beyond last click: understanding your consumers’ online ... · from nielsen’s netview online...
TRANSCRIPT
Beyond last click: Understanding your consumers’ online path to purchase
Insights and learnings from Google’s clickstream research
Contents
• ExecutiveSummary
• Introduction
• Methodology
• OnlineResearchDuration
• PurchasePaths
• TheRoleofSearch
• Brandvs.GenericSearches
• Conclusions
• NextSteps
Executive SummaryThispapersummarisesthekeyfindingsandinsightsfromGoogle’sresearchintotheimportantareaofclickstreamattribution.Itwillgiveyouthefactstoanswerkeyquestionssuchas:howlongisthetypicalpathtopurchase,howmanysiteswillbevisitedonaverageandhowdoessearchcontributetoconsumerdecisionmaking?Wehopethatthispaperwillencouragemarketingleaderstomovebeyonda‘lastclickwins’modelandtakeafact-basedapproachtounderstandingtheirconsumers’pathtopurchase.Keyfindingsinclude:
• Researchjourneysarelong and can last a month or more insomecategories.• Oneinthreeconversionsoccur30days after the online researchbegan.• 70%ofpurchasersusesearchatsomepointintheirresearchjourney.• Searchpathstopurchaseoftenincludebothbrandandgeneric terms and 48%ofpurchasersswitchbetweentermsatsomepoint intheirjourney.• Thewayshoppersresearchandpurchasedifferentproductsonline does notneatlyfollow traditional marketingfunnelmodels.• Theamountofresearchconductedonlineisnotclearlylinkedwiththe averageordervalueoftheproductsinquestion.
IntroductionAccordingtotheConnectedKingdomReport1,theInternetcontributed£100billiontotheUKeconomyin2009,andlastyear62%ofUKconsumersboughtgoodsorservicesonline.TheonlineadvertisingmarketcontinuestogrowandthelatestPwC/IABfiguresshowitisnowworthover£4billionintheUK2.Thesheernumberofpeopleengagedinonlineresearchinsomecategoriesisstaggering.Forexample,60%oftheUKinternetpopulationresearchedtravelproductsonlineina3monthperiod3,andhalfofalltravelintheUKisbookedonline1.Intheapparelsector,wherethemajorityofsalesstillgothroughretailstores,therewereover22millionpeopleresearchingapparelonlineintheUKinthe3monthperiodweanalysed2.
Inamarketwhere£1inevery£4ofmarketingbudgetsisspentonline,understandingshoppers’onlinejourneyswillhelpensureonlinemarketingactivityandadvertisingmeasurementpracticesreflectrealconsumerbehaviourpatterns.Tothisend,GoogleandNielsenpartneredtoconductclickstreamanalysesofonlineresearchandpurchasebehaviourinmultiplesectorsintheUK.
Theobjectivesoftheseclickstreamanalyseswastoprovidespecificinsightsinto:
• Whatconsumersresearchonline• Howlongtheyspendresearching• Whichsitestheyvisit• Howtheynavigatebetweensites• Whattheysearchfor
1. Boston Consulting Group / Google - Connected Kingdom report, October 2010. 2.IAB/PwCasspendfiguresfor2010.3. Custom Google / Nielsen clickstream research, 2010.
MethodologyTheclickstreamanalysescommissionedbyGooglearebasedondatafromNielsen’sNetViewonlineconsumerpanel–thesourceofUKOMdata.Thefirststepinastudyistoidentifyasub-setofNetViewpanellistsbydefiningcertainbehavioursweareinterestedin,forexampleresearchingtravelonline,andthenexamineallothercategoryrelatedactivityinagivenperiod.
Thenweisolateatimeperiodofanalysis–usuallyathreemonthperiod.Thislengthwaschosenaspreviousresearchinthisareaindicateditwaslongenoughtocaptureentirejourneyperiodsbutshortenoughtoisolatetherelevantactivity.GiventheelongatednatureofthehousepurchasingprocessintheUK,thepropertystudywasrunoveralonger6monthtimeperiod.
OnceacategoryandtimeperiodhasbeenchosenwethenworkwithNielsentoclassifythesitesandsearchtermsintorelevantsub-categories.Foragivencategory(suchascarinsuranceortravel)weidentifyalltherelevantsitesthatfallunderthatcategory.Thendifferenttypesofsiteswithinacategory,e.g.aggregatororadvicesites,aresub-classified.WealsoanalysewebsiteURLstructurestoidentifyconsumerswhoperformedanactionofinterest,e.g.placinganiteminabasket,fillinginanapplication,orbuyingaflight.Finally,allcategory-relevantsearchactivityisidentifiedandclassifiedaseitherbranded(e.g.“Vodafone”,“Nokia”),generic(e.g.“phonecontract’’,“mobilephone”),oracombinationofboth.
Oncewehaveclassifiedsitesandsearchterms,wesegmenttheaudienceintomutuallyexclusivegroups:researchers,estimators,andpurchasers.Researchersarepeoplewhovisitcontent-relatedpagesbutdon’tgetaquoteortransact.Estimatorsarepeoplewhoplaceitemsinbasketsorgetquotesonlinebutdonotmakeapurchase.Purchasersarepeoplewhotransactorperformanotherconversionevent,asdefinedinfigure1.Forthemajorityofthispaperwefocusonpurchasers.
AsweareusingNielsen’sopted-inconsumerpanelalldataprotectionlawshavebeenmetandnopersonallyidentifiableinformationhasbeenusedinthesestudies.
Thevalueinusingapanel-basedanalysis,comparedwithwebsiteanalyticsoradservertrackingdata,isthatwegetamorecompletepictureoftheonlinejourneyacrossthewholecategoryecosystem,ratherthanjustthroughthelensofanindividualadvertiser’stouchpointswiththeirshoppers.
*Samplesizereferstoanyuserwhovisitedcontentorsearchedontermsrelatedtothatcategoryinthe definedperiod.
Figure 1: Studies included in this paper
Travel
Apparel
Mobile Phones
Energy
Car Insurance
Loans
Property
15,453
12,831
6,713
4,729
3,796
1,700
3,722
Online travel purchase
Online apparel purchase
Online mobile phone purchase
Online utilities purchase
Online insurance purchase
Online loan purchase
Download (PDF, schedule etc), Action (email friend etc) or contact pages
UK Study Sample size* Definition of purchase
Online Research Duration
Figure 2: Average journey length in days per purchase
Base:Allpurchasersasdefinedineachcategory
MobilePhones
23
Loans
9
Apparel
2730
25
20
15
10
5
0
Energy
20
Travel
24
CarInsurance
12
1 in 3 conversions takes place 30 days after the research began
Oneofthefirstthingswelearnedfromtheclickstreamresearchisthatconsumerstypicallyspendmuchlongerresearchingpurchasesonlinethanmightbeconventionallyassumedfromexaminingadserveroranalyticspathdata.Peopleshoppingforclothesorshoesonlinespend,onaverage,almostamonthshoppingaroundandmakinguptheirmindbeforemakingapurchase.Travel,withallofitsfantasyshoppingpotentialandmyriadofproviders,aggregatorsandadvicesitesinvolvesjourneyswithanaveragelengthof24days.
Advertiserscandeterminewhattheirownconversionjourneyslooklikebyusingconversiontrackingtoolswhichallowthemtomakeinformeddecisionsontheircookiewindows.Ideallysuchdecisionswouldstarttogetcategoryspecific–theattributionwindowfordifferentcategoriesshouldreflectdifferentcustomerjourneylengths.
Figure 3: Cumulative percent of purchases for apparel, travel and energy
Base:Allpurchasersasdefinedineachcategory
80-89Days
50-59Days
25-29Days
10-14Days
70-79Days
40-49Days
20-24Days
6-9Days
60-69Days
30-39Days
15-19Days
1-5Days
<24Hours
100%
70%
80%
90%
50%
60%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
%ofp
eoplewho
purchased
Timetopurchase
ApparelPurchasersTravelPurchasersEnergyPurchasers
Thoughtheaveragepathtopurchaseforallverticalsisunder1month,wefindthatoneinthreeconversionsoccuratleast30daysaftertheinitialresearchbegan.Intravel,morethanonequarterofpurchasesoccurafter30days.Thistrendisrepeatedinretailwhereonethirdoftransactionsoccurafter30days.Incontrast,whenpeopleresearchonlineforagasorelectricityproviderabouthalf(54%)ofthemconvertwithin24hours,comparedwithonlyaround20%ofwithinthedaypurchasesintravelandapparelshopping.
Moredaysinmarketusuallyaddsuptomoreactivityrackeduponline–intermsofbothhoursspentandnumberofsitesvisited,asillustratedinFigures4&5.
Figure 5: Site visits before a purchase
Figure 4: Average research time in hours per purchase
Base:Allpurchasersasdefinedineachcategory
Base:Allpurchasersasdefinedineachcategory
MobilePhones
01:29
Loans
00:29
Apparel
03:17
03:00
03:30
02:30
02:00
01:30
01:00
00:30
00:00
CarInsurance
00:50
Travel
01:43
Energy
00:43
Travel
Apparel
Mobile Phones
Energy
Car Insurance
Loans
Overall Averages
21.6
11.4
9.4
7.4
5.6
4.2
9.9
9.4
2.9
4.1
3.4
3.9
2.8
4.4
2.3
3.9
2.3
2.2
1.4
1.5
2.2
CategoryAverage site
visits per purchase
Number of different sites visited
per purchase
Average number of visits
to each site
Purchase Paths
Figure 6: Travel path
Journey paths can be very long and complex
Inordertobringthesevariousmetricstolife,ithelpstolookatactualuserpaths,andhowpeoplesearchandresearchontheirwaytoapurchase.
Forexample,abovewehaveanindividual’sonlinejourneyforahighinvolvementpurchase:travel.Thisparticularjourneylasted28days,andincludedmanygenerickeywords(genericinthiscontextmeanstravelrelatedtermsnotincludinganybrandsforcompaniesinthetravelsector).TherangeofsitesvisitedincludeaggregatorssuchasTripAdvisor,aswellastouroperatorssuchasFirstChoiceandThomson,manyofwhomprovidedquotes–butFirstChoicegetsthebusinessintheendafterallthatshoppingaround.Thefinalpurchaseismadeaftertheindividualsearchesonceagainfor“corfuholidays”,whichwasthequerythatbegantheirjourney.
Quotation Purchase
FirstChoice
Searches
Searches
Sites Visited
Sites Visited
DAY
DAY
1 4 122 7
Bingmaps&localHoliday-Truths.com
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor
Bingmaps&local
Corfuholidays Palacemonrepos
Travelzoo
AfricanSafariClub
TravelzooFirst Choice
TUI Thomson
TUI ThomsonOlympic Holidays
TUI ThomsonSunshine.co.uk
BluebayescapeBluebayescape
TripAdvisorHoliday-Truths.com
TravelLibraryGoogleMaps
16 2722 28
TripAdvisorKallistoresort,
corfuKallistoresort,
corfu
Kontokalibayresort&spaKontokalibayresort&spaKontokalibayresort&spa
Bustoursincorfu
First ChoiceOlympic Holidays
TUI ThompsonTravel Republic
Travelzoo
Travelzoo
TUI ThomsonBooking.com
First choice
Corfuholidays
Figure 7: Audience movement in the travel market before a purchase
Overallnavigationpatternsintravelremaincomplex,rightupuntilthemomentofpurchase.Figure7illustratesthattheonlineshopperisstillconsultingawiderangeofsourcesduringthefinalsessionwhenatransactionhappens.
Base:PurchasersintheTravelmarket.Note:Arrowsrepresentproportionofuserswhogofromonesitetypetoanotherinthepurchasesession.(Audiencemovementsunder7%notstated)
Other Search
Travel OTA
Air Travel
LodgingGroundTransport
TourOperator
3%5%
26%
2%
11% 8%
13%
4%
16%
10%
7%
9%
16%
13%
7%
11%
7%
17%8%
10%
8%
Startpointsinblack GoogleTraffic
19%
10%
12%
15%
Figure 8: Car insurance path
Figure 9: Audience movement in the car insurance market before a purchase
Incontrast,weseethatatypicalonlinecarinsurancepurchaseismuchshorterandmoredirect.Inthisexamplepath(figure8,below),thereareonlytwoactivedaysinthecategory,andtheindividualobtainsfewerquotespriortoengaginginaconversionevent.Inaggregatethenavigationpathsinsuranceshopperstake(figure9)appearmuchsimplerthanintravel.
Base: Purchasers in the Car Insurance market. Note:Arrowsrepresentproportionofuserswhogofromonesitetypetoanotherinthepurchasesession.(Audiencemovementsunder7%notstated)
Quotation Purchase
Searches
Sites Visited
DAY 1 15
CarinsuranceCarinsurance
GoCompareMoneySupermarket
Go CompareMoney Supermarket
Go CompareMoney Supermarket
Saga
Startpointsinblack GoogleTraffic
Direct InsurersAggregators
10%26%
25%
27%
40%
The Role of Search
Thisanalysisonlyshowscorrelationbetweensearching,clickingonsponsoredlinksandmakingapurchase,notcausation.However,thisdoesindicatethatpeoplewhoareinmarkettobuyaremorelikelytoclickonadstonavigatemoredirectlytorelevantshoppingrelatedcontent.
70% of consumers who purchase use search
Figure 10: Percent of consumers using search in their purchase journey
Base:Searcherswhopurchasedasdefinedineachcategory
Apparel
66%
Loans
56%
Travel
92%
MobilePhones
66%
Property
86%
76%
Energy CarInsurance
60%
100%
70%
80%
90%
50%
60%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
Acrossthesectorsstudied,over70%ofconsumerswhopurchasedonlineperformedatleastonerelevantsearchduringtheobservationperiod.Individualswhobuyonlineare30%morelikely,onaverage,tohaveperformedasearchthanindividualswhoseonlineresearchdidnotendwithaconversion.Theseindividualsarealsomorelikely(by17%)tohaveclickedonasponsoredsearchad.
Figure 11: Average number of searches per purchase
Althoughapparelshoppersspendthelongestnumberofdaysdecidingtobuy,travelshoppersarebyfarandawaythemostprolificsearchersduringtheresearchprocess.Infact,1in10travelresearchersactuallysearchedmorethan50timesduringthe3monthobservationperiod.
Base:Searcherswhopurchasedasdefinedineachcategory
Apparel
6
CarInsurance
3
Travel
20
25
20
15
10
5
0
Energy
5
MobilePhones
7
Loans
3
Base:Searcherswhopurchasedasdefinedineachcategory
Brand vs. Generic Searches
Figure 12: Brand vs. generic searchers
Generics play a key role in the research process
Insomecategories,suchaspropertyortravel,usinggenericqueries(e.g.“propertyforsaleoxford”)isalmostubiquitous(seefigure12).Inothersectors,althoughthevolumeofgenericactivityisstillsubstantial,asignificantproportionofshoppershavegoodknowledgeofthesectorparticipantsfrompriorexperienceorextensiveadvertisingandnavigatesolelythroughbrandterms(e.g.“Vodafone”).Itshouldbenotedhoweverthatalthoughthereachofgenerickeywordsmaynotmatchtheaggregatereachofbrandterms,thereachofgenerickeywordswillusuallybemuchgreaterthanthereachofanyindividualbrand’ssearchterms,astheirshareofvoicewillonlybeafractionofthebrandedsearchtotal.
Property
Only Generic search terms
Brand and Genericsearch terms
Only Brand search terms
Apparel
Travel
Energy
Loans
MobilePhones
CarInsurance
0% 30%20%10% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
X:NofurthersearchBase: Purchasers in the ‘Apparel’ Market
Justaspeoplewhoconvertonlinearemorelikelytousesearchandsponsoredlinksthannon-converters,theyarealso19%morelikely,onaverage,tosearchongenerictermsthanthosewhoendupjustlookingand/orconvertingoffline.
Figure 13: Generic to branded paths
Itisoftenassumedthatconsumersstarttheironlinejourneywithgenericterms,andusebrandedtermsastheymoveclosertothepurchaseevent.However,theseclickstreamanalysesdonotfullybackupthisbelief.Thereisatendencyformoregenericstoappearearlierintheprocess,butmanypathsdonotfollowtheexpectedpattern.
X - 20%
G - 53%
G - 14%
Generic29%
Brand71%
B - 27%
B - 69%
G - 19%
G - 11%
G - 60%
G - 56%
B - 69%
B - 73%
B - 21%
B - 37%
Search
1st Search 2nd Search 3rd Search
X - 17%X - 8%
X - 16%
X - 12%
X - 19%
Shoppersoftenswitchbetweengenericandbrandkeywordsearchesatdifferentpointsintheirjourney.Forexample,figure13documentsfirstthreesearchesofapparelshoppers. 14%ofapparelshopperswhostartwithabrandedsearchfollowonwithagenericsearch,however27%ofpeoplewhostarttheirjourneywithagenericsearch,continueupwithabrandedsearch.Onaverageacrosscategories,48%ofpeopleswitchbetweenbrandandgenericatsomepointonthewaytoaconversion(seeFigure14).
Figure 14: Percent of consumers who use both brand and generic terms in their purchase journey
48% Average
Base:Searcherswhopurchasedasdefinedineachcategory
90%
70%
80%
50%
60%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
Loans
50%
CarInsurance
21%
Travel
79%
Apparel
39%
Property
59%56%
Energy MobilePhones
34%
Conclusions
Consumer behaviour is intensive, complex and highly personal
Toachievethemaximumnumberofprofitablesalesorconversionsadvertisersneedtounderstandthefullvalueofallconsumeronlinetouchpointsandinparticulartheroleof‘assist’clicksintheconsumerpathtoconversion.
Traditionalmarketingfunnelmodelsarelessusefulintheonlineenvironment,wheresmart,savvyconsumersareincontrol.TheNielsenclickstreamstudiesshowtheextenttowhichpeopleshoparound,andresearchovermultiplesessions,enteringmultiplesearchesacrossbothbrandedandgenerickeywords.Evidencefromthestudiescallsintoquestiontraditionalassumptionsabouttheroleofbrandedandgenerickeywordsinthefunnelastheyareoftenbothusedatallstagesintheonlinejourney.
Tomaximisesalesonlineadvertisersmusttakeadvantageofallconsumertouchpoints,notjustthosethatdrivebusinessonalastclickbasis.Multi-clickjourneysmatter,theydrivesalesvolumeandvalue:theyaccountfornearlyhalfallpaidsearchconversionsandtheyareworthmore,onaverageanadditional8%inbasketvalue4.Genericsearchactivitytendstohappenearlierintheconsumerjourney,andthereforeislikelytobeundervaluedbylastclickattributionmodels.
4. td Search weighted attribution paper, 2010
Next StepsRefineyourapproachtosearchtoaddressallstagesofthecustomerjourney.Usethefollowingprocesstohelpyouactivelymanageandbideffectivelyonbothconvertingandassist(sometimesknownas“pathway”)keywords:
Test and iterate
•Examineyourowncustomerjourneysandassessareasforpotential misattribution.UsetoolssuchasGoogle’sSearchFunnelsor DoubleClickExposuretoConversionreportingtohelp.
•Measurethesensitivityofkeywordperformancetomultipleattribution modelstoexposepotentiallyundervaluedkeywordsandidentifywhat needsfurthervalidation.
•Runexperimentsorregressionmodellingtovalidatewhatreallyworks.
•FeedtestresultsbackintotheattributionmodelsorCPAtargets.
•Continuetooptimise.
•Repeat!Thetestanditeratecycleshouldbearegularroutine.
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