Digital Moms: The Drivers of Digital E-motion

Back in March 2011, I was involved in a proactive study that explored the online motivations and drivers of digital mothers (mothers who spent a period of time online).

The market psychology study involved in-depth morphological interviews and online surveys with 500 North American Moms. The outcomes from the study were designed to coincide with a keynote presentation we made at the 2nd Annual Marketing to Digital Moms Conference.

While there’s no shortage of metrics and statistics on the digital environment, the data can often fail to capture the personal human experience of online activity. As our study found, the digital actions of mothers are often influenced and impacted by a range of deeper motivations and feelings. Posting a photo can be a form of self-expression. Online shopping can reflect a desire for change. A status update may be driven by the desire for connection.

“For me it’s about getting the box, opening the box, and looking at all the stuff I bought. But as soon as I open it and look at it, it doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I don’t really know why… There’s something about me that likes the process of ordering, and looking and clicking, and getting, and opening, and then it’s like, okay I’m done.” - Digital Mom (2011)

Digital e-motion is the term we used to describe this deeper combination of action and motivation, and below is a presentation that contains some of the results from our research on the digital e-motions of mothers.