In 2011, Google released an e-book titled winning the zero moment of truth (ZMOT). In this research, Google discussed the Zero moment, which basically refers to the point when a consumer decides to research a certain product. Usually, this happens long before the seller knows about the consumer’s existence.
With the advancement of mobile tech and the constant connectivity which has resulted, people are now making decisions on the go because they can easily look up anything online on their mobile devices. As a result of this shift to mobile, Google has now broken down the zero moment into 4 new micro moments which are described as follows:
I-want–to-know Moments
Google learned that 66% of people turn to their mobile phones to gain more information about something they saw on a TV. In these want-to-know moments, the potential customer is just exploring, learning more about something that aroused their curiosity. They are looking for useful information, not a sales pitch.
I-want-to-go Moments
‘Near-me’ searches are increasing rapidly as more people look to the internet for business locations which are closest to them and where they can get the best value for money. Over the past year, these kinds of searches have more than doubled.
I-want-to-do Moments
More people are also going online when they want to learn how to do something new as opposed to reading a book or paying someone to teach them. According to Google, ‘how to’ searches increase by 70% annually.
I-want-to-buy Moments.
Google discovered that 82% of customers will look up products online while they are in a store. Marketers have to be ready the consumer who is ready to buy and is searching for the best seller to buy from or is comparing two similar products from two different sellers.
So what do Marketers have to do in order to win the customer’s decision in each of these moments?
Be there: As more and more people go mobile in their information searches, companies need to be there for their consumers on these mobile platforms in terms of presence. When you conduct a search of your own brand on a mobile phone, are you there? Do you like what you see? Failure by companies to be there is simply handing over all your online opportunities to your competitors.
Be useful: Today’s consumer is a master at tuning out information which is not relevant and useful to them. Consider these facts from Google which show why being useful works:
51% of smart phone users have bought from companies that they did not initially set out to buy from because they provided useful information.
71% of consumers select a brand based on how much useful information they get from it on a regular basis.
Only 9% of users who land on a mobile site will stay on it if it does not satisfy their needs.
28% of users will be less inclined to buy from the company in future.
Be quick: Optimizing your mobile site to be quick is very important if you want to offer customers a good mobile experience. Consider these 3 areas in which you can achieve this:
Reduce and/or eliminate steps: Reduce the number of steps it takes a user to achieve his or her goal. For example, help customers fill forms by using drop down menus.
Anticipate needs: Being quick means that you can provide what a customer wants before they ask for it. Find out what customers are doing on your site them optimize to offer them the best experience.
Load pages quickly: Remember that even the most perfect mobile site will still fail if it takes too long to load its pages.
Mobile has forever changed the way we live, fracturing the consumer journey into hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. With mobile smartphones, we can take immediate action whenever we want to learn, find, do or buy something.
These is-it-worth-it mobile micro-moments are the new battleground for brands. Each one is a critical opportunity for brands to shape our decisions and preferences. In these micro-moments, consumers demand quality, relevance, and usefulness of marketing because when we are in-the-moment, our expectations are high and our patience is low. Ultimately, the brands that do the best job of addressing needs in each moment will win consumer loyalty.
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