Dean Donaldson, digital experience strategist at Eyeblaster, joins the dots across multiple channels to track the changes in online consumer behaviour.

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Clicks are as ‘old as them thar hills’ in terms of Internet history. Measuring them traditionally offered accountability and ensured that the web firmly became established as a direct response medium. “I see, therefore I click” then became the mantra for the online industry to justify shifting advertising dollars into digital. But the problem today is users are just not clicking – at least not in the way a marketer would expect.

Consumer behaviour is changing in line with technological advancements. Web 2.0 has seen a shift from the propagation of content towards communication and social interaction. Advertising 2.0 follows the same pattern. In essence, it’s the natural conversation that exists between an advertiser and their audience, leading to intent to purchase, which is best seen in the relationship between display and search. Display in any media channel drives a heightened level of exposure of a message and search offers a platform for questioning and opinion forming. The web in this regard has replaced the need to seek and rely solely on information from in-store representatives, and has instead afforded consumers the chance to discuss aspects of products and services among themselves.

As soon as we become aware of something and interest is piqued through whatever media channel, questions form in the consumer’s mind: Is it good value for money? Is it safe for the kids? Is it available in red? Where can I get it from? How quick can you get it to me?

No media channel really expects a user to convert in situation, except for a few small cases. Neither will they seek to be measured as such as they each become digitally enabled – digital outdoor will most likely trigger a search on a mobile as you walk past, or TV ads prompting you to search the web on your laptop on your knee.

It is in this aspect of a consumer purchase cycle that the Internet has revolutionized consumer behavior through search. Rather than trusting merely what the advertiser says in their message, we would rather trust a peer who has been through the pain of purchase, before we put our own hands in our pockets.

Starting back with the likes of Amazon was a rating and review mechanism – and something consumers now rely heavily upon. Now, ten years since Google opened its doors in Menlo Park, California, 2008 is the year that will finally begin to join the dots, plotting actual consumer journeys as they move through all media; from exposure through research to conversion. Technology companies are starting to embrace a holistic view of media strategy and finally break down the barriers between media disciplines – as well as placing the click in its natural response environment, i.e. search.

By keeping data in silos (rich media, response-based standard advertising or inquiry-related search) digital strategists have been left to make a lot of assumptions about consumer behaviour, via limited available tools, to consolidate data across a range of vendors. In truth any consolidation done historically was too slow to be standard process within agencies, leading them to favour more simple touch points to justify online success.

With clicks now amounting to 0.5 per cent or 5 in every 1,000, the question is what is happening to the other 995 exposures? By combining search and display data, what is staggering is that from preliminary research, Eyeblaster has found that up to 30 per cent of online paid-search clicks en route to conversion can trace their roots back to being exposed to an online advert first.

Fortunately, not only is there only more data across a multiple of online media disciplines, but there is also more wisdom in ascertaining the online consumer experience against actual objectives. As the tide begins to turn it would seem that consumers today do not always ‘see then click’, supporting the need to change our mantra to “I see, therefore I search.”

By Dean Donaldson, Digital Experience Strategist