Remember the ladies

Editor's note: Amy J. Yoffie is president of Research Connections, Inc., an on-line marketing research firm in Westfield, N.J.

When John Adams went off to Philadelphia in 1776 to write the Declaration of Independence, his wife Abigail admonished him to "Remember the ladies" in the nation's laws. Abigail's words, which fell on deaf ears then, are coming back to haunt on-line marketers today, as they struggle to take advantage of the economic potential of the Internet in general, and the World Wide Web in particular.

If you have been on the Web recently, you have discovered, as I have, how little marketing to women there is. It's not that there aren't sites directed toward women - there are. It's just that advertisers are ignoring them. Few women-focused sites have advertising, as marketers concentrate their time and money on sites where they expect to find men. The reason? Marketers are convinced that, given the dominance of men on-line, they do not need to be concerned about women on-line. Their perspective tends to be: "Women are not there, so who cares?"

They should. For while most marketers focus on the fact that two-thirds of on-line users are males, they ignore the obvious point that one-third are females. According to a report from Forrester Research, the number of women on-line will grow over 250 percent to reach 18 million in the next four years. Furthermore, the report says, working women will be the fastest growing segment, followed by women attending college and educated moms who stay at home with their kids. Kate Delhagen, author of the report, states: "These influential female consumers will have a significant impact on the Internet's development as a medium for commerce, communication and entertainment."

The sheer size of this group is reason enough for marketers to search for ways to reach women on-line. Here are seven other reasons why marketers should heed the call to "Remember the ladies."

1. Women have money. Across a number of studies, median household income for Internet users has been estimated at $60,000. Women's Wire, a popular Web site for women, reports that more than 38 percent of women who visit there enjoy this same income level. Women on-line have discretionary income to spend and are willing to spend it. Last year, Regina Brady, CompuServe's director of interactive marketing, said that: "Women on-line are in higher positions and [earning greater] incomes than men on-line - you're getting influencers." So, not only will women purchase items on-line, they will influence others to do so, especially when they are presented with quality products and positive buying experiences.

2. Women are looking for ways to save time. Most women will tell you that the biggest problem they have is finding enough hours in the day. A survey administered by Interactive Publishing Alert (IPA) found that women are more likely to go on-line if they see a practical way to save time and money. The Forrester report confirmed this, finding that a major obstacle to women spending on-line is lack of time. This means that marketers must find ways to save women time on-line, with easy-to-use navigational tools and on-line ordering mechanisms that are fast, easy and efficient. In a recent on-line discussion, even women who like and have the time to go shopping in stores said they would shop on-line, if merchants made it easy and quick to order there.

3. Women are more likely to shop. Women purchase 90 percent of home products, clothing, health care and perishable products. There is no reason to think this pattern will change on-line, any more than we would expect men to change their buying habits. In fact, marketers confirm that men don't shop any more on-line than they do off-line. With median sales at corporate Web sites averaging $10,000 a year or less, one can only conclude that while men are the dominant users of the Internet, they are not doing so for the purposes of buying something. When they do shop, their purchases are targeted, which mirrors their off-line shopping behavior. They shop on-line to fulfill a social obligation - send flowers, buy cards, order an expensive gift. They also go on-line to get the best deal on equipment, comparing equipment features and costs. As noted by Phred Huber of Dean & Associates, on-line marketers have a choice - they can try to convert men into shoppers or they can reach out to the women already on-line and also work to attract more women to this new medium.

4. Women are heavy users of credit cards. Right now, credit card transactions are the most popular payment method on the Web. Therefore, marketers need to get the word out that using a credit card on-line is as safe - and perhaps safer - than using one in-person or by phone. As Newsweek's Jane Bryant Quinn noted recently, "When prudently used, the Net today is safe enough for personal shopping, investing, and even banking on-line . . . You're at a greater risk when you hand your credit card to a waiter than when you use it to shop by computer, provided that your electronic business is handled entirely in code." Marketers who reassure women that their on-line credit card transactions are safe are likely to see an increase in on-line business.

5. Women are going on-line seeking information. They are looking for solutions to health problems, political choices, how to parent, and more. According to IPA, "Women on-line are interested in software and quilting, political discussions and cooking, feminism and physics." The most successful commercial enterprises on the Web have been among marketers of big-ticket items, like automobiles, travel and electronics, where information is critical to consumers. It may be that they have been successful not because of the cost of what they are selling, but because of the amount of information they supply on-line. Ultimately, this is what makes the Web valuable to women, and these are the sites that women will visit before buying. Marketers who offer strong and informative content will attract women to their sites and earn both their loyalty and repeat visits.

6. Women are catalog purchasers. Marketers believe that one of the biggest obstacles to on-line shopping is the need to pay shipping and handling, but they are forgetting a very important segment of buyers - catalog shoppers. Women are the predominant catalog purchasers, and those who do so already accept these costs as the price of convenience. To save time, they are willing to pay the premium prices that on-line marketers charge.

Furthermore, women who order by catalog are used to making decisions without touching and feeling the merchandise. They also are used to waiting for their purchases to arrive. Marketers who make this process easy and who send E-mail order confirmations, as well as notifications when the merchandise is sent out, are most likely to attract and retain women buyers to their sites.

7. Focusing on women works. Companies have learned that if they target advertising to women, they can sell them traditional male-oriented products like software. Microsoft found this out accidentally when, after showing a TV ad of a mother using Encarta with her daughter, inquiries to retailers rose 40,000 higher than anticipated in a two-week period. In the fall of 1995, Borland software ran its first ad featuring businesswomen using Quattro Pro and reported that its sales rose 40 percent, with nearly all of these buyers being women. Similarly, when Borland conducted point-of-sale interviews to determine who buys games for children, nearly 100 percent were mothers who both brought the children to the stores and made the final decision about buying the products. This model will find success on-line as well.

So, while John Adams failed to heed Abigail's advice, marketers need not make the same mistake. Like automobile dealers who learned that women do in fact buy cars, those who seek to realize the vast potential of electronic commerce will have to expand their efforts to include all members of the buying public.

While the value of the Web as a marketing vehicle is still evolving, it is clear that if women are not at the table, the full economic benefits of on-line commerce will never be achieved. Already, we know that women need a certain comfort level about going on-line that shields them from harassment and makes it easy for them to find out what they want to know. Friendly, easy-to-find store fronts and cybermalls, comprehensive information that aids in the purchase decision, and ease-of-buying will vastly change the earning potential of the Web.

As noted recently in Advertising Age: "The developments of the next year will dictate whether the Web becomes an indispensable advertising vehicle or another over-hyped and under-delivered technology development . . . Next year is the year [on-line marketers] show value, or [they] don't survive." Delivering the potential of women buyers is critical to this survival.