According to a recent Google thought-starter, more and more of us see our phones as tools for productivity.

image via Think with Google

But Google buried the lede. The real news centers on the emotions that stem from productivity.

Fuel Engagement with Emotion-Boosting Mobile Content

What I found most newsworthy in the Google data is the emotional bump we get from completing tasks.

Image via Think with Google

Even more importantly, 54% of the people in the Google survey say their phones reduce stress and/or anxiety.

Why should content marketers care? Because we are increasingly asked to produce content specifically for consumption on mobile.

It's tempting to focus too much on form and format when creating content specifically for mobile. Or on fast and easy consumption.

Yet, the insights from Google indicate that we can hone our "efficiency" goals for mobile,  go beyond the productivity imperative and tap into the emotions that result from completing tasks.

For instance, we just finished a package of tips and hints for a healthcare company's new mobile app. The dev team gave us the form and format requirements and we built a framework of empathy on top of that, inspired by Margaret Magnarelli and Amanda Todorvich's thoughts on empathy in content marketing. That enabled us to write content that fed users' need for productivity and efficiency, and drove their feelings of confidence and calm.

When we make people feel more confident and prepared and less stressed and anxious, we drive better engagement and make real strides toward trust and loyalty.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

While we crafting mobile content that meets the efficiency expectations everyone has for mobile, we must create also deliver experiences that produce emotional benefits, too.

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