If you’ve not subscribed yet, I’d highly recommend the Think with Google site and newsletter. Google puts out some amazing material to help retailers and businesses to grow their business online. In a recent article, they did a great job at visualizing 3 common customer journeys that are seen starting around Black Friday:
- The path to an unexpected retailer – starting with a mobile search, the journey provides insight into a specific persona that is bargain shopping online.
- The decision to repair or replace – another persona searches via desktop and then mobile, and interacting with ads to finally reach a purchase decision.
- The epic gaming quest – a gamer researches his next console purchase, doing searches via mobile and desktop, visiting retailer sites and industry sites to research his next purchase.
Google provides some key takeaways, including the volume of research the consumers are doing, the reliance on mobile, and the fact that these consumers aren’t focused on gifts.
I’d like you to focus on a couple of aspects that shouldn’t go unnoticed:
- People bounced between devices and mediums – I recently purchased a new PlayStation. I was on my phone quite a bit while watching television, reading reviews and looking at bundles. Then, when I’d sit at my desk, I’d look at videos and watch review videos. I even visited BestBuy a couple times to see what they had. A friend of mine is a huge gamer, so I chatted with him via Facebook and made the decision on what to purchase. Ultimately, I found a great price and purchased it online via Wal-mart. So.. mobile, desktop, search, social, reviews, and retail all played a role in my journey.
- People spend a lot of time researching – These journeys aren’t in a single session, they’re over weeks and months. It’s important to remember that cookies expire, campaigns shift, search results are moving… all while a consumer is researching their next buying decision. For your product or service to remain visible, you have to be relentless at keeping visible and valuable to them.
- People consume a ton of content research – I can’t even tell you how much I read, watched, and discussed before buying my system. I will tell you that my purchase decision ballooned as I continued to research, though. I ultimately purchased the Pro and VR kits with my PlayStation after seeing the reviews and watching videos about the capabilities. And once I got the system, I went shopping again to get more accessories! Content not only drove my decision it also drove additional sales.
Here’s the full infographic, Inside the purchase journey of 3 daily-seeking shoppers:
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