In the era of information overload, decision-making is not as simple as it was before. In fact, 80% of consumers today are facing difficulty making decisions because of too much information or too many options. This has impacted the path to purchase, creating what is called the “messy middle”.
The messy middle is a noisy space between triggers and purchase, where consumers are won and lost. This complex and emotional journey begins when they look for more details about a product or service which can be overwhelming given the abundance of available information. This is where people lean on Google Search to decode their decision-making process.
In the recently held Decoding Decisions event, Google looked into the research and discussed insights and best practices that can inspire brands to use Search to help and win consumers.
“In a world where decision-making is more difficult than ever before, people are searching for answers. That’s why we are humbled that billions of consumers turn to Google to search for answers every single day. This pushes us to continuously improve to provide people with the most relevant and helpful information from the most trustworthy and authoritative sources to help them make better decisions,” said Sapna Chadha, Vice President for Marketing – Google India, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
Throughout the messy middle, Google Search is the trusted place for consumers. It plays a crucial role in the exploration and evaluation phases, helping people streamline information as they search for the most relevant, accurate, and trustworthy options. Seventy-three percent (73%) of people say Google Search is their number one most preferred touchpoint when looking for relevant information across all categories.
In 2020, Nestle’s Maggi, a line known for its seasonings and is one of the leading brands in the culinary market, embarked on a project to improve the functionality, recipe service, and total user experience of its website.
“Search was at the heart of our plan because it’s an integral part of our consumers’ cooking journey as they plan their meals. We used cross-platform audience lists to drive video viewers of the Maggi Philippines’ YouTube channel to the website,” said Seaneen Arcilla, Service Pillar Lead, Food and Dairy Culinary Business Unit, Nestlé.
The campaign is effective in driving results. Metrics show that the cross platform approach of re-engaging video viewers on Search resulted in seven times higher click-through rate and 3.5 times higher conversion rate. In addition, 40% of website traffic comes from remarketing lists–a much higher percentage than they expected.
“Getting real time consumer insights from our website and turning consumer actions to marketing initiatives to drive business growth for Maggi enabled us to decode how consumers make purchasing decisions. This was pivotal to make our approach more personalized and data-inspired,” Arcilla concluded.