EVEN with the record lowest Internet-connection speed in the region, there’s no stopping the Filipinos from being avid Internet users, spending the most time online compared to their counterparts in Southeast Asia, a global leader in digital content delivery reported.
According to the State of the User Experience research report released by Limelight Networks, almost half of consumers in the region, mostly the older ones, are online outside of work for more than 16 hours online, with the Philippines having the highest score of 47 percent, followed by Malaysia at 42 percent; Thailand, 38 percent; and Singapore, 35 percent.
This is a significant development, according to Limelight Networks Regional Sales Director Jaheer Abbas, despite the latest State of the Internet Report released last month by Akamai Intelligent Platform, showing that the country has among the slowest Internet speed in the world and among Asia-Pacific nations at 4.5 megabits per second (Mbps).
He attributed this to high levels of literacy and technology savviness among the population as compared to other regions.
“So there is a good adoption of newer forms of content and platforms on the Internet,” he told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview. “With the globally dispersed nature of the Filipino population, there is probably a high need to be socially connected among Filipinos.”
Citing the individual scores for each of the Asean countries, he noted that there are some critical distinctions among them.
When comparing Web activities, Filipinos are present most of the time on social-network sites at 4.39; on gaming portals, 2.74; and researching products, 3.59.
Thais, on the other hand, are too preoccupied reading news content (3.57), shopping on e-commerce and retailer sites (3), watching live videos of sports and other events (2.86), as well as seeing contents on sites like YouTube, Vimeo and news sites (3.84).
Meanwhile, Malaysians are moderate on their perusal of the worldwide web, as they come in second in terms of researching products (3.45), logging on social-media sites (3.99) and gaming portals (2.65); and ranked third as to their presence on reading news content (3.54), buying on e-commerce and retailer sites (2.95), watching live video (2.58) and content (3.73).
Singaporeans seemed to be the laggard when it comes to surfing the net for gaming sites (2.40); reading news content (3.30); researching products (3.23); social-media sites (3.53); watching live video (2.28) and content (3.55); except for e-commerce and retailer sites purchasing (2.96).
“Content owners can use information on consumer online behaviors to create services that can be accessed by these online users while staying on the social-media platforms they are so used to. For example, they could be consuming videos, reading news and playing social games, all while staying on their social-media platform,” Abbas said.
Mobile first
SIZE doesn’t matter anymore for Asean netizens, as the study reveals that consumers do access the Internet primarily via their smartphones at 3.37.
Region-wide, and even more specifically among millennials, the respondents utilize smaller screens to obtain digital experiences putting increased pressure on organizations to build those experiences with a “mobile first” mind-set.
While smartphones are the main “go-to” tool, what’s interesting though are the secondary devices, such as laptop (3.03); desktop computer (2.72); tablet (2.47); and smart television (1.84).
This trend is apparent among consumers in Southeast Asia, except in Thailand, where it is the desktop computer (2.92) as the second-most used equipment, next to smartphone (3.39). This is followed by notebook (2.67), tablet (2.49), and smart TV (1.86).
Although it is unclear why Thais would differ from their Asean counterparts in this regard, the Limelight analysis clearly shows that mobile rules.
Turning to social media
WHEN shopping on the Web, consumers mostly turn to social media as they engage in a variety of activities.
Per the report, the dominant event across the region is finding out what friends, family and other social connections think about a product at 34 percent.
They then engaged into it to find product-related information at 32 percent; look for online coupons, 28 percent; post pictures and videos of products, 23 percent; and engage with a company’s customer service to get hep buying the product, for pricing, etc., 17 percent.
There are exceptions, though, like in Singapore, where the majority of consumers (24 percent) employ social media to find online coupons while shopping, rather than seeking the advice of friends and family (19 percent).
Name of the game
SOUTHEAST Asians always look for immediacy in their journey to the digital world, the State of the User Experience research bares.
It is indicated that 84 percent of consumers expect fast performance of web sites across all devices when they employ to access the Internet.
Nevertheless, 73 percent of them anticipate access to be faster on a mobile device, like a smartphone or tablet, as 69 percent prefer a desktop or laptop computer.
By and large, the biggest fear of online retailers would be consumers leaving their portals due to technical issues.
Surprisingly, however, it’s not only the concern of the netizens, based on the results of the study.
According to the data, the majority of consumers (43 percent) will abandon a web site, and buy from a competitor, if the experience is too slow.
Filipinos, nevertheless, are exceptions, as 44 percent of them said they will least likely flee a site to purchase from somewhere else. Thirty-seven percent will do so, with 19 percent uncertain.
Since it is clear that performance impacts e-commerce sales, regardless of the country, web-site operators cannot afford to have their digital experiences load slowly or perform poorly, as it can impact the bottom line.
Overall, Aseans remain forgiving, albeit, a significant number indicates switching to other sites to make a purchase when frustrated by wait times. In fact, 77 percent agreed they would go back to a slowly performing portal to give it another chance.
Online expectations
WHILE speed is a priority of netizens, it is rated second only to “fresh and updated” content (38 percent versus 46 percent) when they were asked what is most important in a web-site experience.
Consumers, likewise, want a personalized Web experience (67 percent) as opposed to those who dislike it (17 percent).
Even though this sentiment is shared across the region, Singapore clearly has less of a desire for this kind of experience than their neighboring countries.
So what does it mean to have a “positive” Web experience? For Southeast Asian markets, that likely means a fast-performing web site, especially on a smartphone, with personalized and fresh content.
This, eventually, translates to positive brand affirmation, wherein consumers (91 percent) are willing to push a brand to a pal when they’ve had a good experience on it.
“[So] nearly everyone surveyed said they’re likely to recommend a brand to a friend if they have a positive Web experience, and on the flip side, that they’ll leave and go to a competitor if it isn’t a good experience,” Abbas said.
Millennials on the loop
THOSE born from 1980 onward are considered “digitally native”, but surprisingly, the report has millennials spending less time online than other age groups of consumers.
In Thailand millennials are online the least, with 34 percent online 16 hours or more a week compared to 42 percent for all other age groups.
The gap is even greater in the Philippines, where 39 percent of millennials versus 56 percent of all other age groups are online this amount of time.
Singapore has 39 percent of millennials versus 32 percent of other demographics. The ratio in Malaysia: 42 percent versus 43 percent.
Although they generally are less present online, millennials spend more time across a variety of activities than do other demographics.
To wit, they spend more time in every online activity compared to everyone else apart from reading news (3.43 versus 3.55).
Watching video content and online gaming demonstrates the largest gap between millennials and other demographics, illustrating their proclivity for online entertainment.
Millennials (92.5 percent) are just as open to recommending a brand to a friend when they have had a positive Web experience.
What’s more, they are more tolerant of poorly performing web sites in the Philippines and Malaysia than those in Thailand or Singapore.
Leveraging of digital experiences
THE online behavior of consumers across the region may vary online, but the report clearly demonstrates the need for businesses or organizations to prioritize the optimization of mobile experiences, understand the consumers’ expectations within each territory instead of implementing a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and accelerate web-site performance to keep visitors engaged.
Given this, Limelight Networks has identified four guidelines for organizations seeking to capture Southeast Asian consumer attention with Web experiences.
These include building for mobile first, creating personalized experiences, guaranteeing maximum performance by using technologies and keeping the portal updated as always.
Abbas said the knowledge that users spend the most time online on social-media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, is critical to brands and businesses.
“They can leverage this information when spending their marketing budgets to help improve their customer acquisition rates,” he suggested.
Insights into the activities (e.g., research, recommendation) that online users engage in before buying online, he added, is useful information for online brands looking to invest in those areas to further grow the brand awareness and mind share of online buyers.
“Brands and businesses should plan their marketing strategies around the mobile device, which tops the list as the undoubtedly most popular connected device. By building their apps for mobile devices and providing excellent user experience across these devices, brands can ensure they are keeping their consumers happy,” Abbas stressed.
The State of the User Experience-Southeast Asia report is based on a survey of 1,600 consumers chosen at random in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, aged 18 and over.