More than 70% of Google search queries in Australia only happen once, according to Google Ads Research APAC head Rachael Powell.
“The question then becomes as marketers and business leaders, how do you show up with the right information to help those people at the precise moment, despite the huge growth in both the velocity and variety of searches?” she said in a presentation at Google Marketing Live, Sydney.
That growth in unique query searches is due to something Google is calling the "confidence gap".
“The ‘confidence gap’ is the place between what you think you know, and what you need to know in order to make a decision,” Powell said.
“People are feeling quite uncertain about decision making right now and to overcome that uncertainty and feel more confident, they're searching for more information.
“What is interesting is consumers are still willing to spend quite a lot of time in that ‘confidence gap’. That's because right now, it feels like the cost of making a bad decision or an unwise purchase is just too high.”
Powell said that Google’s research shows that people are wanting to do more due diligence and make sure they're doing enough research to make that right decision. 60% of consumers in Australia surveyed by Google said in the last three months, they're researching more for things like the right price points or the right deals to get the best value.
“One of the most prevalent behaviours we're seeing is that they’re deciding which brands to engage with,” she said.
“Month on month, almost 50% of consumers have bought from a brand they've never heard of before. This represents a big opportunity for business, but if your consumer spends too long in that confidence gap and they’re not getting the information they need, they can opt out altogether.
“This happens more often than you think - one in three consumers have chosen to not buy a product because they weren’t feeling confident. Timing really matters here, because if you show up with the right information but the consumer has already made the decision to not buy, that's an opportunity missed.”
Powell said that consumers are looking for trusted information to help them feel assured that those choices and assumptions they're making are based on a solid foundation. Consumers are influenced by information they seek themselves, whether that's through online search, going into a store to chat to someone or talking to family and friends.
“They're looking for brands and products that they can trust,” Powell said.
“75% of consumers say they want to trust the product or brand before they buy and 67% said they will pay more to a business that they trust. So how do you, as a brand, show up and appear trustworthy to consumers, some of whom may have never heard of you before?
“There are certain signals or mental shortcuts you can use to build that trust. We spent a lot of time in the research exploring which signals resonate most with consumers in that confidence gap. The six we landed on all scored more than 70 out of 100 in our implicit association test, meaning consumers agreed - and agreed quickly - giving us a very high level of confidence in their efficacy.”
Powell says some of those signals comprise the obvious - brand power or brand legacy, the experience you’ve had with a brand previously; social proof, the amount and type of public reviews that brand is getting; and industry respect, recognition or endorsement from unbiased sources - but there’s also signals that are more surprising.
“One is the perceived effort a brand puts in to getting someone the product or the service - are they going the extra mile to deliver great customer experience?," Powell said.
“Or social responsibility - does the brand have a really positive intent and is it acting on that intent?
“These signals work together to build trust and empower your consumers through the ‘confidence gap’ to make the ‘confidence shift’.”
Powell said there's one other important thing that underpins all of this, however, and that is the platform on which these signals appear, because people infer trust from the source they inquire their information from.
“The other interesting thing we found in the research is that confidence doesn't just impact a single transaction,” said Powell.
“Consumers that feels more confident in that purchase decision are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase, and more likely to buy that product again - confidence actually supports loyalty as well.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.