Wait, another blog post on micro-moments in digital marketing?! Has interest in this moments-based marketing approach not peaked already? Back in 2015, when Google identified I-want-to-know moments, I-want-to-go moments, I-want-to-do moments, and I-want-to-buy moments as lucrative windows of opportunity?
The answer is yes and no.
Sure, micro-moments made a big splash in search trends a few years back. But that spike occurred before the mobile-first revolution truly hit home. To the point where nowadays, 52.2 percent of worldwide website traffic comes from mobile devices and 20 percent of American adults now solely rely on their smartphones to stay connected.
With that said, consumers are now fully in control of their journeys and expect brands to be there right when the need arises. That’s why at Marigold Engage, we believe micro-moments are more relevant now than ever. And that’s why we’re dedicating a brand-new whitepaper and an upcoming webinar to the high art of hitting consumers right when they need you.
Because ultimately, winning the micro-moment is everything now that the average user touches his or her phone 2,617 times a day. Moments are stronger than loyalty, as 90 percent of smartphone users are not absolutely certain of the specific brand they want to buy when looking for information in a micro-moment. And a whopping 51 percent have purchased from a different company than originally intended because it provided information at the time of need.
Did that get your attention? Great! Because in this post, we will outline approaches towards designing customer experiences around moments that make a difference. It all starts now, not a moment wasted!
In order to design micro-moments in your CX, take a step back and test-drive your entire arsenal of touchpoints from the customer’s perspective. Dream up scenarios in which customers may need your brand in a specific moment, then see how your marketing/content/service offering lives up to the challenge.
Ask what can be added? What can be optimized? What are some blind spots to be eliminated?
Speaking of blind spots, it all comes down to a strong data foundation. Situational relevance requires a 360-degree customer view, with data captured in real time across channels, made available across your entire organization via customer data platforms (CDPs). This data is the key to serving personalized experiences and relevant offers created via AI in the right moment.
Here are some starting points for designing relevant customer experiences around all four kinds of micro-moments:
When today’s smartphone users research information, it better be available PDQ (pretty damn quick). Nowadays, 75 percent of smartphone users expect to find immediate information in their mobile searches. And as stated earlier, solving I-want-to-know moments can pay dividends all the way to outpacing the competition and landing the sale.
This puts a premium on leaving an easy-to-find breadcrumb trail of information across channels and devices. Take a deep dive into your search ads, FAQs, blog posts, videos, whitepapers, vlogs, podcasts, instructional guides, tutorials and other keyword-optimized content (like ‘best product for x’, ‘highest-rated product for x’, ‘best provider for x’). Are customers finding the right answers?
Today’s mobile-centric consumers are not only driving their own customer journeys, they create the road as they go. They scope out their next destinations – the best restaurant, hippest stores, most rarified cocktails – in location-based searches, which have probably seen the most rapid evolution in the years since micro-moments first emerged.
Back in 2015, most location-based queries still needed ‘near me’ as a qualifier. Today, search engines automatically suggest location-aware results. It’s just up to brands to keep their location-based marketing on point: Winners in this field rank first in map searches and gather location information on their customers. And with the right omnichannel capabilities in place, for instance location-based push messages, brands can easily turn I-want-to-go moments into I-went-and-bought moments.
Mobile access to instructional content has made consumers more DIY-minded. They’re happy to tackle demanding tasks and solve their own problems, as long as they can find guidance at the right moment. As a result of a surge in I-want-to-do moments, ‘how-to’ searches for videos on YouTube have seen 70 percent year-on-year growth recently.
Selligent client Coolblue is reaping the benefits of relevant instructional content. Using our platform’s best-in-class marketing automation tools, the e-commerce powerhouse created a post-purchase “product tips” campaign pointing customers towards instructional videos relevant to their products. Coolblue lowered product return rates by 30 percent and raised long-term customer satisfaction by providing answers in the right moment.
When micro-moments first popped up, most purchases still happened on desktop. Today, mobile is emerging as the main point of purchase, fueled by safe payment transaction platforms such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, PayPal and more.
Consumers now engage in product searches ready to pull the trigger. Winning the I-want-to-buy moment can lead to instant sales, as 80 percent of older millennials and Gen Xers habitually make impulse purchases on their online journeys. It’s up to brands to emerge as the top choice from the moment of product discovery to actual purchase – and guide the way in a frictionless, efficient manner.
Asking the right questions and designing experiences around the four types of micro-moments will make your entire marketing more mobile-centric and responsive.
And don’t worry. Marketers can’t be in all places at all times. Staying in the moment calls for omnichannel marketing platforms like Marigold Engage, engineered to capture data and serve personalized relevance as customers fluctuate between goals and devices.
Blending customer data capabilities with AI-based engagement and omnichannel execution, our platform is here to help you win the moment, wow the customer, and land the sale right when it matters.
© 2023 Marigold Engage
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