More people continue to flock to the Internet, and a greater number are doing so on a daily basis. But while the overall levels of usage and trust have improved from a year ago, consumers’ overall level of satisfaction continues to fluctuate, according to The Consumer Internet Barometer, a quarterly measure of who’s doing what on the Internet and how they feel about it. The Barometer is produced by NFO WorldGroup, Forrester Research and The Conference Board.

The latest survey reports some primary shifts in why people go online and how often they do so. While about 43% said last year that their major reason for going online was to engage in a variety of personal communication activities, only 38% say that’s true today. But 17% are now going online to do personal research, up from about 15% a year ago, and nearly 20% are using the Net to conduct work-related projects, up from 18% a year ago.

The frequency with which consumers are logging on has also increased over the past year. Now, 39% say they log on daily, up from 36% a year ago. More than 71% of users who primarily log on to conduct work-related activities do so daily. Close to 64% of consumers engaged primarily in personal communication go online every day, while only 49% of those using the Internet primarily for personal research log on with the same frequency.

“The Internet is not only attracting a greater number of users, but a greater number are becoming daily users,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “And this trend is expected to continue despite fluctuations in satisfaction and trust.”

While satisfaction is down moderately, the overall rate of satisfaction remains above 40%. The fluctuation was primarily due to a dip in satisfaction with email and other kinds of personal communication, which fell to 37% from 42% last year. The level of satisfaction with other Internet activities was down only slightly. Greater confidence in conducting work-related activities led to an overall rise in consumers’ confidence that their personal information will be safe when they use the Internet. This was sufficient to offset the slight trust dip that most other activities experienced.

Online Buying Remains Unchanged
The Barometer finds that online retail sales were weaker in the second quarter than in the first quarter of 2003, but remained relatively in-line with year-ago levels. Since purchase figures are based on activity over the past three months, the quarter-to-quarter slowdown was likely seasonal, as purchases reflected in the Q1 report included holiday sales.

Among recent buyers, young consumers (those under 35) and the affluent (those with earnings in excess of $85,000) had the highest purchasing incidences, each at 58 percent. Buying intentions are much higher among consumers who have bought online in the past three months compared with those who have not – approximately 88% versus 24%.

About This Survey:
The Consumer Internet Barometer is based on a quarterly survey of 10,000 households. A unique sample is surveyed each quarter. Return rates average 70%, which ensures highly representative data. Data is weighted as well to reflect the latest US household demographic information. We conducted this survey during the second quarter of 2003.