In a study, over 2,300 people were paid to refrain from using Google and instead use an alternative. Despite financial incentives, most returned to Google after a short time.
What study is this about? Researchers from Stanford, MIT, and Pennsylvania conducted a study a few months ago (via nber.org) in which 2,354 US internet users were paid to stop using Google. Instead, they were instructed to use Microsoft’s search engine, Bing. The aim of the study was to find out how ingrained Google is in users’ daily lives and whether financial incentives are sufficient to change search behavior permanently.
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This is how the study took place: The participants were divided into three groups, each receiving different financial incentives to use Bing instead of Google. The goal was to investigate the motives behind Google’s strong market position and to understand how users might respond to regulatory interventions. The study focused on three factors:
- the active choice of search engine
- the change of default search engine
- the amount of the switching bonus
The incentives were equivalent to 1, 10, and 25 euros, and the results were surprising: In the group with 1 euro, 32% of the participants chose Bing, with 10 euros it was already 64%, and in the group with 25 euros even 74%. This shows that money can motivate a change of search engine in the short term.
How long or intensively Bing should be used is not described. The information suggests that participants were observed over a period of two weeks.
What results did the study yield? After the study was completed, many users lost interest in Bing and switched back to Google. The reasons are simple: Google has become a habit for most users. Many find the search engine to be faster, more reliable, and better tailored to their needs. The setting of the default search engine also has little effect on user behavior, as many quickly revert the change.
How can Google assert itself? Besides habit, Google benefits from its extensive ecosystem. Services like YouTube, Gmail, or even Android are closely linked to the search engine, creating strong loyalty. Technically, Google is predominantly faster and often provides more relevant search results. This makes it difficult, according to the study, to convince users to switch, even if they theoretically try alternatives.
Is there real competition for Google? Besides Bing, there are search engines like DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, or Startpage, which focus primarily on better privacy. Nonetheless, other providers have so far struggled to gain significant market share according to statistics from statcounter. However, recent statistics show that more internet users have switched to other search engines than in the last ten years. In the last three months of the previous year, Google’s market share fell below 90 percent for the first time since early 2015.
The study illustrates how difficult it is to sustainably break entrenched user habits even through monetary incentives. Mozilla and its browser Firefox could be seriously at risk if the US justice system enforces its plans against Google. This is because many users are so accustomed to Google that a switch without comprehensive information and motivation is hardly feasible. At the same time, other projects are also closely intertwined with Google, making the transition even more challenging.
