This Spring Google introduced the concept of “micro-moments” to explain the new consumer behavior and how businesses can capture these moments.

Micro-moments are the new “I want to know”, “I want to go”, “I want to buy” moments. When people have a need, they reach for the nearest device for information. Consumers are open to having their preferences shaped by information presented at that decision time.

The old model of having a dedicated browsing session to do research is in the past. Instead people are going online more and operating in short bursts of activity. Because they can find information in bite-sized chucks, they are making decisions faster.

Being relevant at that moment of decision-making will result in dollars for companies who will win the sale.

Google’s suggested businesses consider the following in understand the consumers journey:

Immediacy: consumer expectations for immediacy are higher than ever before, because activities are done in short bursts.

Relevancy: expectations for relevancy in the information they find is more important than ever before because they lack the time to spend browsing around sites.

Loyalty: people in their moments are more likely to be loyal to their own needs rather than specific brands

The use of mobile devices is playing a large part in this behavior trend. Mobile queries now outpace desktop queries. Google’s data shows mobile visits to websites increased 20% , but time on-site decreased by 18%. They have seen a 29% increase of conversions on mobile.

How can businesses and advertisers act on these trends, now knowing the purchase journey is fragmented? The opportunity is the creation of billions of moments to win. Connect the dots between the movements that matter to your business:

• Identify the micro-moments that matter to the business, when consumers reach out and why? How does mobile impact this?
• Deliver on people’s needs and motivations in the moment, right content, UX, UI, contextual signals like location is one way to demonstrate relevancy.
• Measure all of the moments that matter, not just the final sale. Determine the topline KPIs, then all of the other transactions that can occur like conversions in app or to drive to a physical store. Focus on how to improve on measuring these paths.

Clearly capturing the micro-moments behavior will shape the way businesses design online marketing and search engine marketing plans in 2015.