“I want it NOW” is driving commerce, technology, and marketing.
Google has coined it as “micro-moments”. The indication being that it’s the emotional impulses that are the lever for searches for products and solutions.
Mobile is the catalyst for this impulse. Each micro-emotion punctuated by the ability to pull out a smartphone and receive gratification instantaneously. And if you don’t. You lose commerce.
Impulse to Action. Action to Commerce.
With a 15-month old, the majority of TV that I watch is Sesame Street. Have you watched Sesame Street lately? In every episode there is a sub-text of gaining control over your impulses. Cookie Monster must control his micro-moment to abstain from eating the cookie.
Yet, as a Digital Optimization Expert, it’s my job to get Cookie Monster to my client’s cookie with the least amount of resistance, with the most clarity, and the equivalent of the most decadent chocolate chips.
According to mobile research conducted by Google( March 2015), 62% of smartphone users are more likely to take action right away toward solving an unexpected problem or new task because they have a smart mobile device. It’s as if having the ability to access data, facilitates our ability to overcome resistance that we would have felt in that micro-moment. Not sure how much flour to add to hollandaise? Micro-moment your way to the answer.
An interesting side effect of this instant search and response, is the likelihood to take less micro-moment to evaluate the source. Don’t like the answer? Someone else will tell you what you want to hear or how you want to hear it in the next search result down. Increasingly becoming micro-moment= show me, tell me, or ELSE.
All of this research is designed to influence the investment in Mobile optimization. If you are not on a smartphone, you are going to miss out on all of these micro-impulses and communication opportunities.
Increasingly the business with the easiest, most accessible, micro-delivered content; wins the mindshare. And with more people now searching on Mobile, than Desktop; it’s not an alternative channel, it’s the primary one.
Where do we go from here, and what do we do about Cookie Monster?
Micro-moments is not just about delivery; it’s about clarity of communication. They want a fast, hot, chocolate cookie just out of the oven. Don’t tell me the history of the cookie, or the chocolate chip, and certainly not the number of calories or impact to my Paleo Diet.
When designing a Mobile strategy; distill what you do down to the smallest, more edible micro-thoughts. And then pepper them as broadly and with as many accessible points are possible.
Many companies find this very challenging because they are married to the ego and story of the BRAND. They resistance reducing or distilling their product or service down to micro-moments because they are just too big or too cool to do so. I totally get that perspective and passion. It’s simply a choice.
Would you rather be macro and lose the connection point, or be micro and meet the NOW buyer where they want to consume?
What we don’t know yet about this picture of this new mobile NOW Micro-consumer, is their potential for loyalty and high life time value (LTV). If you gain them during a micro-moment; are they more or less likely to stay with you over time? My gut at this point is that it’s going to put even more back-end pressure on CRM strategy, margin degradation, and advanced retargeting. Any tactic needed to keep in front of the micro-consumer so that they don’t find a cookie somewhere else.
