Apologies for the “infamous” I wanted to edit my post but could not find how to .

My question is , how much of Google’s research is focused on B2B and how much is relevant to B2C/ecommerce ? I understand that B2B and B2C are slowly coming together to become B2X , as people bring their personal way of buying into their jobs, but there are still many differences such as the sales cycles etc.

Furthermore, Google’s infamous “customer journey to online purchase” is using data from ecommerce Google analytics accounts, so I would not say that its B2B focused as ecommerce still hasn’t been adopted by the majority of B2B companies.

Looking forward to your answer and further references to add to my research 🙂

Thank you

I really appreciate this article because it warns us not to drink the Google cool-aid all in one gulp. I think there are some valuable conclusions in the ZMOT book – lots of people are researching a lot more – that portion of the funnel has certainly blossomed. But, looking at the actual survey – it’s so flawed. It only surveyed online users (of which there are still a handful of folks that aren’t glued to their computer), plus it pre-ordained what Google considered research tools. It called magazine articles stimuli, but in funnel days, magazine articles were the #1 research tool for auto shoppers. Only online tools were considered ZMOT tools, which is pretty presumptuous of Google. It sadly smacks a bit too much of propaganda for my taste.

in the study… thanks

Thanks for your comments Listen and Learn – like that,

I learned from this:

“The challenge is to find your blind spots – the benefits you haven’t realised your potential customers are looking for and adapt.”
In a similar way, successful content marketing is

“finding the intersection between what your brand can offer and what consumers want from your brand”
Think I’m paraphrasing Joe Pullizi there, or was that yours Dan?

Dave

I like the simple idea behind what both McKinsey and Google are saying. That the internet has introduced (or greatly empowered) a ‘discovery’ phase in the consumer decision journey, which can kick-in for first time or repeat buyers.

This has implications for how you try to influence the journey (or funnel), but also how you understand the space in which consumers’ discover and form opinions about brands. This is a much more fluid and changeable space than the other moments of truth. Companies need to really understand what consumers are looking for in a category. The challenge is to find your blind spots – the benefits you haven’t realised your potential customers are looking for and adapt.

Nice comment! I like this analogy:

“The consumer is like a bird, flying from branch to branch, collecting evidence each time they land”.
or maybe like a hawk surveying the scene and then swooping when the time (and price) is right.
Dave

I think that’s right – the decision process isn’t really a funnel. The consumer is like a bird, flying from branch to branch, collecting evidence each time they land.