You don’t need to own a brick-and-mortar business to understand the consumer behavior that is driving customers these days. You do this behavior yourself.
Like this:
— You are in a part of the cities you don’t know well
— A ‘hangry’ mood is in the car
— You pull out your phone and search Safari, Chrome or Maps
— Find one close, click it and either call or get directions spoken to you
Right? Or this:
— Your lawn mower won’t start
— You try your bag of tricks and it still won’t start
— You pull out your phone and search for a blog or video to help
— Still won’t start
— Search Google for lawn mower repair, see the one close with a few good reviews
— Click ‘call’ to get it repaired’
Not yet? How about:
— Think of the last waiting room you were in
— And when you were waiting together with strangers for something
— No matter the age, some, many or most are looking at their phone
Nothing new in this post yet, right? Well:
— Think of how you use your phone
— You open Chrome or Maps and start searching “tha
— There are several links that appear in a drop down from the search bar
— One lists your favorite thai restaurant, right?
— You click that link and see the option for call or directions
— You click call and place your order
This customer doesn’t know your restaurant name, phone number or location *better* than they remember typing “tha” in Chrome.
Google is your Rolodex.
Check out my other post for how Google is replacing navigation on our website.