Online user characteristics and differences from traditional consumers

Marketing

There are few differences between the online consumer and the "traditional" consumer. The reality is that there are 245.2 million Internet users in the United States (Internet World Stats, 2012) out of a population of 313.9 million people in the country (CIA World Factbook, 2012), for a total saturation of 78.11%. Once the elderly and indigent are excluded -- neither of which would be in the target market for health care education anyway, basically there is 100% overlap between Internet consumers and the general population. That means that for many consumers, online education is perfectly substitutable with offline education. The main differences can only be described in terms of the way that the services are used.

The consumer of online education is primarily somebody who is either working or has a family and therefore cannot easily relocate for school, somebody who prefers a lower cost of education and somebody who is less concerned with quality or school reputation (although we are taking steps to overcome that deficiency). This user therefore is probably older -- because of the working situation or the relocation issue -- and probably has a more specific career path in mind as a result of that. The online education consumer may also be somebody in another country who is seeking to gain credentials to work in the West, or somebody who has already immigrated to a Western nation and needs to upgrade their home country training in order to be employed in the West. For example, a nurse trained in the Philippines might not be able to work as a nurse in the U.S. until having completed an educational upgrade.

Computer-mediated decision support systems are critical to influencing consumer behavior online. Kim, Ferrin and Rao (2008) point out that trust is the most important factor in the buying decision. The purchase choice that the site is guiding is first and foremost to the institution, but with a secondary emphasis on driving online enrollment. The strategy is to use the reputation of the offline school Med Ed to sell the online school Cyber Health. The use of interactive questionnaires, for example, can help the student to understand the different courses that may be suitable, by asking questions and using those responses to help guide the student to specific purchases. In addition, this would serve as a valuable data-gathering tool. Additionally, tracking user surfing patterns can be helpful in guiding the site designers to create a more cohesive user experience. Remembering users through cookies can allow users to revisit the site and pick up surfing where they left off, creating a more personal shopping experience. The site should also focus on selling the benefits, while reducing the perceived risk, as Kim, Ferrin and Rao (2008) prescribe.