The growing influence of mobile has changed the way we live, forever. As we are able to act on impulse, turning to our mobile devices with a particular intent at any opportunity we get, our online experience has been fractured into hundreds of ‘micro moments’. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it provides marketers with many more critical opportunities to shape our decision making process and influence our online journey.
 
These micro moments can be categorised, based on their intent:
 

‘One step at a time’ moments

Mobile use gives people the ability to chip away at bits of research in spare moments. Therefore decisions can be made ‘one step at a time’ across lots of searches in different micro moments, rather than just one carefully considered search.

Brands should place emphasis upon considering how they can be helpful at each individual moment and build information, as well as trust, across searches.

 

‘I want to know’ moments

65% of online consumers look up more information on the go than they did a few years ago.

As a society we clearly have a higher demand for information, but most importantly relevant information, in these moments.

Brands should recognise this demand and ensure that users are provided with the correct information. They should place an emphasis on the quality and usefulness of the information they are providing.

 

‘I want to go’ moments

Google searches for “near me” have increased 34x since 2011.

90% of smartphone users have used their phone to make progress toward a long term goal or multi-step process while “out and about”.

Brands should ensure that they are there for consumers in these moments. To do this they can look at trends, e.g. these types of searches may be more common at the weekends when more people step outside of their weekday routine. It is also important to recognise that generic phrases such as “restaurants near me” tend to top the searches rather than specific places, relevance is perhaps of more important than brand loyalty.

 

‘I want to do’ moments

91% of smartphone users turn to their phones for ideas whilst in the middle of a task.

100M+ hours of “how to” content has been watched on YouTube so far this year.

Brands wants to build relationships that last. To do so they must build relationships with consumers in these early moments by delivering content that immediately addresses their needs. This can help to build brand preference and influence purchase decisions further down the line.

 

‘I want to buy’ moments

82% of people turn to their mobile to make a product decision in a store. This change means that people evaluate purchase decisions in the moment rather than having made decisions before they go to buy.

Brands need to appear trustworthy and instill confidence in their consumers when they are ready to buy. Brands can win these moments by creating confidence with timely and relevant product details and reviews. Companies need to make their shopping process really quick and easy, make their products easy to find and the checkout process seamless.

 

‘I didn’t plan for this’ moments

People can get tasks done before they hit their to-do lists. A Google consumer survey highlights that purchases are often made in unexpected places, with 39% of mobile purchases being made in the kitchen.

62% of smartphone users are more likely to take action right away towards solving an unexpected problem, because they have a smartphone and can get answers more easily.

 

Overall there are three key steps that marketers can take to ensure that they don’t miss out on any of these moments:
  1. Make a moments map – Identify a list of the moments that you wouldn’t want to miss and try and map out the journey that your customers would take to reach that point. For instance, people find inspiration > people learn about your product > people make the purchase.
  2. Attempt to understand customer needs in real time – Think like your consumer, ask yourself “what would make this easier?” or “what would be helpful in this moment?”
  3. Use context to help you make decisions – Use contextual indicators such as locations to provide an experience for your consumer that feels tailor made to that particular micro-moment.

 
What do you think? Let us know by leaving a comment below.