Reporting on the Yahoo Life Series - College Students, Babies & Search
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Written By Reprise Media | October 12, 2005 | Share This
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Yesterday myself and several other folks from Reprise Media took in the Yahoo Life Series search marketing event.
This half-day event hosted by Yahoo was the first of a series dedicated to taking a look at the relationship between life-altering events and search behavior.
What life-altering events, you ask? Having a baby and going off to college (though not necessarily in that order).
Mop-topped Malcolm Gladwell kicked things off. Some might recognize him as the author of business Bibles The Tipping Point and Blink. I hadn’t read either book (I’m still working on Curious George) so I was going into it relatively fresh.
His talk was really interesting, though members of the audience said a lot of it was lifted from stuff he’s already written. I was just grateful he didn’t use PowerPoint.
A few of Gladwell’s major points and how he related them to search:
- The current decision-making process is fundamentally flawed. “Identify problem, conduct extensive research of solutions, make decision” is not really the way people do things. Similarly, the way people use search is much less straightforward than marketers might think - they bounce from search to search and site to site and result to result.
- The decision-making process is mysterious and most often unconscious. The best tennis coaches can quickly and accurately identify a good shot from a foul but cannot pinpoint exactly how or why they know this information. Applied to search this means that traditional methods of study, such as focus groups, are limited in what they can tell you about search behavior.
- Our decision-making skills are fragile and emotions get in the way. A person’s ability to make appropriate decisions decreases when factors such personal bias and an overwhelming number of options get in the way. In search this means that it’s important not to confuse or mislead the consumer, lest the “noise” negatively impacts the purchase/conversion decision.
- Frugality is a virtue. Maybe not in a date, but with major decisions people typically assume that the more time and effort put into making one, the better the results will be. Gladwell says false. For search marketers this means it’s best to create as few variables possible in order to speed the pathway toward a successful decision.
After Gladwell’s talk was over, Michelle Madansky of Yahoo Market Research and Chris Hubble of Hall & Partners took the stage to talk about the two life events which have a major impact on searchers - having a child and heading off to college. Lots of stats, lot of slides but the pair managed to keep things lively.
Key findings:
- College students and parents-to-be rely on search. A lot. These are online populations in need. Help them meet their needs and you’ll win them over.
- New parents & products go together like pacifiers & peace-and-quiet. Keep in mind, however, that most of their purchases will ultimately be made offline.
- College students rely on search as a critical source of information during this relatively uncertain point in their lives, even more so than their parents or peers.
- Online behavior influences offline behavior and vice versa. Search is the linchpin holding it all together.
- Search is used throughout the purchase funnel and often it’s not linear (see Gladwell’s points above).
Topics: Yahoo! |