P204 Comparing Website Data From Food Newsletter Subscribers with General “Organic” Search Traffic Data

Assess demographic differences for a food website between online newsletter subscribers and general organic website visitors. “Organic” traffic arrives at a website through search engines vs. referring channels.In-person programing is limited and the Internet has become a significant source for disseminating information, making it important to evaluate potential differences in users. Ninety-eight percent of ages 18-65+ use the Internet (Pew Research Center, 2018).Adult food newsletter subscribers and organic website visitors interested in consumer food-related issues.The University's food website connects all Extension food-related areas on one “umbrella” website. Email newsletters are one part of the website.To assess online newsletter subscribers, a survey was distributed during 2018. Survey completion incentive was entry into a random gift card drawing. Google Analytics was used to assess 2018 organic website traffic.The website had more than 1.6 million users. Google Analytics showed over 80% of visitors found the website through an organic search. The newsletter subscribers survey (21% return rate; n = 992) indicated only 20% of respondents found the website through an organic search; other methods included electronic mailing list announcement (14%), professional conferences (13%), forward from email (13%), other (13%), and co-worker (11%). Though both data sets showed a website visitor age span of 18-65+ years, the highest percent of organic visitors was 25-34-years-old (30%) while 70% of newsletter subscribers fell into the 40-69-year-old range. Most subscribers (94%) were female compared to 65% of general visitors. Similar topics of interest for both groups were: food safety, storage, and cooking.Data highlighted how using additional venues to promote website materials, such as newsletters, should be used beyond only placing content online. Newsletters may appeal to a more specific age and gender than organic search traffic. Though general topic interest may be similar, newsletter surveys helped tease out more specific interests.None.