Topic article, 123Consulting | Author: Thomas Apollonio

Often the little things in life decide whether we perceive something as successful and fulfilled or as a failure and inadequate. This approach has changed with the situation we experienced in 2020 and 2021 – and not quite insignificantly. The global emergence of an extensive pandemic, which can already be assessed as an event of the century, has suddenly changed the way we plan and live in just a few weeks. Even if we feel that we are heading towards a new normal life thanks to immunisation and vaccination, a lot of uncertainty remains at global as well as transnational level.

All of this has a lasting effect on the behaviour of users in the much-cited customer journey. The increased digital transformation is currently noticeable in those companies that have invested specifically in digital processes in order to come closer to customers in a more personal way. This digital boost was recently reinforced further because of the difficulties in physical customer contact. Personal approach and digital granularity gain importance to the same extent.

Small things count

Will we be able to return to life as it was before the pandemic? Or has the newly lived, short-term and manageable impulse planning become so handy and understandable for us that we will also adapt our “post-Covid” life to it? Long-term project planning and the uprising of complicated life constellations seem out of place in uncertain times. Who is surprised? People value more what they have (or what they no longer have). This may have gained even more influence through imposed limits and lockdowns. But what counts now are the little things and moments in life that make it worth living. We learned this over and over again during the pandemic and repeated it many times. And it is precisely this repetition that has a greater impact on the digital experience and our detailed expectations.

And the bottom line is that this development is nothing new in digital terms. Who invented it? As early as 2016, Google spoke of the so-called “micro moments”, which must do justice to the complex individual, called “mobile engaged customer” in every aspect. Simply put: the right information, the correct content and the personal approach in this precise (!) decisive moment are a guarantee that the user will be reached and satisfied in the long term. This is a real challenge for a group of users whose mobile activity involves more than 150 to 200 single sessions per day and who spends less than a minute there. This matter can only be solved by companies that have understood how to recognise the micro moments of their customers and users, to categorise them comprehensively and then to orchestrate them correctly (marketing orchestration is the keyword). And yes, of course, a company’s digital strategy plays an important and significant role here.

In digital practice and presence, advertising is displayed when it is needed and desired by the user, when it is helpful and connects the user with the right service or provides the right information. Of course, all of this can only take place successfully if the company processes impulses – such as user interactions – quickly and reacts seamlessly via all available channels. By now, it should be clear to many readers why Google has brought up the topic sustainably. Who else should be best at satisfying micro moments? Unfair? By no means! Because the quintessence for digital companies is much broader and far-reaching than ever to be left only to the big GAFA giants. Even if these are several (light) years ahead. So what?

In the understanding of the magic micro moments, when a user wants to know, do or buy something, the “here and now” plays a key role in the hands of companies more than ever. At least for those who understood that they need to do their homework in digital terms and that the current pandemic can be seen as a chance to look at digital for what it actually is: the future. Such repentant insight and development have been naturally accelerated by Covid-19. It can be assumed that in a single year of pandemic we have overall skipped about five years of digital evolution.

Post-Covid as new reality

This can be intense for many companies, but digital is indeed the new reality. Customers and users in a post Covid-19 world are happy to visit shops again, to receive advice and purchase goods in person. However, these companies that now understand how to enrich the individual micro moments will be able to grow in digital terms. This can be done by addressing topics such as service, content, understanding of customers, suitable personalisation, customer satisfaction, additional knowledge from in depth SEO and CRM data. And yes, we know it is demanding. But in the end, this affects your customers, current ones as well as future ones. Questions? Go ahead.