Report digital influence index netherlands

The Digital Influence Index Study:Understanding the Role of the Internet in the Lives of Consumers in the Netherlands

Published by Fleishman-HillardAmsterdam, December 2010

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Background On The Study

Response

E-mails sent 2270

E-mails bounced 91

Completes 640

Non Response 1539

Response percentage 29%

The Digital Influence Index study measures several key aspects of Dutch consumers’ use of the Internet, from media consumption patterns, the degree of adoption of varying digital behavior, to the involvement in online social networking. The study furthermore assesses the Internet’s influence on specific decision making processes— from purchasing to politics, healthcare to finance.

A recent study of Fleishman-Hillard and Harris Interactive examined this index for countries like China, Japan, USA, Canada, France and Germany. This study places the Digital Influence Index in the Netherlands in an international context.

Research background

Target Group Dutch consumers representative for the Dutch online population.

Method Online research

Response In total 640 online interviews have been conducted, a response of 29%. The data are representative for the online population of the Netherlands.

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Key Findings

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7 Key take aways:

1: The Internet is by far the most influential medium for Dutch consumers. Influence is defined as a combination of the time consumers spend on a medium and the relative importance they attach to it in their daily lives.

2: The internet is used mainly as a means to research decisions and to find supporting evidence for the decisions made. Search engines are key in the decision making process while social networks are, as of yet, hardly used. In particular when it comes to making decisions regarding durable goods and services, the Internet is viewed as the most important information source.

3: A particular remarkable conclusion is the marginal role social networks apparently play in decision making processes. The strength of social networks seems to be in emotional brand bonding rather than giving clear advice aimed at purchase decisions.

4: In general, the Dutch trust the information available on the Internet, in particular information provided by the government. The extensive amount of information available online makes it easier to learn quickly and makes it possible to make well-balanced decisions.

5: When seeking advice from others, the Dutch place a high value on the advice of friends, family and colleagues. Remarkably the majority of the respondents state that they only partly trust advice from strangers while conceding that the usefulness thereof is most likely high. The trustworthiness of content produced by sponsored or paid bloggers is extremely low.

6: Dutch Consumers are very familiar with micro blogs such as Twitter. In general the opinion is that people share too much uninteresting personal information. Consumers are also very aware of the possible implications of sharing personal information which could potentially harm their career.

7: Companies who make use of micro blogs to listen and anticipate consumers interests are appreciated more than those that don’t. Having a company keep their own micro blog is seen as less relevant.

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Digital Influence

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Important information sources for consumers in their daily decisions

(All numbers are percents)

Internet (excluding e-mail) 71 23 32 34 30 12 21 19

Advice from friends, family and/or colleagues 48 23 23 51 16 20 28 11

E-mail 55 22 22 28 19 5 15 11

Television 32 14 21 22 13 5 8 8

Newspapers 35 11 20 25 9 6 12 8

Mail or information through the post 33 10 11 20 11 8 11 1

Radio 16 9 12 20 9 5 10 5

Magazines 24 4 11 15 5 4 5 2

• Internet is also the most important medium for daily decision making. It is rated even higher than peer influence.

Each source of information is “absolutely essential” or “extremely important”

BASE: All respondents in the Netherlands, (n=640)

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How influential is the Internet? Net importance of the internet compared to other media

TV Radio Newspapers MagazinesInternet

(not email)Email

China 23% -18% 35% 6% 84% 68%

US -28% -53% -34% -68% 1% -4%

Japan 9% -30% 8% -22% 36% 16%

Germany 17% 9% 18% -14% 52% 30%

UK -26% -54% -54% -66% 15% -14%

France -39% -32% -22% -24% 10% -18%

Canada -36% -43% -26% -62% 3% -16%

Netherlands -25% -44% -15% -63% 17% -2%

Note: Net Importance calculated by subtracting Bottom 2 importance scores (not at all/somewhat) from top-three importance scores (Essential, Extremely, Very)

• The net importance shows another clear trend regarding the relative importance of the Internet. The higher ratings of “essential” and “extremely important” become clearly visible when weighed against other media.

Each source of information is “absolutely essential” or “extremely important”


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Average number of hours consumers spend on activities per week

All numbers are average number of hours engaged in each activity per week

Using the Internet 15.4 13.2 11.7 12.2 14.4 12.1 13.1 12.7

Watching television 6.7 14.0 12.0 13.1 15.5 10.8 14.1 14.5

Listening to the radio 2.7 6.5 3.7 7.7 8.4 5.6 6.9 13.5

Reading e-mail 3.3 4.6 3.2 3.6 4.2 3.1 4.1 4.4

Listening to music through a device other than the radio or the Internet 4.5 5.1 3.7 6.0 5.9 3.5 5.6 1.4

Using your mobile phone 6.3 5.8 3.2 4.5 3.8 2.3 4.0 3.0

Playing video games (offline) 4.0 3.6 3.0 3.8 4.3 3.8 4.5 1.7

Seeking/giving advice to friends, family and colleagues 2.7 2.8 2.2 6.0 2.2 1.8 2.8 1.4

Reading newspapers 3.3 2.9 2.4 2.9 2.9 1.9 2.7 3.9

Reading magazines 3.4 2.2 2.0 2.6 2.1 1.9 2.2 2.3

Reading mail or information you received through the post 3.0 2.0 2.6 1.9 1.8 1.5 1.6 1.6

Total average hours spent per week 55.3 62.7 49.7 64.3 65.5 48.3 61.6 60.4

Less time is spent on the average use of the internet, against more traditional media types such as radio and TV. Despite this fact however, the net influence of Internet indicates its crucial role in decision making.









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Impact on Decisions

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Importance of the Internet in obtaining informationThe Internet is “absolutely essential,” “extremely important,” or “very important” when making decisions regarding the topics below.


Consumer electronics 88 51 59 75 54 64 56 50

Friends and family 87 55 55 64 41 55 46 42

Personal finance 84 35 46 47 44 32 32 34

Travel and leisure 83 46 62 63 52 59 51 51

Health, diet and fitness 83 38 49 41 34 34 41 25

Politics and current affairs 82 41 49 59 32 34 31 36

Consumer products 78 37 46 42 34 30 38 26

Running the home 67 29 46 49 41 46 26 21

Against all categories Internet plays a crucial role in decision making. Luxury items such as consumer electronics and travel are rated highest









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Usage of different information sources to get information on goods and services


Which sources did you use……..

Advice from friends, family

and/or colleagues

TelevisionCompany/

Organisation representatives

Newspaper/Magazine

articlesRadio Internet

Goods

and services

Daily Groceries 17 6 3 19 1 16

Personal finances 15 2 11 4 1 32

Education 8 1 7 3 1 16

Healthcare 17 3 10 8 2 33

Politics & government 17 28 2 25 12 50

Travel and leisure 25 4 7 10 2 63

Consumer electronics 21 4 10 12 1 54

Utilities 12 3 5 6 1 24

Children 13 1 2 4 0 8

Figures reflect the percentage of consumers who indicated which information source(s) they used when making a decision regarding the goods and/or services (row).

The Dutch make more use of the internet than of friends for obtaining information on goods and services. In particular for travel, politics and consumer electronics, consumers in the Netherlands use the internet as their primary information source.

BASE: Variable base. Respondents who used the Internet to help them make a decision regarding a good and/or service

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Information sources used to make decisions on goods and services

BASE: Variable base. Respondents who used the Internet to help them make a decision regarding a good and/or service


Search engine

Comments from other

peopleBlog

Company-sponsored

website

Product/price comparison

site

Social networking

site

Politically oriented website

Online adGovernment-

sponsored website

Consumer electronics 57 44 6 54 76 1 2 26 1

Travel and leisure 70 44 7 54 40 3 16 26 4

Healthcare 56 26 4 34 22 2 9 6 4

Politics & Government 32 16 7 3 4 4 23 2 68

Personal finances 38 13 3 48 32 0 6 10 2

Education 49 14 3 47 9 5 12 10 1

Utilities 37 14 4 25 26 3 13 7 3

Children 39 20 3 17 3 0 11 4 3

Daily groceries 11 4 1 23 19 1 1 21 1

Figures represent the average percentage of consumers who indicated the following source (column) helped them make a decision about the goods and/or services (row).

In general, search engines are the most popular sources of information. For expensive and

elaborated products and services (like consumer electronics and travel and leisure) more information

sources are consulted. Note the relative unimportant role in the decision making proces of social networks

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Information and Trust

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How consumers feel about information on the Internet

How do you feel about all the information on the Internet?

China Canada Germany U.S. France U.K. Netherlands Japan

86%

75% 75%69% 69%

64% 62%59%

63%69%

63% 63%

49%

62%68%

37%

46%

22%

12%19% 17%

20%27%

34%

It makes it easier to learn quickly about what I am interested in

I don't have to rely on a single source of information

The amount of information is overwhelming and hard to keep up with

62%68%

27%

Netherlands


A large portion of the Dutch consumers experience the internet as a diversified place where they can find information quickly. 27% of them however also indicate that they find the amount of information on the internet overwhelming and hard to keep up with.

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53%

35%

31%

28%

52%

23%

51%

32%

55%

45%

16% 24%32%

23%

21%

25%

67%

53%

21% 3

4%

55%

54%

9%

23%

58%

58%

11%

17%

68%

53%

16%

22%

46%

47%

22%

18%

Total China U.S. Japan Germany UK France Canada Netherlands

How consumers feel about expressing themselves online

Which of these statements describe how you feel about all of the ways to express yourself?

(Percent who selected statement. multiple choices allowed)

People are aware of the implications of sharing personal information, specially when it impacts their personal career.

BASE: All respondents, from international research, (n=4,243)

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Do consumers trust information on the Internet?

Generally, do you trust the information available on the Internet?

China

UK

Nethe

rland

s

Canad

aU.S

.

Japa

n

Franc

e

Ger

man

y

94%85% 82% 82% 78% 77% 77% 75%

Yes;

82%

No; 18%

Netherlands

(Percent indicating ‘yes,’ they generally trust the information available on the Internet)


Trust of available information is high.

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How consumers use the Internet to find the most truthful information

China Japan Germany U.K. France Canada U.S. Netherlands

83%

65%49% 45% 44% 42% 41%

53%

16%35%

49% 51% 51% 50% 55%43%

0.01 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.04 0.05

Other

I identify a couple of trustwor-thy sources and then follow them

I look at a lot of sources and believe the truth is something average to all the sources


Although in general trust is high, people still filter the information to their own opinions


I look at a lot of sources and believe the truth is something average to all the sources

53%

I identify a couple of trustworthy sources and then follow them 43%

Other 5%

- I follow my own intuition- Stay critical and check the

sources on their trustworthiness - Most sources on the Internet are

not trustworthy

BASE: All respondents, from international research, (n=4,243)

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Consumers who seek advice from people and how much they trust the sources and find each source useful

France

Germany

Japan

China

U.S.

U.K.

Canada

Netherlands

67%

74%

74%

82%

82%

85%

85%

85%

Percent who seek ad-vice from other people

Percent selecting each as a source they trust and find useful


Trust

Useful

Trust

Useful

Trust

Useful

Trust

Useful

Trust

Useful

Trust

Useful

Trust

Useful

Conversations with friends, family, co-workers

94 95 93 93 92 89 91 91 94 93 90 95 97 96

Comments posted by readers on a website

75 83 21 46 52 58 31 60 40 56 35 56 27 53

Blogs 56 63 8 18 33 39 7 14 13 18 10 19 11 19

BASE: Respondents who seek advice or opinions of other people when making a decision, (n=542)

Trust

Useful

94 92

34 49

11 15

Dutch consumers rely heavily on advice from other people when making decisions. They find comments posted by readers on a website relatively useful, but they do not necessarily trust them. When it comes to blog posts they find them both untrustworthy and not very useful.








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MicroBlogs

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How consumers feel about companies monitoring microblogs

China Japan U.S. Canada France Germany U.K. Netherlands

94%

74% 72%68%

62%56%

52%58%

14% 23

%

22%

7%

22%

23%

25%

21%

8%

21%

19%

35%

26%

27%

29%

31%

I would be glad they were listening and responding to my issueI would feel they were spying on me and violating my privacyI would feel they were taking no real action and it was just for show

BASE: Respondents who have a microblog account, (n=1,087)

Almost 90% has heard of micro blogging and 20% has an account. Companies who are monitoring

microblogs are mostly positive rated for creating conversational opportunities (58%).


Heard of micro blogging?

Have a micro blogging account?

Yes 87% 20%

No 13% 80%


I would feel they were spying on me and vio-

lating my privacy

I would feel they were taking no real action

and it was just for show

I would be glad they were listening and

responding to my is-sue

21%

31%

58%

BASE: Dutch respondents who have a microblog account, (n=112)

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Thank You

For more information on the Digital Influence Study, please contact:

David WolffAssociate Director Digital, Fleishman Hillard Amsterdam(E) [email protected] | (I) www.fleishman.com

(T) +31 20 406 59 30 | (F) +31 20 406 59 40

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.fleishman.com/

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