Consumer Online Search Behavior: A Cross-Industry Analysis Based on User-Level Data

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Authors

Understanding consumer online search behavior is crucial to optimize companies’ paid search advertising campaigns. Standard measures such as the click-through rate do not account for this search behavior over time, which may favor a certain group of search type and, therefore, may mislead managers in allocating their financial spending efficiently. We analyzed a large query log for the occurrence of userspecific interaction patterns within and across three different industries and were able to show that consumers’ online search behavior is indeed a multi-stage process that heavily depends on industry-specific characteristics. For example, whereas a product search within the clothing industry typically begins with general keywords (“sneakers”) and that search process becomes narrowed as it proceeds by including more specific, e.g. brand-related (“sneakers adidas”), keywords, this behavior is a relatively rare event in other industries (e.g., the healthcare industry). Our method to analyze consumer search processes helps companies to identify the role of specific activities within a respective industry and to allocate their financial spending in paid search advertising accordingly.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationE-Business and Telecommunications : International Joint Conference, ICETE 2012. Rome, Italy, July 24–27, 2012, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsMohammad S. Obaidat, Joaquim Filipe
Number of pages16
Place of PublicationHeidelberg
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Publication date2014
Pages72-87
ISBN (print)978-3-662-44790-1
ISBN (electronic)978-3-662-44791-8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Event9th International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications - ICETE 2012 - Rom, Italy
Duration: 24.07.201227.07.2012
Conference number: 9
http://www.icete.org/?y=2012

    Research areas

  • Informatics - Consumer behavior, Online advertising, Online search, Query log

Recently viewed

Activities

  1. Developing an integrated concept for a more sustainable anchoring of cruise ships in the port of Hamburg.
  2. “To sustain, or not to sustain…?” An Analysis of Sustainability Journalism in German Newspapers
  3. Applied Linguistics (Fachzeitschrift)
  4. Theorie des Staatsstreichs
  5. Environmental Management Accounting Support for Rice Husk Processing Alternatives: Integrating Environmental Risk Considerations into Investment Decisions
  6. Assessing the Boundary-Crossing Collaboration in Research-Practice Partnerships in Initial Teacher Education: Empirical Insights
  7. Forschungs- und Entwicklungsteam NetzwerG (Organisation)
  8. Climate change and sustainable use of high Aswan dam reservoir
  9. Intragenerational income growth and preferences for redistribution: towards the issue of elasticity of economic attitudes
  10. Perspectives on digital teaching and learning and AI in education II
  11. The innovation process: A linear succession of phases or chaos?
  12. Methodological Trends and Challenges of Entrepreneurship Research
  13. SEM-A2 – Search Engine Marketing Account Aggregation
  14. Teach About US - Innovative Ways of Teaching English: The Election Project 2020
  15. Commercial and Industrial Information, Intellectual Property Rights and Interests of a Third Party
  16. Exploring strengths and weaknesses of cultural production through social network analysis: A case study in small town Germany
  17. Justice at the End of the Supply Chain: Interrogating Amazon’s Logistical Urbanism from the Cloud to the Curb
  18. Fakultät W allgemein (Organisation)
  19. Machbarkeitsstudie zu einem Visitor Welcome Center auf Usedom
  20. Renewing Sustainability Thinking in Light of the Anthropocene: Exploring the Potentials of STS
  21. The Rise and Fall of 'Measurement'
  22. Analysis of Climate Adaptation Strategy Development: Strategy-Making in the German Länder - The Cases of Lower Saxony and Bavaria