A real-life look at the consumer decision journey
Customer search trends are changing and while some shopping happens on impulse, more often than not, there’s a bit of research that goes into deciding what to buy. More and more consumers are turning to their smartphones to research products while they’re on the go.
The interesting thing is that most of the time when they start their research for a product or service, they aren’t absolutely sure of the specific brand they want to buy. Let’s investigate more about the way shoppers find inspiration online.
A shopper’s micro-moments
Micro-moments are the critical touch-points in today’s customer journey. Every time someone picks up their phone or interacts with a mobile device, there is the opportunity for a win. Consumers are on the go and they are making decisions about which brands they want to do business within a split second.
Whether it’s an individual who is looking for a new computer or a young couple who has been dreaming of remodeling their kitchen, it’s more than likely that the research is going, to begin with, a Google search. Most people aren’t brand-committed in the top-of-funnel moments.
They’re looking for inspiration first and they’ll eventually make a purchase decision based on things like price, personal preferences, product reviews, and availability.
Capturing a consumer at the moment they are looking for inspiration is a prime opportunity for retail marketers to step in and deliver content that brings their products (and brand) into the consideration set.
Google refers to this stage as the I-need-some-ideas-moment, and this is the time for brands to provide inspiration and ideas with content.
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Ensure you show up to be considered
If you want to be included in the consideration set, you need to be there not only when people search for your brand, but also when they search on category terms related to the products you have. 40% of the shopping searches we see on Google are for broad category queries like “bedroom furniture” or “women’s athletic clothing.”
Therefore, if you sell a wide variety of sofas, for example, you should be there when people search “sofas,” “sleeper sofas,” “sofa beds.” and “couches.”
Are you in need of search engine optimization? Then look no further! Our company is an e-commerce and digital marketing solutions agency. Based in Ghent and Cluj-Napoca, we find effective ways to grow web businesses and maximize business growth.
