What Is Purchasing Intent and Why Does It Matter?

In a recent post titled “The 5 Reasons Your Business Needs PPC Advertising,” the subject of purchasing intent was brought up while discussing the importance of highly targeted PPC campaigns. Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at this topic and exploring how it can help drive significant improvements to the conversion rate of your advertising efforts.

In its simplest form, purchasing intent is a measurement of the likelihood that a given individual will be purchasing specific goods or services at some point in the future. This is an incredibly powerful statistic, as it allows you to target people who are already in the market for what you are selling.

While many businesses will use general demographic data when designing their marketing strategy, purchasing intent allows for the refinement of marketing efforts within broader groups. By targeting individuals with higher purchasing intent, you’ll save both time and money thanks to improved conversion rates.

How Is Purchasing Intent Determined?

The truth is that purchasing intent can be a very difficult statistic to calculate, as you will be working with limited amounts of data. Oftentimes the most you can do is make an educated assumption regarding what it may be. The more informed your assumption is, the better your odds are of finding success with this strategy.

You won’t be able to determine purchasing intent on an individual basis, you have to extrapolate this data from the behavior of groups of people. Where people live, what activities they engage in, and the things that they like on social media can all affect how likely they are to purchase a product.

The keywords that people use when making searches will also give away important information regarding their purchasing intent! Conversion rates for PPC campaigns are highly dependent on how targeted the audiences are, and incorporating purchasing intent into keyword selection drives further improvements. Any strategy that fails to account for this will be leaving money on the table, or even actively wasting it!

How Do Search Terms Show Purchasing Intent?

Using search keywords is one of the most powerful methods of determining purchasing intent, and certainly the most relevant when it comes to digital marketing. The reason for this is that certain phrases practically give away this data without you knowing anything else about the person.

The first and most obvious example is adding the word ‘buy’ to the main keyword relating to your products. Individuals who include this in their search have given you a very clear indication that they are trying to find someone selling this good or service. They will very likely buy now or sometime in the near future, making ad placement for this phrase highly targeted.

Some words show that the person executing the search is in the process of performing research for a future purchase. A good example of this is when they add the word ‘best’ to your main keyword. This lets you know that they need to make a purchase soon and that they want to make sure they choose a reputable brand to buy from. This is a great time to display your ad because it will create brand recognition with a soon-to-be purchaser, even if they don’t click it during the search.

While this is obviously a very powerful strategy, please be aware that the things discussed in this post are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crafting a successful advertising campaign. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different phrases and words that can show purchasing intent through search keywords. These will vary by product and industry, and like always, your campaigns need to be closely monitored and measured if you wish to find any success.

If you have a great product and lofty goals but feel held back by your ability to effectively market your company, you should get your account audit by our Google Adwords Consultant. This comes at no-risk to you, just the way it should be! We’re currently accepting applications for spots in the program, so check out the page and review some of our most successful case studies..