How Can Brands Help People Make Confident Purchase Decisions with Search?

The purchase decision is the result of a long and tedious process that people undergo before they choose to purchase a product or service. Brands apply various digital marketing strategies to reach their target audience and I love streamlining search marketing so I can make sure my target audience finds me easily. In this blog, I specifically explore how brands can help consumers make confident purchase decisions with the search! Keep reading to know more.

Understanding Consumer Purchase Decision 

The consumer’s purchase decision is the fourth stage in the consumer decision-making process. The initial stage is needed recognition where the consumer understands that they require a product or service which is followed by the second stage which is information search where they gather information about solutions for their requirements. Once the consumer has found out enough information, they then go on to consider the available options that they can choose from and evaluate the alternatives to find what suits their need best.

Once these three steps have been covered, the consumers finally decide to purchase one of the available options. This is the purchase decision and brands can connect with customers at all stages before this to positively influence the consumer’s purchase decision to buy their products or services. The last stage is the post-purchase evaluation stage where customers use the product and formulate their overall experience from purchasing to using the product to see if their purchase decision was an effective one. Information search is a crucial part of this process, and we are going to see how and why it affects the decision-making process below.

Understanding Consumer Purchase Decision 

How Search Affects Purchase Decision?

Customers are all on different paths looking for various products through diverse platforms. Search is generally split into two parts, one being SEO (search engine optimization) and the other being PPC (pay-per-click) which is paid search marketing – both of which brands can use to reach their target audiences. Despite the different journeys, needs, and methods of search – all potential customers are generally driven by one or more of the factors mentioned below. Let’s have a look at what these factors are. 

Emotional Decision-Making 

People are driven by their emotions, looking for solutions that convince them to be confident in the purchase they are about to make. Customers have a lower tendency to purchase anything that they are confused about unless there is good reasoning behind it. When a customer looks for information and finds a convincing description that gives a clear message that the brand “understands their problem” they are more likely to give the product a chance. 

It is the same for me. The last time I was looking for some good running shoes, I went with the product that easily described what type of shoe it was, what sort of running activities it was best for while also displaying some quick product reviews of people with the same needs! Needless to say, I was impressed by how easily the brand communicated they understood my need although I only searched for it on Google (the search engine I prefer to use the most, by the way!)

Consistent Brand Presence

Need for Reliable Sources

Another important factor is the reliability of the information and the source it comes from. People want to receive information that they are sure about, and tend to stay away from products and brands that don’t have evidence to their claims. They also show a higher pattern of buying things that someone they know personally or trust has recommended, whether it is a family member or their favorite influencer known for their honesty! 

Either way, brands need to support their claims to get customers to even consider their products in the process leading up to their purchasing decision. Search engines like Google are showing keen interest in this need of consumers, pushing relevant results from high authority brands and websites so people see the most reliable content first! 

The Paradox of Choice Effect 

While brands must present enough information for consumers to connect with them, it is clear that the digital age has allowed so many brands to promote their products and services. This leads to a huge dilemma where consumers are overwhelmed and frustrated because of having too many choices and too much information to navigate through. 

I have experienced it so many times and the only way I finally did end up deciding on a product is when I saw the exact description I typed or a brand that was very helpful in answering all my doubts. As I said, that helped me feel more confident which naturally led me to purchase from the brand. As a consumer myself, this helped me understand exactly what brands could do better to influence the purchase decision of people simply using search. 

How Can Brands Positively Influence Purchasing Decisions with Search?

As a digital marketing owner myself, I have struggled countless times with reaching out to my target market. Until I understood the importance of search, and how I could push my brand to the forefront where people were able to see it better, my efforts weren’t as fruitful. Once I mastered it and reaped the benefits of effective marketing with search and saw the impact on the purchasing decisions of people – I never stopped striving hard to optimize my efforts with search. 

Consistent Brand Presence

Understanding your consumer’s journey is key to ensuring you create strategies that meet them at all and every part of their research. Imagine you’re a branding school supplies. Without simply using branded keywords like “school supplies” and “stationery”, extending to more non-branded keywords like “school bags for kindergarteners” or “colorful backpack” is a great way to improve your brand’s keyword strategy and easily be present at every part of the consumer’s journey. However, it’s important to use both types of keywords to reach potential consumers spread across the platform. 

How Can Brands Positively Influence Purchasing Decisions with Search?

Relevancy to Search Queries

Naturally, I won’t get leads if my content is not relevant to users’ search queries. By understanding the search intent and search terms that my audience is more likely to use, I can target them better. But Google’s research shows that 15% of search queries are completely new queries never been searched on the search engine before. 

For my clients, I combat this challenge by using responsive search ads which routinely create relevant ad messages according to their search terminology which helps me save a whole lot of time if I were to do it manually while also increasing brand awareness. Google’s Search Ad and its assisting tools come with great benefits that automate and evaluate services on their own, which helps me create better and more relevant PPC campaigns. 

Search Marketing Automation

Automating your search efforts not only helps you and your team skip a lot of manual work but also analyzes your customers and their search intents to help create a personalized experience for them. Simply using tools like broad match helps you reach a larger audience by using technology’s best gift – constantly improving search algorithms. Imagine your keyword was “fat-free cake”, you could still show up on a search for “vegan dessert” simply because of this excellent automated tool. Brands can research more on search marketing automation tools available and create personalized customer search experiences ultimately helping their purchasing decision.

Collaborative Marketing

Covid-19 pushed many brands to move online partially or completely. This led to many strategic collaborations, which I believe is a wonderful search tactic.  Restaurants and fashion retailers partnered with more delivery platforms, while universities partnered with virtual classrooms and more! Along with collaborations, businesses went a step further to research and include PPC tools that would help them understand and accommodate the consumer’s changing search pattern and behavior, consistently alter their search strategy, and reach high-intent users to help them decide on purchasing your products and services.

Key Takeaway

Brands need to keep improving their search strategy to reach their potential clients looking for information on solutions for their needs. This plays a pivotal role in the steps they take to finalize their purchase decision. Understanding their emotional sentiments, need for reliability, and exposure to too many choices is a difficult feat without automated tools like Google Ads and other PPC and SEO tools that can help improve your search strategy. With the right use of these, you can easily improve your brand’s presence, awareness, and domain authority to place your brand at the forefront when users search for what they need!

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