Digital Marketing has yet to overcome the problem of a Consumer’s Search Intent.
Wasting money is something that, well, makes my skin crawl.
We typically work within limited budgets and work very hard to make sure a client is getting the biggest bang for their buck.
That’s where consumer intent enters the picture in this grand new world of digital marketing.
Yes, when I started this company 30-years ago, there were essentially five ways to reach consumers: TV, Radio, Print Ads, Outdoor, Direct Mail. Throw in the Yellow Pages for a sixth path, but wow…I think we’re all glad they are history.
History, of course, due to Digital Marketing (aka Online Marketing/Advertising, Internet Marketing, etc.). Of course, this has come with a whole new mix of frustrating issues.
Let’s look at one. Search Intent. For years, being unaware of a consumer’s intention when conducting an online search, for instance, has created thousands of wasted dollars for marketers utilizing Paid Search methods, while padding the bank accounts of the providers (Google, Bing, Yahoo!).
There are essentially four types of Search Intents:
- Informational (researching a subject for the purpose of gaining knowledge)
- Navigational (a specific page is sought; for instance, your account login, etc.)
- Commercial (research prior to purchase)
- Transactional (actually seeking to make a purchase)
Unfortunately, some of these cross over. It’s true. Using a variety of similar keywords can signal the wrong intent. You use one keyword phrase, but come up empty only to type in another. Multiple searches may create a signal not intended by the user. It might bump you from one algorithm to another…or one category of search to another.
Let me give you an example. Our family celebrates Thanksgiving a tad early. Actually, due to other family obligations of our growing family, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the first weekend of November. (Forgive me if the arrival of Christmas decorations beats Halloween some years, but now you know why)
We’re a big game-playing family–a close family that enjoys the comradery of light-hearted competition. For some it’s less light-hearted than others. For instance, anytime my sister is pit against me, she is suddenly the most competitive person on the planet.
At any rate, one of our ‘go-to’ games is an App version of Catch Phrase. You have one team member that is trying to give clues to their team to prompt them to guess the word on the screen.
With brow furrowed and intense focus, my sister dug in with great vigor as my niece gave her the first clue: “Okay…We all have this. It’s a…” my niece began.
But well before she could even begin to actually give the clue, my sister blurted out, “Syphilis!”
Of course, that response…immediately halted the game. Everyone was rolling with laughter. Her daughter did not have syphilis, nor did anyone else…nor had we ever had anything remotely like it. Where my sister got that remains a mystery blamed on a mixture of intense competition and…well, let’s be honest…alcohol. But I digress.
The answer was ‘cell phone’ and had nothing to do with STD’s.
The point is: that this little family episode was hilarious…to us all. Especially my niece.
The next Monday, when everyone had returned to their normal lives up north, I was going to get online and research syphilis treatment/medication on Amazon as a joke to send to my niece.
Then, I realized…NOPE!
Don’t do it.
Yes. It would be funny.
Yes. She would get a kick out of it. A big kick out of it, actually.
But, it wasn’t worth it.
Why not?
Simple.
As soon as I search that, what is going to happen?
The same thing that happened a few weeks prior. I was working with a new client–a bail bond company. When researching competitive companies on Google, I quickly found myself bombarded with ads from those competitive companies because Google had misread my intent, leading to retargeting ads that led those companies to believe that I was earnestly looking to hire a bail bondsman.
I was not.
My intent was informational, not commercial or transactional. I was merely researching those companies to view their branding tactics in order to develop an effective strategy for my client. My intent was not to purchase. Not at all. The intent was market research.
So… searching for syphilis treatments??? Are you kidding! The last thing I want is to be bombarded with emails and ads from Amazon for syphilis meds or STD meds!
Because one thing these brilliant search engines have yet to figure out is: Search Intent.
It’s true. A person may truly need a bail bondsman and conduct repeated searches for one. Undoubtedly, that happens routinely. And, those search patterns might very well follow my own, even though my intent was research not transactional.
A person may actually have syphilis and conduct repeated searches for remedies. That was not my intent.
Rather, my intent in both instances was far different. In one case, it was all about market research; in another, it was simply to get a laugh.
In both of those cases, a better understanding of my intention as a consumer would save a ton of headaches in having to navigate through truly useless STD ads that I did not need to see. And while the bail bonds company ads would be helpful in terms of further market insight into their marketing practices, the retargeting campaign Impressions made on me were truly a waste of their valuable money.
How many times have you logged into your Amazon account and made a purchase with a longer life cycle…say a bike for your kid. Only to make the purchase and have to endure weeks of ‘bike’ emails…bike retargeting ads and suggestions from the retailer long after you have made a single purchase, an acquisition that you’re not making multiples of…but again. Knowledge of intent is vacant.
Search intent, or user intent, is a big issue with Google and major search engines. One that they have yet to master.
Most consumers conduct a measure of research before making a purchase. So, in many respects, a consumer’s search pattern runs parallel to search and marketing ‘flow’ until the two intersect with a purchase. This is really how digital marketing works…and is supposed to work.
For instance, maybe I need a new litter box for my cat. I search “best cat litter box”, but my search intent is not to make an immediate purchase. Maybe I want a higher end box–a more pricey option than the standard fair $10 pan. Sure, a purchase may be planned or in the back of my mind, but my search intent is to gather information. I may be spending $200 or so and want to make a good decision. So, I gather information through my search. Days even weeks later, I’m ‘followed’ by retargeting ads attempting to stay top-of-mind and draw me back to a specific site…a specific product for purchase. Eventually, it does. Eventually, I have gathered enough information…researched enough pros and cons to make a decision. Undoubtedly going back to make the purchase from a site that I had researched.
That is how digital marketing is supposed to work.
However, throughout the litter box example, I had a clear-cut commercial intent, but not necessarily a transactional intent–actually looking to make an immediate purchase. I was either going to find the right fit or not. If I found it. I would make a purchase. If not, the decision gets shelved.
There are…as detailed in the syphilis and bondsman examples, instances where commercial intent is (or could be) wrongly identified.
Enter AI, or artificial intelligence.
There are many issues that AI will never be able to address. This may be one of them. Through a more interactive consumer-search engine dynamic, AI might be able to determine where you are as a consumer in terms of search intent. From there, AI would be able to direct the search…and the marketing efforts that follow…to better serve both the consumer and marketers.
Of course, there are a lot of factors involved in making this scenario a game-changer for Search Intent. But, of all the horrible uses for AI in marketing that business owners are exposed to, whether it be LinkedIn or other digital marketing means, this may be one that AI can actually help.
By Scott Trueblood, of BrandVision Marketing. BrandVision Marketing is a full-service marketing agency based in Knoxville, TN.
BrandVision Insights 