Three Ways To Win Customer Support With Micro Moments
Identifying and targeting micro-moments has traditionally been the job of marketers. But micro-moments don’t just exist as an opportunity to sell; they are also opportunities to help. After analyzing the 1.3 Billion devices that Helpshift is installed on, we have identified the most common customer support micro-moments, and will outline here how to address each one.
“1 in 3 smartphone users has purchased from a company or a brand other than the one they intended to because of information provided in the moment they needed it. In other words, customers are not loyal.”
Just as you don’t just sit back and let a customer find you, customer service needs to start identifying support micro-moments, and meet their customers with help solutions before they’ve even asked for it.
So What Exactly is a Micro-Moment?
Think With Google describes micro-moments as “an intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need– to know, go, do, or buy.” Need-to-know, need-to-go, need-to-do, and need-to-buy moments present unique selling and marketing opportunities. Our procrastination through weight loss research situation was a need to know moment. Google argues that there are three crucial ways to meet customers during these moments:
- Be There
- Be Useful
- Be Quick
How To Win Micro-Moments On Support
1. Be There: preempt signs that a customer needs help and offer assistance
Being there is about anticipating micro-moments and finding a solution.
1 in 3 smartphone users has purchased from a company or a brand other than the one they intended to because of information provided in the moment they needed it. In other words, customers are not loyal; they just want their needs met and they don’t care who does that. In customer service, this is a little different: the customer is already involved with your brand, but being there in the moment remains vital. If they cannot find the information they need in order to effectively use your product, they will not remain loyal. Customer support needs to preemptively identify signs that a customer needs help and offer assistance before they’ve even asked for it. Preempting need means identifying the moments in which a customer is most likely to need help. We took a look at our users, and found that the top three customer service micro-moments (moments in which a customer will need help) are:
- App Crash
- Login Trouble
- Incomplete Onboarding
When people become frustrated with Help it’s almost always because they are lacking information. Something inexplicable happens and they don’t know how to work around it. These moments of need are crucial to providing proactive Help. If I’m using my new fitness app and I have tried and failed to login three times, don’t just let me churn– reach out to me via push and direct me to the relevant FAQ page or to a way to contact support. Say my intentions were better than my follow-through; I download the fitness app but don’t register: send a push notification directing me to onboarding resources, along with some peppy stats about fitness! Once I’ve finally begun using my fitness app, what happens when it crashes? (What a perfect excuse to stop being fit!) Send an in-app message letting me know why it happened, and reassuring me that it won’t happen again. Be there in moments of need.
2. Be Useful: Being Relevant and Meeting Customers Needs
Google writes that “You’ll need to do more than just show up. You need to be useful and meet [customers’] needs in their [micro]-moments. That means connecting people to what they’re looking for in real time and providing relevant information when they need it.”
“When people become frustrated with Help it’s almost always because they are lacking information.”
69% of smartphone users are more likely to buy from a company whose mobile site or app can help them find answers to their questions easily. For Help, providing real-time and relevant information means that FAQs need to be personalized (based on data like device type, location, language, etc), and in-app chat agents must have real-time data on their customers. It’s not enough just to have FAQs and in-app chat; both must be relevant and updated in real time. As an iPhone user I should never be directed to Android-related FAQs. As a woman, I would expect that when I contact Help, they are giving me information only related to female fitness.
61% of smartphone users say they’re more likely to buy from companies whose mobile sites or apps customize information to their location. This expectation does not end with customer support. Don’t just show up; give your customers relevant assistance.
3. Be Quick: Make Finding Help Fast and Simple
40% of users are always or usually in a hurry while looking for instructions on their smartphone. To meet this need: make FAQs easily searchable through an intelligent, Google-like search bar. Make contacting an agent directly a single button, not a form to fill out. Like we discussed in the Be There section, use past behavior and real-time data to segment customers and direct them accordingly. If a user has abandoned their shopping cart three times in a row, and opens the app a fourth time, direct them to the mobile payment FAQ page. If they still don’t complete the purchase after reading the FAQ, ask if they’d like to start an in-app chat conversation with a help agent. Anticipate their needs, and make finding help fast and simple.
How fast is fast enough? 42% of users expect a response within an hour. Remember, these are called micro-moments, not macro-moments. They are small windows of time in which a customer needs help rapidly.
Proactive Support Increases Loyalty
At the basis of targeting micro-moments is the idea that in a moment of need, a customer will not be loyal to any single brand. If I want to lose weight, I don’t really care which app helps me do it– I only care that I am getting my immediate and long-term needs met. If you can reach your customers during their moments of need, you are far more likely to retain them and improve loyalty through superior service. The moment may be micro, but the impact is macro.
