What are micro-moments?

Micro-moments were originally introduced by Google in 2015 to address the growing shift towards mobile. Micro-moments consist of intent-driven moments that occur throughout the customer journey that influence decisions and define preferences. Thanks to the increasing reliance on smartphones, micro-moments have put a name to the behavior of wanting answers immediately. Today, user behavior and expectations have continued to define micro-moments, and consequently, how marketers need to respond. As consumers become increasingly more informed, they want more useful and relevant information, even faster.

Micro-moments are broken into four different buckets:

  1. I want to know (e.g., when someone is exploring or researching).
  2. I want to go (e.g., when someone is looking for a local business).
  3. I want to do (e.g., when someone wants help completing a task or trying something new).
  4. I want to buy (e.g., when someone is ready to make a purchase).

Google states, 69% of online consumers say that the quality, timing, or relevance of a company’s message influences their perception of a brand. Therefore, how marketers choose to address these micro-moments can shape a consumer’s decision to lease. However, the challenge is not only to be found, but to break through, engage, and stay engaged throughout the customer journey. So how do you break through the noise?

Be there when they need you

If you’re not already, start investing in digital advertising. Paid ads take up 100% of mobile screen real estate above the fold, and 64.6% of high-commercial intent searches click on paid advertising.

Provide value and relevance

Use targeted keywords to meet your prospects in these micro-moments. The shift towards searches with “near me” or “for me,” such as “apartments near me” or “best apartment for me” represent a reliance on search as a personal advisor, and a shift in expecting personally relevant content, even without context. Brands who can deliver answers in these moments of “need” will win the advantage. To make sure you’re targeting the right keywords, we recently collected the top ten paid and organic keywords for PwC’s (PricewaterhouseCoopers) top ten multifamily markets in 2018.

You can also utilize ad extensions for your paid ads, such as sitelinks, call out extensions, call extensions and location extensions, to stand out with specific messaging in the search results.

Act fast

Within two seconds, your prospect needs to find you on search. Within five seconds, your website needs to load. In 10-15 seconds, they need to see your property and your floor plans. By 30 seconds they will have made their decision whether you’re worth a form fill or phone call, or if they move on to your competitor.

Create a Frictionless Experience

As consumers hand over more and more information, they expect interactions to be more personalized. And as data and machine learning become more sophisticated, consumers will expect relevant and personalized experiences to be the norm. Marketers will need to learn how to create a tailored and frictionless experience to meet these expectations. In order to win, marketers will need to move away from mass messaging and will have to do more than just show up in these micro-moments. They will need to stay ahead of the customer in their journey and provide highly-relevant and personalized experiences. Using a data-driven view of their customers in order to nurture prospects 1:1 in their individual journeys is the future.

Ready to start meeting your prospects in these micro-moments? Contact us to see how you can start benefiting from an exciting new world of AI-powered capabilities.