Global Multichannel Consumer Behaviour (Research/Purchase) Analysis

TallAs my focus has evolved to getting companies to imagine and execute incredible digital marketing initiatives, I've discovered that my passion for the medium, my experience in creating innovative solutions, and — yes — my charm are sometimes insufficient to convince some CxOs to take their digital marketing opportunities seriously.

Rather I've had to fall back on my trusty steed: data. :)

One common scenario is this: Company PJ spends $250 million on traditional advertising. They know the web is exciting. They have a Facebook page. They have a smattering of microsites that their Agency put together once in a campaign rush a number of years ago. But they are just scratching the surface of what's possible.

My goal is to get them excited about creating an amazing digital acquisition strategy that delivers noteworthy experiences through their owned digital platforms, and which ultimately delivers bigger profits (usually offline, but online as well).

The question they'll ask: But how do we know our $250,000 investment in digital (ads plus sites/apps) will drive offline sales?

There are other scenarios, there are other questions. But the crux of it all is: Prove it.

Prove it that my customers use the web. Prove it that they talk about me on social sites. Prove it that my competitors are better than me. Prove it that you're not just pushing me into an alligator-filled swamp.

My approach to the prove it question has always been:

"Look, it is insanely cheap to fail on the web. It takes little money – comparatively – to try a new advertising medium, or improve your website, or build a mobile app, or try just about anything else. So why look at what the 'benchmarks' say? Let's take a tiny portion of the budget, try things live, learn for our business, and win over time."

Summary: Just do it.

But this is not how many CxOs view things. The cost of failure in the offline world is so high that even when the cost of failure is low (online), they don't want to take the smallest risk.

So, rather than evangelize on faith (why is faith never enough?), I've started to rely on research to show broad consumer behavior, influence and outcomes. This provides our executives with some peace of mind, creates a sense of urgency, makes them feel reassured, and helps give them context to make new types of decisions.

The challenge is that it is hard to get at this market research, as it is squirreled away in lock boxes (remember Al Gore?). Or with analysis firms, who often take a"fill out our lead gen form to get a three-page preview and then we'll bug you to give us $500 to get the whole thing" strategy.

Turns out there is another option, from IAB/TNS/Google, of which I was, shamefully, not aware.

The Solution: Consumer Barometer

Consumer Barometer provides qualitative research, collected and processed with immense quantitative rigor, that will allow you to analyze digital's influence and consumer behavior that leads to online and offline purchases!

For me it has been a boon when it comes to scenarios like the ones mentioned above, where I need data to help companies around the world get the context they need to create smarter digital strategies.

Consumer Barometer was created by IAB Europe with TNS Infratest and Google as partners. It is a repository of global data that has as its primary purpose to quantify the role of digital in the consumer journey from research to purchase.

Note: The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and Google both benefit in their own way from the use of digital platforms. TNS, among other things, offers qualitative research services, this tool showcases their work and so in a long shot way they benefit from it. You should be aware of it. Even if, as will be amply obvious below, the data is not meant to show data in one light or the other. That also applies to the consumer Search behavior (#4 below) which includes all search engines and not just Google.

Please visit the about page to learn more about the data collection methodology, sample sizes, and the Enumeration study to ensure results are representative, and to download the detailed questionnaires used for each study.

The data was collected in the first part of 2012, between January and May for the Barometer and between January and February for the Enumeration.

The Analysis: Four Insightful Options

Let's spend some time learning how to use the tool and really internalize why it is so awesome.

The Barometer answers four basic questions:

Let's look at them individually. Even if you don't use the Consumer Barometer, my hope is that you'll perform the analyses below using the qualitative research tool of your choice.

#1. How do consumers access the Internet?

This section provides a macro summary of how many people have access to the web, how they access the web, mobile device penetration, plus two really, really cool things: Psychographic segmentation and mobile device "intent to purchase."

Let's look at the actual data by comparing USA and Russia. (Click on the link to go directly to the report, and create your own country combinations.)

consumer barometer internet access

Pretty cool context, right? Before you start influencing someone about the power of the web, it is nice to have a handy dandy chart to show that the web is material.

I spend 70% of my time in the US and for those discussions I'm primary looking at speed (connection above), mobile penetration (yes, 2007 was the year of mobile!), and mobile intent to purchase (I love this data).

But during the 30% of the time that I spend outside the US (or on global brand strategy), the other column and the contrasts you can draw are very meaningful. For example, if you are in Russia and an ecommerce business, it is even more important to have a well thought out mobile strategy. Just look at the intent numbers (and compare then to the US).

These two numbers give you macro context about the web. The part on the right gives you psychographic type segmentation of who is actually using the web, and why…

consumer barometer internet user segments

Five segments: Functionals, Aspirers, Knowledge Seekers, Communicators, Influencers, Networkers.

Just click on the question mark icon to see the detailed definitions. Or visit TNS Digital Lifestyles.

Here's the one for Functionals: The internet is a functional tool, I don’t want to express myself online. I like emailing, checking the news, sport & weather but also online shopping. I’m really not interested in running my social life online and I am worried about data privacy and security. I am older and have been using the internet for a long time.

And to think you've been pimping social media on every company you can find. :)

I look at the company I'm working with, their branding and direct response strategies, analyze psychographic segmentation of the internet audience and then create my recommendations for the about their overall digital opportunity.

In Russia, that would mean figuring out how to be "communicators first." And imagine how powerful it would be to show this data when you are talking to a CPG client or a branding oriented client.

This data is often helpful in understanding subtle differences.

For example, from the outside Sweden and Norway are practically one and the same. (Please no hate letters, I know they are not! :)). When you look at the data, your mobile strategy will be a bit more tablet-heavy in Norway (stronger penetration, stronger commercial intent) and your advertising targeting, tone and approach will cater to "knowledge seekers in Norway and to "functionals" in Sweden.

There are other differences as well that you'll account for, but this gets you the macro context within which you can start thinking about your digital marketing strategy.

#2. How does purchase behavior vary across countries?

In the above report we got a hint of commercial (purchase) intent for mobile platforms.

This report allows us to dive deeper for a product (say cars), to see where people buy (online or offline), where they research (online overall and search engines specifically), and how many do mobile research before purchasing.

So how many people buy cars online, and what is the influence of digital research and mobile platforms? Let's compare USA and Czech Republic

consumer barometer purchase behavior

9% of the roughly 17 million cars sold in the US were purchased online. Did you think the number was that big? I was surprised. But there you have it. Data.

41% of all car-buyers (regardless of where they purchased) used a search engine to research before buying. As an automotive manufacturer, dealer or slick salesman, this helps you to internalize the importance of Bing, Yandex, Baidu and other search engines (rank or miss out!).

58% of the buyers did online research of some kind. Again, this gives you a sense for how many people might be making up their minds, or coming very close to that state, prior to walking into your showroom. Or if you are GM/Nissan/Jaguar you get a sense for how many people will not even visit your showroom, because they make up their mind online (including on your site) and go to their chosen car dealer for the test drive and non-haggle purchase.

You are either online, discoverable and awesome, or you are on the losing side (ok, not necessarily the losing side, but fighting for the shrinking 42% that do no online research).

Data is cool, right?

And how impressed are you with Czech citizens? As a lover of digital platforms (there I said it), I'm delighted that 93% research online, 80% use search engines, and more of them buy cars online than in the good old USA! I love you Czech Republic!

Now if you are Tatra, MTX or Praga, you know how critical your digital strategy. Use the data above in conjunction with your offline data, the macro-economic conditions and your objectives to ensure your marketing is reflective of the on the ground consumer purchase journey.

You can do this analysis for a whole variety of products. Finance, real estate, groceries, media, retail, technology, travel and health products

consumer barometer health products japan usa

What is going on in Japan with health products?! :)

Differences between countries and audiences are pretty stark across the world and you would be wise to adjust your strategy accordingly based on surprises in the data.

health products purchase behaviour countries

You would use this data to get a broad understanding of where consumers are and the impact of digital and mobile on their purchase experiences.

This provides strategic context within which to set your online and offline marketing and customer engagement strategies.

#3. How do consumers research and purchase products (online and offline)?

We dive deeper into the data, from just looking at online research and online purchases to marrying that with all types of research and offline purchases.

This report shows you several delightful info snacks. Let's analyze the multichannel research and purchase behavior of book buyers in the US.

usa book buyers consumer barometer

Amazingly, 57% of book purchases seem to be offline. That is a surprise, it is not? (Given the fact that Amazon is dominant and Borders is dead.)

The next layer shows you where consumers did research. Online was the biggest, not surprising. You might be just as shocked as I'm that 40% of the people did not research before making a purchase!

With books, just 14% of the people used both online and offline channels. Keep an eye on this number as you pull the data for your product category/country. Multi-channel still forms a huge influencing factor, context you want to have as you decide your online and offline strategies.

I love the last set of information. You get three drop downs. "Started Research With," "Generally Used," And "Most Important in Driving Final Purchase Decision."

My favorites are “started with” and “most important.” When you put them together, like above, you can think about the complex consumer journey and which channel plays the introducer role and which plays the converter role. Think of it as attribution modeling. :)

For books, word of mouth kicks off the consideration process, but retailers, publishers and other websites still play a massive role in final conversion (for example, online reviews). Advertising is #5 at introducing, but #10 at converting (illustrates the disruptive nature of the massive amounts of information at our finger tips).

You are also able to filter all the above data by: Gender, Age, Education and Internet Usage.

Really cool data, try it for your product or service and apply it to your largest country.

In this report you also get this lovely visual:

consumer barometer usa books purchase influencesIt is a little complicated, but stick with me.

25% of people researched online only before making a purchase online.

4% of people research online only before purchasing offline.

1% of people researched offline only before purchasing online (not really surprising, still quite low).

16% of people researched offline only before purchasing offline.

And so on and so forth.

So, if you were trying to figure out who your online-only campaigns are targeting, or your offline-only campaigns are reaching, now you know.

At the very bottom you see that 29% of people didn't do research before purchasing offline, and an amazing 11% of the people who were online did not do any research before buying online!

When you connect this data with the information above, you get a richly textured understanding of the dynamics of your business.

You don't have to rely on what your HiPPO feels in his heart, or what the young marketer just back from a stint at Google or Facebook thinks.

You actually have the data you need to understand what is happening in the real world, data that can help you make smarter strategic decisions.

As in the first two cases you can run this analysis for different countries to compare and contrast (if you are a multi-national company):

canada usa hotels research purchase sm

(Click on the image above for a higher resolution version.)

Canadians love offline a lot more than you might think. Still. For hotel stays! (Come on Canada! Why you no go digital already! :))

Notice the other nuances: Search and Product Comparison Sites are relatively more important in Canada than in the US. Adapt your strategy.

You can also use the Data Map interface on the top nav of the Barometer to create really customized bar charts (in case you don't like all of the sexiness going on with the ones above). Just click on Data Map. You'll see four colored circles. Click on each to make your selections, like so where I'm choosing the car and home insurance categories …

consumer barometer data map interface

The click on the other element you are interested in and click your mouse a few times. For the insurance business I'm interested in knowing the % of purchases online and offline, and people who either researched online one, offline only or did not research at all. I would choose those in the green circle cool flowing thingy…

consumer barometer data map interface2

Press "Go To Graph" and … boom!

car insurance research purchase behaviour online offline

[In an otherwise excellent tool I must admit that I don't like the visual layout in this bar chart view. You can have as many as 20 elements per category. How did the designers expect us to keep track of the elements using shades of blue!]

The first two bars show how much of the insurance business is still offline in the world today (it varies a bit by country, but offline still leads in most countries).

Even if you work on these products, the third bar should show you why your digital existence (desktop or mobile) is so important. It is the lead influencing channel. As in another case above, online helps people decide, even when they convert offline.

This illustrates why it is so important not to obsess about your online conversion rate to justify the value of your digital efforts. Most of the outcomes may still be offline. It is SUPER important to passionately measure the offline impact of your online efforts until the day you die (cue, dramatic music).

All this might seem like a lot of analysis/work. It is an intense amount of effort. But like all strategic analysis, you'll do this only periodically when it is time to work with your CxO to 1. check that your multi-channel marketing strategy takes into account current consumer behavior (no point in betting it all online if online is not where customers are) and 2. create new and innovative strategies to reach consumers and engage with them.

So a lot of work, likely every six months, to have a big impact on your overall business. Totally worth it!

#4. What is the role of Search Engines in the purchase process?

This analysis helps us understand the role of search in the consumer purchase journey.

The data is for all search engines, not Google-specific. As you look across countries, circle back to the percentage of consumer usage of search engines in those countries. So when I'm looking at Russia, the search influence is that of Yandex, the leading engine in Russia. In the UK, it is likely Google. So on and so forth.

Getting the data is a simple two-step process.

First, look at the country view, the bubbles show at a glance more or less usage in research prior to purchase…

search research prior to purchase

Let's choose Turkey because I've always wanted to go there (perhaps they are hiring a digital evangelist?) and then click on the bubble to get the detailed data …

search research prior to purchase industries

You simply hover your mouse over the category you are interested in and you'll get data on people who used a search usage to do research prior to purchase (online or offline).

The lowest impact of a search engine is in the groceries category (I wonder why? :)), and the highest, in Turkey, is in the computer hardware category.

As you try to figure out how much value to put on search in your category/country, you can use this analysis to move beyond the hype/guesses and use actual data to help influence your decisions.

Closing Thoughts.

Remember that this is qualitative research data. It does have an great deal of quantitative rigor behind it, but focus more on the contrasts between the numbers and patterns across countries, and less on the actual specific number.

Please read the about page, especially the data and interpretation section.

Also remember that this data is most useful as critical context for strategic decisions about your multi-channel consumer influence, digital and real world marketing, and conversion strategy.

I've not really done deep-dives into gender, age or income impacts on research or purchase preferences. This data is available in all the reports, please do explore that for your business as relevant.

You can also plot a lot of data by continents.

I wish we had trends, at least year-over-year, for this data. We don't. What you see is for 2012. I hope TNS/IAB/Google will update the tool to give us trends.

Finally, while I've chosen to focus on the tool itself, there are many wonderful data visualization lessons embedded in the tool. I hope you'll take a step away from the analysis and reflect on the visualizations you are seeing and find inspiration. I've applied lessons from Consumer Barometer to my reports and dashboards.

Action Items.

Regardless of the size of your business, use the four sets of analysis in this post to ensure you:

1. Understand the consumer journey
2. Identify the mobile purchase intent in your category
3. Leverage the channels that start the consideration journey and the channels that are most influential in the final decision
4. Drive overall business outcomes by combining online and offline consumer touch points optimally
5. Monetize the role of search engines in the consumer journey and
6. Identify the dominant personas (Functionals, Aspirers, Knowledge Seekers, Communicators, Influencers, Networkers) in your category and ensure your marketing messaging and digital experience is talking to the right persona.

Six simple, exciting, action items.

Strategic analysis rocks!

As always, it is your turn now.

Do you have a favorite tool for doing this type of analysis? What challenges have you faced in getting good multichannel qualitative research? Of the above four questions, which one would be most insightful for your business? What's a question you've always wanted answered via qualitative research? If you've used Consumer Barometer, is there a trend or insight that you've discovered that was odd/delightful/surprising?

I welcome your insights, concerns, delightful stories and questions via the comments form at the end of this post.

Thank you.

Comments

  1. 1

    Thanks Avinash – I was going to do some real work today, but now my clients will have to wait whilst I play around with this :p

    As much as it is annoying that you have to pay to access, Hitwise also do a good job with analysis of their data. They quite often produce tables on their blog showing online behaviour over time periods of interest that can help you make decisions (in the UK their sample size is higher than in the US, but it is a sample). They also sometimes respond to tweets asking for analysis of data for their blog, so don't be afraid to ask!

    eConsultancy also do a good job of grouping loads of data together in their internet statistics compendium (however it is one of those pesky you-get-a-sample-but-have-to-pay-for-the-full-edition pricing models).

    Cheers,
    Alec

    • 2

      Alec: Always a minor thrill to get you to "waste" some of your time with new toys. :)

      I'm very fond of Hitwise, it is especially good at monitoring the British population. It does not have the type of data that is in the Consumer Barometer (deeper qualitative insights into online and offline research and purchase behavior), but for digital clickstream competitive intelligence data they are a wonderful resources.

      eConsultancy on the other hand does put out many reports and delightful analysis from various qualitative initiatives they undertake. While these to cost money (perfectly alright) they are almost always kind enough to publish previews / short excerpts on their site.

      There is nothing wrong with paid tools. With them you can sometimes get deeper insights and most definitely loads of consulting help. Hopefully CB's depth of data allows people to appreciate the value of this data and then they'll run and buy other paid tools and make this analysis a part of their daily life.

      Avinash.

  2. 3

    I love the consumer barometer! Extremely useful tool. It has helped me a lot to understand the customer journey of our clients.

    May I add. The visualisation is awesome. These guys have really outperformed themselves. A little research told me CleverFrank made it.

  3. 4

    Hej Avinash, I'm Gert Franke from CLEVER°FRANKE, we did the design and development for the Consumer Barometer.

    Many thanks for the extensive examples you described how to use the Consumer Barometer. These are great to find out what the value of the research done by Google / TNS / IAB is.

    Thanks for the compliments concerning the visualizations, if people are interested they can check the full case about the creation of the website via;

    http://cleverfranke.com/cf/en/project/google/project.php?id=172

    By the way; in the graph tool, several topic types are shown in 'shades' of color. Each different country is shown in a different hue; we needed to make a concession there (the mouse-over shows the specific information per bar)…

    Thanks again!

  4. 5

    Hi Avinash,

    Seems to me that Google has so many nice and useful tools that it is almost impossible to catch on, especially if you take in account the great number of changes in AdWords and Analytics only this year. We were blown away with the Tag manager :) (still waiting for your article :)

    One very useful tool to combine with the Consumer Barometer would be: Global Market Finder

    • 6

      Miroslav: This is an excellent tool as well. It only has Google's data, but I've always considered Google's search data as a great "database of intentions," a market research pool of millions of people. The Market Finder allows us to look at this data very effectively.

      Another great tool to mine the database of intentions is Google Trends. For example you'll be surprised when you look at the comparison between God and Chocolate. :)

      http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=god%2C%20chocolate&cmpt=q

      Avinash.

  5. 7

    Hi Avinash,

    Is there any link where someone can find all Google's great tools? Including some Analytics Custom report and RegEx libraries?

    I think it's time to create a nice and smoothly Google search tool for finding Google tools :)

    BTW: Personally I like your post very much. I thought I'm the only one that don't know what great stuff Google has :))

  6. 9

    Great job Avinash! I will need to read this article a couple of times; then spend some time playing with your suggested consumer behaviour tools.

    I am still trying to find a legitimate estimate for average spending/month for small business owners on social media expenses. Any suggestions?

    Thanks,
    Dena

  7. 11

    Great post.

    Does anyone know if there is a "B2B version" of the Consumer Barometer?

    • 12

      Steve: I'm afraid I don't know of a source like that.

      But I'm sure that Forrester, Gartner and others in that space would be happy share what they already have or conduct a study for you. It does cost some money, but depending on the need it might be well worth it.

      Avinash

  8. 13

    Thanks for pointing out the Consumer Barometer website Avinash. I love the visual and interactive interface.

    It is interesting how they collected data using two separate surveys and then combined it to power this application. I wonder if the sample size of 2,500 is for each survey or for the two combined.

    I wish they had custom select the sample size to get statistically significant read for each country-device-product combination.

    • 14

      Khawar: The Enumeration study was conducted in the same 39 countries to ensure that the Consumer Barometer results are representative of the online population. Pretty smart thing to do, IMHO.

      The minimum sample size was 2,500 (not the maximum), and usually that is representative – depending on all other elements of your survey research methodology. Most polls you see for example might only have n-600, but they are still representative.

      If you need more segmentation please reach out to the nice folks at TNS, I'm sure they would love to do it for you.

      -Avinash.

      • 15

        Thanks for clarifying Avinash. I somehow missed the “minimum” part :) It also says that in the evet a value has fewer than 75 respondents, no data will be displayed. Which is great.

      • 16

        Hi Avinash, you mentioned in your articles or in your books that sample size for TV medium is very low and that companies spent hundreds of millions on TV ads only by that small sample size and that it is not wise (i agree).

        But do not we (online people) try almost the same computation with this Consumer Barometer now? Or do you think that this research is way more relevant than TV measurement and if yes why, because i think it uses similar sample size. So why should i believe that for personal loans or real estate is not Advertising one of most important in driving final purchase decision and that i should really move 80% of my TV budget to create great digital experience for my company? :)

        • 17

          Eelke: I don't think anything, not even the most egregious use of Digital, in the Consumer Barometer is suggesting that you move 80% of your TV budget to digital. I think the closest it gets to is 5%. :)

          All primary research data is representative. It the thoroughness of the methodology that you apply that makes it less or more representative.

          In the case of TV it is a little harder to get a clean signal based on old survey/research methodologies primarily because of small sample sizes and massive fragmentation in the channels. My TV now has, I'm not kidding, 800 channels. How do you get decent data? (Maybe directly from the cable boxes, like we get clickstream from our sites based on actual behavior.)

          We have this challenge with Consumer Barometer as well. The use of minimum participants, 2,500, and the decision not to show segmented data below a certain threshold gives us a decent read of the data. At the very minimum at an aggregate level. But you should use it with the same caution as you use all primary research data.

          I'm fond of CB because it is the only source of this type of "how do people behave" data (which will always be qualitative). I use it to provide better starting points for tough multi-channel decisions. From that we create hypotheses which we test to create the optimal media mix models. One difference between TV and Digital is that experimentation is cheaper and much faster.

          Avinash.

  9. 18

    Hey Avinash,

    Well done.

    Also, I really like using the dropdown category "generally used" that you mentioned but didn't highlight (the other two categories are definitely more useful, but if anyone has time they should play with the "generally used" dropdown).

    I found that it really points out where acquisition strategies are missing out and where we are getting spanked by competitors (when compared to our clickstream, voc, and CI data analysis). It is pretty easy to do: if there is a large disparity between what customers generally use and what YOUR customers are using, then you need to do some investigation into why that is, and how to change it (if you should change it), etc.

    Thanks for dominating and distracting me from my clients.

    Cheers,
    Clark Feusier

  10. 19

    Thank you so much for this post.

    It really opened my eyes and I particularly liked your list of Action Items.

  11. 20

    Thanks for introducing me to the Consumer Barometer tool. What a treasures trove of information.

    Data always works better with C-Level executives that gut or opinion, especially if that data is analyzed with the output digestible.

    "So a lot of work, likely every six months, to have a big impact on your overall business. Totally worth it!" <– We couldn't agree more. Thanks for sharing.

  12. 21

    What a cool tool, Avinash! As I was looking through it I didn't see "higher education" as one of the products or services listed. Do you think one can extrapolate from products/services in the Consumer Barometer that also have long, complex buying cycles, or do you think it's a fool's errand to use it if the college research process isn't listed as a true option from within the Barometer? Is my desire to use a great resource like this corrupting my sensibility? :)

    I've been fascinated by the opportunity for great content in this space since I compared the length of the buying process (I found a data point that Google provided) to the average conversion paths on our website. That single insight has driven so much work on our content strategy. I'd love to fold in true higher education insights from a source such as the Consumer Barometer.

    Thanks for sharing these insights – very helpful as always!

    • 22

      Josh: I'm afraid education is not one of the 36 product/services categories that is covered in the Consumer Barometer, perhaps someone needs to remind TNS/IAB/Google the immense monetization possibilities of that market! :)

      I don't think that you can one of the existing 36 as a proxy for education. But you can certainly use #1 and perhaps pieces of the other (use of mobiles etc) and still find some value.

      Avinash.

  13. 23

    Stunning stuff Avinash, thank you.

  14. 24

    Great info Avinash, Great work CLEVER°FRANKE….absolute treasure.

  15. 25

    Avinash, can't wait to play with this.

    So many interesting applications.

    Thanks.

  16. 26

    Another great post Avinash, full of excellent analysis and really useful information. It doesn't quite cover all the areas our clients operate in, but it does cover the main sectors that most can relate to.

    We've been using Google Trends & Insights for Search and I'd echo mvarga's comment on combining the Consumer Barometer with the Global Market Finder and Google Trends to provide clients with some excellent information.

  17. 27

    Nothing is more important to this CMO than verifying my "Trust in Me" promise to my board and management.

    Avinash and Google get this… and as important, they understand the importance of me and management getting it… graphically and powerfully, fast, simple and clear.

    My thanks.

  18. 28
    Kartar Saxena says

    Hi Avinash,

    First up – Excellent article! Do you know of any online tools / sites which provide similar results for the India geo?

    Thanks,
    Kartar

  19. 30
    Magudeeswaran.K says

    Thanks to this valuable information , this will help to me at reaching next level in my career.

  20. 31

    Hi Avinash,

    I am facing the exact problem which you mentioned in the start. I have to support my proposal with data and I can't use paid tools. Consumer Barometer is great but I cater to Indian clients and India is still not included :( Can you suggest any other tool ?

    Thanks
    Anuj-Ranka

  21. 32
    Theunis Stoffberg says

    Hi Avinash!

    Thanks for sharing – this is one of your best posts ever! Your knowledge sharing is a blessing to the all web analyst worldwide.

    I like to think we analyst have a lot in common with Accountants and Economist (forget about the obvious numbers and trends bit's for a while) . While an accountant job is to look at a business finances (internally focused) an economist is outward facing – looking at trends in a country or industry.

    So, as analyst in a SME business Google Analytics provides for insight internally, but not externally. Although Google insights does the external job, it cannot compete with http://www.consumerbarometer.com for sheer brilliance of segmentation, comparisons and insights.

    Best part is that this tool is free!
    Theunis

  22. 33

    Thanks Avinash for such a wonderful article.

    Really amazing article but I need 2-3 days more to clearly understand this article. If I say truly, I just try to understand your article through main headings, graphs and images.
    The best section of this article is the summary "Just do it". Now I am compelled to completely read the full article.

    Thanks again for introducing with the Consumer Barometer tool.

  23. 34

    Hi Avinash,

    I really like your blog, i m a new online marketer, your aticles give me lots passion to face all problems.

    I m confused about this paragraph, "One common scenario is this: Company PJ spends $250 million on traditional advertising." and "The question they'll ask: But how do we know our $250,000 investment in digital (ads plus sites/apps) will drive offline sales?"

    Should $250 million be $250,000,000?

    BTW, could u please adjust reply system? this is not so convenient for we visitors to write a comment while watching your paper.

    Best Regards,
    Helen

  24. 36
    Gaurav Kumar says

    No data for India :-(

  25. 37

    Hi Avinash —

    I don't quite understand your fascination with mobile intent to purpose. Isn't that number actually measuring non-smartphone users who intend to buy a smartphone in the next 12 months? That's the question I see in the enumeration survey (ditto for tablets). I think maybe you misinterpret it to mean "intent to purchase from a mobile device in the next 12 months"?

    Thanks!

    Eric

    • 38

      Eric: I'm immensely bullish about the impact on people when they have access to a smart phone or tablet computers. Content consumption patterns change (more consumption, a nice chunk of it monetizable). The way people research and make decisions changes. Access to information and so much more.

      Mobile takes the web to the next level – for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Hence I'm excited to see the "intent to purchase a device" as my hope is it is a indicator of increase in this great evolution.

      Would you concur with this?

      Avinash.

  26. 40
    Sam Gobari says

    Nice Article.

    Thanks Avinash.

  27. 41
    Saumya Saxena says

    Hey Avinash,

    I just read the post . And I am 4 years old in this field of Digital Marketing. The main problem , I face while having an interaction with Clients is their trust on brand. I am catering Indian Market right now and the initial conversation goes great which lands up in Sending proposal , pricing Plan and Specific Action Plans. But ,after sending all these stuff the process stops. Ia m not able to understand consumer behaviour.

    Can you please suggest, how I can convert those prospects t\into my Clients.

    Thanks and Regards
    Saumya Saxena

  28. 42

    Hey Avinash,

    I just read the post . And I am 4 years old in this field of Digital Marketing. The main problem , I face while having an interaction with Clients is their trust on brand. I am catering Indian Market right now and the initial conversation goes great which lands up in Sending proposal , pricing Plan and Specific Action Plans. But ,after sending all these stuff the process stops. Ia m not able to understand consumer behaviour.

    Can you please suggest, how I can convert those prospects t\into my Clients.

    Thanks and Regards
    Saumya Saxena

Trackbacks

  1. […]
    Global Multichannel Consumer Behaviour (Research/Purchase) Analysis 1 Upvotes Discuss Flag Submitted 1 min ago Himanshu Analytics kaushik.net Comments
    […]

  2. […]
    Global Multichannel Consumer Behaviour (Research/Purchase) Analysis, http://www.kaushik.net
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  3. […]
    Wonderful insightful article on data-driven approach to multi-channel communication. In Pharma we have a long way to go, but much of this article can be applied with a bit of thought and persistence. “Does your digital strategy match the consumer research to purchase journey? Who is the multichannel consumer? Is Search influential? Let data drive budgets!” See on http://www.kaushik.net
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  4. […]
    Avinash Kaushik posts “Global Multichannel Consumer Behaviour (Research/Purchase) Analysis” at Occam’s Razor.
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  5. […]
    Need some market intelligence data? Why not use the Consumer Barometer for free? Lots of countries, industries, questions covered. Example: Hotel bookings in Germany. 61% of male bookers reserve their room online. Female bookers: 79%!
    http://www.consumerbarometer.com/#?app=discover&storyId=1&countryId=1,32&productId=30&pageId=2 Appraisal by Mr. Kaushik:
    https://www.kaushik.net/avinash/consumer-behavior-research-purchase-analysis/
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    Dankzij de blog van Avinash Kaushik kwam ik in aanraking met een nieuwe tool van Google: de consumer barometer. Een heel handige tool waarmee je het zoek– en koopgedrag van jouw doelgroep in kaart kan brengen. Hoe werkt deze tool? Leer het zoek– en koopgedrag van jouw bezoekers kennen
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  7. […]
    If web analytics is an important part of your job and you don’t know who Avinash Kaushik is, you need to read his book and start following his blog. This recent blog post is a gem. Teaching by example, he shows how to use free resources to analyze global multichannel consumer behavior. Topics he covers in this post include:
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    Global Multichannel Consumer Behaviour (Research/Purchase) Analysis – A newish post from Analytics guru Avinash Kaushik where he explores the questions: how do consumers access the Internet, how does purchase behavior vary across countries, how do consumers research and purchase products, and what is the role of search engines in the purchase process. Avinash’s blog posts are always food for thought.
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  9. […]
    https://www.kaushik.net/avinash/consumer-behavior-research-purchase-analysis/
    I found this post interesting for different many reasons; how Avinash introduce the need of convince potential clients through a very useful tool, the Consumer Barometer (http://www.consumerbarometer.com), how this tool can help a company to know its potential consumers in different countries, how they behave, how they research (online or offline), where do they buy…
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    Consumers use the net as a tool, and like all tools, they use them differently depending on their skills, inclinations, experience, and where they are. However, the tool now understands how, where, when, and why it is being used, by whom, and responds accordingly. In this terrific post by Avinash Kaushink, consumer purchase behaviour, and the manner in which the data can be leveraged is examined, with Ash’s usual forensic eye.
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