Why Your Business Should Address Micro-Moments

You know how you can be in the middle of one thing and all of a sudden you have an urge to grab your smartphone and find out something else? I definitely do that--probably more than I should. It is my understanding that 90 percent of us exhibit this type of behavior. Google labels these short bursts of interest "micro-moments", which they divide them into four main types:

1. I want to know moments:  When we want to learn or discover something. 
2. I want to go moments focus on location.
3. I want to do moments are when people are looking for ideas. 
4. I want to buy moments are when you're ready to purchase.

Now, we could be looking for anything:

• In the middle of winter and we just feel the need to get away to a warm location, that is an "I want to go" moment. 
• If  you're a busy mom and you need to learn how to crochet a pot holder for your daughter's school project, that's an "I want to do" moment. 
• Or perhaps you are a reporter searching for background on a story, which is an "I want to know" moment. 

The key is for your brand to create mobile-friendly content that's helpful, relevant and accessible when your customers want it. 

In micro-moments, you need to shift the way you reach your audiences by understanding their lives, rather than just focusing on demographics. The research estimated that brands are missing out on 7 out of 10 potential customers if they are just using traditional targeting! Their studies revealed that 40 percent of baby products are purchased by people living in households without children and 45 percent of home improvement searches are performe by women. The report mentioned that Home Depot used this insight to create a series of mobile DIY how-to videos after anticipating customer intent. See how they positioned themselves to solve an unmet need? 

You know how you tend to switch over to another site if there are too many steps to purchase or too troublesome to find the information we want? Well, as many as two-thirds of people do this too. This means that you need to make your user's experience seamless by integrating design along with their needs. Since Virgin Airlines' new customers visited their mobile app to book tickets, they streamlined their mobile strategy to focus on that. 

75 percent of us believe that our smartphones help us become more productive. That's an opportunity for businesses to adopt a mobile-first mindset and create big ideas for the small screen. Map your customer's challenges and then develop relevant I want to know, I want to go, I want to do, or I want to buy content that is visual, discoverable and begins with your customer's intent.