Known Retailers Matter for Product Searchers
A new report published by Search Engine Land indicates that search engine users place the highest level of value on whether or not they are familiar with the retailer when deciding whether to click on results for product searches.
In other words, if an individual’s online storefront is not associated with a major retail brand, they could be fighting an uphill battle to attract conversions even if they offer greater bargains and additional services. What other factors mattered to search engine users when looking for an online product retailer?
Free Shipping, Discounts Matter Too
Indeed, about 70% of the 400 people surveyed ranked “known retailer” among their top three care-abouts when looking at product search results. “Free shipping” came in second place with about 57%, while “free returns” was relatively unimportant about 28%. Not surprisingly, about 48% of respondents looked for mention of a “discount or sale offer” before clicking.
About 40% of respondents cared about whether the image and price is shown, while about 30% were satisfied with only seeing the price. A little under 15% of those surveyed said they like to see contact info displayed right in the search results before they decide to visit the retailer’s site. Roughly 35% ranked factors like “review stars” and “nearby location” highly among the other available choices. In a blow to Google, only about 3% of respondents said they base their decision on how many Google+ followers the retailer has.
Where Are People Looking For Holiday Gifts?
Roughly two-thirds of survey takers said they plan to use Google and Amazon to look for holiday gifts this year, while between 10% and 15% said the same about Bing and Yahoo. Sites focused more specifically on shopping like Bizrate, Pricegrabber, Nextag and Shopzilla only received preference from less than 5% of respondents each. Social shopping sites like Pinterest and Etsy managed to receive interest from between 10% and 12% of survey takers, meanwhile.
A good chunk of holiday shoppers are looking for an especially good deal (or perhaps a chance at a sold-out item), as about 25% said they’ll be doing their gift hunting on eBay this year.
If you run an online store, will these figures affect your strategy for the holiday shopping season? Let us know in the comments below.