SEM: Searching to Spend — Getting Online Can Get it Done Offline for Retailers
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Written By Noah Mallin | July 22, 2008 | Share This
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The popular conception of search marketing from a sales objective is a customer on a search result page clicking your link (paid or organic) and following it to an online point of purchase. There ain’t nothing wrong with that, as Amazon.com and eBay can attest. Brick and mortar stores have also used this model to grow an online component to their offline biz as well (Barnes and Noble is an example of this). An interesting post today from Nielsen Online’s Analyst Blog (which relates to another post from a few weeks ago) suggests that for offline retailers this is only part of the story.
Many customers are using search as a research tool before actually showing up at a physical store to slap down their moolah on an actual purchase. The key data here is that the sale is most likely to occur at the store offline if they explored the same store’s online site. Spending more time on that online site was also a factor. Dig this chart:
If you can hook those buyers at the point of their search result, they are clearly more likely to follow through with a purchase at your store offline as well as online.
Here’s another key statistic — 38% of people overall who purchased consumer electronics in an offline store did so after doing online research on the product – take a look:
So what does this all mean from a search marketing perspective? If your brand has a strong brick and mortar sales component don’t ignore that group of consumers who still want to see what they’re buying in person. The ability to geo-target search ads and localized search results are a major boon to storefront retailers – take advantage of this through smart SEO and relevant ads and landing pages. Give consumers the option of buying online or offline and let them know where they can find a near-by location. You can also maximize measurement by setting up special online promotions that can be redeemed offline as well as online.
The power of this for a nationwide or even regional chain of stores is phenomenal, just as it is for a single storefront. Catch your customers at the results page, send them to an easy to navigate information rich website for research with local content thrown in, have a clear direction to point of sale both on and offline, and sit back and watch the customers come in.
Topics: Advertising: Online, ECommerce, SEM: Paid Search, SEO, Search: How-To, Search: Local, Uncategorized |