (55% more likely).
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