For part 2 of this series, Words Go Here would like to suggest a methodology that works well for us. This being the development of client keyword strategies relative to the consumer buying cycle. We call it Keyword Awareness. This post will be weighted to the Paid Search side of the things, mostly since PPC tends to require such massive keyword lists, and thereby greater need for precision and segmentation. But we will definitely be providing our insights on the organic as well in coming posts.

So we are on the same page, buying cycles are the steps a customer goes through as they shop for a product or search for meaningful information relative to their needs and/or wants. Customers probably won’t realize each of these steps as they occur, but you can with a little thought and attention.

We would like to further define the buying cycle as three phases; Discovery, Consideration, and Purchase. This is the definition we use when speaking with new commerce oriented clients, as it helps them immediately grasp the conversation and rally around what’s being suggested.

To explain a little further, the Discovery phase is fundamentally based around a simple seed question; “What is out there relative to my interest?” Not much else to it. You want something, you know nothing about it, so you start some general research. Welcome to Discovery.

The Consideration phase is a bit more advanced. At this point, a user knows a few items of interest, relative price points, and options and is now trying to make the best decision possible for the product and source. The Consideration phase is becoming more and more reliant on post purchase consumer experience, particularly by way of user generated reviews. This step is where the user decides if your brand, product, or information is credible and worthy of their hard earned dollars. This concept can clearly be seen in eBay’s buyers interact with the user feedback system. You are probably not going to place a bid on an item, no matter how much you want it, if the seller has a less than a 98% positive score. You’re building trust in the purchase process as part of your Consideration.

The Purchase phase is the final step. You have taken care of the folks who’ve interacted with your brand, products, and information well enough that you have been rewarded with positive user generated reviews and word of mouth recommends. You have the attractive enough price point, with the right reputation. Most importantly, you have the item available at the moment. Let the Purchase transactions happen!

In application, these phases might be expressed in the following buyer statements:

1) Discovery – “I need to get some new shoes for going to the club. What are the newest styles that fit in my price range?”

2) Consideration – “I need Italian leather! Ferragamo or Prada? Are there any stores in the area I can see them and fit them? What color will go best with my wardrobe?”

3) Purchase – “That’s it! I have to have some Ferragamo bit loafers so I can be ‘on’ at the club.“

As this soon-to-be-club-bound shoe shopper finds their way to the computer and sets about Googling, the search queries they use might look something like this:

1) Discovery – “leather dress shoes styles,” “new shoes for the club,” or “men’s leather dress shoes”

2) Consideration – “Ferragamo (or) Prada shoe retailer, my town”, “Ferragamo (or) Prada shoe reviews”, “Ferragamo (or) Prada shoe sales”

3) Purchase – “Brown Ferragamo bit loafers, medium width, size XX”

In many circles, it is accepted that the number of terms in a user’s search query is a direct indicator of the level of intent and their relative placement within the buying cycle. Working with the ideas of Discovery, Consideration, and Purchasing phases, you can begin to segment out your keyword lists according to the perceived level of interest, or buying intent, based on a given keyword. While our experience suggests this concept usually holds true, it is still critical that you carefully consider your keywords. Then determine the ones for which you’re willing to bid high(er) dollar amounts. After all the name of the game is usually to get conversions over impressions with as little effort as possible, right? (Usually… remember it always depends on the client goals, as we mentioned in Part 1, the Intention of your Keywords.)

Let the Segmenting Begin

A 2-word phrase like “brown loafer” would be in the Discovery phase and likely should be labeled as a low value – high effort keyword to an established client. By contrast, a 5+ word phrase like “Ferragamo shoe retailer inventory, my town” would likely fall in the advanced Consideration phase if not at the Purchase phase and be labeled as a high value – low effort keyphrase.

Also, anticipating articles like “buy,” “info,” or “reviews” will allow you to heavily influence where an ad will be displayed. The more competitive a vertical, the more important it is that you get the keyword selection right to encourage click through and conversion.

If you’re using “brown loafer” as a keyword you are going to have an extremely broad target audience. Users searching for “brown woman’s loafer,” “brown leather loafers info,” “leather loafer retailers,” and “leather loafer reviews” will all potentially be exposed to your ads. These are often going to be low value click throughs, expending valuable budget. But sometimes that’s what you want.

Whereas “Brown Ferragamo bit loafers” is specific enough that we can surmise this shopper is at least seriously considering this shoe, and potentially near (or at) the point of Purchase. While this type of keyphrase offers far fewer impressions, the eyes on your ads will be more qualified than those of the “brown loafer” audience. You have the potential to take this concept so far that the available query volume is next to nothing, but the conversion rate is exceptional (like greater than 40%).

After you’ve spent even just a little bit of time being Keyword Aware, you will see significant traffic differences between the phases of the buying cycle. Not everyone who’s interested in a “brown loafer” will decide to buy a pair of “brown Ferragamo bit loafers, medium width, size xx.” They could decide to buy something else, or nothing at all. That’s why you’ll often hear the buying cycle referred to as a funnel: the further down a funnel you go, the more specific and precise you must be with your targeting. The further down the funnel, the less traffic. But those Purchase level keyphrases are the most valuable to you and your client’s bottom line! If only there were more of them… well, that’s a topic for another time.

Ache… that’s what my brain is doing now. That was enough keyword theory for a while. Overload. But instead of leaving you to just think over how you might use the buying cycles to organize your keyword arsenal, we’ll plan another post that walks through an example.