"The Touchpoints survey results show that different product categories require tailored marketing tactics, although it's becoming clearer that very few product categories are immune to online sales" said Doug Knopper, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Online Advertising at DoubleClick. "While TV still impacts awareness, the influence of interactive marketing -- including advertising, search, and email -- is chipping away that share. For example, for the first time we see Internet ads driving awareness in categories such as personal finance. In addition, online continues to have a profound impact on the further learn and purchase decision phases across most categories."

As part of the survey, DoubleClick asked consumers about their purchases within the last six months in the following ten categories: Auto, Electronics, Food, Health & Beauty, Mortgages/Investments and Credit Cards/Retail Banking, Movies, Prescription Drugs, Telecom Services, Personal/Household Care (to reflect packaged goods) and House & Home (furniture, appliances and home decor). The survey examined the sequence of how consumers first learn about products in these categories, how they further learn about them and which factor most influenced their purchase decision.

TV's Influence on Awareness Decreases Television dominates only 5 of 10 categories as the media with the most influence on the First Learn or Awareness phase of the purchase process. Awareness for Travel is driven by travel websites, Credit Cards/Retail Banking by direct mail, Mortgages/Investments by Internet ads, and Personal/Household Care and Home Products by print. Notably, the influence of television declined significantly in the past year in categories like movies, automotive and electronics.

Online Plays Major Role in Further Learn/Purchase Decision

The role of websites and online marketing has significant influence in driving the Further Learn and Purchase Decision phases for Auto, Electronics, Home Products, Prescription Drugs, Movies, Travel and Telecom (more commonly purchased goods, such as those in the Personal/Household Care category continue to be more influenced by TV and print).

Degree of Influence: Websites Often Match or Outrank Broadcast and Print Media

This year's survey asked respondents to rank the influence of various factors on the purchase process to develop a picture of relative impact. All answers were ranked on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being highest. Again, online showed enormous influence across many categories.

For example, in Mortgages/Investments, news and financial sites have greatest impact, ranking at 4.5, closely followed by company websites at 4.3. For Telecommunications, company websites outranked any other media form at 3.5, followed by TV ads at 3.3. Where does TV still outrank online? The Movie category, for one, is still largely driven by TV ads, ranking at 5.0. But online movie reviews have a similar impact to newspaper ads: they each rank 2.7.

The Influence of Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is increasing in impact but its influence varies by category. It is an important factor in more complicated purchase categories, such as consumer electronics and prescription drugs. For example, 53% of survey respondents say that search is how they found websites for Prescription Drugs, versus only 7% who guessed the URL. However, search is used less often in Telecom, a category with a small number of high-awareness brands: 38% used a search engine while 36% guessed the URL.

Permission-Based Email Here to Stay

Overall, nearly half of consumers who had made a purchase reported interest in or are already receiving email updates about those products/services. Across categories, 54% of consumers who visited a corporate website requested more information, 32% by email, 16% by email and mail, and only 6% preferring the information solely by mail. Overall, permission-based email has achieved high levels of penetration in categories like Travel, Credit Cards/Retail Banking, Mortgages/Investments, but still shows great potential in other categories, especially Auto, Personal/Household Care and Electronics.

Death of a Salesman?

There is a direct correlation between the growth in usage of the Internet for the research phase of the purchase process and the decline in impact of the salesperson. For all categories surveyed, on average, nearly 40% said the Internet had decreased their reliance on some sort of intermediary, whether it was a broker or an in-store salesperson.

Methodology

Working with Beyond Interactive/Grey Worldwide and using the Greenfield Online panel, DoubleClick first developed the Touchpoints study in 2002 by breaking the purchase process into three distinct phases: First Learn (awareness), Further Learn (research/information gathering), and Purchase Decision (most influence). The study was fielded for the second time in December of 2003 with a total of 2,000 completed surveys with a minimum of 200 per product category. There was an even split of adult male and female respondents.

An executive summary of the findings is available at Double Click.

About DoubleClick Inc.

DoubleClick is the leading provider of tools for advertisers, direct marketers and web publishers to plan, execute and analyze their marketing programs. DoubleClick's online advertising, email marketing and database marketing solutions help clients yield the highest return on their marketing dollar. In addition, the company's marketing analytics tools help clients measure performance within and across channels. DoubleClick Inc. has global headquarters in New York City and maintains 19 offices around the world.