What do women want? It turns out they want some very specific things from you as an online marketer. And since women now comprise 51% of the Internet population, and spend $6 trillion a year, it’s important to know what those things are, said Michael Streefland, vice president of marketing and creative services at iVillage.
“We learned more about marketing to women in the last seven years than in 100 years of advertising,” Streefland said, at a session on marketing to women online at AdTech in New York.
One abiding bit of knowledge: They are busy and use the Internet for solutions—parenting information, meal planning, product and price comparisons—for all kinds of products. “They are coming online to find out what they need right now,” he added.
And women are not just buying apparel and cookbooks. Some 45% of all consumer electronics sales are made by women, said Kathy Sharpe, CEO of Sharpe Partners. It’s a myth that they don’t buy technology products, she said.
Forty-one percent of women online have bought a PC in the last year, and 46% of digital camera purchasers are women, Sharpe added.
But, marketers have to do research to determine exactly how to reach their female customers. “Relevance to her life” is what she values most, Sharpe said.
Two studies—one by iVillage and the other by Roper ASW--came to similar conclusions about women’s online shopping behavior.
The studies’ conclusions? Be respectful of her time and keep it simple. Streefland showed an ad of a mother in the water with her child, smiling, relaxed. But the ad is a mass of text. “It’s actually for Rheumatoid Arthritis, but you’ve lost her,” Streefland said.
Another conclusion from the research is, be respectful of her sensibilities. Streefland showed two ads for condoms. The headline on one: “Test your condom right here. Right now.”
The second one read, “Very often the best contraceptive for a woman is the one for a man.”
“The second message had a 79% stronger performance,” he said. It worked better because it did not assault the reader with a strong, hard-to-take message.
A third study conclusion is give something back and be relevant, Streefland said. The ad he showed read, “Birth control pills can clear up your skin.” This ad worked because it emphasizes the benefit, without going into details about the pill she’s decided to take but doesn’t need to talk about to get the message,” Streefland said.
“At the end of the day consumers react to the Internet the way they would to any type of advertising,” he said.
When it comes to cosmetics and hair care, Revlon found that women want a place for “creativity and self-expression—a place to have fun.” said Kimberly Lyons, manager of integrated marketing at Revlon.
Also, since 70% of women on the Web are visiting a site for product information, the beauty products company wanted to provide all the help they could to drive customers to the retail store.
For a hair-coloring site, www.highdimensionhair.com, Revlon created a destination where women could experiment and learn so they would feel prepared to buy, Lyons said.
Since some women were experienced with hair color, and others would be first-time experimenters, it was crucial to make it so no one would be disappointed, she said.
One button on the home page was “Your Color Adviser”—for the novice. A personal questionnaire and a shade chart lead the newcomer into the world of hair coloring to help her choose her shade. Personal stories highlight the margins and there’s even a way to send your color choice to a friend for her opinion. Another button, “Expert Tips” enhances the knowledge of the experienced hair color user. New ideas about hair color, doing away with streaks, color maintenance tips and professional hair color commandments are choices here. At the end, the visitor receives a store recommendation.
The result? “Web site and page views doubled,” said Lyons.
