Google’s VP. Marketing for the Americas, Lisa Gevelber recently stated “The sort of advice people once sought from friends, they now expect to get from their phones. Marketers who understand emerging search trends have the advantage”.
The above quote relates to online users looking for more personal results in search. Furthermore, companies now have a better understanding of what users are really looking for – Personal Attention.
Search queries such as “Best car insurance for me” and “how many credit cards should I have” indicate that users want an answer based on their personal needs along with what other people are suggesting. The big question is how do we assist these users in providing them the answers that they are looking for to capture them as a potential customer for a business.
I have put some thought behind the concept of how businesses can approach users with personal communication and the potential businesses can use to leverage this information with marketing strategies. I have broken the process down into a simple bullet list with each point having a rather more complex setup.
- Create an effective landing page that focuses around personal search terms your business can offer.
- Include conditional logic functionality that can assist in providing the user with an answer.
- Manage the user’s information in a CRM or at least Excel.
- Differentiate your business approach on how to further apply personal communication based on the data you have received.
To elaborate on some of these points:
Point 1. This will assist with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and PPC (Pay Per Click) Campaigns due to the relevance of the keywords, adverts and landing page content. The content must be focused on the topic at hand to keep the user engaged.
Point 2. This will assist you in recommending a personal solution to your potential users. SiteMeUp has developed this type of system on skinmiles.com. SkinMiles has a registration process which consists of a free personal skin assessment. Users can select their age, gender, skin type, skin concern and the system will process this information and recommend skincare products based on the user’s personal selection.
Point 3. When capturing your user’s information, it is essential to use the information wisely. Further segment communication is often opted for and allows businesses to target specific users. For example: Customer A completes a form online and selects Cape Town as their City, Customer B selects Johannesburg as their City. When creating a newsletter about Water restrictions in Cape Town, we can specify that all customers on your database who have the City Cape Town in their profile will receive this notification only. This allows businesses to approach their correct market.
Point 4. As briefly mentioned in point 3, businesses can use information to communicate to their customers, a newsletter is a simple and still effective approach in doing this. There are many more resources and systems in place to communicate with your customers and a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool can provide further logic and conditions to communicate with your customers. A CRM should be a high priority for businesses looking to develop, understand and communicate personally to their customers.
In ending, Lisa Gevelber also mentions “Savvy marketers now know that consumers want answers as well as ideas and inspiration. And they want these things fast. Those who can deliver answers to people’s personal needs will have an advantage.”
What points do you have on how to make search more personal? Leave your comments below.
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