Today’s competitive landscape and changing consumer purchasing path have CPG brands muddled when it comes to targeting the latest intent trends. How does one learn of a customer’s intent to buy a product, and where do you meet them along their journey? While there are multiple answers to this question, there are a few that have topped the charts for this year’s most popular consumer intent trends.

Why Is Consumer Intent So Important in CPG?

The customer journey isn’t always an easy route to follow. The eye of the marketer does not fall on every path, and the purchasing journey can be more than just adding an item to the cart and hitting the checkout button. Following a consumer’s decision to buy a product could mean numerous pitstops between point A and point B, and CPG owners must get in the minds of consumers to seal the deal on these buys.

So, where exactly are customers influenced the most to buy a product? These days, the average customer looks to digital ads, social media, and peers for their shopping needs. This trend means that your brand should already be creating a trail along these touchpoints to get your customer closer to the finish line. Here are a few key focus areas that CPG brands are gleaning in on to target consumer intent in the upcoming year. 

Targeting Customers Through YouTube’s Custom Intent Audiences

Video marketing has taken the CPG industry by storm for its effective results, considering 95% of viewers retain a message from video ads. Your customers are living on YouTube, consuming videos that are either related to your product or far from it. Luckily, YouTube allows you to target both ends of the spectrum through their intent-based marketing tool.

This YouTube feature allows brands to target both in-market audiences and custom intent audiences, depending on where during the customer journey you want to focus. For example, in-market audiences are those that are actively considering buying a product. A custom intent audience is where you can choose which keywords in a search you’d like to target. Savvy CPG brands are putting these tools to the test—and they see promising results. Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Treats, for example, experienced a 4% sales lift during the back-to-school season thanks to activating intent-based marketing on YouTube. 

Catching Customers During the Buying Mindset on Instagram

Friends, family, and favorite brands—that’s what Instagram users are engaging with the most on this popular social app. Brands have leveraged this platform for window shoppers, active shoppers, and everyone in between. Instagram influences 75% of user purchase decisions, making customer intent high in this space, and exposure for an influenced purchase at its peak. 

Brands are jumping on board with the “shop now” tool or sponsored posts to catch customers during their buying mindset. And with engaged followers on Instagram averaging a $65 order value compared to Facebook’s $55 average, these brands are seeing a return on this social media investment. With over 1 billion active monthly users and a growth rate faster than Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, it’s no wonder this consumer intent trend has topped the list for 2019 and the years to come.

Topping the Google Search Ranking

Search intent is redefining the marketing funnel as top-ranked CPG brands battle the attention of consumers. Research is paramount for many consumers before they invest money into a product, and they look to Google as a trusted source for finding the best match for their search.

Before, Google used to rank search results based on text data and backlinks. Today, Google has become a complex and sophisticated system, using algorithms to promote the most relevant content for digital users. CPG brands should pay particular attention to search volumes, organic traffic levels, and onsite conversion to reach the search-intent customer.

Keep it Short, Sweet and Informative

Once you’ve secured the attention of a potential customer to your brand and product, it’s essential to make the purchasing experience smooth and straightforward. This micro-moment decision of “I want to buy this product” is crucial in retaining the attention of your shopper before they continue their search. One way to finalize a purchase intent is to provide your shopper with useful information, merely informing users well about the product causes 51% of smartphone users to purchase from a company or brand. A message that’s short, sweet, and informative could be enough to win over the customer that’s seesawing between you and a competing product.