Internet Explorer: the best known browser but not most popular
Arecent addition to BrandIndex has been internet browsers and the data tells us an interesting story about how the dominance of Internet Explorer is not matched by perceptions of it.
If we take the impression measure and look at total impressions – i.e., people expressing both positive and negative views – we can see that Internet Explorer is still the browser that most people feel able to have an impression of with over 4 in 10 people expressing some sort of view.
Firefox is not far behind with just under 4 in 10, whilst Chrome has around a quarter mentioning it and Safari about 15 per cent.
PROPORTIONAL SCORES ALTER VIEW
This picture changes dramatically when we look at proportional scores (the number that disregards size and looks at positive views minus negative views amongst those that comment).
NEARLY AS MUCH NEGATIVE FEEDBACK
Internet Explorer now comes bottom with a score on Monday of 14, showing that they get nearly as many negative mentions as positive ones.
Contrast that with Firefox’s latest score of +83 (which shows that 91.5 per cent were positive and 8.5 per cent negative), Chrome on +58 (79 per cent positive and 21 per cent negative) and Safari on +53 (76.5 per cent positive and 23.5 per cent negative).
COMPETITORS PERCEIVED AS BETTER
These numbers provide an insight into why Internet Explorer has lost share over the past few years – essentially people perceive its competitors to be better. It still holds an advantage in terms of being the default browser for many but will need to up its game if it doesn’t want to see a further decline; once people try something else they tend to prefer it. Stephan Shakespeare is chief executive of YouGov