We frequently talk about Customer Journeys, and how to mass-personalize content to speak to a specific prospect about solutions to their specific needs, along their path to Purchase.

Google’s latest content on the topic demonstrates how the path to purchase varies based on a wide array of factors.

Most notable stats:

• 84% of Americans are shopping for something in any given 48-hour period.
• 63% of shopping occasions begin online.
• 45% of all online shopping is probably my wife.

Factors to watch:

• Categories of purchase (Google looked at Cars, Electronics, Food & Beverage, Personal Care, Retail, Travel): some purchase paths will naturally take longer than others.
• Length of time to purchase from initial search: ranging from immediate purchase (omg, I must have this car!!) to 63 days (let me gather all the facts first).
• Number of touchpoints: how many interactions a buyer has had with the brand prior to purchase.
• Method of engagement: laptop vs mobile vs game console

Key Takeaways:

• Be there. Technology has enabled consumers to access everything, anywhere (see Carmax commercial: “Everywhere is a Carmax”). Your responsibility is to be accessible where your buyers are.
• Be useful. Don’t waste people’s time. Streamline for people who are ready to buy. Nurture people who need nurtured. And involve technology to know the difference.
• Be quick. Google has preached this for years now, but it involves more than how quickly your pages load. It’s more about buyer’s intent. Giving the people the content they want, when they want it, with as few clicks, as little “searching” as possible.

These takeaways support the message we’ve been preaching all along: Google’s #1 customer is YOU. And it’s not “you” the marketer or advertiser. It’s “you” the consumer, searching for the content, the car, the electronics, whatever “thing” you’re looking for, because if they can solve that need, the marketers will follow.