#Capturing_Purchase_Intent_on_Twitter
Rarely do I blog but I couldn't resist collecting all my thoughts here and sharing.
I've been thinking a lot lately about brands on Twitter and what it means to marketers. Mostly from a manufacturers POV as I hold a digital marketing role for a large CPG toy company, but when I take the time to study my own consumer behavior, I try my best to act organically, leverage the tools we have in social and think from both perspectives. There have been some great articles written about Twitter and brands that I'll cite in the footer of this post.
Here's my little case study as I journey through the process of a new bicycle purchase.
Sometime around early July I decided to start a new hobby. I had been weight lifting for a few months, paying more attention to my health and realized that I have little to no cardio in my routine. I knew that running was never my forte and I have several friends who are into different bike sports; cycling, mountain and downhill.
So I set out to find which biking activity is right for me. With the help of social recommendation sites like Hunch, friends on Twitter, brands on Twitter and a whole lot of good old word-of-mouth, I had started getting close to the bike I wanted.
Here's a little something about me; I like to ask questions. A mentor of mine said something when I was a teenager that will always stick with me. He quoted, "Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others." - Otto von Bismarck
That changed the way I make decisions, from choosing a college, buying a new car, entering into a real estate agreement, down to the nitty day-to-day challenges at work, I always ask questions and gauge others feedback trying to pry out their past experiences.
This purchase was no different. Through Tweeting, gchatting w friends and eventually walking into the store and talking with the sales guy, I had built up quite a large amount of research to help me with my decision.
Because I was public about what I was doing.
Below is a string of 6 Tweets I pulled from my public feed that summarizes my purchase decision. It starts with a simple question posted on Hunch and ends on a picture of the bike in my living room posted on Instagram and shared on Twitter.
The 1st Tweet didn't generate much activity but the interesting thing here is this was the first time I publicly told the world about my intent and I even included the brand term "Cannondale" in the message.
The 2nd Tweet was a straight at reply that we took over to email and was helpful.
The 3rd Tweet basically screams "Please Market to me." I checked into the bike shop with the message "Time for a new hobby." No one reached out.
The 4th and 5th Tweets were really getting down to business as these were test rides. I used the RunKeeper fitness application on my iPhone to track my activity and posted each ride. This time also with a brand shout out, except no more Cannondale now I was on a Felt. No one from @feltbicycles reached out.
Finally, the 6th Tweet is the conversion product shot dating just over a month from my first question about buying a bike.
1st Tweet - 7/11/11: (Research + Brand Shout Out)
Thinking about this bike.Anyone have thoughts? ‘Cannondale TRAIL SL 29 3’ on @hunch. hun.ch/ojt5GB
— Michael Sprague (@michaelsprague) July 11, 2011
2nd Tweet - 7/20/11: (Networking for Advice)
@jakecacci looking for a bike. what do you ride?
— Michael Sprague (@michaelsprague) July 20, 2011
3rd Tweet - 7/25/11: (Purchase Intent)
Time for a new hobby. (@ Providence Bicycle) http://4sq.com/r9RDDB
— Michael Sprague (@michaelsprague) July 25, 2011
4th Tweet - 8/17/11: (Test Ride + Brand Shout Out)
Just completed a 0.93 mi bike ride - Leg 2 of teat ride on the Felt Z100. . rnkpr.com/asox0p #RunKeeper
— Michael Sprague (@michaelsprague) August 17, 2011
5th Tweet - 8/17/11: (More Test Rides)
Just completed a 2.51 mi bike ride - Test ride 2 on the Z85 and I think she wins! rnkpr.com/asoya4 #RunKeeper
— Michael Sprague (@michaelsprague) August 17, 2011
6th Tweet - 8/19/11: (Conversion)
Who wants to go riding?! instagr.am/p/Ks9w8/
— Michael Sprague (@michaelsprague) August 19, 2011
Lots of interesting things here. One is my usage of social media throughout the process. Granted I'm more of a tech geek than most but each of these platforms show unique marketing opportunity.
Hunch for recommendations
Foursquare for venue location
Runkeeper for fitness activity
Instagram for product shot
Twitter for advice, research and publishing all of them
What's unique here is that of the five services I used, Twitter was at the foundation of all. Everything I did outside of native Twitter found it's way back in -- and it was all public. Any savvy brand could have used their social monitoring tool or search.twitter.com to see this organic activity and turn it into an opportunity to convert me. Not just Cannondale and Felt but all their competitors could have tried to steer me their way.
I'm not saying that having a brand engage with me would have persuaded my decision. There's a good chance it would have felt annoying if they did, but I think if it was authentic, timely and non-salesy it would have been a nice gesture even if they simply engaged and offered up to answer any questions I had would have been a great execution. Felt could have seen my test rides and sent me a manufactures coupon that would have certainly sealed the deal for me. Lucky for them I did it anyway and marketed their product for free.
What I did not do is post much of this on Facebook. Why? Because it would have felt spammy and annoying to my friends and family. Because of the broadcasting mindset of Twitter I feel comfortable blabbing away there instead.
This post isn't meant to dog on Felt and Cannondale for not engaging with me, but rather to point out how strong of an opportunity it would have been for them (or their competition) to see my purchase intent and try to capitalize on that.
Some brands are doing a phenomenal job. I've called Zappos three times in my life and after each call I tweet about how awesome they are. Not once did they miss an opportunity to write something positive back my way. Does that work? Yep. There is a white box next to me with the words "Zappos" on it that came in the mail yesterday.
As I think about what Twitter means to us as marketers, this sentence from Mark Suster sums it up nicely.
"Twitter's significance stems from the fact that it is a real time, open asymmetric, social, viral referral network that is often location aware and provides both explicit and implicit interests and preferences." - Mark Suster (@msuster)
Granted my example is a rare case and likely happens in small scale but there is so much activity and content being pumped into Twitter and of the 180,000,000 Tweets they generate per day, there's a ton of opportunity to listen and engage with our audiences -- and when appropriate, find those opportunties to convert.
http://www.thenextweb.com/twitter/2011/08/18/twitter-users-are-more-likely-to-impact-your-brand-than-any-other-social-network/
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/07/10/why-im-doubling-down-on-the-twitter-ecosystem/
http://mashable.com/2011/08/20/twitter-infographic-2/
