Online product searches begin offline.

What gets you to look for product information online?

According to a BIGresearch survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA), it's often not what you see on the Internet, but what you see in other marketing channels.

Consumers said that they search online after exposure to ads or products in magazines (47%) and newspapers (42%), on TV (43%) and while reading articles (44%).

"When it comes to advertising, retailers always need to be careful not to put all of their eggs in one basket," said Mike Gatti of the RAMA. "While search engine marketing continues to be a popular strategy, retailers should not lose sight of traditional advertising channels to promote products and services."

Sometimes the urge to search online comes from coupons and in-store promotions. Women were more likely than men to be motivated this way (42% vs. 29% for coupons, 29% vs. 25% for in-store promotions, respectively). Men were more driven than women to start an online search based on a face-to-face conversation (36% vs. 30%, respectively).

After the search comes the word-of-mouth. Over two-thirds of online consumers communicate about their search face to face. Over half use e-mail or the telephone, and 30% use mobile phones. Popular methods of communicating about the search among adults ages 18-24 include IM, texting and social networking.

The fact that so much online product searching starts (and sometimes ends) with offline media presents opportunities for marketers.

If a consumer reads the newspaper in the morning, she may search about a product mentioned in an ad once she gets to work, and then tell a friend about what she found when calling at night. A campaign that included morning-edition news and search marketing could be reaping the benefit of that night's word-of-mouth.

Multitaskers, by engaging with more types of media, may encounter even more of these product search start points than those who do not use multiple media. As Joe Pilotta of BIGresearch asserted in an interview with eMarketer, multitasking "is not a problem but a fact of consumer behavior."

Article from E-Marketer, March 14, 2007 Media that Influence US Consumers to Start a Search for Merchandise Online, November-December 2006 (% of respondents) Magazine 47.2% Read an article 43.7% TV/broadcast 42.8% Newspaper 42.3% Coupons 35.7% Cable TV 34.9% Face-to-face communication 32.7% Radio 29.5% Direct mail 29.2% E-Mail advertising 28.2% In-store promotions 26.9% Online advertising 25.1% Outdoor billboard 11.0% Instant messaging 8.8% Online communities (eg MySpace, Facebook) 8.0% Cellphone 7.2% Yellow pages 6.9% Blogs 6.6% Picture/videophone 4.1% Text messaging 3.9% Other 6.0% Note: n=15.267 ages 18+ Source: BIGresearch, March 2007 Note: Table made from bar graph. Ways that US Consumers Communicate about a Service, Product or Brand after Conducting an Online Search, November-December 2006 (% of respondents) Face-to-face 68.9% E-Mail 53.1% Telephone 50.9% Cellphone 30.0% Instant messaging 15.2% Text messaging 8.4% Online communities (eg MySpace, Facebook) 7.4% Blogging 3.5% Other 1.9% Note: n=15.267 ages 18+ Source: BIGresearch, March 2007 Note: Table made from bar graph.