A Behavioral Way to Look at Search with The Intent Lab. Interview with Performics’ Esteban Ribero

According to Esteban Ribero, Senior Vice President, Planning and Insights, Performics, “search has moved far beyond the traditional search bar.  While consumers still ‘search and click,’ search is no longer a channel; it’s a behavior.”   

Further, search has gone beyond just plain text. “People are searching on their voice-activated assistants like Alexa; they’re searching via visual cues on channels like Pinterest.” His advice for marketers is to “shift the thinking around search from a channel to a behavior,” so search becomes a behavioral tool that gives great insights in consumer intentions within exact moments.  

To better understand the behavioral impact of search, Performics partnered with Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications to launch the Intent Lab. Their latest study, in collaboration with Microsoft, leverages searcher intent from the scale of the Bing Search network.

Charlene Weisler: The Intent Lab’s latest study found that search query language can reveal behavioral insights into purchase intent. What were the key findings and any surprises for you?

Esteban Ribero: The level of concreteness of the language in the search queries is a good proxy for the level of concreteness of the mindset that consumers are in, and the psychological distance they are at from accomplishing their goal. For instance, we found that searchers who are “browsing” (long distance from goal) are 20% more likely to click on search results the emphasize abstract words, like “best,” while searchers with actual buying goals are 180% more likely to click on search results that emphasize concrete words, like “shop.”  Searchers who used concrete queries were also 135% more likely to click on retailer search results, where they could buy in that moment.

The idea that consumers signal their intent to purchase with their search queries is not surprising, but the ability to infer the mindset of the consumer based on the level of concreteness of the search query is a novel idea. This is allowing us to innovate, creating interesting methodologies and tools to personalize experiences not just to who you are but to what is in your mind and the level of concreteness/abstractness your mindset is at that particular moment. That is the next frontier of personalization. And, we have proved that it works: When we ran a test and served consumers ads that matched their mindsets, we saw an increase in performance. For example, when a consumer searched for an abstract term such as “best” and was shown an abstract (vs. a concrete) ad, the consumer was 17% more likely to click on the ad. 

Charlene Weisler: Can you include these findings into an attribution model?

Esteban Ribero: We’re exploring new applications of the intent scoring algorithm and attribution could be one. I have always believed in the assistive value of top-of-the-funnel keywords. Our learnings validate the need to serve relevant experiences at any point in consumers’ journey and the intent scoring algorithm could potentially become a set of weights in an attribution model, so the assistive value of the different keywords used at different stages in the journey can be properly captured.

Charlene Weisler: What learnings can brands take from the study to create ads and experiences that drive more performance?

Esteban Ribero: When we think about search ads it is easy to think just about keywords. We found that there is a way to bring to life the human being behind those keywords and design better experiences that match people’s intentions so we can really be assistive to them and extract value in the process. 

Charlene Weisler: Do you think that, as one does search on Google for example, that the suggested search terms they push modifies behavior? If so, how? And then how do you model for that?

Esteban Ribero: People turn to search engines with clear intentions. They’re looking for guidance; they’re looking to explore and get inspired, they’re also looking for specific details as they evaluate their options, and of course, they’re there to take action such as buying, signing up for a service, find a coupon, get directions, etc. As long as the results are useful and assistive to the searcher, they will influence behavior because providing relevant results will help them do what they want. It comes down to personalizing the experience by matching content to people’s intentions and the mindset they’re in at that particular moment.

There is considerable research in psychology that shows that the closer we are to accomplishing a goal, the more concrete our minds become and the more attuned we are to specific and concrete information. Our research proves that we can identify the mindset that consumers are in by analyzing the level of concreteness of the language they use in the search query. We can increase the performance of our clients’ search ads if we match the level of concreteness of the ad to that of the mindset of the consumer at that moment. We have developed an intent scoring algorithm to do that so we can provide optimized experiences at scale.

Charlene Weisler: What are your next steps in this area of research?

Esteban Ribero: We’re currently exploring ways to investigate this topic beyond the traditional search engine to further embrace the idea of search as a behavior, not just a channel.

This article first appeared on www.MediaVillage.com

How to Attain Digital Satisfaction. Hint: Don’t Be Creepy.

 

As retail becomes increasingly digital, greater pressure is being felt on the brick and mortar side of the business. But even online retailers face challenges, according to Esteban Ribero, Senior Vice President, Planning & Insights, Performics. His company recently fielded a study using the Digital Satisfaction Index™ (DSI) to measure online consumer attitudes.  “We executed a retail-specific DSI surveying 1500 respondents that  compared digital satisfaction for retailers in general, as well as for specific brands,” he explained.

Retailers, whether online or in-store, need to be able to deliver the goods to consumers in terms of quality, service and value while also finding the careful balance between personalization and privacy. I sat down with Ribero and asked him the following questions:

Charlene Weisler: What do you mean by digital satisfaction? What are the most important drivers in digital satisfaction?

Esteban Ribero: There are all kinds of studies done around consumer satisfaction but there has never been one for DSI retail. We wanted to see what drives customer engagement in this area. We found that there are four components of digital satisfaction:  

       1.       How useful the experience is. Can people accomplish what they set out to do when they visit your site? How easy is that to do?

       2.       How secure is your online environment? There are still a lot of concerns about privacy where people have to feel comfortable about sharing their personal information online.

       3.       Trust, which is different from privacy. Retailers have to make sure that the information they are giving online is truthful, accurate and reliable, especially in the context of fake news. It is more important than ever now.

      4.        How social is the experience? How much customers can get a peek into other peoples’ lives to create a more engaged experience, how much they can read reviews and comment on those reviews.

Weisler: What do shoppers generally think about the user interface of retail websites and apps? Is there a constant? Do some retailers do it better and if so, what do they do to stand out?

Ribero: We were surprised to find out that consumers were very satisfied already with the utility of their retail websites and apps. We thought that perhaps some consumers would find sites clunky or not very human but the research shows that people find the experience positive. Of the three retailers in our study (Lululemon, Gap, H&M), Lululemon customers were the most satisfied with landing page and app experience, and Gap customers were the least satisfied.  This could be due to Lululemon offering a more modern digitized experience.

Weisler: What is the balance between privacy and personalization? Is there a concern about the ultimate use/sale of personal data?

Ribero: This was the most interesting takeaway from the study. There is a trade-off between privacy and personalization. We go with the assumption that consumers want more personalization and the industry strives to ascertain ahead of time what consumers may want to insure greater personalization. However, as we have done that, consumers may push back because we have been tracking them using information that they did not give explicit permission for us to use for tracking. So they feel more concerned about privacy and all the information we gather about them. But at the same time they say that they want more personalized experiences. The struggle is they want more personalization without giving us any information to do that.   What we need to do as an industry is be more open with the consumer as to what information we use to track them. When we don’t do this it tends to backfire on us. The trick is to make it feel like a generic message but finding a way to tailor it to the consumer. Don’t put one’s name on it – it feels creepy.

Weisler: What is showrooming? What kind of shoppers are most likely to showroom, and how does showrooming fit into driving digital satisfaction for retailers if at all?

Ribero: Showrooming is the ability of consumers to experience the merchandise without having to actually order online. When consumers are shopping in a brick and mortar store, they may at the same time use their cell phone’s mobile apps to browse products for that same store or competitors. That behavior is here to stay and we are seeing it more and more.

Weisler: Based on what you have seen in your research, where do you see the future of retail in the next 3-5 years?

Ribero: We always dream about that moment where, as in the movie Minority Report, Tom Cruise enters a store and they know all about him – his preferences, his past purchasing. I think we are getting to that but in a way that consumers see as more controlled in their environment and their choices. At the end of the day, that where I see where the future is headed. Consumers taking control of their experiences, of the events they want, of the way they want to engage with brands. And I see continued merging between the digital space and the brick and mortar space. Brands will continue to transform their stores as showrooms to get a seamless way for people to interact with the brand.

 This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com

bit.ly/weislermedia
bit.ly/weislermedia2