The Gender Gap in Product Category Conversations
by John Moore TalkTrack Conversationalist, September 20, 2010Tags: Brands, Conversation Catalysts, Keller Fay Group, Social media, TalkTrack®, WOM, Women, word of mouth
According to my unscientific life experiences, women are more talkative than men. Published studies seem to back up my experiences. Various estimates from numerous studies reveal women speak about twice as many words per day as do men.
It’s also commonly cited that 85% of all purchase decisions are made by women. A recent Advertising Age white paper, THE RISE OF THE REAL MOM, cites a Boston Consulting Group study that discloses, “women control $4.3 trillion of the $5.9 trillion in U.S. consumer spending” and “73% of household spending.”
Women have clout when it comes to spending power and purchase decisions. Women also have clout as it relates to being a Conversation Catalyst™.
In an earlier post we learned Keller Fay uses the Conversation Catalyst™ system to measure and track consumers who disproportionately drive word of mouth conversations about products, services, and brands.
Of the total Conversation Catalysts™ Keller Fay tracks, 55% are women and 45% are men, which means women have tremendous talkative power when it comes to brand-related conversations.
Given women control household spending, it’s interesting to learn which product categories they discuss most often as compared to men.
According to a recent Keller Fay TalkTrack® study, 34% of American women discuss Personal Care & Beauty brands and products at least once a day compared to only 18% of men. Other product categories where women outtalk men include: Health & Healthcare, Retail & Apparel, and Food & Dining. This revealing slide shows the gender gap for conversations about particular product categories.
Did you notice that men outtalk women in just three product categories: Sports & Hobbies, Automotive, and Technology. Yet, marketers probably aren’t devoting enough of their advertising budgets and creative messaging to appeal to the powerful and talkative female consumer.
Writing in his latest book, WHAT WOMEN WANT, retail anthropologist Paco Underhill makes numerous suggestions for how brands can better appeal to the female consumer. His most attuned strategic advice for marketers wanting to reach women is, “Men buy instruments of technology, whereas women buy instruments of relationship.” And when it comes to conversations between people, it’s relationships that matter most.
Feed
