Over 1 million visit comparison sites Finder and Choice
New research from Roy Morgan shows over 3 million Australians visit a comparison website in an average four weeks equivalent to almost 15% of Australians aged 14+.
Australia’s leading comparison website is Finder.com.au visited by over 1.2 million Australians in an average four weeks and closely followed by Choice.com.au visited by over 1 million.
Other leading comparison websites include Canstar/Canstar Blue visited by nearly 730,000 Australians in an average four weeks, Comparethemarket.com.au visited by almost 430,000 and iSelect visited by just under 400,000 Australians.
These results are based on in-depth Roy Morgan Single Source interviews with more than 38,000 Australians during the nine months to September 2018.
Australians Comparison websites – Top 5: 9 months to September 2018
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, January 2018 – September 2018, n=11,439 Australians aged 14+.
Visitation to comparison sites heavily influenced by ‘likelihood to switch’
Analysing the Roy Morgan data of visitors to comparison websites in detail shows that Australians considering switching their service providers for fixed broadband, mobile phone, home phone, electricity and gas are all far more likely to visit comparison websites in an average four weeks than the typical Australian.
Visitation to comparison sites for Australians likely to ‘switch’ provider
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, January 2018 – September 2018, n=11,439 Australians aged 14+.
Nearly a quarter (23.4%) of Australians saying they are either ‘very likely’ or ‘quite likely’ to switch gas providers visit a comparison website in an average four weeks a slightly higher rate than for those who say they are either ‘very likely’ or ‘quite likely’ to switch fixed broadband providers (22.4%).
The trend holds true for Australians who are likely to switch mobile phone service providers (19.2%), electricity providers (19.2%) and home phone providers (18.8%).
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says comparison websites are attracting a wide variety of Australians and provide a useful service for those who may be unhappy with their current level of service and looking for an alternative:
“Over 3 million Australians visit a comparison website in an average four weeks representing 14.8% of Australians aged 14 and over or just over one-in-seven Australians.
“Two comparison sites have established themselves as ‘go to’ places on the web to compare and contrast different service providers across a range of industries. Over 1.2 million Australians visit Finder and over 1 million Australians visit Choice in an average four weeks.
“Of course, not all of the leading comparison websites listed are after the same clientele. The Canstar comparison website specializes in comparing financial industry product offerings across a range of finance and insurance companies.
“Canstar is particularly popular amongst dissatisfied customers of financial institutions. Dissatisfied customers whose main financial institution is a big four bank are more than 50% more likely to visit Canstar, as well as Choice and iSelect, than the average Australian.
“Roy Morgan’s qualitative and quantitative interviewing of over 50,000 Australians each year as part of the Roy Morgan Single Source allows in-depth analysis of Australians on a granular level unmatched by competing product offerings.
“Combining the Roy Morgan Single Source with the psychographic segmentation available via the Roy Morgan Helix Personas gives insights into the types of Australians considering purchasing from a new service provider and where a brand on the lookout for new customers can find them.”
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
