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According to a recent controlled e-mail survey (To take part in our upcoming email surveys, click here) of 500 canadians, it was discovered that as many as 40% of Canadians are unhappy with the availability and variety of Canadian services offered on the Internet. This is a surprisingly high figure considering the strong presence the Internet has in our day-to-day lives. Over one third of us have connections in our home and even more have access at work.

Those that are unhappy claim that there are only a limited number of good Canadian sites and that it's difficult to find much Canadian content. As part of identifying overall satisfaction, respondents were asked to select the statement (below) which they agreed with most:

Rating Corresponding Statement

• Very satisfied: "I can always find what I'm looking for and I'm happy with the choices which are available to me."
• Somewhat satisfied: "It's fairly good, however there are some key services or resources which I can't find."
• Somewhat dissatisfied: "There are only a limited number of good Canadian sites."
• Very dissatisfied: "I can never seem to find much Canadian content."

Some Important Industry Sectors Are Going Unnoticed Study participants were also asked to rate the on-line visibility of various Canadian industries (with 1 being not visible at all and 10 being extremely visible). Answers show that some important sectors have not developed a very strong Internet presence.

Respondents advised that those with the weakest presence are individual private sector companies and charities.

Only two groups (bank, finance and investment & media, news and publishing) achieved relatively high ratings. All other sectors need to become more visible on the world-wide web.

The On-Line Visibility Of Various Canadian Industries (1 being not visible at all, 10 being extremely visible)

• Bank, finance and investment - 7.3
  
• Media, news and publishing - 7.1
  
• Government organizations - 6.9
  
• Educational organizations - 6.5
  
• Entertainment/diversions
  (ie. music, games, movies) - 6.3
  
• Directory/information services
  (ie. maps, phone books, search engines) - 6.3
  
• Travel, tourism and hospitality
  (restaurants, Cdn. holidays, local nightlife) - 6.2
  
• Private sector companies
  (both large and small) - 5.4
  
• Charities and non-profit groups - 4.4
  

Part Of The Problem Is That We Are Not Relying On Canadian Services
A small percentage of respondents (15%) couldn't say who provides most of the web services they use. The majority of those who have paid attention, however, advise that the services they use most often, even if they carry Canadian content, are run by foreign companies.

Is it any wonder that a large part of our web activity remains unseen?

Does Canadian Business Need To Be On The Internet?
As more and more people jump on the Internet bandwagon there are fewer groups which dismiss e-commerce as a flash in the pan. For those who persist in claiming that it holds no real value, here is an interesting figure:

Almost a third of survey respondents advise that they have either visited a Canadian website, used a Canadian service or purchased a Canadian product as the result of on-line advertising.

The message is clear that the general public is actively looking for Canadian sites and that Canadian organizations which succeed in being noticed are getting their message across. Do the math: one third of us (out of approximately 31 million people) have the Internet at home and a third of those are willing to change their browsing habits to visit a Canadian site if it seems interesting.

That's as many as 3.3 million people almost begging to beat a path to the door of some lucky Canadian website.

To find out how Netfusium can help your business achieve success on the Web click here or call 514-668-2183.

How This Survey Was Conducted
The fieldwork for this project was conducted during the month of February. Five hundred study participants were recruited from on-line Canadian discussion forums (i.e. moderated bulletin boards, usenet groups and opt-in mailing lists) which address a wide variety of topics. A high level of co-operation was received from residents in all provinces as well as among all age groups, from young adults through to senior citizens.

Note: This is not an anonymous Internet survey. Participants were required to provide full contact information including first and last name, a contact phone number and complete demographic information to be eligible to take part. Once this was done they were directed to a dedicated web site with a secure survey form.

Study Accuracy
A survey of 500 respondents from a total Canadian population of 31,156,3931 (from Statistics Canada, reflecting an October 2001 population count) has a statistical accuracy of +/- 4.3% , 19 times out of 20.

Market Research On The Internet
The commonly accepted estimate is that over one-third of Canadians have an Internet connection at home and an even higher percentage have access via their workplace. As long as the proper controls are in place a study conducted among those with access to the Internet will accurately reflect the views of the entire Canadian population with a margin of error of 0.3%, 19 times out of 20.

To take part in our upcoming email surveys, click here.