Elderly Visitors

Sunday, February 24, 2008 Sunday, February 24, 2008

Last October I wrote about a strange phenomenon occurring at my store, Electric Pixels. I had examined my traffic counter and found that the age of my visitors was gradually increasing over time. At that time I speculated that it was perhaps due to:

  • The same set of customers continues to visit, and they simply get older over time? (This can't be true because inspection of the transaction log shows few repeat long-term customers. Yes, there are repeats, but the majority of customers are new to the store.)
  • Perhaps as my avatar gets older and more experienced, he makes more sophisticated products that attract a more sophisticated clientele? I'd like to think so!
  • As knowledge of these products increases via word-of-mouth, older avatars become aware of Electric Pixels and come by to shop? If so, where did the young ones go? This graph might be indirect evidence of word-of-mouth viral promotion, which is typically not easily measurable.
  • Perhaps the more recent arrivals to Second Life simply don't buy as much as those who joined earlier? We know that Linden's policy changes have affected the makeup of the Second Life residents somewhat - maybe this is one of the side effects?

I thought it was time to revisit the data, especially after reading this paradoxical article in New World Notes. Here's the result in 2D graphical form: the customers are continuing to get older. Virtually no newbies come by, as the majority of the customers are now 1+ years old. In SL, I mean!

The NWN article suggests another cause may be at work: there simply aren't as many newbies any more! Also, I suspect another factor may be at play. The new signups may have a disproportionate number of alts created by existing avatars, and they do their shopping with the main avatar that has the fattest wallet.

We all do this, don't we?

4 comments:

Dedric Mauriac said...

I've seen the same trends myself on both the mainland and my sim. One thing that I have noticed is that my traffic meter from slbuzz doesn't appear to pick up on newbies. I have a money tree that newbies pull from all the time, but they simply are not reported upon in the results.

Anonymous said...

I'm curious. Have you changed your promotions or advertising at all over this period? If so, this could indicate your efforts are not reaching newbies.

ArminasX said...

dedric - That is a very interesting theory; my stats are from the very same traffic meter (well, my copy of it, lol!) I guess you can't argue with a free device, but it just doesn't sense newbs.

ninorami - No, I have not changed my advertising strategy during this period, at least not significantly. However, Linden Lab has changed search at least once. And I suspect word of mouth advertising typically takes place between older avs more than newbs.

Anonymous said...

Honestly in my opinion it could be that new people just cant find it. Search is a mess. People who have been in for a year plus (myself included) have a tendancy to know each other and trade off lm's for good places. I know if i want to find clothes i ask a girl i know whats a good place and she fires off a couple of lm's for me, i dont even bother with search any more unless im really in the mood for camping zombies or bots.

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