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HiTech
7 minutes read

They’re Called Mobile Moments and CX Will Never Be the Same

By Robert Kazmi
By Robert Kazmi
HiTech
7 minutes read

Customer or consumer experience (CX) has evolved many times throughout the years of interacting with patrons.

There was the personal and tailored era in the 20’s and 30’s, the mass production and impersonal sales teams of the 80’s and 90’s, and, of course, the dot com boom of e-commerce.

However, there is a new element to CX that is disrupting the world and could be taking more and more business out of your pocket.

We’re talking about mobile moments.

Mobile Moments: a point in time and space when someone pulls out a mobile device to get what he or she wants immediately.

Sure, you may know that more than 50 percent of searches happen from mobile devices, and you probably understand that roughly the same amount of people will actually make purchases right through their mobile phones, but you may not fully get the power and scope of these micro moments.

Forrester calls it all the Age of the Customer (more reviews read before buying, increasing mobile speed, and making more purchases on devices).

Research indicates that the average individual (in the U.S.) interacts with their mobile phone 150-200 times a day. Multiply this by the number of active American mobile phone users and it equals 30 billion times each and every day.

Get the picture? Good. Now we’ll tell you what it means for business.

The Giants Get the Picture (and You Should Too)

If you’ve learned something so far, we are honored, but you are behind. Mobile moments are already a marketing channel for the big guys (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Baidu, Alibaba). In fact, they own about 80-90% of the space; the rest of the mobile marketers need to catch up. 

The other 10-20% is made up by all banks, travel, and retail industries combined which leaves a lot of room (in our opinion).

You understand the power of mobile and the web in general, but there is a key difference between all things online and mobile moments. The Internet equals anything you want to know, have, see, or do. Mobile equals only what you want immediately, even if you didn’t know you wanted it (more on this in a second).

Here are a few key ways these micro moments can change the way mobile marketers interact with customers and influence consumer behavior.

Emotional Triggers on Steroids

Imagine your clients waiting on virtual pins and needles to hear about your next offer through a text message or push notification. As soon as the prompt goes out, it turns into traceable results and predictable revenue.

Sounds too good to be true? Think again, here’s a case study.

Krispy Kreme makes doughnuts, and their bestseller is the traditional glazed. The key is that sales warm up along with the treats when they are hot and fresh. All the brick and mortar locations have a neon light that is turned on when the doughnuts are being cranked out.

It legitimately compels traffic driving by to stop in. This tactic creates a sweet tooth for customers. How is this a mobile moment?

It’s not, but they have turned it into one.

When someone downloads Krispy Kreme’s app they will receive notifications when their local shop is creating hot, doughy deliciousness. Professionals heading into the office or getting off work will get a virtual prompt to discover they wanted doughnuts (and are adjusting their drives accordingly).

Here are a few key takeaways:

  • Less Advertising: Krispy Kreme no longer has a traditional media advertising budget. Their audience is acquired solely through newer means (including mobile moments).
  • Behavioral Economics: Timing is everything in advertising, but with mobile you know everyone is already watching. It’s all about when you send that triggers a response.
  • Loyalty: The revenue is the obvious benefit, but this is an actual service to doughnut lovers. Missing the hot and fresh sign isn’t fun for anyone.

It’s About Influence, Not (Direct) Sales

Have you ever watched a commercial and not know who’s selling it until the logo pops up at the end? How about driving through the countryside just to see a Coca-Cola logo on the side of a barn?

Neither of these things directly tell you “Go buy now!”, but they are influencing your future customer journey. Many mobile marketer experts agree that the key to fully exploiting the mobile moments market is not to constantly sell your stuff, but to create something open and useful to your mobile users.

You see, just interacting (in a meaningful way) with your leads and customers on a regular basis is perhaps the most important aspect of this medium.

A great example of this is Starbucks. Their app can sell you coffee, but it’s also so much more. You can send text messages from it and even download music right from the app itself. What does that have to do with coffee?

Nothing. And it’s working for them.

Since instituting these seemingly unrelated app functions, their user time has skyrocketed (including doubling within the first six months). Going from 2 million to 4 million interactions in less than a year is no small order. Imagine doubling the amount of time with your customers.

Would it increase their lifetime value?

Here are the takeaways:

  • Not About Impulse: Mobile moments aren’t necessarily to make a quick buck through impulse buys. It’s about training consumer behavior to think of your brand when they are ready to buy.
  • User-friendly: Figure out what your ideal customer wants (in regards to mobile usability) and give it to them. It doesn’t have to directly relate to your business model.
  • Brand Recognition: The number one benefit of these micro moments is the ability to remain a regular part of a user’s day/week/month/year.

Two Words: Usability and Engagement

The key to implementing a mobile moments’ campaign isn’t in “revolutionary ideas” or “incredible copy”. Those things have their merits, but to woo the consumer of tomorrow (and today), you simply need to provide what they really want (hence customer experience).

Whether that’s a simple notification when your product is hot and fresh, or to create a messaging function within your current app, it has to keep users coming back (hence mobile moments). The more of their moments you have, the more brand loyalty it creates. Sadly, you won’t get either with a poorly developed app.

Unless the product functions well and promotes engagement, yours will likely share the fate of most applications (deletion).

Here is something the giants we talked about earlier understand and have used to gain the lion’s share of device interactions.

Engagement (with your app) will make or break your mobile moment marketing.

Neither of our case studies invented anything patentable; they just deliver something that people want to use (with their name attached). After you figure out what they want (related or not), it’s time to create the best version you can.

Depending on your expertise, creating a functional and engaging app may not be in your wheelhouse. If that’s the case, you’ll want to consider partnering with a development team.

An app development partner can help your mobile marketers create apps that are winning mobile moment market share. A skilled development partner understands how to make something that keeps people coming back for more. Mobile marketers need to take advantage of the immense potential of mobile moments to gather customer data and influence consumer behavior.

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