Multichannel Forensics A to Z: Paid Search

The paid search customer is one worthy study in your average Multichannel Forensics project (book, study).

Most customers understand the difference between paid search and natural search, implying that the customer is using paid search for reasons different than the customer using natural search.

Customers can be segmented by the micro-channel they use (Google Paid Search, Yahoo! Paid Search, MSN Paid Search, Ask.com, etc.).

When search is viewed from the Multichannel Forensics standpoint, you often see that Google is in "Isolation Mode", while Yahoo! and MSN are in "Equilibrium Mode". In other words, the Google customer stays with Google, while the Yahoo! and MSN customer is willing to try all search engines.

Pay close attention to the long-term dynamics of this relationship, if you experience this phenomenon. If the Google customer is less valuable, long-term, and your MSN and Yahoo! customers are switching to Google, uh oh.

Our focus will continue to shift away from traditional direct marketing, to the relationships exhibited by online micro-channels. Our databases will be able to store complex micro-channel interactions across time, allowing us to see these trends.

Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Multichannel Forensics

Web Analytics practitioners do a very nice job of summarizing visit-specific customer behavior. They can tell you that 29% of the customers who visited a landing page were new, 71% existing visitors. Our world of marketing and measurement fundamentally changed when we were given access to the information provided by Web Analytics.

Now it is time to complement the veritable plethora of information provided by Web Analytics with Multichannel Forensics.

Most online marketers generate considerable sales from customers referred by Google, Yahoo!, and MSN searches.

Now let's consider future behavior. In other words, does the Google purchaser purchase again after conducting a search using Google? Does she purchase again because she becomes loyal to your website, visiting it frequently? Does she purchase again because of your catalog marketing activities? Does the MSN purchaser stay loyal to the MSN micro-channel, or does she switch to Google?

Multichannel Forensics provide answers to all of those questions.

Often, Multichannel Forensics suggest that Google is a unique micro-channel, separate from your e-commerce channel. My projects routinely indicate that Google customers have comparable future value, compared with Yahoo! or MSN customers. But subsequent behavior is fundamentally different! This means downstream marketing activities can be executed differently for the Google shopper than the MSN or Yahoo! shopper.

The Yahoo! and MSN shopper are occasionally less loyal to their portal than are Google shoppers. Loyalty to your brand may be similar, but you may find these customers elsewhere on the internet in the future, whereas the Google shopper may continue to be loyal to Google.

Results across brands are frequently unique, so it is important that you give Multichannel Forensics a try, considering each online marketing vehicle as a unique micro-channel.