Visitors to the website between 2nd March and 6th April 2015 were invited to participate. A total of 606 full responses to the survey were received during this time.
Respondent profile
By age group, the 16 to 25 year olds were the largest category (20% of respondents), followed by the 46 to 55 year olds (19%). Under 16s accounted for 2% of respondents, whilst the over 75s made up 4%.
44% of respondents were in full-time employment, 16% were students/in full time education, and 15% were retired. Respondents were generally highly educated, with 44% having an undergraduate degree or higher.
For 58% of respondents this was their first visit to the Drinkaware site, whilst one-fifth of respondents reported at least weekly visits to the site.
Motivations for visiting the Drinkaware website
Visitors came to the site for a variety of reasons. The most common reason for visiting was to use the online drinks tracker (29%). Other key motivators were to find out about the health impact of alcohol (28%); to get help reducing alcohol consumption (22%); to find out more about Drinkaware and what they do (19%); to learn about the law or guidelines on how much alcohol you can drink (18%); and to find out about the effects of alcohol (17%).
10% of visitors reported that they worked in health, social care or education and were looking for information or resources to help patients/clients drink less.
Experiences and views of people using the site
Among people who were looking for something specific on the website, more than 4 in 5 found what they were looking for.
Over half of all respondents found the information provided on the site to be ‘very trustworthy’, with only 3% reporting the information to be ‘not trustworthy’. When asked about the relevance of the information on the website, 44% of respondents reported the information to be ‘very relevant’, whilst 5% stated it was ‘not relevant’.
Over 4 in 5 respondents found the information to be objective and impartial.
Impact on knowledge and understanding
More than 4 in 5 respondents strongly agreed, or agreed, that they had gained better knowledge of the law and guidance concerning alcohol and a better understanding of what to do to prevent harm from alcohol to themselves or others.
Almost 9 in 10 strongly agreed, or agreed, that they had gained a better understanding of the effects of drinking.
Likely wider impact of visiting the Drinkaware website
The actions which most people reported being more likely to do after visiting the Drinkaware website were: tracking/monitoring how much they are drinking (39%); returning to the website for more advice and support (38%); and reducing their alcohol consumption (38%)
Comments and suggestions
108 respondents left a positive comment. Of these, the key themes identified were:
- The Drinkaware website is informative (33 respondents)
- The Drinkaware website is useful or helpful (28 respondents)
- The Drinkaware website is clear and accessible (18 respondents)
97 of the respondents highlighted areas for improvement. Of these, the key themes identified were:
- Improvements to entering drinks (26 respondents)
- More factual information (15 respondents)
- International usability (13 respondents)
- Visuals and accessibility (13 respondents)
For full report details please contact our research team: research@drinkaware.co.uk