Intent Content

Gotta love how that rhymes right?

Intent content is all about following a customer down the purchasing path. 

There are lots of variations in the purchasing path because there are lots of ways your site can be brought up in the search results and, let’s be honest, a lot of your customers weren’t intending to become customers when they first got on their computer. 

If they’re anything like me, they were checking their email or watching an online video when suddenly they remembered they’d been wanting to replace the wood burning tool they lost three months ago. 

And yes this is a real life scenario…

I, unfortunately, have a habit of losing things once I finally need them. So I opened a new tab and looked up “wood burning tool” not really intending to buy anything, I just wanted to see my options. Google responded with a variety of different options including Wikipedia, Amazon, Michael’s, and Walmart.

“Walmart,” I thought to myself, “if they have some I’ll just buy the tool there and save myself the wait and shipping cost.” 

So I did a search for “wood burning tools at Walmart” and ended up on their website where I decided that next time I was at the local Walmart I would pick one up, which I did several days later.

 Now, let’s take a look at my purchasing path and what my intent was at each stage.

1. I remembered I needed a new tool and did a google search with the intent of learning the general price range for future reference.

1. I saw an image of a wood burning tool sold by Walmart and clicked on it with the intent of seeing if I could just get one from the local store.

1. I looked at reviews and did some price comparison with the intent of making sure the tool would be worth the money.

1. I went down to the local Walmart a few days later with the intent of buying the wood burning tool I saw on their website.

I didn’t purchase from their website, but they still got my business because of the information I found on there. 

Another thing you’ll notice is that my search started out fairly nebulous and got more refined as I went along. This is the reason you need copy that targets every step of your customer’s purchasing path, ‘cause if you don’t, some other business or company will and you’ll probably never see that customer again.

I always like to illustrate this by having people imagine a trail leading through the woods. 

As you start walking you see other trails that lead off the main path and each of them has a sign telling you where the new trail will take you, and each of those trails have more signs leading to more trails.

Your headlines and descriptions are like those signs, so make it easier for your customers by keeping everything connected to your website clean, helpful, and to the point while still being engaging whether it’s descriptions, emails, or the copy for your Home Page.