Thin Slicing, Relevance, & Credibility

Gord Hotchkiss, president of Enquiro, recently presented at Microsoft the results of research conducted on search engine return pages (SERPs). What was most surprising about Enquiro's research was the impact of thin-slicing on a search engine's credibility. Thin-slicing, referred to in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, is the unconscious use of limited information to come to an instantaneous judgement.

On a SERP, thin-slicing occurs at the very first listing, either sponsored or algorithmic. The very first listing determines the credibility of the rest of the page. If the reader finds the first listing relevant to their intent, the rest of the listings get a lift in credibility, even when the only thing changing between test SERPs is the first listing! Conversely, poor relevance in the first listing can taint all other listings on the page.

With search engine results, if you get the first
one wrong, you may not get a second chance.

Let's use a restaurant as an example. If your first experience at restaurant resulted in ptomaine poisoning, you're unlikely to ever return. On the other hand, if your first meal was orgasmic but you were poisoned by the second, you're still unlikely to return, just a little less unlikely. If a SERP were a restaurant and the first listing unsatisfying, not only would you be unlikely to return to the restaurant, you'd probably avoid the neighborhood and maybe even leave town.

For Microsoft (Live Search) to compete with Google's massive market share requires that we get it right the first time—and every time.

Technorati Tags: Charles Thrasher, Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro, thin-slicing, Malcolm Gladwell, Microsoft, Live Search, Google