Micromoments: More opportunities to engage with your audience!
In my first year as a Managing Director, I’ve heard a lot of buzz words.
From the overused 'touch base', to the cringe-inducing 'blue-sky thinking' – they’ve just never really appealed to me. That is, until I discovered micro-moments.
Micro-moments aren’t a new concept in the world of customer conversion. But as the importance of inclusive digital services becomes more important in both the private and the public sector, you’ll be hearing a lot more about them.
What exactly is a micro-moment?
I asked the exact same thing. To put it simply, micro-moments are short, fleeting interactions that your clients could be having with your business.
As the way we use digital media changes and our technology develops, so does the frequency of micro-moments. They can be erroneous as checking the time or scenario- based, like googling the best restaurants in the area. In these 'consumer intent' moments, is your golden opportunity to enable an end user to buy, learn, or do something or go somewhere. Google does a great job of describing it on their Think With Google resource.
How and where are they being used effectively?
Ever since I found out micro-moment theory, I’ve been noticing their use in my day to day life.
Do you listen to Spotify? If you’ve been using the streaming service recently, you’ll notice customised playlists for most of your day to day activities – killing it at the gym, commuting to work and dealing with a tough break-up. Forbes highlighted how they’re leveraging micro-moments to deliver hyper concentrated advertising to their listeners and capitalise on these quick buying decisions.
Retail is a market that’s just beginning to capture their power. Research commissioned by our partners at JRNI found that 52% of modern British consumers would book an appointment to speak to staff at a brick and mortar store if the service were available. We’re seeing huge retail names like B&H, Debenhams and John Lewis use appointment booking service to increase their customer engagement and drive sales.
Infinite opportunities to engage
Yet I feel that some sectors are really slow to catch on to this principal, and in return are missing out on valuable income from modern consumers.
A personal example I wanted to share began with my recent hunt for a new car.
I spent hours and hours scouring the internet to find my perfect vehicle – and during that that time I had lots of 'nearly' moments. The only problem was, nobody really provided a simple way of gaining my commitment. A simple ‘Book a Test Drive’ function would have not only lured me in, but would have provided me with some relief that I was actually making some progress!
The same applies to Local Authorities. While some are moving towards more digital interactions, many councils are still making the purchasing journey difficult for their customers by hiding behind an online form or phone number. Councils in particular need to innovate to compensate for constraints on budgets and resource.
Take events as an example. Instead of providing event lists, councils are seeing improved uptake (and more importantly revenue) revenue by structuring their web content to including bookings and payments online. This captures the buyer whilst they’re in the mindset of buying.
So what micro-moments can you identify in your customers buying journey? I’d love to hear your feedback below!