Imagine this. You’re on a date to watch movies from the Sundance Film Festival and, you want to find out the screening times for a specific movie.
All you have to do is whip out your phone and look for the screening times of that movie you want. If you found the screening times right away, there’s a chance that the cinema got help from an SEO company to get their screening times shown first on Google.
Seeing that Sundance is based in Utah, there’s a chance that local cinemas got the help of a Utah SEO company to make sure their screening times are accurate and easy for audiences to access especially during the Sundance Film Festival.
Users are turning to search to fulfill so many of their needs. Today, people use mobile search to meet their needs coined by Google as Micro-Moments. The term micro-moments was coined by Google to reflect the way people meet their needs today.
Micro-moments are divided into four different parts: I Want to KNOW, I Want to GO, I Want to DO and, I Want to BUY.
People use micro-moments to inquire about a topic, to find out how to go to a place, to learn how to perform an activity and to buy a product.
Since we’re talking about needs, Google made a study that showed people wanting to know more about one need above the rest. That term was the “best toothbrush.”
More and more consumers are turning towards mobile search to fulfill tasks and the Google study on their search for toothbrushes was just the beginning.
I Want to KNOW
Your “I want to KNOW” moment occurs when you want to know more about a certain topic with the intention of acquiring knowledge.
You’re not always nearby your desktop when booking movie tickets so, smartphones act as your handiest tool for booking tickets when you’re on the go.
One of the biggest challenges today is finding seats for a popular movie. For example, you want to know more about the number of seats left for the latest sci-fi movie. The immense number of devoted fans means that pre-order tickets easily become sparse. Before the rise of smartphones, you had to check the newspaper or take a gamble and drop by the cinema if there are any seats available.
People rely on mobile search to learn more information about a topic.
Today, all you have to do is bring out your smartphone to find a cinema and the search engine will bring you to a website that shows the number of seats remaining. You can find all the information in the palm of your hand.
I Want to GO
An “I want to GO” moment happens when you’ve made the decision to go somewhere and you want to know how to get there.
Going from one place to another used to involve the opening of a giant paper map that could easily be ruined with a simple tear. Search engines becoming more common and the arrival of the smartphone would later cause the map to be used less by people as they could find directions with the simple touch of an app.
The smartphone has taken the place of the map as the go-to item to get people from “point A” to “point B”. Google showed the percentage of people who relied on their smartphone to meet their “I want to GO” needs.
Users find out how to go somewhere with the help of their phone
Because the smartphone acts as a map, you’ll notice a spike in the usage of the phone.
Let’s compare the usage of the smartphone on the “I want to KNOW” chart and “I want to GO” chart. We can see smartphone usage increase from 66% to 79% because people rely so much on the smartphone to meet their I want to go moments such as looking for a restaurant or visiting a shop.
Say I want to get to the movie theater. Before mobile search, you had to check a map of your town on a desktop and print out the route to the cinema. Today, all you have to do is bring out your phone set course for the theater and you’re good to go.
I Want to DO
The I want to do moment happens when you’re about to make a decision on your purchase. In our example, you’re going to choose the seats for the movie that you selected. Look at how a mobile search influences the user’s purchase.
Consumers are influenced because of mobile search.
For our example, you will probably use your smartphone to compare the different cinemas showing the same movie. One cinema may have better seats while another cinema has better popcorn. A simple flip of the phone could show you the best cinema to choose from.
I Want to BUY
The I want to BUY moment occurs when you’ve made your decision on what to purchase. You’ve learned about the product through an I want to know moment. The maps have been set for the cinema of your choice, you’ve chosen the cinema to watch and all that’s left to do is buy the ticket.
Purchasing a movie ticket on your phone is so easy now. Go to the website, choose your seats, fill in your payment details and, save your proof of payment. When you’re done getting your seats, simply present your proof of payment to the counter and you can enjoy the movie.
The infographic shows how much mobile search is influencing purchases.
When you buy the ticket, you’re already at the I want to buy moment. You already decided to watch the movie after well-thought-out research with the help of mobile search.
Powering Off
Mobile search is at the point where its use allows all of these micro-moments to happen at the palm of their hand.
The smartphone, with the help of search, acts as a personal assistant. From learning about a topic to finding how to go somewhere, learning how to perform a task and making a purchase. Mobile search has become so powerful that it has replaced so many tasks to do activities that would have required a ton of items to help you get through the day.
Now, imagine yourself going back to a time before your search engine or your smartphone existed.
Different, right? Without micro-moments and mobile search, our everyday lives would be stuck in the 90s. Some people may say that technology has made us lazier but, technology has made us work smarter.
About the Author: Paul Staten is the co-founder and CEO of SEO Werkz, a Utah SEO Company. He is famous for delivering his twins at home and trying out for American Idol and being immediately rejected. In 6 years of Operation, Paul and his team have helped hundreds of small business earn a positive ROI in the digital space. His leadership has earned the company a place in the Inc. 500 as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the US. You may connect with him on LinkedIn.