Greasing the Purchase Funnel With Consumer Research
Conventional wisdom suggests that a decade ago, digital agencies emerging from the ashes of the dot-com bust had a tough road ahead. The exuberance at the turn of the millennium was a distant memory, and going forward, transparency and accountability would be the law of the land. The biggest shops with the swankiest offices would still get by on their agency brands and long-standing relationships, but in the first decade of the 21st century, big changes were afoot.
Notable technology titans were bringing to market solutions that would level the playing field for everyone, for example:
- Google AdWords picks up steam as a key adoption platform.
- Yahoo and Microsoft offer scale via their own search offerings.
- YouTube spawns a brand new experience of online video consumption.
- Google Analytics brings website traffic analysis to the masses, free of charge.
- WordPress offers the public an open-source solution for limitless self-expression.
- Facebook offers an advertising platform with unprecedented consumer targeting.
Last month, with all of the industry focus on Google’s quarterly earnings, an announcement from Mountain View slipped by with limited fanfare – one which should indeed be profoundly interesting to agencies, brands, and Wall Street alike.
With its launch of Consumer Surveys, Google has in fact added a whole new dimension to the self-service model of audience engagement, customer acquisition and brand building.
Traditionally only accessible via high-powered consumer research technologies like Dynamic Logic, Google’s solution allows for tailored outreach based on standard demographic targets (age/gender/geographic), as well as “custom audiences” built around threshold questions (e.g. “do you drive a hybrid or electric car?”). …Read the full article on Search Engine Watch.