Use micro-moments to reach your supporters

What are micro-moments?

Smartphones play an intrinsic role in our lives. They enable us to communicate, manage our plans, and aspire to do more throughout our day. However, during this busy smartphone lifestyle it can be challenging for some brands to interact with their target users. Micro-moments are defined by Google as the moments when consumers are open to the influence of brands, for example, “I want to buy”, “I want to go”, “I want to do”, and “I want to know”. Google identified three essential strategies that can help brands intercept their users’ micro moments: ‘be there’, ‘be useful’, and ‘be quick’.

Red Roof Inn mastered all three strategies in one simple campaign. The economy hotel chain developed a way to track flight delays in real time and trigger targeted search ads for the Red Roof Inns near airports. These ads essentially said, “Stranded at the airport? Come stay with us!”. Red Roof Inn committed to those, “I need a hotel ASAP” moments and delivered with relevance. This resulted in a staggering 60% increase in bookings across non-branded search campaigns.

How can charities benefit from micro-moments?

The relationship between an advert and a location, event, or circumstance, should increase the consumer’s ability to be influenced by the charity’s appeal, reaffirming that the charity will ‘be there’ for any micro-moment. By attracting target users during these micro moments, it will increase the likelihood of users experiencing the following realisations: “I want to donate”, “I want to get involved”, and “I want to know more”.

Engage with visually rich storytelling

Proved immersive and engaging content

An increased use of video provides an opportunity for brands to attach themselves to their target users at an emotive level and create a relationship with their consumers.

By providing engaging content and native video across social platforms, charities can get closer than ever to their target consumers. BBC Media Action produced a striking film made to be viewed on your mobile which helps the viewer experience the perilous journey faced by many refugees through the interface of a phone. By using video in this immersive way charities can begin to tell stories in a way that consumers can relate to directly.

Tap into the power of 360 video and virtual reality

Virtual reality is becoming ever more accessible with the likes of 360º video across YouTube and Facebook but also the rise of Google cardboard which can turn your mobile phone into a VR headset. As a charity the prospect of VR offers a real opportunity to stimulate empathy amongst supporters and engage with them on a level not previously possible.

The National Autistic Society produced an immersive 360º viral video that puts the viewer in the shoes of an autistic child, simulating the distress experienced with sensory overload caused by bright lights and sounds. Whereas Cancer Research UK brought supporters closer by taking them on a virtual tour of a research lab giving them a chance to see up close where their donations are going.

Stay ahead with cashless micro-donations

Make impulse donations easier

The options for donating are vast, and methods such as bucket collection and donation by text continue to be effective means of donating for many charities. Nevertheless, new methods have began to surface that are more intuitive and aligned to our busier, tech-minded lifestyles.

We are living as an increasingly cashless society and donating needs to adapt to this trend. The natural progression is the Barclaycard donation boxes that consist of a charity branded hand-held box, a small card reader, and an accompanying payment app. However things become interesting with the likes of SnapDonate allowing users to make a quick one-off donation on the move by snapping a photo of the charity’s logo. The app is able to recognise the logo and process a donation in one seamless journey, turning any leaflet poster or advert into a donation opportunity.

Outside learnings

Thinking outside the third sector sphere, investment app Moneybox rounds up your everyday card purchases to the nearest pound, taking the spare change and automatically investing it in companies like Netflix, Unilever, and Disney. Services such as these are ideal for our increasingly cashless society, providing an opportunity for incremental donations by rounding up our spending and collecting loose change that we wouldn’t miss on our bank statements.

Enable quick payment processing

Why charities need faster payments

Each charity has a different focus or objective, and so for many, this requires a form of financial transaction varying from online fundraising streams including one-off donations, ticket sales, and ecommerce. Every second that is lost to the payment being processed is detrimental to the user’s experience, and is a chance for session drop off - resulting in failed revenue.

Applying in practice

By speeding up the payment journey through light-weight gateways such as Stripe, Paypal and more recently Apple Pay, charities can increase their chances of conversion. This can already be seen with the likes of UNICEF and Charity:water who now process payments through Stripe and Apple Pay, allowing users to make secure and private payments both instantly and effortlessly. Stripe is less cumbersome than other payment gateways and offers great flexibility to charities, with a simple API that can be injected anywhere across a website.

Harness the Internet of Things

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term used to describe smart devices that have network connectivity allowing them to collect and exchange data autonomously with great efficiency and accuracy. As a result, these processes require far less human intervention. As consumers we have have become familiar with IoT in the form of wearable tech, cars, and connected devices around the home. As a result data harvested from these products offers invaluable insights into user habits.

How can this benefit charities?

By building on the insights collected from smart devices, charities will be able to build a much clearer profile of their individual supporter, and serve them a hyper personalised content. This tailored approach creates a unique experience for users that can match their own needs and requirements. Ensuring that you’re using truly personalised messaging can potentially enhance this personalised experience for the user, increasing the potential for retaining them with future content.

Make use of intelligent assistant’s

Keeping things personable

Devices such as chat bots and voice assistants, i.e. Siri and Alexa, are great examples of artificial intelligence that have found their way into our daily lives and have evolved from the novel to the useful.

How can charities utilise artificial intelligence?

Charities have started to create their own chatbots for simpler tasks such as donating. One of the first non-profit companies to do that is Charity:Water who have begun to handle donations via a Facebook Messenger chatbot.

Chatbots can offer a more personal experience for tasks that are difficult to understand, daunting, or laborious. Thinking about death can be difficult, but Silicon Valley startup Life Folder have developed a chatbot that guides the user through important questions when nearing the end of their life. At the end of the conversation the answers are then drawn up into legal documents.

Interested in talking further?

If you would like to find out more about how Brand42 can help with your core digital products, please get in touch info@brand42.co.uk.