Did you know that female buyers control most spending on the Internet? In fact, over 20% of women are likely to shop online once per day. Proclivity to complete a transaction is not the only thing that makes women a highly profitable market to reach online. About 75% of women also like to provide feedback and participate in panels about the products and services they have encountered. This means that building a relationship with women online means that you can capitalize on insightful feedback.
Women are also valuable subjects of online marketing because they’re likely to promote your ads to their friends. A striking 91% of women are likely to pass on ads they like to others, according to research by Ogilvy & Mather. And the average woman’s contact list holds 171 subjects. That means a successful advertisement on your end can prospectively be passed along to many, many more eyes—and a recommendation from a friend on top of a great ad is the kind of marketing that would benefit any business. Making your ads easy to transfer, share or promote is a surefire way to take advantage of this angle.
Of course, before you charge into the online advertising fray, it’s important that you really understand your audience. For example, the rise of mom-themed web forums may lead some marketers to believe that women hold sway over the online marketing because they’re budgeting for a family or browsing child-related sites. But before you bust your budget on mom-centric online ads, you should know that the actual numbers show that only about half of the women shopping online are also mothers. Because women are barraged with marketing from all angles online, they’re increasingly selective about what they respond to, which means that you must grasp what women want from online ads.
What Women Want from an Online Ad
• Personalization – When it comes to advertising to women online, targeting may be surprisingly successful. According to a recent study by Q Interactive, a number of surveyed women stated that they like it when ads seem tailored to speak to them. Targeted ads can range from the highly personal (such as integrating a person’s name or region) to the more common interest-based ads which touch upon gardening or soccer or cooking or another related theme that the woman has previously related to, demonstrating an understanding of the individual woman’s likes and needs. More to the point, a majority of women stated that they would actually be interested in seeing more targeted ads from brands that they trust.
• Special Discounts – Q Interactive also sought to discover what makes online advertising most effective to women. As it turns out, most women prefer ads that offer incentives for them to click through, such as deals and special offers. The second-largest group of women claimed that they want to see brands try to learn more about their needs before trying to initiate a relationship. Close behind, women asked for ads that show further information about the product. In last place, a very small selection of women thought that online ads could benefit from consistency of communication.