Micro-moments: what are they, why they matter and what to do now.

Summer is slowly coming to an end and most marketers are executing on Q4 tactics, finalizing 2017 strategies and looking outward towards the trends that will shape progress in the 2020 (and beyond).

With recent advances in the marketing automation technology stack I’ve seen a “customer land-grab” occurring through sound, strategic and well executed omni-channel marketing strategies that cut across a seamless cross-device experience. Brands are now able to talk to customers on a near one-to-one basis on topics that are relevant to them at the right time with the right offer. Essentially the smart brands who adopt the most recent technology advances have a leg up on the ones who are to slow to innovate.

As a result of this trend, it’s become critical for brands to adopt an agile way of thinking to client challenges and break them up into smaller actionable moments.

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”

~Jack Welch, General Electric

I’d like to introduce the notion of ‘Micro-moments.’ I cannot take credit for this philosophy as Google coined it a little over a year ago (Think Google). Google offers a terrific guide to getting started, click here to download the 28-page guide.

If you got to this point in my newsletter, you are probably saying… yeah Jeff, like I have the time to read a 28-page document. Well, today is your lucky day. I took the time and here are the ‘cliff notes:’

Be there: The linchpin in micro-moments is mobile. 68% of consumers check their phones within 15 minutes of waking and nearly 90% of all millennials have their phone with them day or night. Now compound that with an average person checking their phone 150 times a day.
Be useful: Being mobile ready is a requirement. An alarming 91% of consumer will stop mid-task to look at their phone and often times they are consulting with their device on whether or not they should make a certain decision (check ratings, price shop, etc.).
Be quick: Quick user experiences tied to real-time feedback is a must. 29% of consumers will bounce immediately from your website or app if it does not meet their needs and 70% of the time it is due to speed.

These three aspects are core to winning: be there at the right moment, be useful to the consumer (solve for their challenge) and be quick in helping.

“Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live.”

~Brian Halligan, Hubspot

Now let us expand on these three insights.

Be There

Being there is all about anticipating when you can provide relevant value to the consumer. Think like a consumer and find the…

“I want to know” moments.
“I want to go” moments.
“I want to do” moments.
“I want to buy” moments.

Be Useful

Consumers do not want to be marketed to. Consumers want a brand that listens and helps them make the decision that is right for them at that very moment. It’s ina these micro-moments that a brand as an opportunity to leverage data to provide contextually relevant content to that specific user.

As an exercise to start embracing this discipline, consider mapping out the last time you made a purchase over $500. Write down all the aspects that lead to the purchase. If you are short on time, and want to read a terrific conversion path journey, check out this blog post on the 900 touchpoints Stacy had while deciding what SUV to buy.

Be Quick

Well, it’s a fact… consumers want what they want quick and if there is friction in the process, game over. We all know that page load time, auto-complete search boxes and a strong cookie strategy helps. However, what else can a brand do?

Eliminate steps — leverage one-click functionality, tap into single sign-on opportunities, enrich data with 3rd party information and much more
Anticipate needs — deliver content based on past experiences and put the big stuff first
Load like lightening — build light weight pages that take advantage of the most recent technologies to ensure a quick experience on the specific device used

So what happens next? Well, it’s time to connect the dots. The key to all of this happening is a strong cross-platform connection. We live in a world where the consumer comes first and if you want to win… think like a consumer.

To learn more about micro-moments, check out this post last week from Search Engine Land: http://bit.ly/MicroMoments_SearchEngineLand (it’s awesome… and they provided the image I used for this post :)).

All the best to you and yours.

Jeff Mard

NOTE: This post was originally posted on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/micro-moments-what-why-matter-do-now-jeff-mard