Digital River and element 5 Announce Survey Results

September 21, 2004 - (HostReview.com) -  Digital River, Inc. (www.digitalriver.com) and its wholly-owned subsidiary element 5 AG, today announced the results of a global survey they conducted on the online buying habits of software consumers.

"We continue to leverage our acquisition of element 5, combining the strengths of our integrated organization to deliver more value to our clients and their customers," said Joel Ronning, Digital River's CEO.

According to the study, 90 percent of the respondents said that they purchase software once a year through online or offline channels. Of these respondents, 59 percent indicated that they buy software more frequently, purchasing a product at least every six months.

"With the majority of respondents purchasing more than one product a year, it is critical to leverage these opportunities to establish customer relationships," said Ronning. "We see an increasing number of publishers creating tighter integrations between their online and offline marketing efforts for this purpose."

Before software buyers decide to purchase software, they often use trial versions to test drive their selections. Of the participants surveyed, 29 percent download trial versions at least once a month, and 46 percent take advantage of this option once a year. Subsequently, 53 percent of the survey participants buy at least one of the five software products that they previously downloaded for trial.

"Software buyers continue to express a high level of interest in trial versions," said Gerrit Schumann, element 5's president. "For publishers, we believe this market response reflects the considerable impact online try-before-you-buy marketing strategies can have in boosting software distribution along with online revenue."

A study conducted by element 5 in 2003 indicated that 86 percent of survey respondents wanted to receive information about software offers and updates after purchasing software. The survey conducted in 2004 offered insight into the desired frequency of post-purchase product communications.

"These results underscore the desire of software buyers to receive product information that is customized to their personal buying habits and preferences," added Schumann. "That is why software publishers should not underestimate the value of communicating special offers directly to their customers to not only build customer relationships and loyalty, but also online sales."

element 5, a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital River, Inc., is an outsourcing partner for software publishers in more than 150 countries. The company offers e-commerce solutions and marketing services to help publishers increase the worldwide sales of their products over the Internet and through online channel partners.

Digital River, Inc., a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, builds and manages online businesses for more than 40,000 software publishers, manufacturers, distributors and online retailers.