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White Paper Summary: Inside the Mind of the Searcher
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At Enquiro, we undertook a research project to allow us to glimpse inside the mind of the searcher during a typical consumer based interaction. Through an enhanced focus group format, we observed the search behaviors of 24 participants and had the chance to interview them extensively about their thoughts and reactions to what they saw online.
The group was relatively demographically diverse, given the restrictions of the sample size. We saw some correlation in many findings with that of a much broader research initiative, involving an online survey with over 400 participants.
A number of significant findings were identified. As we suspected, we found that search engines are much more likely to be used during the research or consideration phase of the buying cycle. And we found some distinct differences in search behaviors in researchers versus buyers, as well as men vs women.
It became clear that searchers have mentally divided the search engine results page into distinct sections, and many searchers will skip some of these sections completely. In general, organic listings are more likely to be seen by a greater percentage of users than sponsored listings. It also emerged that many Google users have become preconditioned to visually ignore sponsored listings on the page.
The search process is also much more complex than many of us assume. A typical search interaction involves many opportunities to look at the results page and individual sites. The search query is refined a number of times (generally becoming more specific) and the opportunity to introduce brand occurs early and repeatedly in the search funnel. Interaction with search results early in the process can dramatically affect the search process, taking it in totally new directions.
Read the White Paper online to find out more from our first research study.
The group was relatively demographically diverse, given the restrictions of the sample size. We saw some correlation in many findings with that of a much broader research initiative, involving an online survey with over 400 participants.
A number of significant findings were identified. As we suspected, we found that search engines are much more likely to be used during the research or consideration phase of the buying cycle. And we found some distinct differences in search behaviors in researchers versus buyers, as well as men vs women.
It became clear that searchers have mentally divided the search engine results page into distinct sections, and many searchers will skip some of these sections completely. In general, organic listings are more likely to be seen by a greater percentage of users than sponsored listings. It also emerged that many Google users have become preconditioned to visually ignore sponsored listings on the page.
The search process is also much more complex than many of us assume. A typical search interaction involves many opportunities to look at the results page and individual sites. The search query is refined a number of times (generally becoming more specific) and the opportunity to introduce brand occurs early and repeatedly in the search funnel. Interaction with search results early in the process can dramatically affect the search process, taking it in totally new directions.
Read the White Paper online to find out more from our first research study.
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"Enquiro's BuyerSphere research found a very interesting difference in behavior between those under the age of 30 and those over 30. They interacted with online in significantly different ways "
Gord Hotchkiss
President and CEO
Enquiro
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