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Consumer
Acceptance
According
to a new study conducted by Cable & Telecommunications Association
for Marketing (CTAM), over half of Internet users in the US access some
form of streaming media. Also according to this report, one in three consumers
said they have toured travel destinations online, and listened to internet
radio stations, and more than one in five have watched news clips, or
downloaded music online.
A survey conducted
by CTAM shows that nineteen percent of consumers in the US have taken
virtual tours of homes, and fourteen percent have watched product demonstrations
via streaming video.
Such studies
show the acceptance and use of the internet as means of media and that
it is gaining ground everyday.
Businesses
must go where the consumers are, and that is increasingly online.
Real Estate
Visitors to real estate sites are increasing at a significant
rate, according to an e-Visory Report by The NPD Group, Inc. and Media
Metrix, which found the number of unique visitors to real estate sites
increased by 75 percent from summer 2001 to summer 2002. By comparison,
total Web traffic was up 22 percent for the period. The increase in traffic
comes even as the proportion of consumers who are online and in the market
for a new home has risen only slightly, the study found. Almost 30 percent
of consumers who access the Internet are currently in the market to buy
a new property, or have been sometime during the past six months. This
is a slight increase from the results of a similar study conducted by
The NPD Group in June 1999 (30 percent vs. 28 percent, respectively).
The survey confirms that about half of those who are online and in the
market for a new property used the Internet to search for new properties
online (49 percent).
The breakdown
of what consumers are in the market for goes as follows:
• Those
interested in purchasing a house (74 percent)
• Looking to buy land (10 percent)
• Looking to buy a condominium (10 percent)
• Looking to buy a co-op (1 percent)
• Commercial buildings (1 percent)
• Other property (4 percent).
Although real
estate site visitation has been increasing, consumers who have searched
for properties online report not being as satisfied as they could be with
site features (average rating 36 percent). For instance, photos of properties
are considered extremely or very important among nearly all consumers
(92 percent); however, only 40 percent are satisfied with this feature.
This is a clear opportunity for real estate sites to narrow the gap and
improve satisfaction by focusing on the most important site feature.
Homestore,
the owner of realtor.com, among other sites, reports that consumers are
44% more likely to visit a home with a virtual tour first.
Travel
The
Internet and on-line travel have permanently changed the way the travel
and tourism industry thinks about customer-interaction. Future industry
growth will be driven and shaped by on-line travel. By 2003, the global
e-Commerce market will reach $86 billion US. On-line travel purchases
account for the largest percentage of the e-Commerce market (28%) with
over $24 billion in revenue (source: Jupiter Communications). Nearly 95
million people worldwide visited online travel sites in January 2002,
according to comScore, making it a record month for traffic to the travel
sector. Total online purchases of US leisure and business will more than
triple in the next five years, from $18 billion in 2000 to $63 billion
in 2006, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.
The online
travel and tourism industry is one of the brightest stars in the Internet
economy. Virtual tours are an effective marketing and sales tool that
have the ability to communicate the essence, beauty or detail of a location
or destination much more effectively than text or static images. The use
of virtual tours is changing the way people plan and research travel online,
enabling them to virtually experience destinations in a fun and user friendly
environment without leaving the comfort of their own homes or offices,
offering a reliable and informative source of visual information that
travel consumers can use to make informed, educated and confident travel
decisions.
Hospitality
Industry
The power of the Internet as a significant information portal and reservation
engine for the travel industry is now substantiated by quantifiable results,
as reported by the major hotel chains and independents.
Lodging professionals
agree that successful marketing campaigns focus on specific segments and
include the right mix of television, radio, press and, now, Internet advertising.
Of these promotional channels, the Internet has the greatest potential
to reach a global audience in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
Rich
Media
Over
the last few years, rich media advertising has grown in popularity among
advertisers. Industry metrics consistently indicate that the average click-through
conversion rate on traditional banner ads is less than 1%. For rich media,
available metrics indicate that the average "Book-It" conversion
rate ranges from 8% to 12%.
Consumers
click through rich-media online ads at a rate six times higher than they
click through static ads, says DoubleClick Inc.'s new Ad Serving Trend
Report, which DoubleClick plans to release on a quarterly basis.
DoubleClick reports that 2.4% of consumers who see them click through
rich media ads that DoubleClick delivers vs. 0.4% for static ads. About
20% of the 2 billion ads that DoubleClick delivers daily are rich media.
Summation
From
this information it is easy to see that if you are in one of these industries
and are not using all the tools available to you, you are missing out.
And if you are in another industry you can see the potential of these
tools for your business.
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