I recently signed up to receive updates from “Think With Google.” (https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/) This morning I had a great article waiting for me in my inbox by Sridhar Ramaswamy called “How Micro-Moments Are Changing the Rules.” I love it. He defines “micro-moments” as intent-driven moments of decision-making and preference-shaping that occur throughout the entire consumer journey. They occur when we’re waiting in line at the airport, sitting at a drive-thru at Starbucks, or waiting in car line to pick up our kids from school. As a consumer, I know these moments well. As a branding agency, it makes me think of something I say often to our clients: every decision is preceded by an emotion. Own the emotion and you own the decision.
Micro-moments occur when people reflexively turn to a device—increasingly a smartphone—to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something. They are intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped. In these moments, consumers’ expectations are higher than ever. The powerful computers we carry in our pockets have trained us to expect brands to immediately deliver exactly what we are looking for when we are looking. We want things right, and we want things right away.
The brands that get this concept (and who are mobile savvy) are the brands that will be successful.
Here were a few findings the article listed from recent research Google conducted about micro-moments:
•Of leisure travelers who are smartphone users, 69% search for travel ideas during spare moments, like when they’re standing in line or waiting for the subway. Nearly half of those travelers go on to book their choices through an entirely separate channel.1
•Of smartphone users, 91% look up information on their smartphones while in the middle of a task. 2
•Of smartphone users, 82% consult their phones while they’re standing in a store deciding which product to buy. One in 10 of those end up buying a different product than they had planned. 2
•Of online consumers, 69% agree that the quality, timing, or relevance of a company’s message influences their perception of a brand. 2
Sources
1 Google/Ipsos, “The 2014 Traveler’s Road to Decision,” June 2014.
2 Google/Ipsos, “Consumers in the Micro-Moment,” March 2015.
