Before picking an ad channel, answer one question: do people buy your product on impulse, or do they go looking for it?
The answer decides where you advertise, what you spend on, and what "working" looks like.
Two kinds of buying
| Impulse (discovery) | Intent (search) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mindset | Wasn't shopping, saw it, wanted it | Already looking, comparing options |
| Channels | Meta (Facebook, Instagram), TikTok | Google Search, Amazon |
| What wins | Creative: the hook, the visual, the feeling | Relevance: keywords, price, reviews, rank |
| Who targets | The algorithm finds the buyer | You pick the searches you show up for |
| Your job | Feed the algorithm great creative and clean data | Own the right keywords and win the right auctions |
Impulse buys
Nobody was searching for your product. They saw it, felt something, and bought.
- The creative does the selling. The first two seconds decide everything.
- The price has to feel easy: a low-risk first order, a starter bundle, a guarantee.
- The decision happens in seconds, so the landing page has to match the ad and make buying frictionless.
- Channels: Meta, TikTok, Instagram.
Intent buys
The customer is already in buying mode and typing what they want.
- Relevance does the selling. Match the search, show the price, show the proof.
- Reviews, ratings, and rank matter more than a clever hook.
- You compete in an auction against everyone else selling the same thing.
- Channels: Google Search, Amazon, Walmart.
Considered purchases
Some products are neither quick impulse nor quick search: expensive items, services, subscriptions, B2B. These take several touches before someone buys.
- Expect a longer path: ad, then site visit, then email, then return visit, then purchase.
- Capture the email early and let email do the follow-up.
- Judge ads on the whole journey, not on same-day purchases.
Where most products actually sit
Most products live on both sides. Lezzet Turkish Coffee is an impulse buy on Instagram (someone sees the ritual and wants it) and an intent buy on Amazon (someone searches "turkish coffee").
Same product, different playbook per channel. That's the point of this module.