Not that long ago, if you wanted to find out some obscure fact, such as who won the decathlon at the 1964 Olympics, you had to go to the library, pull out the right volume of an encyclopedia set, and flip through the pages to find that it was Willi Holdorf of Germany. With the advent of the Internet, finding information became massively easier, but you still had to physically go to a computer and search for the information. Today, you merely need to pull out your phone, wherever you are—on a train, hanging out by the pool, waiting for your car to be repaired, walking down the street—tap in your query, and just about any nugget of information is at your fingertips in seconds. With the advent of smartphones, we have become an on-demand society. We’re impatient. We want to find information, learn how to do something, or make a purchase, and we want to find it, do it, or buy it immediately. Almost anything we could desire to know is just a click away on our phones. This new consumer behavior of wanting instant gratification is something savvy marketers can take advantage of as a smart marketing solution.
The Rise of Mobile
When Apple introduced its first iPhone in 2007, few people would have predicted just how pervasive smartphones would become. As a society, we are undeniably attached to our phones. Just check out these stats from a recent report from Google:
- 68% of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning.
- 30% of the respondents said they were anxious when they didn’t have their phones on them.
- 87% of millennials have their smartphones by their side 24/7.
Throughout the day, many people incessantly consult their phones. According to research by Flurry Analytics and comScore, on average, we spend 177 minutes on the phone a day. That’s almost three hours a day on that little device! We check our phones some 150 times a day, so we’re not on any single site for long. These so-called “moments” when potential customers consult their phones for short snippets throughout the day are when marketers need to capture their attention.
What Moments Mean for Marketers
These days, attention spans are fleeting. You only have seconds to grab someone’s interest, or they’ll be off. With the rise of mobile, these attention spans seem to be shrinking even further. But that’s actually not bad news for marketers because even though people are spending less time during a visit, they are converting more often. The trick is to grab their attention quickly.
How Marketers Can Seize These Moments
As with most facets of marketing today, it’s all about giving something of value to your potential customer. If you can provide them with the relevant information they’re seeking at the right moment, you can get a leg up on the competition. Often, when a person starts a search on their smartphone, they are not necessarily sold on a product or a company; they’re just doing a little research. Google found that 65% of smartphone users are looking for the most relevant information, regardless of the company providing the information, and 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when doing research online. This goes to show that brand loyalty only goes so far. In a way, this evens the playing field. Even a smaller company can compete with larger, more well-known brands. They just have to be in the right place at the right time, so to speak. As a marketer, you want to swoop in at this point and with the exact information your potential customer needs. You need to provide them with meaningful, relevant content and help them find the answers to their questions. This is evidenced by the rise in popularity of how-to videos. These videos give people quick content that’s easy to digest. In fact, Google found that 48% of smartphone users are more likely to buy from companies that have instructional video content. Also, you can’t just pop up when someone is ready to make a purchase because It may be too late. You need to be there throughout the whole process. When they are prepared to take the next step and make a purchase, make it easy for your customers. Give them options on how to buy your product. Some may prefer to order it online and then pick it up at the store; others may want to complete the whole purchase online, and still others may wish to talk to a sales representative using a click-to-call button. Don’t forget the functionality of your mobile site. It needs to be quick. You want to make sure your site is fast-loading. This is something that even large companies need to continually improve on. Just look at Walmart as an example. In 2014, its mobile site took 7.2 seconds to download. In 2015, the site took only 2.9 seconds. For every second of improvement, Walmart.com’s conversion rate increased by up to 2%. You also want to be careful not to have too many steps that your customer needs to take to complete the order. Making any extra keystrokes on a tiny screen can be a pain. Eliminate steps with things like one-click functionality, and your customers will be more likely to finish their transactions.
The Future
Many marketers already realize the importance of capturing these moments. A study by Forrester Research found that 70% of marketers said they’re changing their way of doing business and their approach to customer experience, and they’re transforming their overall experience because of the rise of mobile. Eighty-four percent of marketers are using specific, data-driven approaches to figure out moments-centric insights. You don’t want to be left behind, and, as a marketer, it is essential to take advantage of a smart marketing solution. In the age of mobile, work to capture your potential customers’ attention at the right moments.
