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Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes

By | July 1, 2009, 8:38am PDT

Summary: A recent report from Nielsen (PDF) reveals that Apple.com was the number 1 hardware manufacturer Web site destination with 55.7 million unique visitors in May 2009. This more than doubles the number two Web site, HP.com, which received 21.3 million unique visitors during the same period. Anticipation of the new iPhone 3G S (sic) sent blog [...]

A recent report from Nielsen (PDF) reveals that Apple.com was the number 1 hardware manufacturer Web site destination with 55.7 million unique visitors in May 2009. This more than doubles the number two Web site, HP.com, which received 21.3 million unique visitors during the same period.

Anticipation of the new iPhone 3G S (sic) sent blog mentions up 1,226 percent week-over-week on June 8, the day of the announcement. After the initial announcement, buzz dipped but again picked up after the phone became available to consumers on June 19, with blog mentions more than doubling compared to the week prior.

More astonishing is the fact that Apple.com enjoyed an average time per visitor (sometimes referred to as a site’s “stickiness”) of one hour and 14 minutes. Many Web sites would be happy to be able to measure their stickiness in minutes as opposed to seconds and here comes Apple, which manages to keep visitors for over an hour?

To have an average visitor session of over an hour seems almost too good to be true. I mean, what are people doing on Apple’s Web site for 74 minutes? Watching the iPhone 3GS guided tour five times? Movie trailers? Support? Discussions?

Is Apple counting all the time that people spend browsing the App Store from the iPhone in that number? If so, I can see it.

74 minutes isn’t sticky, that’s the roach motel!

Tip: Blorge

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Topics

Web, Minute, Apple Inc., Web Site, Web Site Development, Web Technology, Channel Management, Internet, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
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View in thread
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App Store / iTunes
TylerM89 1st Jul 2009
I'm willing to bet that "apple.com" includes the iTunes and App Store areas.

I know Apple.com is a great looking site, but over an hour per visit? Come on.
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
Loverock Davidson 1st Jul 2009
Great questions, what exactly are the people doing on their site for over an hour? I watch a few trailers but that would be about 15 minutes at the most. Perhaps slow downloads of itunes so the person just keeps the site open while it downloads?
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
gow5350 1st Jul 2009
55M unique visitors isn't just double HP, its more than all others
combined. Site stickiness makes sense to me that same way
Apple's products make sense - they are enjoyable to use beyond
the basic needs. Their computers aren't just dumb work tools, the
site isn't just an information source.
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I wonder...
Rick_K 1st Jul 2009
I wonder how much of it, has to do with the news on Snow Leopard? I
spent about an hour there reading up on it. Maybe between that, and the
new laptops it's getting the hits?
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
ADMAVEN 1st Jul 2009
Impossible. Something is wrong here.
0 Votes
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Is longer really better?
jshaw4343 1st Jul 2009
I find it interesting that longer time is assumed to be a good thing. I worked for a company where long web visits were considered bad. It meant people were either taking too long to buy, or too long to get their questions answered.
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If your site...
msalzberg 1st Jul 2009
were interesting, and had a lot of information, perhaps people would
have stayed longer.

0 Votes
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Point is
jshaw4343 1st Jul 2009
We didn't want them to stay longer. We wanted them to spend money, or get their questions answered.
0 Votes
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What an excellent point.
NonZealot 1st Jul 2009
Thanks for injecting a little reality into this conversation. Considering Apple's support site is at apple.com, I really wouldn't be very happy about those stats.
0 Votes
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Do you have prof it is ALL "www.apple.com/support/'
Bruizer 2nd Jul 2009
Or are you just making things up to satisfy your self again?
0 Votes
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Oh Non(Intelligent)Zealot... jooooo soooo crrrrazy.
i8thecat 2nd Jul 2009
Considering Apple's video tutorials are on the support site, and they teach people how to do all sorts of cool things... I think they are very happy with those stats.

Here... go learn how to do something cool for a change...

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#iphoto
0 Votes
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I'd put the long times at Apple.com...
zkiwi 5th Jul 2009
All down to you, sitting there on their site, lusting day after day after the Apple products you want but will never get.
0 Votes
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Then you had limited information.
Bruizer 2nd Jul 2009
I think you are missing the point as well. Apple's site has more than
"buy or leave" or "answer your question" information. It has trailers
(that can chew threw lots of time if you are not careful), educational
videos, training, discussion groups among other things.

Some of these (like the Knowledge Base and support discussions) are
designed to answer specific questions. These are no better or not
worse than what you get from HP, Dell, MS or other tech company.
You go in, get your info and get out.

Some of these are not designed to answer specific questions (why is
my printer not printing the first line of text) but general things (what
can you do with iMovie and how to do it). Likewise, some are not even
designed to answer questions (what is that "Short" movie about I
heard about) and are designed to just keep you at the site.
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Did you know...
godsfault 2nd Jul 2009
that Apple, Inc. has the highest customer satisfaction rating among tech companies too?

Could it be superior products? (Think Occam's Razor here. To those of you who won't look it up: "To straightforwardly summarize the principle as it is most commonly understood, ?Of several acceptable explanations for a phenomenon, the simplest is preferable.?)

In other words, people buy Apple products and spend time at Apple's web site, simply because they prefer it to other web sites and other tech products. They think Apple is better.
0 Votes
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You live in a narrow hall......
rhonin Updated - 2nd Jul 2009
Before we comment on the "superiority" of the product, or how great their service is, mayhap we do a bit more digging and interject some intelligence into the conversation?

Most folks own a pc and as the cross section of population is extremely varied you will get a highly varied response.

Those that buy Mac's tend to be a smaller less varied cross section. They buy for the specific need or status and are generally a happy group. If the need to visit Apple.com for something other than a purchase will likely spend a bit longer on the site.. The number of sites that pertain to Mac topic is more limited. Add to this I suspect that this includes iPhone, Itunes, movies, etc... and I can see greater frequency and generally longer times spent there. But 74 minutes? Hmm.....

A significant portion of pc buyers are looking for the most they can get for the money and have 1k to spend. They will bounce around a lot or just go to stores. Another significant section know what they want, will spend minimal time and buy. They will puruse a multitude of sites to find answers and discuss issues. I own a high end Dell. I seldom look to Dell.com for my answers as it is not the best source of information. The remaining generally buy a pc, use it till it needs emergency care and take it to someone. No real visits to Dell ot Lenovo or..... As a result the times on these sitesshould be shorter and less frequent.

I wonder what really went into the figure?

0 Votes
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Ahh! How refreshing.
godsfault 3rd Jul 2009
This gentleman actually means to inject "intelligence into the conversation."

Shouldn't we be grateful?
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Satisfaction and Selection
DannyO_0x98 5th Jul 2009
I don't think I follow your reasoning about how a smaller user base
implies greater satisfaction reports.

Since we all accept that a Mac is more expensive, it would seem to me
that the disappointment would be greater if it didn't deliver. I know
there are some Windows advocates who suggest that Mac buyers are
idiots or shallow status seeking fashionistas, but I think that's glib
trash-talk trolling and not really an explanation for sustained high
satisfaction ratings.

Now, on the other hand, because lower prices may drive folks to the
pc products, I can see a real possibility that they are underbuying
specs and end up, relatively, dissatisfied.

Regarding specs, there are Windows advocates who argue that not
only are Macs more expensive, but they are underspecced. Yet, we
presume from the install base counts and market shares, that Mac
users are using Windows XP computers at work. They don't have to
pay any thing for the privilege of engaging in daily A-B comparisons.

So Mac users are familiar with Windows, buy more expensive Apple
machines that are, allegedly, underspecced and still prefer their Macs
and report good satisfaction ratings. A seeming paradox. I'd resolve it
by saying that business software on XP isn't great, Apple's consumer
software is well done, and people have more fun and less friction with
their Macs.

Software matters and Apple's insistent, some say over-controlling,
emphasis on this pays off, literally.

Apple's web site is hardware promotion, software promotion, company
news, tutorials, a download center for free, shareware, and demo
software, movie trailers, a store, and there are things I've left out.

Looking back over your comments, if I were a Dell rep, I'd be worried
that an apparently satisfied customer finds our website irrelevant and
doesn't visit, because that's the least expensive and most dynamic
advertising medium we have and your satisfaction is the best sales
pitch we don't have to make.
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I sometimes do business with companies with attitudes like that...
msalzberg 2nd Jul 2009
but just once.
0 Votes
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WTH Jason??? (H=Heck by the way)
i8thecat Updated - 2nd Jul 2009
Was it telling jshaw4343 to ask any woman if longer was better or asking if he knew any women?

Whats wrong with a little humor to lighten things up? It was a loaded question just begging for that response. How could anyone post that question not expecting the "ask a woman" response? He set, I spiked.

My original post had a ton of good on topic info in it as well.
0 Votes
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It is interesting to...
CowLauncher 2nd Jul 2009
read how the Apple haters rationalize this.
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
creep144 2nd Jul 2009
I know that most of my time there is spent not finding
answers to support questions, after an OSX update that
in my opinion was only tested on a machine
configuration that was only shipped to locations at the
bottom of the Mariana Trench, that in the end will be
fixed and answered by myself. It seems these days that if
it isn't broke then it will be as soon as someone notices it
operating as it should.
0 Votes
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I KNOW and have SEEN the
rhonin 2nd Jul 2009
inside of my eyelids....
I went
I saw
I fell asleep.
74 minutes later by my internal chronometer I woke and went to zdnet....

0 Votes
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Its a win/win.
James Quinn 5th Jul 2009
You got yourself some healthy rest and Apple padded its stats. Nobody is
harmed by your experiment least of all Apple:P

Pagan jim
0 Votes
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
mayadanteamihan 2nd Jul 2009
Do you visit apple.com at all? I enjoy the news they put up,
even if it's mostly about themselves and the things
professionals can and do with their hardware and software.
That's why I stay long to read them -- and yes, I also view all
those informative how-to-do videos that make life easy for
me on my Mac.

Were it not for these and the reliability and ease of use of the
Mac and iPhone, I would have stuck with Windows!
0 Votes
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
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RE: Nielsen: Average Apple.com visit lasts 74 minutes
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Many thanks ever before mulberry bag so for you personally individually publish.Basically many thanks! Terrific.

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