In Brief

Craving Conversion was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of PPA Magnetic in August 2024 and analyses the online behaviour of UK internet users aged 15 and over to demonstrate the value of trusted editorial brands in driving consumer purchase decisions, particularly within the food and drink sector. The research uses clickstream data to map the customer journey, proving that content from these trusted sources not only inspires discovery but also leads to higher consideration and conversion rates compared to other digital channels like social media and search.

Key Findings

• Trusted content fuels discovery: Visitors to trusted editorial brands explore a wider variety of food and drink topics, with an average of 52 topics per month, compared to 28 topics for non-visitors. This indicates that trusted editorial brands are a go-to source for inspiration, outperforming social media and search in areas like recipes and cooking.
• Higher engagement and conversion: Heavy users of trusted editorial brands spend more time on supermarket websites, visit more often, and are more likely to complete a purchase compared to heavy users of social media and search. For example, visitors to trusted editorial brands are 43% more likely to check out on a supermarket website than non-visitors.
• Influence throughout the purchase journey: Trusted editorial brands have a significant influence on the customer journey from the beginning, at the “awareness” and “inspiration” stages, all the way to the “purchase” and “checkout” phases. They drive purchase decisions and amplify conversion.
• Underinvestment: Despite their effectiveness in driving conversion, trusted editorial brands are significantly underinvested in when compared to their share of touchpoints in the customer journey.

Implications for advertisers

• Focus on content and reach: Advertisers should consider planning for both content impact and reach to increase their return on investment (ROI).
• Invest more in trusted editorial brands: The data suggests that investing more in trusted editorial brands can lead to a greater ROI. The study’s conversion index shows that these brands have a higher conversion index (225) compared to search (175) and social media (150).
• Use trusted editorial brands for full-funnel impact: Trusted editorial brands add incremental value to other digital channels and surpass social media and search in guiding consideration and driving purchase conversion, making them a key part of a full-funnel strategy.
• Target passionate audiences: The study highlights the opportunity to reach highly targeted and passionate audiences who are actively looking to buy. Advertisers can activate these passion-based audiences using data platforms like Ipsos iris.