Consumer Journey...

In order to be able to sell to someone, you have to be able to understand their journey from ‘search to purch’ as a consumer.
With the ability to search the entire internet in a few seconds, it’s no wonder consumers are becoming more concerned with which brands they ultimately buy from.

After reading an article on Think With Google I came to realise that the consumer journey may not even start with the intention of making a purchase. Instead, it may start with asking Google a question that doesn’t relate to a specific product at all. From there Cookies may take over and begin displaying ads at the side of web pages or even at the start of YouTube videos - it has been known that YouTube ads are actually based on the user’s Google search history.
Maybe it’s not the ads that influence the start of a purchase, but the results to the consumer’s search query.

An example of a consumer’s journey that was given on Think With Google was Justin’s, a 19-year-old male who ends up buying headphones; his first search queries that were listed showed the development of his search journey.

It’s interesting to note how he went from two enquires to searching for what I presume to be what he believes the answer to his query was.

I feel like unique selling points/ proposition (USP) would influence the consumer journey to purchase as brands would offer to solve whatever problem the consumer has proposed. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if brands produce multiple ads with different USP’s to solve different consumer problems. But if they aren’t, why aren’t they?
For example; if Justin searched for ‘heavy headphones causing me headaches’ a brand could display an ad for their wireless headphones stating they are ‘lightweight’. Then if Justin searches for ‘how to detangle headphones’ the same brand could have an ad for the same product stating they are ‘cordless’. Meeting consumer needs is the fundamental theory behind marketing in the first place so I believe having different ads to meet different needs but with the same product would be the way forward.

YouTube was an unusual but not surprising ‘pit-stop’ in most of the examples of the consumer journey. Due to video content being so widely available it’s no surprise that consumers turn to it for what they believe is honest and reliable content.
YouTube offers a very authentic approach to the consumer to purchaser relationship as there is a higher level of trust the consumer has due to the more amateur approach a YouTuber has at delivering a review/ opinion on a product. In other words, it doesn’t feel too professional and ‘salesy’ - more ‘real’ instead.
That’s where influencer marketing comes in and has proved to be a very effective way for brands to cover that area of the consumer journey too.

Overall; I find it very interesting to learn about the consumer journey and how it has changed as the use of search engines has increased; giving us marketers insight into how search intent is redefining the marketing funnel.




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