Intent is the purpose behind an action or statement. In the case of customers, intent is what makes them interested in a specific product or brand.
Not all customer intent is the same, though, and it varies in type and intensity. Much of this depends on the different stages of your customer’s shopping journey, from vague interest to commitment to purchase. Unlike in a brick-and-mortar store, where an employee can ask questions directly and offer to help, discerning customer intent online is often more challenging.
Understanding customer intent can help you nudge your customers from “just looking” to buying.
What is customer intent?
Customer intent is what drives customers to interact with your brand. An interaction can happen when they visit your store, find your products in search results, or interact with your website or social media pages. Also called buyer intent, purchase intent, consumer intent, or user intent, customer intent is the motivation that starts the customer journey from interest to purchase.
For ecommerce businesses, understanding intent—both search intent via a search engine and the customer’s intent once they land on your brand’s specific website—can help you learn about your customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points. Pinpointing customer preferences can help you develop better products and services to surpass your competition.
Customer intent is sometimes clear and distinct. A customer intends to upgrade their dinner plates from plastic to ceramic, they find your ceramic plates in search results, and they buy them. Their intent aligns perfectly with your product offerings. Simple. More often than not, however, customer intent is multifaceted or ambiguous. Data can help you parse who’s legitimately interested and who’s just passing by.
Types of online customer intent
Understanding customer intent is important for reaching and engaging your target audience. There are several types of customer intent, and identifying them can help you tailor marketing content, customer interaction touchpoints, and ads to better meet user needs.
Online customer intent tends to fall into four different categories, each reflecting different motivations behind an online search query:
- Informational intent. Shoppers are seeking information or an answer to a question (for example, using search engines to find how-to guides). A potential customer is doing research before seriously considering a purchase.
- Commercial intent. A customer is considering a possible purchase and is comparing product offerings from different brands.
- Navigational intent. A customer is searching for a specific product or webpage. This intent typically indicates that they are already familiar with a brand and are ready to purchase.
- Transactional intent. A customer has decided which brand or specific product will satisfy their needs, so they search for the website where they can make their purchase.
These categories represent four very different stages in the customer buying journey. If you identify customer intent during these critical times, you can create relevant content to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing strategies to better serve customers with personalized experiences.
How to identify customer intent and collect data
The customer journey often follows a meandering path of multiple interactions across a brand’s channels before a customer makes a purchase. That’s why ecommerce businesses need to identify the intent conveyed by customer actions. To discover customer intent, collect customer intent data by doing the following:
1. Seek customer feedback
One tried-and-true way to identify customer intent data is to request feedback from your customers or review documented customer conversations, such as previous emails to your customer service. These can be treasure troves of information about customers’ behavior.
2. Monitor website metrics
Reverse-engineer your marketing strategy by analyzing your website metrics. Website performance can indicate how well you are meeting customer intent. For example, if you see trends of a low average time on page and a high bounce rate, your users probably can’t find what they are looking for on your web pages.
Using tools like Google Analytics, you can analyze website metrics such as average session duration, social referrals, page views, and conversion rate. This data will reveal if you need to update your keyword research and focus on SEO KPIs (key performance indicators).
3. Analyze customer activities
Gather customer data by following the digital journey that users take across your website. Look for trends in where users navigate after visiting your homepage. This can reveal their stage of customer intent.
For example, if a user navigates to your blog pages, this indicates that they have informational intent and want answers to their questions. If your website metrics reveal an above-average time on page, it suggests you’ve created helpful and relevant content.
How to use customer intent data
- Improve SEO
- Reduce abandoned carts
- Encourage repeat page visitors
- Influence with hyper-specific advertisements
Customer intent analysis is a valuable tool for building and maintaining customer relationships. With the right information, you can follow up with a personalized marketing message during the customer journey, enhancing the overall customer experience and encouraging users to move down the sales funnel.
Consider using customer intent data to do the following:
1. Improve SEO
Google’s top goal is to display helpful, relevant content on every search engine results page (SERP). But its goal is also to truly understand a user’s search intent, because knowing the intent helps search engines offer the most relevant results. Use information about a customer’s intent to create content loaded with the right keywords and ensure your website is on the top of the SERP when potential customers search for your products.
For example, for customers using the keywords “baby clothes” when shopping online, write informative blog posts packed with terms that align with a transactional search intent, such as “essential newborn items” and “top 10 baby shower gift ideas.” For a keyword with an informational search intent like “clean baby food stains,” write a blog post about the best ways to clean baby clothes so you can build brand awareness and trust with potential customers. When you understand the reasons behind customer needs, it’s easier to create content to solve their problems.
2. Reduce abandoned carts
If a potential customer adds items to their shopping cart, it demonstrates a strong intent to purchase. Use tracking tools to identify customers who added items to their cart but did not complete their purchase. Personalize the emails or messages to remind the customer of the specific products they are interested in. This can include product-specific images, descriptions, and prices. You might also consider offering additional incentives, such as limited-time exclusive discounts or free shipping. Sometimes, sending a second abandoned cart email a day or two later is a good reminder.
3. Encourage repeat page visitors
If someone visits the same page of your website many times, this demonstrates a strong interest or intent. Create an automated program to engage with potential customers who have visited the same page three or more times. Tailoring these communications can improve a customer’s experience with your brand and boost engagement.
Retargeting past customers reminds them of products that they’ve previously viewed or bought. This can help keep your brand top of mind, encouraging return visits.
4. Influence with hyper-specific advertisements
AI-driven technologies are increasingly shaping the customer experience and influencing buying decisions. AI tools like chatbots let you gather and parse customer intent data, helping you gain deeper insight through conversational user interactions. By understanding a customer’s motivation, you can present relevant products that are likely to interest them or solve their problem, ultimately guiding consumers toward specific or additional purchases.
For example, if someone adds baby clothes to their online shopping cart, you might be able to increase the total transaction value by suggesting a matching baby blanket or shoes. Using customer intent data to advertise complementary products can help cultivate lasting relationships with your audience, driving sustained growth and customer retention.
Customer intent FAQ
What is the meaning of customer intent?
Customer intent is the motivating factor behind a shopper’s search for a product or brand. It can start with an analysis of the first Google search for information and evolve as the customer moves closer to making a purchase.
Why is customer intent important?
Understanding customer intent is important because it will inform your marketing strategies for your target audience at various stages along the sales funnel. Customer intent reveals what information and products users are searching for and the reasoning behind their desire for the product.
What insight does customer intent provide?
Customer intent data provides actionable insights into potential customers’ needs and motivations, helping you develop relevant products, rank high on search engine results pages, and surpass customer expectations.
