Searching For The Answers – Why Online Marketers Need To Get Better At Analysing Consumer Behaviour
Iain Dawson, head of insight, Equi=Media, discusses the main points that online marketers should be focusing on in their attempts to improve understanding of consumer behaviour.
Search marketing has continued its meteoric rise this year, and will undoubtedly be one of the most powerful marketing tools in 2008. But it’s clear that the search discipline is by no means the finished article, so it’s high time we made sure that our strategy in this field is as transparent, relevant and accurate as it is across other media.
The ‘last click’ debate rumbles on unabated amongst search marketers and media agencies, and it is frustrating that this is apparently still one of the main focal points of our industry. Identifying and analysing a consumer’s last clicks – the final point in their online journey, whether that is purchasing something or exiting the sales stream – has never been the best way to track or attribute value to online media, and it’s certainly not the key to driving insight.
It has always amazed me that digital marketers feel every impression and click has to be tracked, just to work out which one came from the final finger on the mouse, while the business world at large seems to have ignored every action and decision that consumers make before the last click. This tendency to only analyse a consumer’s ultimate decision is completely misplaced. The analytical emphasis with consumer behaviour should be on the entire process, from people embarking on a search, to changing their minds, renewing their search and then, finally, reviewing the decision they make.
At least we are now debating the relative value of every touchpoint and exposure that consumers have to our messages and brands. For me, the basic principles of digital marketing should come from initiating the customer’s journey, and nurturing consumers’ right through to the point of conversion. This is far more valuable than purely focusing on last click information.
When you step away from the last click and measure the whole customer journey, the reality is very different. If you only take into account the final action, then the time lapse from first click to conversion will be ignored, as will the relationship with generic clicks, and exposure to brand-based page impressions. Such poorly thought-out analysis can lead to companies cancelling the advertising that inspired the search in the first place, which will ultimately be the biggest mistake they could make.
The solution is to be far more intelligent about analysing consumer behaviour. Evaluate everything both online and offline, and understand what metrics you are measuring and evaluating. By evaluating the widest range of factors, such as complete on/offline customer journeys, decision making time, regionality or so on, as well as more traditional last click metrics you can add even more layers of insight and understanding. This can help you build a more complex and informative picture both of your customers and the decisions and choices they make. You can then understand and model relationships between all channels, drive insight and optimise your marketing activity. This analysis can then drive engaging with and converting more customers at a lower cost, which is ultimately good news for everyone.