Who is the "average" surfer?

Is the "average" surfer your target?

[digitalghost]

I see people referring to the average surfer quite a bit. Apparently, to most web/devs and SEOs, the "average" surfer is below average in intelligence, incapable of finding anything on the mysterious web and needs to be directed with a firm hand lest this poor "average" surfer wander off into oblivion before availing himself/herself of all the goods and services provided on the information highway.

The conflicting information about the average surfer is everywhere. Most of them have never heard of Google. Most of them don't know how to send an email attachment, save an email attachment or configure their email client. The average surfer is 37, 34, 39 years old, the average surfer doesn't buy over the web, uses whatever page his/her ISP provides as the homepage and rarely finds anything of value because everybody knows the average surfer doesn't know how to use a search engine.

If all of this is true, why is everyone targeting the average surfer? Conversion rates are terrible for Joe Average, why aren't sites targeting the college educated males and females that are making 75k plus per year? Those are the people that are buying from e-com sites, spend more time online and know how to use the search engines. Aren't they?

Is everyone neglecting the average surfer? Or are we just repeating the rhetoric because we've heard it often and since we're "in" the industry elitism is creeping in?

If you operate a site that sells Mac software are you targeting the "average" surfer? Did you design the site for those poor average souls? I know 3 math profs that just finished a site dealing entirely with abstract theories, non-linear wave dynamics and bargaining theory. Will their "average" surfer be the same as those Candlehut "average" surfers?

Do we really know who that average surfer is? Are they all oafish, ill-educated, hard-core AOL users? Will they stay that way?

I think we tend to incorrectly classify the novice users as average and then continue to believe that novice users remain that way. Additionally, surfers are geting more web savvy every year and this trend will continue. Younger users are certainly getting an education that deals with the web, the internet and computers and they are going to be the people that drive all our future sales.

What prompted this late hour observation? Reading page after page of copy written by a professional copywriter targeting the "average" surfer. After hours of that drivel, I'd like to believe that the "average" person is brighter and better educated than perhaps many of us are giving them credit for being.

So, fess up. Who is your average surfer?

[Eric_Jarvis]

I'm a special case...my target surfer is in a desperate state and probably not thinking properly...they are also likely to be extremely impatient and easily discouraged...much like the denizens of WebmasterWorld I suppose

[Sinner_G]

Well, actually my 'average surfer' is my mom. She is not very computer literate, but does some surfing to find pages on whatever interests her (sewing, gardening,...). For that she uses the searchbox on her provider's page, which she does have as homepage. If she ever buys anything on the web, it is from Amazon, but that's only because I gave her that name (and the URL).

She is definitely NOT ill educated, but just did not grow up with computers around her. So what may be obvious to me isn't always to her. But if she gets around a site well, I know most people will too.

It is a fact that more and more of the population get on the net, but as younger generations as well as tech-savvy people are around since a couple of years, we have to expect the 'new kids on the block' have to be helped a bit more.

And in the end, we don't really target only the average surfer, the point is to target as many people as possible. Thus making sites for average users ensures more advanced people will find their way too.

[jackofalltrades]

are there any stats about the average users of each search engine (or at least the main ones)?

ie

Google, 69% male, 31% Female, 21-25, BC1, likes chicken and ice cream...

[BlobFisk]

Ok, I'll show my ignorance here: What is BC1?

[edit_g]

ABC1, C2, A1 etc etc are all designated classes used in market research. So in the A category we find Executives, Doctors etc, in B we find the majority of white collar workers and in C we find unskilled manual workers and so on.

PS- these definitions don't claim to be right, I can't remember exactly, its just to give some idea.

I agree completely with Sinner_g (any relation? ;))- my mother is my benchmark when I design. She knows how to get around the internet on a basic level but she doesn't know, for example, what a cookie is. I always try to get her to do a little cruise around any new designs because she always comes up with logical points that I just wouldn't have thought of- simply because I use the internet so much.

[korkus2000]

I completely agree with you digitalghost. I think the average surfer is not as savvy as we are being web developers, but they are not mentally handicapped either. As the Internet evolves in the next few years the average surfer's understanding will raise. I think we give the bottom 10% or lowest common denominator too much credit as the average surfer. My audiences are much more savvy being high school and college students. I find them able to use web applications very easily as long as the application follows some sort of standard.

[jackofalltrades]

yeh the ABC1C2D, etc stuff is totally outdated - invented pre-www and not much use in general (dont take into account students for example).

But, if a certain search engine showed to be used primarily, say, by young professionals, a site selling widgets to young professionals may do well by focusing its SEO efforts there, rather than spending a lot of time on each search engine (ok, obviously dont ignore the rest tho!).

[Sinner_G]

Korkus, when you say high school and college students, do you mean that they are at high school/college or are they graduates? Makes a big difference, as people who were in college 20 years ago did not see many computers there, as opposed to today's students who give in all their papers on computers.

[edit_g]

If, as korkus2000 says, there is a lowest common denominator made up of 10% of internet users then why not design for them? Design for the "novice" and you know that the other 90% will find it easy, and the novice will be comfortable.

If you know your audience very well, then it is easy to design for them. If you aren't too up to speed on who you are designing for then design for the worst case.

One of the main problems with online marketing is that, while you may know who you want to target, there is no way to be sure that these are the people coming to your site. You can't exclude anyone. With traditional marketing most publications and other means of advertising are extensively ABC audited. On the internet people could be coming from any part of the world and any social strata. You can try to keep your advertising and link building topical, but you still might not be able to attract, let alone know, who you're targeting.

I'm not saying that it is impossible to attract the right kind of people for your site- they usually find their own way there- but it is hard, and even harder to tell who they are. For someone like me, with a very general site, the best thing is simply to look at where the best conversion rate is coming from and concentrate on that avenue. I don't care who they are, as long as they have credit cards.

[korkus2000]

They are currently in college, high school, or in their twenties. Most of my sites are for underground topics targeting a younger crowd. I completely agree with edit_g that you need to know your audience. I spend a lot of time pinning down who my audience is. I try to create sites for them. I find out what works at other sites for my target audience and what makes them successful. I know my joe surfer is probably one of the most Internet savvy groups out there.