How to Make a Sale with Google Micro-Moments
author: Lee Buttolph
I sat down with a friend of mine recently and he told me a really interesting story that reinforced some of the work that I have been doing.
It started with a camper that he recently acquired and his wanting to travel to all the National Parks with his wife after he retires. He owned a Chevy truck but he wasn’t sure if it was strong enough to pull the new trailer.
He took a drive down to his local car dealer where he had a long standing relationship to get his questions answered. Unfortunately, he got bounced around from department to department with no one really wanting to spend the time or energy to answer his questions to his satisfaction.
Since he wasn’t getting his questions answered he decided to do some Google searching and found a dealer in Connecticut whom he called. The dealer in CT went out of his way to answer all his questions. He answered questions on the towing capacity of his current and possibly bigger truck. What the fuel mileage should be while towing. How to best hook up the truck and the best way to drive the camper on a long trip.
My friend was so impressed that he is most likely going to take a five hour trip to buy a truck from this dealer instead of his normal dealer a couple minutes from his house.
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So, how does this have anything to do with Google Micro-Moments? If you remember, Micro-Moments are the four buckets that Google can put most searches into. People want to Know something, Go somewhere, Do something or Buy something (I want to Know, Go, Do, Buy). With this in mind, let’s break the conversation above down.
I want to Know: My friend needed to know some basic facts about his new camper and how it related to his old truck or possibly a new, bigger truck. What is the fuel mileage, towing capacity?
I want to Do: He also needed advice on the best way to hook up the camper to the truck and how to drive it on a long trip.
I want to Go: Where are the dealers that sell the bigger truck?
I want to Buy: He wanted another Chevy.
The first dealer was ONLY concerned with the I want to Go and Buy part of my friend’s problem. He couldn’t be bothered to answer his questions but we can be damn sure he would want his money when he was ready to pull the trigger on a bigger truck.
The second dealer took a different approach. He didn’t care as much about the actual purchase. He first priority was to make sure all his questions were answered and my friend was safe on the road once the camper was hooked up. After that was done, then the question of buying the truck became more important.
This is how many websites are set up. They are more interested in the I want to Go and I want to Buy part of the process and only give lip service to the I want to Know and I want to Do parts.
Google points out in their Micro-Moments white paper that “90% of smartphone users are not absolutely certain of the specific brand they want to buy when they begin looking for information online.” And “More than half of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their smartphones.”
This makes it incredibly important to help customers answer their questions without always worrying about selling them something. The I want to Know and I want to Do Micro-Moments are the starting point for many people. If you don’t care about these moments you are giving your competition a huge advantage to be found over you and to eventually make the sale once all questions have been answered.