Page 11 - Decoding Decisions ~ Making sense of the messy middle

11 CHAPTER 2 IDENTIFYING THE MESSY MIDDLE

Turning to our trends data, we immediately began to find some tantalising
clues. Take the terms “cheap” and “best”. In the UK, interest in search queries
containing the word “cheap” has steadily declined over the past 15 years,
while interest in “best” has increased with an impressive degree of negative
correlation (figure 1).

Figure 1
cheap best
Search term Search term

100

75
SEARCH INTEREST 50

25

0
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020

The trends for UK searches containing “cheap” and “best” have been in opposite directions.

This data suggests that at some point around 2009, consumer interest in
finding the cheapest item online was eclipsed by a desire to find the best. One
hypothesis to explain this might be that as average incomes increase over
time, an appetite for signifiers of wealth, such as having the “best”, might
increase too. However, when these two trends crossed over in 2009, the
world was in the grip of the worst financial crisis since the Wall Street Crash

– following which median household incomes in the UK actually fell.
4
Looking more closely at “cheap” and “best”, it quickly becomes apparent that
these two modifiers are very different in scope and application. “Cheap” is
quantifiable and rational, “best” is more subjective and emotional. The precise
value of “cheap” may vary between individuals, but it still carries a singular
meaning. “Best”, on the other hand, can have a wide range of meanings, being
applicable to value, quality, performance, popularity, and more.

4 UK Office for National Statistics – Living Costs and Food Survey
Data source: Google Trends, United Kingdom, 1st January 2004 - 1st January 2020, All categories, Web Search