50 Percent of Local Google Searches Result in Purchases: Study

Local searches resulting in purchases.

New research from Google says that customers making local searches for items to purchase have a higher expectancy to visit the store and buy the item during the same day.

The study says 50 percent of customers on a mobile device are very likely to purchase an item in store, with 34 percent saying the same for customers using computers or tablets. Local searches resulted in 18 percent of sales. Before visiting the store, one in three customers searches occurred on a smartphone, and 15 percent of in-store activities included searching on their smartphone to compare prices or to learn more about a product.

The Google study also reveals statistics on the variety of local information that customers search for on both smartphones and computers/tablets:

• 54 percent search for location hours on a smartphone
• 50 percent search for a store address on a smartphone
• 42 percent search for business hours on a computer/tablet
• 38 percent search for local store address on a computer/tablet

Sixty percent of those surveyed said they found the locally tailored pay-per-click ads handy, using the information the ad provided. Directions were the most important for 73 percent of those using smartphones, with 78 percent of tablet and computer users saying the same. Over three-quarters of tablet and computer users stated that having the phone number of the business was imperative, and 70 of those on a smartphone said the same.

Some consumers preferred the tailoring of ads to their own location:

• 72 percent of tablet and computer users and 67 percent of those using smartphones preferred ads customized to their city/zip code
• 70 percent of tablet and computer users and 61 percent of those using smartphones preferred ads modified to their direct location

The study also found that location-based ads do lead to consumer in-store visits or purchases. Thirty-two percent of consumers who viewed locally based ads visited stores and made purchases, while 19 percent made unintended visits to stores and made purchases.

Sources:

“Google: Local Searches Lead 50% of Mobile Users to Visit Stores.” 2014. Searchenginewatch.com

“Understanding Consumers' Local Search Behavior.” 2014. Thinkwithgoogle.com

“Going Local: How Advertisers Can Extend Their Relevance With Search.” 2014. Thinkwithgoogle.com