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German Study: Women Think Differently

Recent studies show that 90 percent of “fast-moving consumer goods” purchases in Germany are decided on by women. That has made reaching women a current hot topic in marketing circles. To gain greater insights into the minds of these consumers, Ketchum Germany recently conducted a survey that uncovers some of the ways that women think differently than men.

From the survey of 1,000 men and women, called Women Think Differently, we know that German women not only are multi-minding, but they tend to have up to 10 thoughts in any five minutes – compared to only three thoughts for men. Similarly, 49 percent of women said they “spend more time thinking about others and what they need” than they spend thinking about themselves, while just 32 percent of men said the same.

While thinking about and caring for others can be a source of mental stress for women, it also is an important motivator. For public relations programs that promote products or brands, appealing to this “caring” factor can be a great opportunity to win the attention of women who constantly think about the needs of their children, spouses, parents or friends. But it must be done carefully – without magnifying the stress.

The survey also revealed that while 62 percent of women turn to news media as their primary source for information, women generally view “friends and family” and “experts” as most reliable. Interestingly, the reliability of these sources varied for different industries and products. For instance, for information on beauty products, “friends and family” was seen as most reliable (by 42 percent of women), but for health products women said “experts” were most reliable (38 percent). But no matter what the product, women clearly trust “friends and family” and “experts” more than media. That suggests that more public relations programs should focus on these influencer groups in addition to traditional media.

One such program that has been successful in Germany was designed to support a bonus and incentive system called “Payback,” through which women can collect points by making purchases with a special card. The program asked women to log on to a special Web site, join an online game and recommend the game to other participants. At the end of the campaign, every user was awarded extra bonus points that could be exchanged for gifts from Payback's retail partners. This word-of-mouth campaign increased the number of participants in the Payback system by 10 percent.

Until recently, that kind of Web-based campaign would not have worked for German women. For a very long time, the Internet was seen as a male tool, but today 47 percent of all online users in Germany are female. Women are catching up. What's more, a recent study (supported by Ketchum) at the European University Fresenius in Cologne showed that women tend to use more Web 2.0 tools and techniques than men. This is especially true of social communities. Women collaborate in online networks, so we see in Germany a rise of new social communities, such as Womenweb, Gofeminine, and others, with growth rates of 20 percent per month. That's a very good reason for marketers and PR experts to use this new kind of media.