February 24, 2005 -– According to a study released by Double Click and comScore Networks last week, most buyers conduct search engine research on a particular product or service at least two weeks before making an online purchase. But for search engine marketers who judge the success of a search marketing program solely on the number of clicks that lead to an immediate purchase, these recent findings serve only to highlight the lack of emphasis that should be placed on immediate click-through rates.
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The study tracked all relevant search activity of selected consumers 12 weeks prior to their making purchases in four different categories: Apparel, Computer Hardware, Sports Fitness, and Travel. It found that nearly half or 1 out of 2 online purchases is preceded by search engine research. While preliminary searches were done in each category, the amount of search activity varied between the different categories. For instance, while only 2.5 searches were conducted by buyers on Sports/Fitness websites, travel buyers came in closer to 6 relevant searches in the 12-week period leading up to the transaction showing that consumers are willing to do their homework before spending large quantities of their hard earned cash. The same was true in the computer/hardware category with consumers still spending more of their research time on their next hi-tech gadget than on their next high fashion outfit.
Retailers are reminded, at least online, that brand name doesn’t guarantee sales. Nearly 75% of searches conducted were for generic terms and this continued all the way up to the time of purchase when search engine queries with the inclusion of brand names peaked, probably as a result of the consumer being able to determine his/her preference after weeks of research.
The study offers up a number of tips to search engine marketers. First, and probably most important, search engine marketers need to change their way of thinking about how a sale should be made. While everything on the Internet might seem instantaneous through the click of a mouse, search engine marketing cannot be viewed in the same way. With online shoppers taking a minimum of two weeks to research before making a purchase, search engine marketers will have to find new ways of measuring whether consumers making purchases on a particular website had initially discovered the site through earlier search engine research. These new means of measurement could be as simple as requesting that visitors to a site identify how they found that particular site, offering visitors the option of providing their email to be contacted when new products or special deals are offered or it can be as advanced as installing web analytics tools capable of tagging and tracking visitors to a particular website regardless of when they first arrived. Search engine expert and President of New York-based search engine marketing and website design firm 10e20, LLC, Chris Winfield advises, “These are all plausible tools, many of which many search engine marketers already have at their disposal but haven’t yet put to good use.”
Another change that search engine marketers might have to make to the way they do business is in how they choose their key terms. Search engine marketers should focus on more generic terms early in their search engine marketing campaign and to save brand key terms for later in the campaign. This, if nothing else will ensure that the search engine campaign is relatable to the way online consumers shop.
This study, one of very few of its kind, reiterates what those serious about search engine marketing already know: search engine marketing is not simply picking a number of words and throwing them into the title tag of a website. In an over $9 billion Internet marketing industry, it takes doing your homework to find out what will really get consumers buying from a particular website.
To learn more about putting together a solid search engine marketing campaign and to receive a free search engine ranking report, log onto www.10e20webdesign.com, or call 866-921-4330 to speak with an expert.
About 10e20, LLC
10e20 is THE global search marketing and web development company. Clients include Virgin, Ford, SoftwareCEO, Coldwell Banker and 350+ others. 10e20 has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, Entrepreneur, the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, the LA Times, CNET, Boston Globe and many more. 10e20 is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY and has a second office located in West Palm Beach, FL. Effective and affordable — 10e20!
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