By Crystal Silvas

According to a study conducted by DoubleClick Performics, the performance marketing division of DoubleClick Inc., advertisers should incorporate search engine marketing to reach moms planning online and offline purchases and vacations.

The research, entitled “Searcher Moms—A Search Behavior and Usage Study”, was completed in cooperation with Microsoft and ROI Research. The results show heavy use of search engines when it comes to planning activities among moms.

“With over two-thirds of the moms in our study spending 16 or more minutes online, and 86 percent [saying] that search engines are the most efficient way to find information, it’s clear that they rely heavily on search,” said Stuart Larkins, VP of search for DoubleClick Performics.

The study shows that moms rely on search engines for a wide range of daily tasks.

With nearly one thousand moms surveyed, eighty-nine percent use the Internet at least twice a day, and ninety percent have been using it for more than seven years. A full eighty-six percent of respondents said that search engines are the most efficient way to find information.

“Some marketers might be surprised [at] just how much time mothers spend online—this is a highly targetable, educated and affluent audience—and two-thirds of moms use search after seeing an advertisement,” said Larkins.

The Searcher Moms study gives marketers a little insight into this group’s behavior, such as learning if working moms search more or less than non-working moms, or if they use different search engines.

Seventy percent of moms surveyed use search engines to gather information before making online purchases and fifty-seven percent use search engines to gather information before making offline purchases. Also, sixty-four percent use search engines to discover where to purchase products offline.

“Marketers for consumers packaged goods (CPG) companies, this study is your wake-up call,” said Larkin. “An overwhelming eighty percent of [moms] searched for at least one CPG category, and ninety-seven percent are the primary grocery shopper within their household. It’s important that CPG marketers cater to this audience. There is tremendous room for growth in both paid and organic search for CPG companies. We found that search greatly impacts offline purchases, so marketers need to make sure online and offline campaigns are integrated.”

Within the eight product groups included in the study, ninety-two percent said search engines are helpful in providing valuable information prior to purchasing and seventy-nine percent said search engines are helpful in providing valuable information prior to purchasing offline.

Regarding CPG, over seventy percent reported using search engines to compare prices, to find retail locations and to gather product information.