For too long, digital marketers have defined customer intent in context of someone’s search behavior. And with Google processing 8.5 billion searches a day, who can blame marketers for thinking this way? This focus has served smart search marketers and content creators well. But marketers need to understand intent in context of the entire customer journey, including and beyond search. Failing to do so results in a disjointed customer experience. It’s time for marketers to understand intent-based marketing more broadly to put the customer at the center of their decision making.
In the world of digital marketing, customer intent, also known as search intent, is typically defined as the purpose of a customer when searching for queries. Those intent classifications include:
The above definition is common in SEO and content-marketing communities. However, it narrows our scope of view as marketers. As a result, brands make marketing decisions without the customer’s intent in mind, leaving a disjointed customer experience. What are some examples?
Let’s take a step back and reconsider how we define customer intent.
Customer intent should be defined as the purpose or motivation that drives any interaction with a brand. This definition allows us to put the customer’s intentions at the center of all touchpoints.
By doing so, we can classify intent in numerous ways, allowing us to get more creative with our strategy. In addition to informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional, customer intent might include:
How might we discover a customer’s intent and how can we use it to inform our digital strategies?
The answer is simple, ask them! But . . . how?
These days, there are more tools than ever to uncover customer intent. Anyone who says they don’t know how to ask a customer what they want isn’t trying hard enough.
Here are 10 ways you can gather more intel into your customer’s intent:
Once you understand your customer’s intent, map their need states to the customer journey stages. With a better understanding of intent at each stage of the funnel, you can identify gaps in your marketing strategy to serve the most relevant content and experience to your target audience.
Intent-driven marketing is valuable because it delivers results! Benefits include:
Bottom line: intent-driven marketing is more powerful marketing.
It can be intimidating reading advice and not knowing what the next steps are. Well, here are a few ideas to get you started on your way!
Here are some tips on how to get started with intent-driven marketing:
At IDX, we have experts who can help you! Click here to learn more about our services
Get insights and updates
source
In the world of digital marketing, customer intent, also known as search intent, is typically defined as the purpose of a customer when searching for queries. Those intent classifications include:
The above definition is common in SEO and content-marketing communities. However, it narrows our scope of view as marketers. As a result, brands make marketing decisions without the customer’s intent in mind, leaving a disjointed customer experience. What are some examples?
Let’s take a step back and reconsider how we define customer intent.
Customer intent should be defined as the purpose or motivation that drives any interaction with a brand. This definition allows us to put the customer’s intentions at the center of all touchpoints.
By doing so, we can classify intent in numerous ways, allowing us to get more creative with our strategy. In addition to informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional, customer intent might include:
How might we discover a customer’s intent and how can we use it to inform our digital strategies?
The answer is simple, ask them! But . . . how?
These days, there are more tools than ever to uncover customer intent. Anyone who says they don’t know how to ask a customer what they want isn’t trying hard enough.
Here are 10 ways you can gather more intel into your customer’s intent:
Once you understand your customer’s intent, map their need states to the customer journey stages. With a better understanding of intent at each stage of the funnel, you can identify gaps in your marketing strategy to serve the most relevant content and experience to your target audience.
Intent-driven marketing is valuable because it delivers results! Benefits include:
Bottom line: intent-driven marketing is more powerful marketing.
It can be intimidating reading advice and not knowing what the next steps are. Well, here are a few ideas to get you started on your way!
Here are some tips on how to get started with intent-driven marketing:
At IDX, we have experts who can help you! Click here to learn more about our services
Get insights and updates
source