Consumers today have many options for finding local businesses, and they use them all. There's no set path to purchase - customers each take a different route through their favorite apps, media, and websites to find and choose where to spend their hard-earned cash. The Phone Number List Local Search Association (LSA) conducted its annual Local Media Tracking Study with over 8,000 consumers in 2015 and found that consumers began their search for local information most often with search engines, but only by a plurality - 40%. The rest of consumers turned to various other media as Phone Number List their first source, including corporate websites, directories, review sites, newspapers, and mobile apps, as shown below. LSA-purchase-path Source: 2015 LSA Local
Media Tracking Study LSA data also reveals that consumers' choices are flattening away from search engines as they venture deeper down the path to purchase. Typically, when consumers are ready to make a purchase or when they make a final visit to Phone Number List a media source, they choose the types of media that provide more direct contact with a business. These include business websites and directories, or those that help people confirm their potential decisions, such as ratings or review sites. Data from YP supports this trend. In a report titled Zigzag: The Phone Number List New Consumer Journey Zeitgeist, YP found that 36% of local search started with a search engine, with the rest spread across many other media.
Courtesy: YP Marketing Solutions Courtesy: YP Marketing Solutions A study commissioned by Google in 2011, the results of which were published in an e-book titled “Winning at the Zero Moment of Truth,” found that in one year, consumers essentially doubled the number of Phone Number List news sources to which they were referring. purchase decision, from 5.3 sources in 2010 to 10.4 sources in 2011. This was a time when the top three stimuli for generating interest in a product were television commercials, direct mail, and advertisements in the newspapers. Today, we spend more time in Phone Number List applications than watching television. Thus, it is now likely that the total number of sources referenced before making a purchase decision is well over 10 – or at least overwhelmingly numerical