Survey Results
How Do Specifiers Find Your Product Information?
In our 2006 4specs Survey of specifiers:
- Specifiers were twice as likely to use the Internet as print for product research. And 86.7% of their Internet research takes them to your website, either through 4specs, Google, Yahoo, or directly.
- 72.7% of respondents named 4specs as their most frequently used industry specific Internet product research tool (vs. 15.2% for Sweets, 7.3% Arcat, 4.9% First Source).
- 4specs' greatest strength is among high-volume, full-time specifiers. For instance, 41.7% of full-time independent specifiers use 4specs daily and 66.7% use us weekly. These professionals average 45 projects per year totaling $379 million.
An independent research survey conducted for 4specs by Verified Audit Circulation. This was a survey of all 1,081 CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) Certified Construction Specifiers and members of SCIP (Specification Consultants in Independent Practice). A total of 285 telephone surveys were completed (26.4% of the population).
Architectural Products - the product magazine of the U.S. architectural market - completed their online survey of their users. This is a very different pool of respondents than the 4specs surveys. The key points from the 4specs perspective are:
- Top sources of Product Information (for initial product searches)
1. Manufacturer's Websites 65.7%
2. Industry Magazines 49.3%
3. Professional Experience (previous use/knowledge of product) 46.8%
4. Colleagues 32.4%
5. Manufacturer's Reps 30.9%
6. Sweet's Catalogues 27.8%
7. Industry Events/Trade Shows 23.9%
8. Other 5.8%
- Primary Source for Finding Product Information Utilized in Specifications
1. Manufacturers' Websites 50.0%
2. Manufacturer Supplied Binders 19.2%
3. Manufacturers' Reps 10.5%
4. Sweets Catalogues 9.2%
5. Other 4.3%
6. Arcat 3.7%
- Use of Internet for Product Research - Increased Considerably/Somewhat 95.9%
- Use of Catalogs for Product Research - Decreased Considerably/Somewhat 46.2%
Methodology:
We sent one email to the 150 SCIP (independent specifiers) and 150 registered members of the 4specs discussion forum and posted the survey on the 4specs website for about 3 weeks. The person had to print out the questionaire and fax it back to us. We requested their name and in 95% of the cases got a name and company. We had 113 responses to the survey.
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