Posted by Rene LeMerle

We’re all feeling the impact of current economic conditions. If you ask any retailer or service provider, they’re all sharing a similar story of having to work harder to find new customers and sales ops.

Given Google’s vested interest in advertising and consumer’s shopping behavior, they have conducted a study of 8675 consumers which helps us better understand the changing patterns of buyers.

The report, which has been summarized on the Google AdWords agency blog, highlights three valuable findings for businesses looking to survive adjust to the changing buyer behavior brought on by the economic meltdown.

1. Consumers are researching and buying more online.

According to report, 54% of respondents spend more time conducting research online venturing into stores to make purchases. And 39% of those surveyed have resorted to purchasing more products online.

Marketers and webmasters can seize this trend by making detailed product information accessible on websites. And of course, it’s more important than ever that online ads lead to landing pages with sufficient product detail and a clear path to purchase.

2. Consumers are turning to search.
When making buying decisions, 29% of consumers said search engines were their primary source of information, with websites (22%) and recommendations (11%) second and third sources respectively.

53% said they now use search engines more often to research their purchases. These patterns create opportunity for search engine marketers, who may want to expand their keyword buys to include “research” and “consideration” terms.

3. Deals matter more than ever.
When times are tough, people go in search of a bargain. Over 50% of respondents are spending more time searching online digging for promotions and discounts and 46% are hunting for coupon codes.

“Marketers can benefit by adding more promotional language, even specific coupons, to their search ads.”

Now some of the cynics will question the validity of the report, with Google having good reason to proffering the virtues of search advertising. But you just have to survey your own colleagues and friends to appreciate that people are relying on online channels more than ever to shop for better deals.

While there are no silver bullets of success in the insights, it does reinforce some good old fashioned common sense ‘tough times’ marketing that needs to be employed in your online efforts.

So heed the insights and check to make sure you’re giving your potential customers what they need to choose your products and services.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 9:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

About the Author: Rene is the marketing manager of ineedhits.com - a global search engine marketing company. He also leads the marketing for Gooruze.com - a web 2.0 style community for online and digital marketers. Rene has been in the industry since 1997 with much of that time spent helping businesses embrace the best of the internet and digital world.