Last year, advertisers spent approximately $110 billion in the U.S. on paid search ads. But despite increases in digital ad spend, marketers are questioning the effectiveness of digital advertising, and advertisers do not have a full understanding of why consumers click (or don’t click) on ads.
Prior research has proposed that advertisers use deal-related words, brand names, retailer names, product category names, and location information for this purpose. When consumers’ search queries include these keywords, advertisers can then provide more relevant ads as a way to increase clicks.
In a new Journal of Marketing study, we provide insight about how consumer emotions can impact search engine use and paid search ad click-through rates. As advertisers grapple with the challenges of reaching their target audience effectively, our research sheds light on a powerful, yet often overlooked, aspect of digital advertising.
Impact of Positive Emotion on Search Behavior
We examine the impact of positive emotion unrelated to the search task on consumer search engine behavior. Specifically, we look at how experiencing positive emotion when searching online for a product can impact what consumers search for in their search queries. This effect of emotion subsequently spills over to how consumers respond to paid search ads that appear in search results.
Using a search engine involves a sequence of decisions. We focus on how positive incidental emotion influences two steps of engaging in online search via a search engine: (1) keyword selection (i.e., the words a consumer chooses to describe a product and subsequently types into the search engine) and (2) ad clicks.
We find that experiencing positive emotion at the outset of an online product search primes emotionally congruent thoughts. This priming makes consumers more likely to use positive emotion keywords (e.g., a happy book) than neutral keywords (e.g., a paperback book) to describe the product they are searching for. Thereafter, upon encountering sponsored content such as paid search ads in search results, consumers are unlikely to use their lay beliefs about advertisers’ ulterior motives to manipulate them. As a result, consumers are more likely to click on paid search ads if they used a positive emotion keyword rather than a neutral keyword in their query.
Lessons for Chief Marketing Officers
Our study’s findings are important for marketers and advertisers in the following ways:
- The study provides advertisers with insights into the psychological aspects behind consumer online search engine behavior. Emotions can impact how people think about products and how they search for them.
- Search queries containing positive emotion keywords are associated with higher paid search ads clicks. This suggests that digital advertising managers should consider incorporating positive emotion keywords in their paid search ad targeting strategies.
- Our anecdotal evidence suggests that advertisers are not currently targeting positive emotion keywords in their digital advertising strategies. Targeting these types of keywords would not only represent a novel strategy for marketing managers but it may also improve costs per click, as bid prices for these types of keywords are low yet consumer ad clicks in response to these keywords is higher.
- When targeting positive emotion keywords, our work suggests advertisers could be even more strategic by focusing their targeting strategies on time periods in which consumers are more likely to be experiencing positive emotion. For instance, during weekends and holidays, there is an uptick in the number of consumer search queries that contain positive emotion keywords. This suggests that advertisers may want to consider a day or holiday-based scheme for bidding on positive emotion keywords.
- Positive emotion keywords are employed in search queries more often for products considered more hedonic in nature (e.g., clothes, entertainment, dining). Marketing managers for these types of products may have more success targeting positive emotion keywords in their digital advertising strategies.
In a competitive digital landscape where every impression counts, understanding the psychology behind consumer behavior is key to success. Our research challenges traditional approaches to search advertising, urging advertisers to rethink their strategies and embrace the power of emotions. By incorporating positive emotion keywords into their paid search ad targeting strategies, advertisers can unlock new opportunities for engagement and drive meaningful connections with their target audience.
Future research might extend our study and consider the possibility that different specific emotions and different levels of emotionality might impact the types of positive emotion keywords consumers employ in their queries.
Read the Full Study for Complete Details
Source: Sarah C. Whitley, Anindita Chakravarty, and Pengyuan Wang, “Positive Emotions During Search Engine Use: How You Feel Impacts What You Search For and Click On,” Journal of Marketing.
Go to the Journal of Marketing
Sarah C. Whitley is Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Georgia, USA.
Anindita Chakravarty is Professor of Marketing and Terry Dean’s Advisory Council Distinguished Professor, University of Georgia, USA.
Pengyuan Wang is Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Georgia, USA.