Micro Moments & Responsive Web Design

Why tapping into micro-moments and making headway in mobile responsiveness are the keys to getting ahead this year

Micro-moments. It’s the buzzword on everyone’s lips, but what does it mean? A micro-moment is the increasingly common occurrence of someone turning to a device, most commonly a smartphone, to look something up in an instant. It’s like a reflex.

So how can we react to that? What can we do to maximise the opportunities presented by micro-moments? Here at Wired, we understand the importance of keeping up with mobile when it comes to digital marketing, so we have put together a handy guide to navigating this brave new online marketing world…

Personalisation

Some of the most successful social campaigns of 2016, employed an ever evolving, but never failing technique: personalisation. Being able to directly target your audience in a thoughtful and inclusive way in response to real time events can be hugely advantageous. Take John Lewis’ ‘Buster the Boxer’ Christmas campaign, for example:

As soon as the ad launched, Twitter users were able to create their own images with Twitter stickers of the woodland creatures from the ad and, of course, Buster. Not only this, but JL introduced the #MakeItThoughtful hashtag, where people could share their Christmas gifting tips. Those that received the most attention, were lit up in large in Piccadilly Square.

Now, we’re not saying you have to go that big, but adding that personal touch is well worth the effort to keep your customers feeling valued. Think bespoke offers, competitions, birthday discounts etc. Knowing your audience and keeping them sweet is key to successfully executing our next two top tips…

Employ Real Time Responsiveness

Every day, people experience ‘I want to’ moments. I want to buy, I want to know, I want to watch, I want to listen… the possibilities are endless. In order to fully utilise these moments, you want to ensure that you, as a business, are as responsive as possible. Responding to consumer search patterns is key, so setting aside a small percentage of your budget for more responsive, short term solutions, could be a good idea.

The idea is, to capture customers as early in their search path as you can. You want to pre-empt the search pattern, and tailor your campaign to reach these consumers. Sound a little confusing? Here is an example of how it could work:

1. Lucy is planning her sister’s hen do
2. She picks up her smartphone and searches ‘hen do ideas’
3. She interacts with a few pages and then searches ‘spa hotels London’.

By the time Lucy has reached the 3^rd stage of her search, you have potentially already lost out. If you could have captured Lucy as a consumer at the 2^nd stage of her search process, you would have eliminated a good percentage of your competition.

With the advent of mobile search, there has been a shift towards ‘category-level content’. You need to evolve your content to enter the customer search earlier in the journey to secure results. If you can capture that early decision making process, you are onto a winner.

Know Your Target Audience

So we have established that we need to tap into mobile search patterns, but who are we targeting? As a generation, ‘millennials’ are growing up and they are becoming a key demographic.. Below are some figures on millennial buying habits that you definitely should not be ignoring:

• 27%  of millennial travellers say they have used their smartphone to shop for hotels
• 66% of millennial travellers are confident that they can find the same information on their phone as on desktop
• Roughly 66% of young travellers (under the age of 35) say they are confident that they would book an entire trip on their mobile phone
• 64% of young travellers will convert their mobile search to a purchase on mobile
• 1 in 3 smartphone users have bought from a different company than they had originally intended, because the chosen company provided the relevant information in that moment.

We think it is fair to say that these figures teach us one important lesson: Not only do we have to optimise for mobile, we have to innovate for mobile.

In order to effectively capture consumers on their search path, your mobile site has to be more efficient, more interesting and more useful than your competitors, or it simply isn’t going to cut the mustard. A new generation are shopping on their smartphones, so don’t let them down with a poor web design. Your website needs to provide relevant, succinct information in an easy to digest and, most importantly, easy to purchase format.

So, that’s how we move forward in 2017. Capture that key demographic early on in their search path and keep them on board with innovative, responsive mobile sites. If you need any further advice on moving your digital marketing forward, then please give us a call on 0117 930 4365 or drop us an email.