The How vs. The Why

As far back as I can remember, I've always been a very inquisitive person. I was never content when someone gave me the "what" or even the "why"; I always wanted the "how". I guess it's just in my nature to look beyond the simple observation of the "what" or the causal response from the "why". For me, what's significant is how something happened. An example that is relevant to all of us is the situation the global economy is in. Anyone can tell you that the economy is doing terrible (the "what"); it is also fairly easy to explain "why", in this case being that lending houses were being too nonchalant when giving loans as well as consumers spending beyond their means. Granted, the "why" is a bit more involved as it goes deeper into the situation but the "how" digs even deeper. In this case, the answer would be that government's laissez-faire and lack of regulation allowed lending houses to make too many risky gambles and unfortunately, they lost the majority of those gambles. Yes, I agree that all three of those ("what", "where", "how") pose three separate questions, but the "how" is what gives you the best understanding of the situation.

I mention this because in my line of work, the "how" is the most significant detail. In Search, the "what" is a given and that is that consumers are looking for the most bang for their buck. The Internet gives them a wealth of information and resources to do their due diligence and get the best deal on the product they want. The "why" is a no-brainer: because they want to save money and by comparing prices from multiple retailers, they are doing just that. The "how", that's the Fort Knox of Search. By figuring out how consumers are searching, you are positioning yourself for success.

I've had the privilege to work with people from diverse backgrounds and with that being the case, have been exposed to different demographics. In Australia, consumers are rather indifferent about brand names as opposed to here in America. Let's pick a product to help illustrate this: a 42" lcd tv (I know, my love for electronics is very subtle!). An American male in his 30's would be more likely to search the term "sony 42 inch lcd tv" (or panasonic, samsung, etc.) than his Australian counterpart. The Aussie male would most likely type in just "42 inch lcd tv". The American society has a tendency to be brand conscious as they feel a brand name adds value, whereas Australians are content whether they get a Sony or a Sceptre just as long as they get a good deal on a good product. Search behaviors vary in different parts of the world so it would be ill-advised to use the same tactic across the world for a global campaign.

Back to the "how" of Search. As a Search marketer, you should ask yourself a series of "hows" before rolling out a campaign. Here are a few sample questions:

1. How can I create the most targeted experience so that my potential users will get the best user experience?
2. How can I find out what tactics my users are most receptive to?

Now let me tackle each one of these questions. The first question relates to user experience and how that can be beneficial to your performance. Let's continue to use our American and Aussie male to help illustrate and I'll use Best Buy as my client. Since we mentioned that Americans are more receptive to brand names, I would use ad copy that looks like this when advertising in America:


In Australia, since they are less brand conscious, my ad copy would look like this:
For the American ad copy, I made sure that the brand name was mentioned multiple times to ensure that I do in fact carry what they are looking for: brand name TVs. For the Australian ad copy, my focus shifted. I put more emphasis on the money they would be saving at Best Buy as opposed to the competitors. I also emphasized that although they are going to save money, they shouldn't expect to get a third rate TV, but rather one that is top of the line. Taking note of these kinds of cultural preferences will work wonders for your campaign performance.

Before you start to think that I completely dismiss the "why", let me explain the significance I put on the "why". After establishing the "how" (i.e., how people are searching), I examine the "why". In this case, I have multiple "whys":

1. Why did/didn't the user click on my ad?
2. If the user clicked my ad, why didn't they make the purchase?

There are a multiple of "whys", but I will only concentrate on those two. For the first question, I can observe what it is about the ad that caused the user to click it or not click it. Was my ad well worded? Did I have spelling/grammar mistakes? If I'm seeing that my ads have a horrible click through rate (calculated by clicks divided by impressions, i.e., 100 clicks from 1,000 impressions would mean a 10% click through rate), I should go back, examine and make changes. The beauty of Search is that changes can be made on the fly and are so easy to implement. So if I spot a typo, I can make the change and it should be reflected within five minutes.

Now let's examine the second question. Again, there could be many reasons as to why a purchase wasn't made after a user clicked an ad. Was the user looking for TVs and my landing page took them to toasters? Do I simply not carry that product? If it's the former, I should definitely find a better landing page; if it's the latter, I should pause the keyword. There's no sense in spending money on a keyword which isn't even part of my store's inventory. I just want to mention how important it is to review your keyword list before setting them live. Let me illustrate by again using Best Buy as my client. Let's say I had the keyword "cars" in my keyword list. Since this is a very broad term, I would be getting a lot of bad clicks from those who aren't familiar with what Best Buy is. For example, if someone was looking to buy a car and they clicked my ad and saw that I didn't sell any cars, I just wasted however much that click was. If the click was $1.00 then I wasted $1.00; now imagine if it was 1,000 clicks. Yeah, not a pleasant thought, especially for my client. Although Best Buy does install car systems, they don't sell cars so I should make sure such broad terms aren't in my list.

The way I see it, I view my investigation similar to an autopsy. The "how" would be analogous to the cause of death, which is deemed a priority; the "why" would be the motive (I'm a big CSI geek!). Important to note that this is my approach and I'm not saying this is the only approach, but this is just how I proceed. I hope this has helped shape a different way to approach your Search campaign's performance. As always, feel free to ask whatever questions/concerns you may have.

Cheers.