Enquiro did a research project where they studied people’s purchasing and research tendencies online. This focus group, though small (24 participants), was diverse and gives some insight into the mind of the internet searcher. The following are my highlights.
On Convenience Searches
MSN & AOL receive a lot of searches because they are integrated into portal sites and software. (pg 7)
Many people have search portals set as their homepage. (pg 7)
Many have downloaded search toolbars so they can search more conveniently. (pg 7)
On Types of Searchers (pgs 26-28)
Scan & Clickers
Scans top organic listings, maybe sponsored listings
Typically won’t read entire listing before clicking
Typically male
2 Step Scanners
Scans top listings for things that “jump out”
Typically won’t purchase on first site…would rather go through a few more listings
Typically male
Deliberate Researchers
Reads all listings on front page before selecting, usually stays with organic results
Reads thoroughly through each listing
Both male and female, but mostly female
1,2,3 Searchers
Goes through search results in order clicking on the first one before checking results below
Skips sponsored links unless “ready to buy”
Typically mostly female
On How They Searched
A typical search pattern is not always easy to anticipate and can evolve throughout the search. (pg 19)
“If there was a high level of familiarity, the searcher would often bypass search engines altogether and go right to a vendor’s site” such as ebay.com, amazon.com, or bestbuy.com. (pg 8)
Over 70% start with a generic search term then narrow it down if the initial results are not good enough (pg 19) because “the chances of the searcher finding results that could lead to a conversion becomes greater and greater as the search progresses.” (pg 20)
On Search Results
“…most users look for a number of specific items…these items include the key phrase in the title or description, product information and trusted brand names and vendors.” (pg 4)
Every other person surveyed believed that all search results were influenced by money and were not truly “organic”. (pg 10)
“Almost 80% initially skipped over all sponsored listings and went straight to the top organic results. In most cases, their eye never came back to the sponsored listings.” (pg 13)
“79% either didn’t look at the sponsored links at all, or only looked at them after they had gone through the organic results.” (pg 14)
“If there was not a clearly relevant and useful site in the top 3, 87% of the participants would scroll down to look at the bottom organic results. However, if there was a highly relevant, quality site in the top 3 listings, 58% would scroll down to check all results before choosing a link to click on.” (pg 15)
If the searcher couldn’t find what they wanted on the first page, 21% of them went to the second. The rest did a new search. (pg 16)
On Branding
The branding that is reinforced or learned through a search may not lead a person to a conversion. However, there are no typical metrics that are able to measure the brand awareness of the user and the potential of them making a purchase offline later. (pg 25)
“relevancy was a key factor in catching the searchers eye with the listing text. Seeing their exact search query in the title (preferably) or in bold type in the listing text caused the listing to ‘jump out’ at the searcher.” (pg 26)
On Ignoring Sponsored Listings
“Searchers have mentally divided the search engine results page into distinct sections, and many searchers will skip some of these sections completely.” (pg 4)
Google had the most people ignoring sponsored links probably because they are listed “where all the advertising goes” (pg 17)
“using Google AdWords you capture a smaller percentage of a much larger market” (pg 17)
People didn’t want to click on sponsored links because they were afraid of getting hit with a lot of pop up windows. (pg 18)
On Anonymity
“The internet has become very popular as a research tool during the information gathering process because it appears to offer the ability to remain anonymous.” (pg 29)
“[Anonymity] is the reason there is a significant drop off between people willing to use the internet to research a purchase decision and people willing to use it to purchase online.” (pg 29)
“The purchase requires people to cross the anonymity threshold” (pg 29)
“Almost every definition of an acquisition or conversion requires the visitor to cross the anonymity threshold. Because of the reluctance of the visitor to cross this threshold, the site owner may be building significant brand equity or trust with the visitor but is not giving credit to it because of the anonymity threshold.” (pg 30)
“In looking at most search market strategies, the emphasis is put on encouraging the purchase, while most people using search engines are more interested in anonymously gathering information. We believe this is to be a fundamental disconnect.” (pg 30)
