A recent study by Doubleclick shows that purchase related searching takes place long before a transaction and generic search terms dominate purchase related research.
DoubleClick Inc. (NASDAQ: DCLK), the leading provider of marketing solutions for ad agencies, marketers and web publishers, today unveiled a new study, Search Before the Purchase, in conjunction with comScore and DoubleClickâs search marketing division, Performics, to demonstrate how consumers use search engines in the process of making purchases online.
The study, which analyses pre-purchase search activity across four categories (Apparel, Computer Hardware, Sports & Fitness and Travel), showed that roughly half of all online shoppers conducted related research at a search engine before making an online purchase. It also found that most searchers complete their purchase-related search activity weeks in advance of the purchase transaction. While it is widely accepted that searches that lead directly to a purchase are often brand-related search queries, the study shows that brand names of online retailers were in the minority of all the purchase-related searches made during their shopping research.
Key findings and takeaways of the study included:
Buyers conduct many related searches prior to a purchase. Overall, the study found that approximately one out of every two online purchases is preceded by research on a search engine. In the case of the travel segment, nearly three out of four travel buyers consulted search engines before making a purchase.
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