Mobile Micro-moments: Are You Optimized?

Mobile devices have redefined us: how we search, learn and buy. Through these small devices, we are easily connected to the world, our favorite brands and the oddest facts—if we so choose to google them—wherever we go. In fact, Google has labeled these instances of connection “micro-moments.”  According to Google, “90% of smartphone users have used their phone to make progress toward a long term goal or multi-step process while ‘out and about.’” Micro-moments are the seconds or minutes in time when a person is in search of information, whether to solve a problem or complete a task, where they turn to their device for the answer.

For marketers these micro-moments, and in particular the increasing number that happen with mobile devices, become an opportunity to reach your customers in a moment of need. Micro-moments are a critical part of the user journey and an opportunity for your brand to make an impression on a potential customer by meeting their expectations. Even if your website is littered with the answers your visitors are looking for, if the information is not presented in a way that is optimal for the mobile user, you are likely missing opportunities.

Why Optimize for Mobile Micro-moments?

Optimizing for mobile micro-moments is essential today—with mobile use continuing to rise and the 24/7 connection users have with their device, brands need to be accessible to meet their users’ needs.  Talia Wolf, an international Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) expert, has been dedicated to learning and practicing what an optimized mobile experience looks like for her clients. She recognizes the differences between the mobile versus desktop visitor, noting that, “while the desktop visitor sits comfortably at his desk and has all the time in the world to read and convert, the mobile visitor is usually on-the-go, multi-tasking, using a couple of devices at the same time. Mobile visitors are even looking for different information, real-time information.”

Despite this, often times landing pages are not designed specifically for the mobile user. The most common practice is to design websites to be responsive. Responsive design is typically made with the desktop user in mind, but is set up to adjust the page layout to fit the device the user is viewing from. Though this technique makes content available to all users, no matter what device, it does not always take into account content presentation or the frame of mind of the user. Needless to say, in that mobile micro-moment when a hurried, distracted user lands on your campaign page to find their screen cluttered with information, calls-to-action, and little time to sort it all out, content presentation and frame of mind become key factors for conversion.  

How to Optimize for Your Mobile Users

At Progress we were able to take some of Talia’s principles and incorporate them into one of our own landing pages. Using the Sitefinity CMS tool we created a journey focused on mobile users by customizing a responsive landing page. This was our first iteration in designing our landing pages to better suit the mobile user’s needs. Some of the main changes we addressed were:

• Messaging:
  • Simplifying our messaging for the mobile visitor by choosing to focus only on the key product benefits, rather than having a laundry list of all the product features.
  • Complementing our messaging by including a visual trigger. In our case, an image of a happy team member actively using our product. Unlike our original version, we wanted to add a human element while showcasing our tool. 
• Headline: Making sure our headline was strong visually (by increasing font size) and emotionally (by promoting social proof above the fold, rather than displaying it only at the bottom of the page). 
• Call-to-action (CTA): Updating our landing page to only have one CTA, and making sure that CTA was actionable on a mobile device. During this iteration we created a new CTA, updating the functionality to suit the mobile device. This left no time wasted for our mobile visitors and allowed them to finish their journey exactly where they left off once back at their desktop.

Mobile micro-moments are critical steps in the customer journey. Whether they are baby steps helping build a visitor’s awareness of your brand, or the swift strides that result in a purchase of your product, marketers need to be prepared to meet their users’ expectations. And being prepared for that moment includes having the right content at the right time and displaying it in a way that is optimal for the device being used.