By Gord Hotchkiss , May 26, 2004
Editor's Note: As covered in yesterday's SearchDay, there have been two surveys released recently providing a welcome look at how people search in aggregate. Search engine marketing company Enquiro also recently conducted a focus group, to get up close and personal with a small set of searchers and jump more inside their minds. In this article, Enquiro president Gord Hotchkiss reports on those findings.
A longer version
of this article that goes into more details about the focus group study, including more detailed profiles of searchers and actionable strategies for search marketers is available to Search Engine Watch members.
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At Enquiro, we undertook a research project recently to allow us to glimpse inside the mind of the searcher. Through an enhanced focus group format, we observed the search behaviors of 24 Canadians.
This focus group format was chosen so we would have the chance to observe actual search engine interactions and interview the participants about their motivations and feelings during the search process. We may conduct further research in the future to further validate the findings of the small focus group.
Participants were given two search scenarios, both involving research of an upcoming purchase. We established two price levels, under $200 and under $5000, for each of the scenarios. The participants were then allowed to search normally using their preferred search engine.
All activity was monitored by a screen recorder utility. After completion of their search interaction, an Enquiro staff member reviewed the activity with them and interviewed them during the process, asking them about their impressions of actual search results, reasons for choosing links and what they saw and didn't see on each of the pages they visited. After completion of the interviews, results were compiled and analyzed.
It became clear that the participants had mentally divided a search engine results page into distinct sections. Most of our searchers had clearly delineated sponsored results from organic ones, and "above the fold" results (those that don't require scrolling down in the browser window) from "below the fold" results (results that require scrolling).
Although they were aware of each of these sections, that didn't mean they looked at all of them. We found a strong tendency to skip past the sponsored listings and go directly to the organic results. Less that 20 percent of the participants were confused about what was a sponsored link and what was an organic link.
Google users were the least confused about what was sponsored and what wasn't on the results page. The greatest confusion was found amongst MSN users.
We found significant dropoffs as we moved from section to section. Generally, we found the majority of users (19 out of 24, representing almost 80 percent of the group) tend to skip over sponsored results and go first to the top organic results. If the users find something relevant in these results, they may never return to the sponsored listings.
Here's a closer look at what we found for key areas of search result pages:
In the past, search marketers have tended to make overall assumptions about effective tactics with search engines. These assumptions can determine strategies for placement, the text that appears in the listing, and the use of organic vs sponsored listings. In observing the members of the group, it became clear that there are four distinct types of searchers, and a different marketing approach must be taken with each.
We also noted a marked variance in the search patterns of men and women generally. On the average, men make decisions quicker, spend less time on sites, are more likely to have pre-established "favored" vendor sites that they use in the search process and show less resistance to sponsored listings. Women tended to be more deliberate in reading search results, spend more time with their searches and spend more time on sites before making decisions.
Although we're speaking of genders as an aggregate group here, the main reason for the variance is the relatively high incidence of Scan and Clickers and 2 Step Scanners in the male participants in the group. No women participating in the session matched either of these profiles. We believe this is an anomaly based on the small size of the sample, but we do believe these two profiles are much more likely to be male.
In looking at actual search patterns, we noticed that a typical search interaction can be a long and convoluted process that can lead suddenly in unexpected directions.
A typical online research interaction can involve 5 to 6 different queries and interactions with 15 to 20 different sites. Often, the actual contents of a search results page can cause the searcher to take the search in a totally different direction, launching a new query that is at best somewhat divergent from the original purpose of the search.
Dead ends are common and the browser back button is used extensively to navigate through the search process. For this reason, the search engine results page is actually used as a navigation aid in negotiating the online research interaction, as people continually refer back to it and launch another online exploration from this starting point.
Preliminary findings from the survey show that users are much more likely to use a search engine during the research phase of the buying funnel. Usage of search engines drops off as the user draws closer to the actual purchase transaction.
This was echoed in the focus group, where 68 percent of participants indicated they would use a search engine to help research a purchase, but only 41 percent indicated that they would purchase an item online, and only 28 percent indicated they would use a search engine to help them make this purchase.
It's important for marketers to understand where in the buying funnel their customers are most likely to use a search engine to help in their purchase.
If it is primarily in the research phase, than searchers are looking for distinctly different things than they would be if they were using a search engine to make a purchase. The marketer may be trying to capture a click through by promoting free shipping or discounted prices, while the consumer is looking for information on product features, consumer reviews and competitive comparisons.
A white paper describing Enquiro's research in full, "Inside the Mind of the Searcher," can be found here.
Gord Hotchkiss is President and CEO of Enquiro, a search marketing firm. He regularly speaks and writes about how consumers use search engines and on the best strategies for marketing to them.
A longer version
of this article that goes into more details about the focus group study, including more detailed profiles of searchers and actionable strategies for search marketers is available to Search Engine Watch members.
|
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