Defining Findability_SweetIQ

Defining FindabilityGet found online to master local search

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Standing out in the crowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Being found makes a difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

In-person sales still reign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Search results matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

O2O (Online to Offline) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Old customers influence new customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Ready, set, purchase! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Get found in 6 steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Final thoughts on findability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

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Findability is the number one challenge facing brick and mortar retailers when trying to turn online local searches into in-store shoppers . Because consumers are three times more likely to find a store through a search engine than going directly to that brand’s website, getting your locations found online is essential . It also opens you up to $2Trillion in O2O (Online to Offline) sales opportunities every year . We wrote this white paper to help you get your share, and more, of those sales .

Key Takeaways v The ‘new yellow pages’ are online listings sites,

spread across the internet

v Customers are completing 165 Billion local searches a year in the US

v Searching is the number one activity on a mobile device

v 93% of sales still happen offline, but the sales process starts online with a search

Executive Summary

20 years ago it would have been unfathomable for a business to open a new store and decide they didn’t want to be listed in the yellow pages. They’d be passing up on a simple, core pathway that potential customers used to find their store.

noun \fīnd\-ə-bi-lə-tē\

The ease with which consumers can find online information about your company’s physical locations

Findability

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Michael Mire, CROSweetIQ Analytics Corp.

But today, thousands of businesses are doing exactly that by neglecting to optimize their locations for local search. The new ‘yellow pages’ are spread across the internet - places like Google+, Bing Places, Yelp, Angie’s List and hundred’s of others. And they contain more information than just your name, address and phone number. They’ve got photos, videos, business descriptions, reviews, and more. And it’s a self-influencing ecosystem: optimizing these spaces helps increase your local search rankings, which helps more customers find you, which helps increase your local search rankings, which helps … You get the picture .

Getting listed on a few places is relatively straight-forward if you have one location . Getting listed on all the sites that are impacting your search results and your bottom line is a lot harder. And, if you’re a multi-location brand, with 500+ locations, your work just got infinitely more difficult - but even more rewarding .

The good news is there’s help. Local marketing and analytics companies (likeSweetIQ), can help you get listed across the net, track your reviews and benchmark your performance over time. The bottom line is, getting found gets you more shoppers .

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Standing out in the crowdWith so many choices, consumers must narrow their options before making a purchasing decision. When it comes to their money, they want to make the right choice from the right business. The Internet provides a quick and easy way to find what is out there, so consumers plug a few keywords into a search engine. The results show local businesses in a ranked order and, starting at the top, it doesn’t take long to review a few sites, compare a few options, and make a decision.

It’s imperative that your business appear in those local search results, preferably as close to the top as possible. If potential customers can’t find you online, you might as well not exist. So, how can you ensure your locations get found?

Findability is a straightforward concept – get listed accurately across the internet to help customers find your locations. If they can, your business is among the few that capture a consumer’s attention. Having a website isn’t enough. In fact, if that’s all you have, you’re going to miss out on 75% of the O2O opportunities available. “Consumers now expect accurate, easy-to-absorb information on local businesses on a variety of computing platforms, and companies that can adapt to this new world have the most to gain.”1

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Being found makes a difference93%

In-person sales still reignEven with e-commerce, 93% of retail sales take place in a physical store.2 But the search process is starting online, often on a mobile device. “In an ironic twist, mobile technology is putting the focus back on the physical location.”3 When consumers shop in person, they can determine the product quality, save on shipping, and get the product immediately. If shoppers can’t find your business online, they don’t even get a chance to consider it, and you miss out on your share of that 93%.

7%

So, what makes findability such a key factor in today’s business environment? Here are six reasons why it is a 21st century business reality.

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In an increasingly mobile world, information is available anytime, anywhere. The number one mobile activity is search. In the U.S., nearly 86 million people regularly seek local business information on the go, completing 165 Billion local searches a year.1 A busy professional needs a dry cleaner close to the office or hungry sightseers want a good sushi restaurant close by. It’s easier to search for a business type type with a city name than to remember a specific website. In fact, people are 3 times more likely to search than to navigate directly to a site.4 To choose your business, consumers need to find it through search.

Search results matter

O2O (Online to Offline)An ever-growing number of consumers are using the Internet as their personal shopping assistant – searching online, choosing a physical location, and making a purchase. Online and mobile media now influence around 40% of offline consumer spending.5 Consumers take what they find online and go offline to buy it. If you put some real numbers next to that, it can mean $2 trillion for businesses that customers can find online.6 The influence of the Internet will continue to grow. Your business needs an optimized local online presence to earn your piece of that $2 trillion pie.7

“Online and mobile media now influence around 40% of offline consumer spending”

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When customers search, they are not just searching for your location and hours. They are also reading the online ratings and reviews, which heavily influence their purchase decisions. Those ratings and reviews influence 72% of shoppers.5 That sushi restaurant? It needs at least three stars with lots of good reviews before those sightseers will try it. Those reviews will also help rank your location higher in the search results.

Read more about the power of reviews in our Review Management whitepaper.72% of shoppers influenced by ratings and reviews

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Old customers influence new customers

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Instant gratification is a fact of life. If consumers start their online research, they’ve likely made up their minds to purchase - in fact 51% will do so within 24 hours.7 If a potential customer can’t find your business in their online search results, you have lost a quick sale to your competitor. Make sure you show up in the search results so you can capitalize on these quick conversions.

Buy localWhen consumers are ready to buy, how far they have to go to make their purchase plays a big factor. Research shows that customers make 85% of their purchases within 15 miles of their home or office.7 Few people want to spend hours driving around the city, trying to find a particular product. If it’s worth the money, it also has to be worth the time. Getting your stores listed and mapped correctly is paramount to capitalizing on these opportunities.

Ready, set, purchase!

“51% will do so within 24 hours”

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Findability isn’t difficult, but it does take time and expertise. Here are some straightforward ways to bring your locations to the top of the local search results. Follow these steps to increase your findability online – and increase your sales.

Get listed across the internet. Definitely get listed on the big sites, but don’t forget about the hyper-local and hyper-vertical sites that might be specific to your location and industry.

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Get found in 6 steps

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Claim your listings wherever you can: Google+/Google My Business, Bing, Yellow Pages, Yelp, Foursquare, TripAdvisor, etc. And be sure to include your phone number, your address, and your hours.

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Make sure that the listings are accurate. You can lose a lot of O2O business every year because of inaccurate listings.3 Use the same information across all of your listings so they don’t conflict. Keep the pages up to date: if a location opens, closes or moves, update all of the pages with the new information.

3 Put your brand’s stamp on the pages and make them your own. Add photos and videos of your store and your products. Reflect the style and attitude that your business wants to project. Consumers respond to a complete brand presence, so the more harmonious your branding on these external pages, the better.

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Lather, rinse, repeat. Findability is not something that you do once and then wait for sales to roll in. It’s an ongoing process that you need to continually repeat to get to the top, and stay there.

The easiest way to accomplish all of these things is to work with a local search marketing analytics and automation platform like ours. We take care of each of these tasks for you and give you a single, simple dashboard to manage all your locations.

Keep on top of the reviews for your business to manage the conversation online. Use them to improve the customer perception of your brand and keep people talking.

5Benchmark your performance against your competitors. Information is power, and the more you have the more able you are to respond to your local search eco-system.

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Keeping your business thriving is hard work. From finding the perfect location, to hiring great staff, to keeping up with your competitors - there is a lot to manage . With over 90% of purchases happening in store and $2 Trillion of offline purchasing power influenced by online research, it is crucial to make sure customers can find your locations. Purchases are starting with online searches, and then converting offline quickly. The onus is on you to claim your online spaces, make them accurate, and enhance them with images and relevant local content . Do that and the internet will begin to work for you.

With the right effort, you can get more shoppers through your door .

Final thoughts on findability

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1 15miles/Neustar Localeze, 2013

2 IAB, 2013

3 Third Door Media, Inc ., 2014

4 Mediative, 2013

5 BIA/Kelsey, 2014

6 Greg Sterling, 2014

7 BIA/Kelsey 2013

Sources

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SweetIQ helps you leverage the power of local search to increase your findability and convert

online traffic to in-store shoppers.