More and more users are entering your company’s buying cycle on mobile devices. If your website isn’t optimised for multi-device compatibility, then you could be losing more and more potential customers each day who can only access the information on smartphones and tablet
To find out if your website is mobile friendly and what to do if not, keep reading the blog article below.
First things first you need to look at the facts. To do this, segment your most recent 3 months of website visits by Desktop, Mobile, and Tablet and calculate the percentage of traffic that comes from mobile device users. Google Analytics will have all the information you need to understand your website traffic. To find out more about the power of Google Analytics read this blog article: How To Analyse Google Analytics For Better Website Conversions
When you get the figures in front of you, if 1 out of every 5 visitors comes from mobile, you need to seriously look into making your website mobile friendly.
Google Analytics is such a powerful tool that it lets you delve even deeper into the facts to truly understand your website conversions. If you notice a decline in conversion rate for mobile and tablets, then is pretty clear that you need to do something about it.
If you’ve determined that mobile or tablet users aren’t converting at the rate of desktop users, then it’s time to become that user and figure out what’s causing the drop.
Use the following guide as a basic mobile website checklist:
Step 1: Use your smartphone or tablet to review the website
Is content displayed properly?
Is it hard to navigate the website? Is the website built for a mouse clicks or fingers?
Are call-to-actions immediately visible or do you need to scroll to find them?
How does the website look and feel compared to the desktop version?
You might find a landing page that frequently converts on your desktop site is impossible to fill out on your mobile device due to the small form fields. Your heavily researched and tested landing page might be out of view or hard to find on a mobile device. Your video that contains important information maybe inaccessible to mobile users.
Step 2: Go through the buying process step by step on a phone and tablet
Is it easy to navigate through the conversion funnel on your mobile device? Was it easier on the desktop?
Click on a phone number. Does it call?
If you notice a drop in conversion rate from mobile users, it may be because either a) they are having trouble finding your forms, or b) they are too difficult to complete.
We all know the individual pages, navigation, landing pages and calls to actions on our websites like the back of our hands. A great technique to learn a new customer’s behaviour is to ask a friend or family member to complete the same steps on a mobile device, and then again on the desktop. This will give great insight into how someone who isn't familiar with the website both on desktop and mobile, really finds the process.
If you find your website provides a poor experience for mobile users, you’re faced with three options:
Design a “mobile” version of your website
Make your current website design responsive
Build an app for your company that is available in the app store and google play store.
If you’re paying close attention to current trends you will know how much people now use mobiles or tablets to search online data for information. This is done in the office, at home and even on transport such as trains. The time customers use mobile data to find out information on company's isn't just 9 to 5, consumers are now looking at websites at all different times of the day. We are now consuming more mobile data than ever before and demand for mobile friendly websites has gone through the roof.
They want users to be able to use their browser on any device to display the same content. More importantly, they want these browsers synced, so you can browse a site on the desktop, and then open a browser on your tablet and have the same browser settings, history, bookmarks, tabs, etc., opened automatically.
It is important is to ensure all of your content is easily accessible for mobile viewers.
Here’s a quick checklist to ensure your site is friendly to all viewers, regardless of device.
Is it responsive? Does your site automatically scale to accommodate for different window sizes and devices? The worst thing a potential customer can do is have to pinch to zoom to view the website. This will just encourage them to go elsewhere.
Is media visible? iPhones and Android phones no longer support flash. Convert flash elements to HTML5.
Can you click to call? Click to email? When using your website on a mobile device its essential that if someone wants to speak to you or send an email they don't want to have to write down the telephone number or email address. Make sure that when they click the details its ready to call or email.
Are important navigation points accessible with buttons? If you really want something clicked, make it into a button. It’s easier to click on a mobile device, and seems more intuitive to the user.
Is text readable? Long paragraphs of small text are hard enough to read on a desktop, let alone on a mobile device. Bump up your font size, increase your line spacing, and make scanning the page easier with whitespace. Think short paragraphs, bulleted lists, images, sub headings, etc.
Does your site load quickly? Mobile users are, by definition, on the go. They are looking for quick solutions and don’t want to wait for your site to load. Keep your code clean, and image sizes reasonable.
The first step to fixing a problem is to admit that one exists. So, are mobile users a problem for your website?