As mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, I’ve created a typical customer journey in order to demonstrate its complexities and erraticism. In this scenario, the customer’s buying decision is influenced by a variety of different factors; be it marketing, advertising, price, location, convenience, chance, etc.

But can you identify the points where the consumer’s buying decision changes? And, what the reasons are for changing them?

Micro-Moments Customer Journey

You’re sat at home watching football on Sky Sports and you see an advert in the background for the new FIFA 17 game and (naturally) you can’t help but wonder when the release date is. So you draw out your phone from your pocket and type ‘fifa 17 release date’ into Google before hitting enter. Within a mere 0.43 seconds, you’re presented with the date ‘September 27th, 2016’ within Google’s Knowledge Graph (I Want to Know Micro-Moment).

FIFA 17 release date

“Excellent!” you proclaim, because it’s less than a month away and you can beat your mates sooner than you thought! ‘I’ll click the paid search advert and pre-order it from Amazon with free UK delivery’ you think, but then you see an article headline in the Google News section stating that you can receive Bonus downloadable content when you preorder in-store at Game with a £10 deposit and you can benefit from attending their special midnight opening event.

At this point, you’re among the 82% of smartphone users that turn to their device to help them make a buying decision.

micro-moments

In that moment, you decide to visit your local Game store to take advantage of this offer. You know where it is but you don’t know how to drive there. So you take out your mobile and search ‘game stores manchester’, before finding that the closest store is at Manchester Fort Shopping Park as it’s shown in Google Local listings. Then you click directions to show you how to get there using Google Maps (I Want to Go Micro-Moment). Now you’ve arrived and parked up at Manchester Fort, you enter Game filled with the excitement of preordering FIFA and finding out what the Bonus content is. But when you look at the counter there’s a big queue, so you take some time to browse other products in the meantime.

micro-moments

In this moment, brands enable users to buy & reserve online before collecting the goods in-store ensuring that the consumers’ buying decision is facilitated by the merchant and business is retained.

Whilst browsing, you come across ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ for £20; a game that your mate has been mithering you to pick up since its release so you can both play together online. However, you still have reservations about the game, so you take out your phone and search for ‘star wars battlefront reviews’ before clicking ‘Video’ search on Google.

Star Wars Battlefront video review

In the results, you find a video review from trusted source, IGN, so put your headphones in, jump in the long queue at Game, then watching the review on YouTube (I Want to Do Micro-Moment) … Once watched, and taking into account that it’s been rated 8/10, you decide to purchase ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ from Game as well as ‘FIFA 17’.

With over 1 million YouTube channels with product reviews, where the audience for this type of content is bigger than ever with views growing 50% year on year.

However, while in the queue, you also see that there’s an ‘Ultimate Edition’ of FIFA 17 available for £59.99 with heaps more downloadable content than last year and you decide to stump up a little more for that edition instead. You’re close to the front of the queue now, when you get a text on your mobile from your mum – ‘I’ll message her back when I leave Game’ you think to yourself – but as you go to put your mobile away, you’re reminded of ‘Amazon’ because you see their app on your phone. So you decide to check the price for FIFA 17 Ultimate Edition on Google Shopping, where coincidentally Amazon have it listed at a lower price than Game with free UK delivery… “That’s a no-brainer.” Kevin Bacon says in your head because that EE advert has programmed you to think that line every time you spot a bargain, and you decide you’re going to buy it from Amazon instead (I Want to Buy Moment).

In this case, it would turn out that you’re just like 1 in 4 people that change their buying decision while in a checkout line after reading something on mobile.

In addition to this, while price checking FIFA you see that the ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ game is suggested to you based on your recent search history and listed at £5 cheaper from Amazon than it is at Game, as echoes of Kevin Bacon bounce around your head again… ‘Bit of a wasted journey really – wish I’d listened to the Go Compare guy’, you think to yourself before leaving the queue, just as the store assistant says “Next!” and looks right at you. But it’s too late, you’ve found the products to be cheaper elsewhere, and you’ve already decided to make the purchase online from Amazon instead of in-store at Game.

Amazon 1-0 Game. FT.

Ultimately, at the end of this journey, you’re situated among the 93% of consumers who use a mobile device for research go on to make a purchase.

Although fairly drawn out, the above journey signifies the complexity of the purchasing journey of a typical consumer, whilst also demonstrating how crucial the role of a mobile device is in facilitating the entire process. Moreover, Google’s vast range of products and services only serve to further complement the journey by making it faster, easier and informative. So whatever/wherever it is you want to; know, go, do, or buy; you can do it all in a Micro-Moment with Google.

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