Emirates tops online user poll
Emirates Airlines website has come top of an AME Info online users poll of UAE companies, with 93.1% of respondents saying that it met their expectations of an international brand in the digital environment and only 6% saying that it did not.
United Arab Emirates: Wednesday, May 21 - 2008 at 16:11
The Emirates website scored consistently highest among users polled
related stories
Digital Marketing RSS feed
Digital marketing gives people 850 more reasons a day to buy
Facebook as a marketing tool: friend or foe?
Five reasons why some clients still fear online advertising
Embrace new marketing methods or die
How much can Google gobble up?
» more Digital Marketing news
Luxury hospitality company Jumeirah, Etihad Airways and property developer Emaar also all scored highly in the survey receiving 79.7%, 76% and 71.3% approval ratings respectively.
Dubai World owned developer Nakheel, famous for the Palm and World land reclamation projects, narrowly came fifth with a 69.3% approval rating from poll respondents.
The survey highlights the need by regional organisations to enhance their internet services and accessibility in order to be placed on a par with global standards.
'We phrased the question specifically to have the local websites compared to expectations of global international brands because that is exactly where these brands exist in the borderless digital environment,' says Dan Healy, CEO of market research company Real Opinions, who undertook the survey.
'Organisations should not be content with just being better than their main competitor in this region, they should look at the bigger picture should they truly wish to be recognised as an international global brand in this evolving environment.'
The remaining three companies on the survey all failed to hit two thirds user approval, despite the fact that all but one, telecom firm Du which received 50.1%, target an international client base.
Etisalat, which has expanded into new international markets across the region in recent years, came top of the final three with 62.2%, while Al Jazeera only managed 60.9%.
The figures take into account averages derived from respondents who had actually actively visited the websites.
Visible UAE brands
Worryingly for those companies trying to make an impact in a particularly crowded online marketplace only three of the brands on the survey, Emirates, Etisalat and Emaar had been visited by more than two thirds of respondents.
Emirates once again led the way, with almost 93% of all users saying that they had visited and used the site. Al Jazeera trailed behind with only 46% having logged on to the website.
This result underscores the massive ongoing global advertising and sponsorship campaigns that the Dubai-based airline has undertaken, ensuring that the brand has been kept at the forefront of public awareness.
Crucial website attributes
When questioned as to what aspect of a business website was most crucial, five categories of attributes were marked by over 80% of respondents as 'Very important’: Ease of navigation; product information; website and transaction security; up-to-date information; and reliability of delivery.
Only half of those polled felt that the overall design and look were 'very important’, while only 34% placed the same value on feedback from other customers.
With an increasing number of customers now having a first contact with companies over the internet, the survey highlights the need for regional brands of all sizes to actively pursue digital best practices.
'The internet is unique as users are literally leaning forward participating in the medium. The most important element website designers need to ensure is to provide information visitors to the website are looking for and to help them find it easily, it's all about usability,' says Healy.
'Our past research has shown there is a window of literally seconds before a visitor leaves your site if they can't find what they came for.'
As well as building a reputation for accessibility, security and reliability, companies must ensure that their online services have been well enough marketed or are prominent enough to ensure that potential customers are aware of them as a first port of call.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Symantec Annual Survey Reveals UAE Internet Users Fear Online Shopping
Symantec Annual Survey Reveals UAE Internet Users Fear Online Shopping
Symantec’s second annual consumer survey of more than 400
UAE residents who regularly use the Internet has revealed that 75
percent of respondents do not shop online due to fears that the
Internet is “unsafe” and “too risky”, adopting methods of avoidance
over the installation of protection programs.
The survey also revealed a shocking 78 percent of respondents
who transact online do so with no protection. Symantec says
these findings are a worrying increase compared to last year’s
survey results which found only 47 precent of respondents had
security solutions in place. Additionally for the second year hacking
and credit card fraud remained a front of mind security threat even
though 92 percent of respondents have never experienced any
form of fraudulent activities.
“The annual survey results demonstrate a lack of willingness on
the part of consumers to be proactive when it comes to protecting
themselves from online threats even though there are several easyto-
install security solutions available,” stated Kevin Isaac, MENA
Regional Director, Symantec.
“Consumer security products require minimal maintenance once
installed. They are easy to use and have automatic updates and
operations that run in the background, almost invisible to the user.
It is vital that consumers start making the effort to become more
educated about Internet risks and protection methods so they can
shop, bank and interact online fearlessly.”
Symantec’s second annual consumer survey of more than 400
UAE residents who regularly use the Internet has revealed that 75
percent of respondents do not shop online due to fears that the
Internet is “unsafe” and “too risky”, adopting methods of avoidance
over the installation of protection programs.
The survey also revealed a shocking 78 percent of respondents
who transact online do so with no protection. Symantec says
these findings are a worrying increase compared to last year’s
survey results which found only 47 precent of respondents had
security solutions in place. Additionally for the second year hacking
and credit card fraud remained a front of mind security threat even
though 92 percent of respondents have never experienced any
form of fraudulent activities.
“The annual survey results demonstrate a lack of willingness on
the part of consumers to be proactive when it comes to protecting
themselves from online threats even though there are several easyto-
install security solutions available,” stated Kevin Isaac, MENA
Regional Director, Symantec.
“Consumer security products require minimal maintenance once
installed. They are easy to use and have automatic updates and
operations that run in the background, almost invisible to the user.
It is vital that consumers start making the effort to become more
educated about Internet risks and protection methods so they can
shop, bank and interact online fearlessly.”
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Survey reveals UAE internet users avoid online shopping
by Quintin Smith on Tuesday, 04 March 2008 An annual survey performed by security solutions provider Symantec indicates that 75% of UAE internet users avoid online shopping because they believe it is "unsafe" and "too risky".
Meanwhile, out of those that do perform transactions online, a supposed 78% do so without any security systems in place.
Around 400 UAE residents were involved in the survey.
Con Mallon, EMEA Consumer Product Marketing Director, Symantec Corporation said the results "demonstrate a lack of willingness on the part of the consumer to be pro-active when it comes to protecting themselves from online hackers even though there are a number of easy to install security solutions available".
Symantec's survey follows a fairly positive survey conducted by the Arab Advisors Group in the second half of 2007, which showed the UAE to have the highest e-commerce penetration in the region at 25.1% of the total population.
The next highest nation was Saudi Arabia at 14.3%, followed by Kuwait at 10.7% and Lebanon at 1.6%.
While the UAE had the highest per capita online expenditure, Lebanon managed the highest expenditure per user, most likely due to its user base largely consisting of wealthy early adopters.
Meanwhile, out of those that do perform transactions online, a supposed 78% do so without any security systems in place.
Around 400 UAE residents were involved in the survey.
Con Mallon, EMEA Consumer Product Marketing Director, Symantec Corporation said the results "demonstrate a lack of willingness on the part of the consumer to be pro-active when it comes to protecting themselves from online hackers even though there are a number of easy to install security solutions available".
Symantec's survey follows a fairly positive survey conducted by the Arab Advisors Group in the second half of 2007, which showed the UAE to have the highest e-commerce penetration in the region at 25.1% of the total population.
The next highest nation was Saudi Arabia at 14.3%, followed by Kuwait at 10.7% and Lebanon at 1.6%.
While the UAE had the highest per capita online expenditure, Lebanon managed the highest expenditure per user, most likely due to its user base largely consisting of wealthy early adopters.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
