Men Like CNET, Women Like iVillage?

While there are several reasons why I like Yvonne DiVita so much, one of the biggest is – she’s not afraid to call it as she sees it.    Yvonne takes on Forrester Media and their report - Men Are From CNET, Women are from iVillage.   (yes – that’s the actual title- no kidding)

And men are beer-drinking, foul-mouthed pigs. Right? NOT! Women from iVillage are looking for recipes, gossip, chocolate, and more...just as men from CNET are really surfing for -- Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson. Let's drop the stereotypes, please. Men and women are different -- we admit it. However, according to this report women are a majority online that is predicted to continue increasing.

Yvonne – move over.  I’m going to climb out on that branch with you.   (Feeling rather like an oversize squirrel here).

OK.    Wow – nice view from up here.   Let’s explore a few of the findings from the report Men Are From CNET, Women Are From iVillage. 

Men Value Technology More Than Women – Not going to argue with you there.  Men probably value the actual technology itself more than women.  But women value what technology can do for them.   They are still interested in researching it, seeing how it can improve their lives and purchasing it.

Men Are More Active Online -   Don’t know what criteria they’re using to judge “more active” – do they mean spend more time, visit more sites, spend more money, take more actions?  All of the above?  Something to keep in mind is:  women often use the web to research and narrow down choices, then take actions offline. 

Women Favor Media Content About The Home, Fashion, And Family – Those are certainly subjects women care about.  Fashion is a no-brainer.  The Home and the family are usually under her care. But does that mean she has no interest in….say…B2B sites?

Is there ground breaking information in this report? I'm sure there's some very valuable information in it.  But I’d be more interested in reading a report on Why Women Visit Harley-Davidson.com and Men Love CookingChannel.com.   

Let me be clear - I’m not arguing with the findings of the report.  What concerns me is what companies will do with these findings; how they will try to apply them to their own websites.

If you’re a financial services site, should you focus your site mainly on men since they’re the ones checking stock quotes while women are busy downloading recipes?  You’d miss an entire market of divorced and widowed women planning their own financial futures, not to mention the 27% of all households in the U.S. headed by a single woman. 

Is your electronics website not bothering to understand the needs of women since the majority of people who purchase online are men?   You’d miss out on $55 billion of the $96 billion spent on electronics.  Are you tracking if she’s calling in orders by the phone?  Is she coming to your website to do research and narrow down her choices, then purchasing offline?  Are you measuring how online clicks result in offline ca-chings?

Are you a phone systems company focusing on selling systems to businesses – those businesses must be owned by men, right?   If so, you’ve just cut off half your audience.  10.6 million firms are at least 50% are owned by a woman or women.  Women are business owners, purchasing agents, HR directors – yet most B2B sites don’t take that into consideration.

Disclaimer:  I did not pay the $249 for the 7 page report.   I’m only commenting on the features they mention in the free summary.   My beef is not with the findings of the report, but what I’m afraid companies will do with it.  It is way too easy to misunderstand data.  See Online Survey's - Getting to Know You. 

I know I’m reaching a little here, but the title of the report alone cried out for a comment, and Yvonne DiVita’s post was just too good to pass up. 

Uh oh…..I think I hear that branch cracking.   I knew I shouldn’t have had that huge piece of carrot cake.   This is all your fault, Yvonne.

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

I take full credit, Holly. You are one wise woman. Say, do you like technology (let me guess...this is your blog so, I say yes!), do you surf the net for information? (you visit me, as I do you, so...again, the answer is yes), and do you research online to buy offline? (only you can answer that, but studies show the answer is yes.)

If that branch is cracking, then we're doing our jobs, aren't we? Whoopee for us! I am woman, hear me roar -- my home is now my store, my office and so much more!

[Sheronde Glover]

You make some very relevant points. I haven't read the original article, but I would have to agree, we must stop the stereotyping. Women, like men are interested in all kinds of information. It's not so much the topic, it's the method in which the information is presented that makes a difference. I know a lot of men that enjoy cooking, but they're probably not at iVillage looking for recipes. Our site, carbuyher.com talks about car buying, but we're speaking directly to women, not men. We understand that women buy cars and women, both married and single are often repairing cars and thus they need a place where they can get information that caters to their needs specifically.