There’s a lot of noise online today. Articles, stories, photos, videos, and podcasts are all vying for our attention. As humans, we’re 80 percent more likely to engage with content that has visuals. Five years ago, if you wanted to purchase lipstick, you went to the Clinique counter in a department store and had markup specialist asset you with trying some on. Today, if you want to purchase a new lipstick shade, you can go to Sephora and upload a photo of yourself, then apply the different colors to your lips. It’s the Sephora Virtual Artist. You don’t need to go to the store anymore.
Consider this: You can take a photo of that really cool cappuccino maker in your hotel room and then use an app that will give you options on where to buy that same one either online or in-store. How far off do you think business is from doing the same with copiers, phone systems, and office furniture?
By 2020 customers will manage 85 percent of the relationship with the company without interacting with a human, according to Gartner. I’m not saying that sales reps are going away or that we’ll ever really get to the point where our prospects are buying copiers and document management online. However, prospects are already doing all their homework online. And by 2020, ComScore predicts that 50 percent of search will come from voice. VOICE!? We can speak much faster than we can type, so it stands to reason that we’ll go to Google to research the solution to a problem and instead of typing in the magical search bar, we’ll hit the voice button and speak the question.
How does this affect us in the business world? Google’s queries are constantly evolving, so when we’re able to ask a more to the point, conversational question as opposed to typing in keywords, we’re likely to offer more detail.
How Will This Affect the Results Google Gives Us?
Think of how you searched 10 years ago. You’d type in something, go back and try again when you didn’t get what you wanted. It was frustrating. Today, we’ve refined how we search and Google has matched our intent. And to top it off, one out of five searches will happen on a mobile device. And if your site isn’t optimized for Google AMP, forget about ranking on a smartphone.
Today, when you do a search, the search engines can take into account all the things around you based on where you are, the device you’re searching on and time of day. Crazy, right?! We have shifted from search “terms” to search “topics.”
It’s broken down into topic clusters in the eyes of the engines. Google is getting smarter for the benefit of their users.
What Do Apps Mean for Us?
When I leave my house I don’t have to push the buttons on the alarm keypad anymore. I use the app that allows me to control the arm and disarming of the system from anywhere with access to the internet… which is almost anywhere. We’re a society that is constantly connected. We’re constantly on our mobile devices. Our need for constant communication is seen in our daily activity with co-workers, family and friends.
The advisory firm Activate estimates that more than 2.5 billion people currently use at least one messaging app. Think of this. We’re messaging people all day long in Facebook Messenger, Slack or some other chat. Chat bots act as personal assistant to us. how can we reach these people? Bot-based content is coming. In some cases it’s already here – and it WILL change the face of content and user interaction in our businesses. How long is it before your customers start wondering why they have to go to a website to request service and not just go to an app and hit a simple button or even use a messaging app to send a quick request? We’re a demanding group in today’s technologically advanced world and we want what we want when we want it. We get annoyed if can’t have it immediately.
What does this mean for business? It means if you’re a $20 million copier dealership with growth plans to get to $25 million by 2018, then you’d better make sure these technological advancements in SEO and search can find you. Stop thinking these things don’t apply to you and your business because they do. We need to delight and please our customers… before our competition does.
This article originally appeared on the Prospect Builder blog (http://www.prospectbuilder.net/blog).
