Re: Digital search vs. human search: Exploring a premise and citing an example

newbill — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:00:57 -0000

Really good post Dan. Reading it, I couldn’t help but to think of another blog that helped frame how I tackle the task of capturing the attention of the home buyer’s with search. The Human Search Schematic is very interesting but I think we can take it further when we temper it with "why and what" we are searching. Gord Hotchkiss dusted off some old physiological theories and applied it to how people search on things that have low brand value and high risk associations like buying a home.

In short he took the concepts introduced by Herbert Simon such as satisficing, bounded rationality and chunking and applied it to this new wealth of information available with search engines.

“We have never had more information available. At the click of a mouse, we can access huge amounts of information. There's simply no way we can process it all and come to rational decisions. And this brings us to another concept, that of bounded rationality. We're more rational about some decisions than others. It depends on a number of factors, including risk, emotional enjoyment and brand self identification. Think of it as a chart with three axes. One axis is risk. We put more rational thought into decisions that expose us to greater risk. In consumer decisions, risk usually equates with cost, but in B to B decisions, it could also include professional reputation (related to but not always directly tied to cost). We're going to put a lot more thought into the purchase of a car or house than that of a candy bar. Another axis is emotional enjoyment. This is a risk/reward mechanism to most decisions, and if the reward is one that is particularly appealing to us, we tend to be swayed more by emotion than rational decision. If we're planning a holiday, we may make some irrational decisions (or at least, they might appear that way to an outsider) based on a sense of rewarding ourselves. We'll treat ourselves to a few nights in a 5 star resort, when the 3 star resort would offer greater overall value. The final factor, and one that is usually buried somewhere in our subconscious, is how we use brands or products to define who we are.”

Buying a home is probably the single biggest risk decision that a consumer will ever make and typically the house we choose becomes our customized brand. If we subscribe to Simon’s theory, then the home buyer needs a medium that gives them all the information that they need to identify with their purchase. House style and look, community flavor, points of interest, pictures, virtual tours, peer advice, etc.(social media can aid the peer association but that is another subject) all help the consumer emotionally connect with the “branding” of the home. It is a very unique decision that allows the consumer to personalize the brand that fits best with their decision. The brand of the aggregator becomes secondary to information that it provides. Basically, the more content they have access to in one place will fuel the personal connection to the home and help them connect emotionally to the purchase.

Take a look at http://www.outofmygord.com/....

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Re: Digital search vs. human search: Exploring a premise and citing an example