Delvinia’s Internet Voting Report Gets Radio Play in B.C.

Delvinia’s DIG report on eDemocracy and Citizen Engagement got some airtime on a radio station in Victoria, B.C. this week.

On Thursday, Nicole Goodman, a PhD candidate specializing in Canadian political institutions and alternative voting methods and the principal author of the report, spoke to Frank Stanford of CFAX 1070.

Nicole talked about the Town of Markham‘s experience with Internet voting in the 2003, 2006 and 2010 municipal elections and pointed to the fact that there has been overwhelming satisfaction and support for Internet voting among those who used the option to cast their ballots.

“There is definitely a large public support for Internet voting at all levels of government,” Goodman said during the radio interview.

The DIG report—based on our involvement in three consecutive elections—provides a comprehensive review of Canadian attitudes toward Internet voting in Canada, demonstrates how Canadians are embracing digital technologies to interact with government and illustrates why Markham is the ideal pilot site for Internet voting in future federal and provincial elections.

Delvinia Releases Dig Report on the Social Shopper

Understanding how consumers incorporate digital technology into the retail experience is the focus of the latest Delvinia Dig report, being released today.

The Social Shopper: A Lens into the Future of Retail Experiences highlights seven major trends around the use of digital technology in the purchase process and examines what retailers and product manufacturers should be doing to court digitally-savvy shoppers.

“As we all know, the Internet and social media have created a landscape where consumers are a more significant force than ever before,” says Delvinia C.E.O. Adam Froman. “As part of our culture to play, learn and grow, we wanted to better understand the consumer-retailer relationship so we asked ourselves: How can retailers and manufacturers leverage digital media to create effective customer experiences?”

While it remains true that digital behaviours vary from product to product, and from person to person, the data provides the following insights into consumer behaviour:

- Sixty-one per cent of shoppers surveyed research products online prior to making a purchase. And, they do so at least 50 per cent of the time.

- Sixty-five per cent of Canadian shoppers look for consumer reviews and recommendations while researching online, this is second only to price.

- One in five Canadian smartphone owners use their phones to search for product recommendations while shopping.

- One third of smartphone owners have used their phones to take pictures of a product while shopping.

“This report provides a perspective for retailers to look at their customers in a new way,” Froman says, adding, “We conduct these proprietary surveys as part of our ongoing effort to understand the digital behaviours of Canadians. This report, along with our other profiling data, is the foundation of our unique approach to developing effective digital customer experiences.”

To download the complete Delvinia Dig report on the consumer use of digital technology and the future of retail experiences, visit www.delvinia.com/digreport/.

A webinar based on this report will be held at 2 p.m. on March 10. To register, visit https://delviniainter.webex.com/delviniainter/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=933639922.

Mobile GPS, oh where art thou? Managing the Hype: The Reality of Mobile in Canada

GPS awareness and usage on smartphones is still relatively low among Canadians, particularly among Boomers and the 65+ crowd. Even some 38% of NGen don’t know or aren’t sure whether their smartphones are GPS-equipped. Given these stats, it isn’t surprising that few Canadians use their mobile GPS on a weekly basis.

Why this lack of awareness and relatively low usage rates of GPS across all generations?

One reason could be a lack of association of GPS with a mobile device. Most customers were first introduced to GPS in their cars with the wide-spread inclusion of in-car GPS systems in the 1990’s. When consumers think GPS, they automatically think of in-car systems – not their mobile devices.

Also, in-car systems are more user-friendly and are generally safer to handle while in transit. They offer real-time voice navigation with onscreen turn-by- turn directions. Mobile GPS in comparison, is only beginning to offer these features now in Beta or to business subscribers.

Canadian consumers also think that setting up GPS on their mobile phones is complex and time-consuming, stating “it’s too small and I haven’t had time to investigate how to set it up” or “I don’t know how it works.” As with any other feature, customers want ease of use. They don’t want to have to learn how to set it up or how to use it – they just want something intuitive.

Another implied factor which could affect the relatively low usage is consumer habits. Respondents indicated that they didn’t need mobile GPS as they determined a route for their destinations in advance. In the case of an impromptu need for directions, many Canadians fell back onto existing behaviours such as calling their destination directly, looking it up online before leaving home, or even using paper-based maps.

Some habits and perceptions just take time to break. However, marketers and product developers take note, this will create opportunities for you to better educate and engage with consumers of GPS mobile.

To gain more insights into how, download the complete Delvinia Dig quarterly report on mobile at www.delvinia.com/digreport/.

Do you know if your smartphone is GPS enabled? If so, do you even use it? Tell us.