Do Women Drive Word of Mouth Online?

A good e-marketing strategy takes into account the not insignificant fact that the majority of e-commerce shoppers are women.

Women surpassed men as users of the internet a long time ago, in the year 2000. Today they are all over the place browsing in and out of e-commerce sites, like they would among supermarket aisles, comparing prices and looking for deals.

For instance, even in supposedly male territory, women reportedly spent 80 cents of every dollar spent in sports apparel and, in addition, controlled 60 cents of every dollar spent on men's clothing.

When asked if they had shopped online in the last 30 days, more women (29%) than men (17%) said they had purchased items in the Clothes, Shoes and Accessories category. The same held true for other categories: Travel 24% women 20% men; Books 18% women, 13% men. More women than men made online

airline and hotel reservations; more medicine and remedies; more furniture and home accessories; and certainly, more cosmetics.

In the UK, according to eMarketer, 97 percent of female users do their research on products online, and 92 per cent of them end up buying them online. And even among the tech-savvy Echo Boomers, women under 30 both in the US and in the UK spend more time online than their male counterparts.

Because the Internet is a means for women to stay in contact and build relationships, they also make up the majority of social networking site users and, according to Nielsen, 55 per cent of mobile social media users. Women not only comprise the majority of Facebook and Twitter users, they are also more active (No surprise there).

With social media sites now flexing considerable muscle as e-marketing channels, these behaviour patterns among women make them primary drivers of word of mouth online. More than ever, women will be exerting a great influence, if they haven't already, in the e-marketing of any product or service.

Here are a few factoids about women online from Ogilvy and Mather: two in 10 female users shop online at least once a day; nine in 10 will share information about bargains and finds; in a crunch, six in 10 would ditch the TV while nine out of 10 would not give up their laptops.

Still and all, despite their presence, writ large, in both off and online markets, women tend to feel poorly served. Women feel misunderstood six out ten by food and healthcare marketers; seven out of 10 by automotive marketers; and eight out of 10 by investment marketers.

One last word to the wise e-marketer: Nine in 10 women say that advertisers don't understand them.