Site to see - Maritz Marketing Research Web site features AmeriPoll results

American Demographics, March, 1998 by Matthew Klein

AmeriPoll Positions http://www.maritz.com/mmri How often do you wash your car? Go out to dinner? Buy lottery tickets? Frequent participants in these activities--or more important, businesses that sell to them--can get some perspective on who shares their habits at Maritz Marketing Research's Web site.

A sampling of results from AmeriPoll, Maritz's national consumer opinion poll, is presented on the site. The revelations can sometimes be troubling, though. Those of us who have forgotten what color our cars are underneath all the dirt may be dismayed to find we are in the minority. Seventy-two percent of Americans wash their cars at least once a month.

But messy car owners can take some solace in being part of a larger group as long as they occasionally pilot their dusty automobile to a restaurant. If they don't, they will be even further on the margins of consumerism. Only 12 percent of Americans say they never eat at a sit-down restaurant.

Companies looking for more than a sample of information can dive into other areas on the site devoted to automotive research, customer satisfaction, and trends in data collection. Maritz also allows Web surfers to sign up to be part of an online AmeriPoll panel.

A little information can provide a lot of insight, though. While comparisons between winning the lottery and being struck by lightning are often made, the people buying the tickets don't seem to care much. Three in four say that odds don't affect which tickets they buy. The big motivator, cited by 57 percent as an influence to play, is the amount of the jackpot.