Capturing Interest at the Micro-level

By Steve Hall

 

 
As search marketers, we’re often tasked with putting ourselves “in the shoes” of our customers. Thinking about the needs and desires of a particular customer at any point along their journey can be a little tricky. For any given search query, you could be reaching a person at their first moment of interest in a brand of products, or right before they commit to making a purchase, and every point in between.

To maximize your effectiveness and be in the “right place at the right time” for your customers, you need a framework to help organize your thoughts. Google has placed a great deal of emphasis on the importance of considering “micro-moments” in the search process. Framing your actions and strategies around these micro-moments can have a big impact on the effectiveness of your search campaigns.

As Chris Lake effectively discusses in “The rise of ‘Micro-Moments’ and how to optimize for ‘near me’ search queries”, the four major mico-moments to consider are the following:
Deep fryer search result

  • “I want to know.”
  • “I want to go.”
  • “I want to buy.”
  • “I want to do.”

 

We’ll go into greater detail for each micro-moment in subsequent posts, but let’s start with the first statement: “I want to know.” How do you build content, landing pages, or resources to help your customers find what they’re looking for when they “want to know” something? In an increasingly mobile-focused search environment, how do you inject yourself into “want to know” searches at the perfect moment with the perfect message? Let’s say you’re in the commercial kitchen equipment business. If a restaurant is getting ready to buy equipment for their launch, think about the ideas they might be considering:

  • “I want to know who has the best prices.”
  • “I want to know who has the best customer service.”

 

As you can imagine, there are hundreds of other ideas people may be considering at the “want to know” phase in their research, but these examples have some important takeaways. If people are concerned about price, you should make sure your products are listed in Google Shopping results to be front of mind for product specific queries. If you have good prices, show them off!

Kitchen equipment google ad

If you have awesome customer service, you should be doing everything you can to capture reviews and ratings for all your products and including these reviews and ratings in Adwords campaigns. It sends critical trust signals to potential customers and can immediately set your ads apart from other advertisers.

Take a look at this real-life ad from Webstaurant Store:
Not only do they have a solid 4.7 / 5.0 rating for their shop based on Google Trusted Store data and other collected customer service data, but they also have an excellent score for their shipping effectiveness. Now users can feel good about the company in general, and also feel confident that the equipment they purchase will arrive exactly when they expect it and in perfect condition. All great trust signals.

These two examples are focused a bit more on eCommerce, but the “I want to know” question easily extends into businesses across all sectors. Maybe you own/are employed at a local art museum. Isn’t it important to be front of mind when a person is sitting at home thinking “I want to know more about something fun going on this weekend”? Or maybe you’re running an animal rescue center….wouldn’t you want to put your best foot forward when people are considering things like “I want to know about volunteer opportunities near me”? The possibilities are endless, but maintaining a focus on answering these critical micro-moment questions can help businesses and organizations maximize their effectiveness in search marketing campaigns.

Keyon Whiteside headshot

Written by Keyon Whiteside

“If I can put the car in the ditch, I can get the car out of the ditch.”