Carbonite Polls – Review
We have been running Polls on the Carbonite website for close to a year now and its been a great way for us to get to know our customers and what they are looking for in an online backup service.
What I thought we do this week is review some of the results and see what our customers had to say.
Our first Poll asked: Why are you interested in Carbonite? Is it for:
19% Business, 15% for a client, 51% for home use, 1% was doing research, and 15% for business and home.
So what this says to me is that whilst we thought Carbonite was primarily for home users, in reality more than 20% of our customers are actually small businesses looking for an online solution. This is inline with the phone calls we receive on a daily basis from enquiring customers.
Our second Poll asked: How much data are you looking to backup?
25% said under 25GB, 13% between 25 – 50GB, 15% between 50 – 150GB, 15% between 150 – 300GB and 28% for over 300GB.
This poll was a bit of a suprise, particularly where over 300GB had the highest percentage. The average in the US is about 25 – 30GB. Ours is about the save, however this poll shows that many looking to trial and/or buy Carbonite actually have intentions of backing up quite a bit more. This could very well be the small business community skewing these results, or Australians have quite a bit of data that needs protection.
Our third Poll asked: When did you last experience a PC crash?
21% said this week, 7% said in the last 3 months, 6% in the last 6 months, 14% said this year and 42% said they hadn’t experienced one yet.
The good news here is that Australians are getting organised before the inevitable happens. The bad news is that over 20% are looking for a solution soon after the crash has occurred. There is plenty of work to do to educate the public on why they need a backup plan.
Our fourth Poll asked: Do you have a backup & recovery plan?
47% said they didn’t have a backup plan and 53% yes they did. If 20% of this traffic is small business, then they should seriously get their act together. It also means that our many resellers have a great opportunity to sell their consulting services to them. I can’t say that I am surprised however, as too many small business and households don’t backup, so why would they have a plan?
Our fifth Poll asked: Value the data on your PC
14% said under $500, 10% between $500 – $1500, 13% between $1500 – $3000, 17% between $3000 – $5000 and 45% with over $5000.
The great thing about this Poll is that hopefully it made a few people think about just how much their data was worth and how negligible the cost of backing up is when you compare it. Over 60% thought their data was worth more than $3000.
Our final Poll asked: Are you currently using online backup. This was actually quite and interesting poll because I had also placed it on Whirlpool which they removed claiming I was undertaking research (isn’t that what polls are about) and the results were very much the same. The results said that 64% weren’t using online backup and 26% were. I can’t say I am surprised. The reality is that probably 5% max of PC users in Australia use online backup. Most don’t even know that it is an affordable and easy option for them.
Our current Poll is looking at how much data your internet plan is providing you with. At the moment, the results are showing that most have a plan that offers between 30 – 100GB.
Thanks for your feedback.
