Over two-thirds of US consumers would not pay for any services on the internet, including enhanced email, instant messaging or file-sharing capabilities, according to research conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix reported this week.
Perhaps surprisingly, the report –
Paid Consumer Services: Assessing Market Opportunities – found that consumers are more resistant about paying for online services (69%) than they are about paying for content (63%).
“Jupiter’s latest research indicates that there is no obvious killer-application online service that consumers would pay for,” said David Card, Jupiter Research vice president and senior analyst. “Companies should bundle online services and price them at less than thirty dollars per year,” he recommends.
Despite the fact that a third of online adults in the US use a free service as their primary personal email account and over 60% use an ISP, only 12% would be willing to pay for enhanced email. In addition, a March 2002 Jupiter Consumer Survey found that only 8% of online adults would pay to access recruitment and job sites; 6% would pay for enhanced instant messaging and file-sharing capabilities.
