Driving a search program forward means we need to better understand customer insights; without that, the numbers will remain as numbers.
One of the greatest benefits of a search marketing program is measurability.
The ability to track, report, derive consumer insights and have the guts to act on them drives the success of a search program. Unfortunately, many times all we see from that measurability are the numbers and statistics, as opposed to extracting the insights to derive the knowledge and wisdom.
What we need to ask ourselves is: "What is the insight beyond the basic numeric information collected?" and "How do we derive and act on this insight?"
Some may think that it's all about the bid management platform and the technology tools utilized, but deriving insights is about the right approach and the ability to analyze the numbers, notice trends and patterns and make a judgment call.
The technology platforms are important as they help facilitate the search optimization process by automating part of it and providing the ability to aggregate the data.
Insights and wisdom are gained through our ability to interpret the data and represent in a meaningful way. "Human power" drives the insights.
The Wisdom Hierarchy or Knowledge Pyramid provides a foundation from which we can build an approach for representing search data in a more meaningful way. It consists of four levels -- DATA, INFORMATION, INSIGHT and WISDOM.
- DATA is the raw data collected
- INFORMATION is an observation we can make from the data
- INSIGHT is the knowledge gained from the observation
- WISDOM is the ability to act on the insight effectively
Let's look at how this model can be applied in practical example.
Example: Paid search campaign for consumer electronics client
DATA: Data collected: Clicks, CPC, CTR -- by keyword and ad group.
INFORMATION: By analyzing keyword trends for our consumer electronics client, we identified that searches for new product models were being made weeks before the launch of the product in the market.
INSIGHT: With this information, additional search keywords were included to focus on new products and new model numbers prior to market launch to drive consideration. In the past, these search terms had only been included at time of product launch, not prior to product launch.
WISDOM: Remembering that every customer who searches starts with an intent is critical to leading them to your product and ultimate conversion. Providing consumers with the right information, creating "buzz", "desire" and "momentum" prior to product launch became an integral part of the search program. By acting on the trend we identified, we were better able to construct a successful program to deliver to the needs of the consumer and drive consideration by increasing the opportunity for conversion earlier in the purchase cycle.
This valuable nugget of knowledge from the search program changed how customers were targeted and the search program evolved into a more customer-centric one.
In summary, the Wisdom Hierarchy provides a framework and approach towards deriving better consumer insights from our search programs. Gone are the days of tracking standard campaign metrics and regurgitating the numbers. Driving a search program forward means we need to better understand customer insights, and have the guts to act on that knowledge. Without the ability to provide judgment and analysis, the numbers will remain as numbers.
It's the human factor in the analysis that is the key to turning data into information; information into insight; and insight into wisdom for your search programs.
Rosemary Lising is managing director of GroupM Search Asia Pacific.