Digital marketing gives people 850 more reasons a day to buy

Although Iran has the biggest number of internet users in the region (around 18 million), Saudi Arabia and UAE are the countries many want to reach. Between them they have around six million people online, with eight million people online within the whole GCC.

The internet is the main way to reach people during the working day, with most people preferring the medium over TV or newspapers. Exclusive research presented at the conference highlighted that peak time for access is in the morning, with most people going online at 10am.

This is in stark contrast with similar research in other regions such as the UK and the US, where peak time is around 1pm and suggests many people will get online early in their working day to catch up with events and news in their sector.

The research, which once filtered focused solely on employed business people in the GCC who were 21 years old of above, found that 45% have a gross income of between $2,000 and $10,000 a month.

It also found that some 20% take more than 20 business flights a year and 59% plan to buy residential property in the next 12 months – mainly in the Gulf. Dan Healy, Managing Director of Real Opinions, which conducted the research, commented: “There is significant demand for companies to invest in property rather than rent in the future.”

Online habits

Looking at online habits, 92% regularly access the internet, although this high number was to be expected, as the research was conducted online, so likely to be among frequent users. Eighty-four per cent said they access the net from home as well, with just 13% going online only during working hours.

Mobile is showing strong future growth over the next 12 months. Healy said there is a huge shift to using mobile handsets. ‘The old box sitting on your desktop is heading towards extinction,’ he said. In an interactive poll among delegates at the event, 59% expected to access the internet increasingly via mobile phone in the coming year, while 34% did not. This was inline with figures from the AME Info/Real Opinions survey.

In terms of the number of hours spent surfing every week, 62% are online for 20 hours or more, giving marketers plenty of opportunity to reach their target audience – particularly as it is estimated we are bombarded by 850 messages a day. Those in the 21 to 29 year old bracket spent most time online, with hours dropping as the survey looked at older age brackets.

A thorny problem for marketing and advertising to overcome is turning those interested in a service or product into a paying customer. While most people said they will search for official information from companies websites, those prepared to part with their cash online drops dramatically in some sectors.

This is partly explained by the internet being less developed in the Middle East than in other western markets, but is also a reflection on the poor quality websites many companies have, particularly in the retail space.

Embrace the internet

Healy told delegates there is a ‘huge demand’ for organisations to better embrace the internet, particularly as 63% said they want to buy products or services online and 66% said they want to sell products or services online.

Also evident throughout the conference and not just in the research was the reluctance of companies to answer their critics online.

While users have taken control of feedback, and are now believed more than claims made in advertisements, companies in the region still prefer to stick their heads in the sand than face problems. Only around a third of companies said they monitor user generated sites for comments about them and their products or services.

Delegates at the conference admitted this was a problem among their clients. But even when companies do see negative comments they rarely put their side of the story, preferring instead to use old media such as newspapers to answer their critics or to ignore them altogether.

The problem with both of these approaches is that it not only leaves potential customers with a – perhaps incorrectly – bad impression of the company, but in years to come the online archive will show only one side of the story – the many negative comments.

The good news for marketing companies is that while at work, 15% of respondents admitted they spend time on non-work related activity.

Idle surfing during the working day was highest in Saudi Arabia, perhaps in part because while internet connections are poor in the country they are likely to be better in an office.

Men or those who work for government organisations are more likely to be doing non-work related activities online compared to women or those working for private companies. ‘It’s an opportunity to access those people in the work environment,’ said Healy.

Research was conducted in March 2008 among AME Info readers. Over 1,400 people responded to the survey, which was then filtered for the opinions of only those who live in the GCC, are 21 years old or above and are employed. The final number surveyed was 833.

See also:
Digital Marketing 2008 - Metrics
Navigating the digital maze