Search and Social Media Work Together to Bring Consumers to Conversion
A report from GroupM and comScore delves into how search and social media mingle and influence the purchase path of consumers. One of the findings was that when consumers were exposed to both search and social media, click-through rates rose by 94 percent.
“The Virtuous Circle: The Role of Search and Social Media in the Purchase Pathway” is a report that follows up a similar 2009 study on the interplay between search and social media. That 2009 study found “a strong correlation between search and social media, as well as further evidence that upper funnel engagement drives lower funnel activity. The study also revealed the influence social media has on specific search activity. For all types of keywords the influence was found to be substantial, but lower funnel terms surrounding campaign brands and brand products saw large increases in search activity when users also engaged in either category-level social media or specific social media owned by the brands themselves.”
This updated report was aided by the likes of Dell and other brands in the telecommunications and consumer packaged goods industries. “Findings confirmed that when consumers were exposed to both search and social media influenced by a brand that overall search CTR went up by 94%.”
When looking at where most consumers start with their searches that end in purchases, GroupM and comScore found that 58 percent start with search engines, while 24 percent start with company sites and 18 percent start with social media.
The 76 percent of consumers who start with either search or social media signal “intent to explore and potentially buy without commitment to a brand at the outset,” according to the report. “This represents a definite opportunity for advertisers to capture that expressed intent by creating engagement in these channels in order to best position themselves for consideration and purchase.”
However, when looking at the actual path to purchase, 51 percent of consumers who convert use just search, while 48 percent use both search and social media. Only 1 percent of these consumers use social media without search to get to the purchase point, suggesting that “social media is not yet a stand-alone conduit for the consumer’s decision-making process.”
The multiple channels of information compel consumers to go through a lengthy discovery process. According to the report, the path to purchase for the telecommunications and consumer electronics categories, respectively, was 60 and 57 days, with 11 and nine steps from start to finish.
What does this tell us? Three things, according to GroupM and comScore: 1) the funnel is fragmenting, 2) information discovery choices are multiplying and 3) search and social media are becoming more important to consumers.
The report also cites numbers that point to search’s crucial role in establishing consumers’ consideration set more than advertisers typically give the medium credit for. “Time may alter these responses, but as brands think about how and from where to best provide content, search continues to make a compelling case as a valid recipient for initial investment of ad dollars and ongoing optimization efforts.”
In what the report calls the “Late Kick,” GroupM Search shows that there’s a surge in consumer search behavior in the last 30 days of the purchase path. Overall query volume for brand terms and visits to the brand’s site rise while visits to competitor sites decline. In others words, search remains an important part of the ultimate selection of product and brand.
Nevertheless, social media is playing a more complex role in the purchase path. Consumers said social media helps in the awareness of new brands and products, and in eliminating brands from consideration.
Search and social play major roles in assuring consumers that they’ve made the right decision, as nearly 70 percent of respondents said search and social media “make them feel more confident about their purchase decisions.”
The “casual circle” between search and social offers brands an opportunity to “capture and drive customers to conversion,” according to the report. “A shape appears to be forming in the brand opportunity to connect with consumers. Consumers want accurate, timely information and they will alternate between two channels; one they feel is ubiquitous and a part of their everyday life (search), and one that can not only introduce brand purchase decisions, but alter their intentions and confirm their final purchase decision (social media).”
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