Girly Tech No Woman Wants
So, let’s say you’ve never quite believed me or absorbed what’s in my book, Don’t Think Pink. That’s fine. Maybe it’s just been a lot easier for your business to "market to women" by making your products pink. But, you may want to reconsider, especially if your industry is technology (but all traditional industries should take note).
As Nicole Martinelli writes in Wired, a recent UK study (conducted by Saatchi & Saatchi) shows that women want less pink and more tech. A study of 750 British women between the ages of 24 and 45 showed that just 9 percent of women wanted products that "looked" feminine. The other 91 percent were looking for something aptly described as "more boardroom than teenage bedroom."
It reminds me of a post I wrote a few years back about a supposedly "sexy" wine bottle/packaging - just who is deciding what looks feminine (or in that case "sexy")? And, what makes you think that your smart customers would ever buy something just because it "looked" like their gender, whatever that means?
As Martinelli points out further in her Wired piece, studies have shown that "women adopt technologies - such as Wi-Fi - at a faster clip than men." Still tech stores seem to continue to assume that "females are uninformed and oblivious to technology."
Obviously - the way to counter that obliviousness is to draw women in with pink. (Argh. Don’t get me started.)
Though only a small, UK-based study, there are truths worth exploring therein for technology and for plenty of other industries in the U.S.:
- Are you assuming something about women? (that they are uninformed or oblivious, for instance)
- Are you forgetting something about women? (that they don’t have time for nonsense)
- Are you neglecting a gender-less fact? (that most of your customers likely want a quality product with a sophisticated design that works perfectly, the minute they set it up or plug it in.)
Make your product girly = few women and zero men will buy
Leave gender out of the equation (in most cases) = lots of women and men will buy
You do the math.
(Thanks for the heads-up, Jackie.)
September 11th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Andrea, directly after your post in my RSS reader, I saw a post at Future Lab that completely supports what you’re saying.
Dick Stroud says,
“Saatchi & Saatchi has research showing that consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers are annually missing out on £600m of sales because they are failing to connect with women..”
http://blog.futurelab.net/2007/09/marketing_to_women_old_and_you.html
I think the universe is telling me that I need to listen to what you’re saying. (Even though I already believed you before.)
September 12th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Interesting info about selling.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Back about 3 years ago I read a bit in an e-consumer magazine that made me laugh. They asked 4 different groups of women what phone colors they preferred.
Teens - silver/black
Gen Y - silver
Gen X - silver/black
Boomer - silver/black
About that same time, colored phones were marketing all over the place.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Forget Girly Tech
A study of 750 British women between the ages of 24 and 45 showed that just 9 percent of women wanted products that “looked” feminine. The other 91 percent were looking for something aptly described as “more boardroom than teenage bedroom.” Girly Tec…