How many times a day do you check your phone?

Once an hour? 25 times? 50 times?

According to Google, the average smartphone owner checks their phone around 150 times a day. In 150 of these small moments, in between texts with friends and taking photos of cats, a consumer is also using their phone to research things to buy, look up a restaurant menu or find the hours of an attraction. These little moments are all building blocks of a journey that will end in a purchase. The customer journey, once just a path of a few predictable steps, is now a complex maze of moments and decisions, and all because of the smartphone.

Smartphones and the Customer Journey

Smartphones have changed the way we do everything. From communicating with friends and family to buying a shirt to checking the weather, we turn to our smartphones first. If you’re a smartphone user, you already know this. If you’re a business and you don’t know this – you’re in trouble.

In the summer of 2015, Google released a report about mobile search engine and the ways consumers use smartphones to inform their purchasing behavior. It’s no longer a straight path to the decision to buy – it’s several small moments that build up to it. Google calls these decisions “micro-moments” and describes them as such:

“Micro-moments are critical touchpoints within today’s consumer journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine how that journey ends.”

In plain speak, consumers expect more than ever from you, and quicker than ever. You only have a few seconds to make an impact and it has to be with immediate and accurate information that can be absorbed in a glance. If you don’t give this chance to consumers, then they’re on to the next business without a backward glance.

What are these “moments” that micro-moments are made up of? Google has divided them into four categories, where each category represents an action an individual takes while on their phone.

Want to Know

We’re a curious people. We want to know. With tiny, endless encyclopedias in our hands, we can know anything we want. Anything you ask can be answered. In just a few years, 65% of consumers switched from looking up things in books and newspapers, you know, the “old-fashioned” way, to looking them up on their phone.

A mobile user wants to know more about a topic. Are you there with that information?

Want to Go

After attending a football game a group of fans wants to get something to eat. Where do they go? Naturally, they consult with their phones, asking Siri to “find restaurants near me”. Siri brings up a list of restaurants, they choose one and go. Restaurants that don’t make the search results, for all intents and purposes, don’t even exist.

“Near me” searches have increased twofold in the past year. Are you giving consumers enough detail to find you in a search?

Want to Do

With sites like Pinterest and Instructables not going away anytime soon, it’s clear that DIY sites are something consumers want more of. In 2015 alone, DIY-ers have watched over 100 million hours of how-to content on Youtube.

Consumers want to find how-tos from a trusted source. Are you providing them with helpful content on a variety of platforms that you’re knowledgeable about?

Want to Buy

A whopping 82% of users will whip out their smartphones, right in the middle of a store, to do research, check out reviews or compare prices on something they’re about to buy. They’re likely to look somewhere else than your store’s website, too.

Consumers want an easy path to the register. Are you making it simple for consumers to purchase from you by providing reviews, inventory levels at local stores and easy online or in-store checkout?

Are you missing out on micro moments?

Is your website mobile responsive? Have you filled out your Google profile? Do you understand the behavior of your customers and what they’re most likely to search for? Are you providing instant results?

In a changing business landscape, these are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself if you want to continue to be successful in business. Learn to “win” these micro-moments by following Google’s key advice: Be There, Be Useful, Be Quick.

Don’t get left behind on mobile, watch our seminar and get back in the race.