Purchase Decision Points

Recently I wrote about optimizing your page for a product name. Sometimes, I suggested, it would be better to optimize for people who are at an earlier point in the decision making process — people who haven’t yet gotten to the stage of looking for a specific product. In the comments, Jessica said, “Interesting points! When you say ‘catch buyers at an earlier point’ – what is the earliest point beyond finding your product in a search engine? Google search?”

Good question.

While people sometimes begin with a specific brand in mind and are looking for where to buy it or comparing prices, often they begin with a problem or a desire. A good example is the Fruti Bar. We’re working with the makers of this item, but before we began working with them we had never heard of Fruti Bars.

There are all kinds of people out there who have never heard of a Fruti Bar. That doesn’t mean that they don’t want one. However, their desire won’t be phrased as “Fruti Bar.” It might instead be phrased as one of the following ideas:

• Are there healthy snacks that kids really like?
• What’s a good gluten free, dairy free dessert?
• What can I serve vegans at an ice cream social?
• I wish there was a low-fat dessert that actually tasted good.
• I’m worried about how much sugar my kids eat.
• What desserts are under 100 calories?
• Whatever happened to those delicious paletas we ate as kids?
• I’m sick of eating fruit for dessert — is there another healthy option?
• Is there something like a Popsicle that grownups would like?

This list could be a lot longer. The point is that none of those ideas has the word “fruti” in it, nor the word “bar.” A good website for the Fruti Bar makers will contain all those concepts, often in the blog.

Once the person searching becomes aware that a natural frozen fruit bar is a possible answer to their problems or desires, the phrase “natural frozen fruit bar” becomes a phrase they’re likely to search with. Naturally, we want to have that phrase on the website, too.

Ideally, we’ll have something for people at all the decision points along the path from Someone Who Would Like Our Product If They Knew About It to Customer.