Micro-Moments: What They Are, and Why They Matter

Smartphones have changed the way the world works. More specifically, they have changed consumer behavior. Consumers today are close to - or, may already be at - the point of “content shock” where they cannot consume more content than they already are. This means that, as a brand, you may only have a few seconds to capture the attention of a prospect.

As marketers, you want to be in the top search results when an individual searches for something related to your service offerings. But, even if you are there, that doesn’t guarantee that what they find is going to convince them to add your business and its offerings into their consideration set - your brand is not the center of their world. If you don’t give them exactly what they want, when they want it, you’ll lose their attention. And even worse, they may turn to another business that can deliver on their needs.

According to Google, if you want to prevent this from happening, you need to “be quick, be there, and be present” by understanding and anticipating micro-moments.

What are Micro-Moments?

Micro-moments, a term first coined by Google in 2015, occur when an individual reaches for their smartphone to act on a need to learn something, do something, find something, watch something, or buy something. This is not just a casual occurrence; it is an intent-rich moment where that individual’s expectations are high and immediate gratification is desired. They are critical touchpoints in a consumer’s journey because their experience shapes their overall decision and the preferences that they develop.

According to Google, the 4 key micro-moment types for marketers are:

• I-want-to-know moments: When an individual is researching or exploring something, but isn’t yet in purchase mode.
• I-want-to-go moments: When an individual is searching for a local business or a nearby store where they can purchase a product.
• I-want-to-do moments: When an individual is looking for help on how to complete a task or is looking to try something new.
• I-want-to-buy moments: When an individual is ready to make a purchase, but may need help deciding what exactly to buy or how to buy it.

Individuals experience approximately 150 micro-moments each day. So, it’s something that you should keep in mind when designing your marketing.

Why Should You Care?

The importance of micro-moments seems obvious when looking at B2C trends. Imagine a married couple who is planning on remodeling their kitchen. That couple isn’t going to immediately walk into the nearest Lowes or Home Depot and start browsing through kitchen fixtures, appliances, and decorations. They also won’t pull out a phone book and start looking for home contractors to do the things that they will struggle to do themselves.

Instead, they’ll start browsing the internet.

The husband might watch some YouTube videos on how to install a new dishwasher, or how to safely hook up new light fixtures. He’ll click link after link, only watching the first 30 seconds of some videos and browsing the comments of others to see how helpful others found that particular video. Later that day, he might see something on a TV show he’s watching that reminds him to get some quotes from local contractors. He searches for contractors in his area, then looks at some customer reviews before deciding which ones will be worth contacting.

Meanwhile the wife may start browsing Pinterest for ideas. She’ll visit external links for some things that particularly interest her. Once she locates a couple of product names she likes within those sources, she’ll search for those in a Google search and browse reviews of those products. She may then look at some similar products, and compare prices between brands and between sellers to see what remains in their budget.

Note that a lot of this isn’t going to happen all at once. It’ll happen throughout the next couple weeks as the husband or wife suddenly thinks of something to look into. And, not a lot of time will be spent in any particular place - for some, only seconds - hence, the importance of micro-moments.

These micro-moments are just as valuable to B2B businesses. You want to attract attention to your website, and not lose it to your competitors. So, if a prospect is casually searching on their mobile device for a solution to their technology-related problems, you want to make sure you can provide them with exactly what they’re looking for:

• Consumers spend an average of 4.7 hours per day on their smartphones
• 90% of smartphone users are not absolutely certain of a specific company or brand they want to purchase when they begin looking for information online
• 33% of smartphone users have purchased from a company or brand other than the one they initially intended to because of information provided in the moment it was needed
• Over half of smartphone users have discovered a new product or company when searching on their smartphone

Plus, according to Google, understanding and anticipating the four key micro-moments can result in up to 29% more mobile conversions and greater overall brand engagement. So, it may be worth dedicating some time to optimizing some of your content to this concept.

How to Adapt

This new trend doesn’t mean that you have to scrap all of your marketing content that doesn’t fit the micro-moments model. Remember, not everyone is going to be using their mobile device to search for business-related content. Or, they may transition from their mobile device to a desktop computer to do further, more in-depth research once they have their starting points.

Instead, keep in mind our suggested strategies to hit the 4 key micro-moment types:

I-Want-to-Know

Make sure that your website isn’t focused solely on the “hard-sell”. Produce content for those at all stages in the buying journey. Produce blogs that educate the reader and include links to other blogs you have written. This enables individuals to seek out further information on that subject without difficulty. And, for those who land on your website when trying to learn something, make sure that it is easy for them to navigate to places that enable them to learn more on the same or related subjects.

I-Want-to-Go

You may not have a typical brick-and-mortar store, but that doesn’t mean that this micro-moment type doesn’t apply to you. Remember, prospects are likely going to search something along the lines of “managed service providers near me” when looking for the right provider for them - the frequency of “near me” searches has been increasing exponentially for years, and that trend will likely continue.

To make sure that these people can find you, make sure that your SEO is optimized for the area that you serve so that even if you aren’t physically closest to them, they still know that they fall within your service area. And, if you haven’t already, claim your business on Google My Business. This will bump up where you appear in the results.

I-Want-to-Do

This micro-moment can occur before, during, or after a purchase. To satisfy individuals at all of these stages, make sure your website is packed with educational content. Provide educational content in your blogs to help individuals handle simple technology-related issues. Videos also play an important role: over 50% of smartphone users feel more favorable towards companies whose mobile sites or apps provide instructional videos.

I-Want-to-Buy

For these micro-moments, you need to make sure that you have some product-related content that is easily digestible to those on a mobile device. Your service pages should be written this way - if you want to provide more in-depth information, provide a downloadable deliverablele on your page for those interested.

Part of this also includes managing your online reputation. Most business decision makers will seek out some sort of social proof to see if what you claim about the quality of your services is actually true. Monitor any online reviews you receive and do your best to mediate any issues. You should also feature customer testimonials on your website and social media channels.

And, when they are ready to contact you about making a purchase, make it easy for them to do so. Embed forms into your service pages, and provide multiple contact methods for them to utilize.

Overall Strategies

Make sure that you’re there for your target audience when any of these moments occur by having content that can quickly connect them to the answers that they are looking for, and a website design that (1) adapts to mobile, (2) is rich with valuable information, (3) loads quickly, and (4) is personalized to your target audience.

And, if you need help with any of this, turn to JoomConnect. Give us a call at 888-546-4384 or contact us here.