When it comes to going online, mobile reigns supreme. It has done so since 2014, when it overtook desktop as the preferred platform for the super-connected smartphone generation.
That fact alone should have been enough to make businesses wake up and prioritise their mobile offering. Then consider the fact that more than half of smartphone users grab their device the moment they wake up and you’ll realise that mobile isn’t just popular, it’s a huge part of many people’s daily routine.
In that case, if you don’t offer a good mobile experience you’re in a bad position and only likely to turn away customers on their platform of choice. Here are some tips for ensuring you’re up to speed when it comes to your mobile offering:
Ask one key question
Always challenge yourself by asking – ‘how can we make this easier?’ Yes, customers are glued to their phones but they’re not particularly patient. If you present them with something complex or time consuming they’ll turn elsewhere. That needs to start right from the beginning with domain name registration. Make it as easy as possible for people to find you and then remove any barriers they might face from there on.
Use it as a customer
With that in mind, take a step back. Pick up your phone and have a look around your own website. If you struggle to be objective, ask a friend or relative to do it. Sometimes you need to take a step back and try to put yourself in the shoes – or eyes – of the customer and see things from their perspective. See what their ‘experience’ is and you’ll be able to appreciate what you are good and bad at.
Design
There’s more than one way to make your website available to mobile browsers. You can offer responsive, dynamic or separate sites to cater for this audience. The important thing is that you choose the method that delivers the best experience to your customers with your level of expertise.
Distilled.net has produced a really handy flow chart to help you to decide which way to design your site. This page also offers a number of design tips that can ensure that your pages look good on mobile and will help the customer have a smooth purchasing journey while with you. It also stresses the important of the touch screen element to mobile: you need to remember that mobile browsers are using their fingers to dance around your web pages so make things easy to click and press for them.
Not all sell, sell, sell
Nobody likes to be sold to all of the time do they? The internet is full of people hawking around their products and, after a while, customers can easily grow tired of this and lose your message amid the wall of white noise. You can deliver a much more effective user experience by offering your customer a little more. A well written blog or some fun interactive content can grab their attention and help to foster a closer and more long-lasting relationship than one that just involves buying and selling.