The rise of mobile has changed the entire customer experience landscape. The dust has not settled yet, and the ultimate destination of the customer journey is not yet clear. But many experts do agree that mobile has effectively fragmented the customer experience. Now consumers use their phones for very short bursts of social and transactional interactions. This is forcing many brands to reconsider how they can provide meaningful customer engagement from one moment to the next.
It is no doubt that it is difficult for marketers to address these concerns, and many seeking such guidance attended Ad Tech in San Francisco last week. Billed as a conference where marketing, media, and technology communities merge to generate new ideas, Ad Tech showcased a session titled, “New Consumer Journeys, New Product Roadmaps.”
During this presentation Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s SVP of Ads and Commerce, shared a number of insights regarding how Google develops ad products based on the advent of this “in-the-moment” consumer behavior and the opportunities it presents for marketers.
“A task that used to be clumped into one big task is broken up into many different chunks, which consumers are acting upon through their phone,” said Ramaswamy. “These micro mobile moments, where decisions are being made and preferences are being shared, are hugely important to brands.”
One important idea that Ramaswamy stressed is that these “micro moments” now encompass all aspects of life’s decisions, both big and small. This includes tiny tasks such as deciding where to eat or what movie to see, to some of the most important decisions people can make such as buying a car or mortgaging a house.
“This new world means that there are constantly micro moments, and there is also a sense of urgency and immediacy that is inherently part of mobile today,” Ramaswamy said. “Those companies that understand the intent behind micro moments, and meet the needs of consumers at the moments that matter, are the ones that are going to win in this new world.”
A keen understanding of this intent is what has made Google what it is today. It started out as just a search page with a devotion to helping users find exactly what they want. Today, the search ads department relies on that same devotion, which strives to only show the results that pertain to what the user wants, when they want it. This benefits both parties. Users only see the ads that can immediately deliver value to them, and advertisers only spend money when consumers express a clear intent to take action.
Ramaswamy offered a personal example to demonstrate the value of understanding consumer intent.
“Right now, for example, my wife and I are looking for a new car, and I would love for her to buy a compact SUV because I think they are safer,” Ramaswamy said. “It is far more important for a brand to know this than it is to know my age, or where I went to college. A deep understanding of intent is really a deciding factor.”
Mobile offers a new window into the world of customer engagement immediacy and intent by introducing a powerful new signal into the mix. In addition to who is searching and what they are searching for, now brands can know where they are searching. As people explore the world around them through their phones, mobile has driven an explosion of interest in location based questions and lucrative consumer behaviors.
Ramaswamy noted that more than 90% of the people that search for a product on their phones end up buying that product. Of those that search for a local retailer, over 50% visit the store within a day and 18% will make a purchase.
The immediacy of these statistics is clear. Brands that effectively utilize mobile to leverage the intent of customer behaviors are finding the results extremely rewarding. In the digital online world, video ads are also proving to be just as effective. YouTube, for example, has more viewers among the 18-35 demographic than any cable channel and it is at the heart of the way many people are interacting with their phones.
And this is not just for entertainment or information-based videos. Ads have also found a tremendous amount of success. This is clearly represented in YouTube’s TrueView. Designed as a service that only charges advertisers when someone chooses to watch an ad, TrueView pioneered the popular concept of allowing viewers to skip any ad after only five seconds.
“People thought we were nuts,” said Ramaswamy. “They said, ‘who would want to intentionally watch an ad?’ they asked. But people do. Millions of times.”
Ramaswamy offered an ad from Nike as an example. The video is almost four minutes long and has been watched over 110 million times. In fact, among the top videos on YouTube last year, four of them were ads from brands.
“It goes to show that when you combine a great medium like video, give people a real choice on whether they want to consume it or not, and work really hard to make the message compelling, you get great results,” Ramaswamy said.
This point was a key takeaway for the audience. The advent of mobile might be allowing consumers to embark on new and exciting customer journeys into the unknown. But innovative brands can always draw new road maps that will guide them moving forward.
About the Author: Mark Johnson
Mark is CEO & CMO of Loyalty360. He has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs.