Whether you are in the service or product industry, it goes without saying that the importance of a website for your business is well documented with regards to building brand awareness and consumer trust. But a website that converts well on mobile devices? That's non-negotiable. A study from Integral Ad Science found that 78% of consumers surveyed, use their phones to shop. This figure is strides ahead of desktop or even tablet usage. Why? Because individuals are conducting their lives from their mobile phones where pleasure and business merge. In this post we'll look why focusing on having a mobile first strategy will work for your business.
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MailChimp defines a Mobile Website as: "designed specifically for smaller screens and features a simplified design that makes navigation more accessible than on desktop computers or laptops with bigger screens." Time wise website designers could manage and manipulate a desktop site AND a mobile site separately but those days are long gone. Now you are more likely to want your desktop site design to be affected by your mobile use.
Remember that while you are a business owner you are also a consumer, for better or worse. What are some reasons that you've clicked off of a mobile website? Chances are these will sound familiar...:
Too slow to load
Cluttered design
Hard to navigate
Broken Links
Litir Marketing can help. Read on for tips on how to familiarize yourself with what questions to ask, how to ask them, and what changes to implement to improve your mobile website.
It's about to get ugly before it gets better. Brace yourself...
Bounce Rate & Lost Leads:
Did you know that something like 74% of American consumers will leave a mobile site if it doesn't load fully within 5 seconds? This is known as your website's 'bounce rate', or the % of visitors that leave your website after visiting. Imagine the number of leads you're losing just before your website even loads.
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Something else that might surprise you is that Google takes your page load speed into account when it tiers you against competitors for ranking. One study found that the average load time for the websites on the first page of a Google search result...was 1.65 seconds.
So in a world where you want to please Google to reach customers to ultimately convert them, you are looking at one of the biggest hurdles for your business online: the mobile website. What can you do?
There's a 4 part guide for improving the form and function of your mobile website. Isn't that easy? Here you go:
Step 1: Get your mobile phone.
Step 2: Open your business website.
Step 3: Pretend you are a 'new' visitor.
Step 4: Make it better.
There's no quick fix for a mobile website with a slow load time or bad design, other than optimization and refurbishment. You can run your website through a number of free online calculators to determine your load speed -- and this should be done before you make any adjustments. Establishing a baseline before you make any edits means that you can track differences in performance over time. And it will take time; these are not immediate fixes but more 'big picture' decisions that involve elements of User Experience (UX).
Form & Function:
Thankfully, there are some things known to be true about improving User Experience on mobile websites. For example, simplifying your landing page for one. Avoiding a large image or video banner for your landing page will help how it appears -- and how users interact -- on mobile devices.
Photo by Balázs Kétyi on Unsplash
A good rule of thumb is a clean landing page on mobile with a CTA button front and centre to take users to another part of the website, whether that be a shopping page or a longer form information page (i.e. 'About XYZ' or 'How it Works').
Be wary of how your page presents on different types of screens. Test different font sizes and color combinations for the best result. Make sure that if you have a navigation or search bar on the site, that it is formatted for mobile screens. If you have a drop down menu of any kind, be sure to test that the text and links load smoothly.
Any and every time you direct a user to a link...make sure that it works! You have already slayed the dragon of their attention span to get them to remain on your website after load time, don't give them an excuse to click off because your customer journey (i.e the path your customers take to purchasing) hasn't been triple checked.
Don't keep missing out on potential customers or leads because of bad UX on your mobile website. It's a big project but a worthwhile one.
Summary:
In short, check what your website looks like on your phone! Is it easy to use? Can you answer a simple question like: 'What do these guys do?' In under 3 clicks? If not, consider these elements of your web design and look at improving them: load time, design and functionality.
Get in Touch.
Want to learn more about how users are engaging with your marketing? Or how to create and utilize marketing that drives results? Write to us at liz@litirmarketing.com, today.
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