Do Your Customers Have Smartphones?
Yes, most likely. 82% of American adults between the ages of 18-49 have owned a smartphone since 2015. And, this increasingly savvy population is also demanding a better experience on their mobile devices. Are you ignoring your customers? You might say, “Of course not,” but if your company does not have a fast, optimized mobile website, then you may very well be ignoring them. How your customers access your site should be a major factor. When your customers are mobile, and you don’t deliver a stellar mobile experience you aren’t putting the customer first.
Always Be Where Your Customers Are
Whatever device a customer may use, whether a desktop, tablet or smartphone, they expect to find services and product search results right then and there, with no exceptions.
Do You Need a Mobile Responsive Website?
Google answered this question in 2015 when they released user search statistics for the USA. The results showed that “I want-to-know,” “I want-to-go,” “I-want-to-do,”and “I want-to-buy” searches were performed more often on a mobile device than on a desktop. Today, being mobile responsive is the best answer to the current user behavior, independent of your target audience.
In the wake of software features such as Apple’s “Handoff” or Google Chrome’s general cross-device browsing history, smartphone independent Americans exhibit split usage patterns. What this means is customers use their smartphones as the first touchpoint for inspiration, comparison, advice and purchase preparation. The consumer activity starts on mobile while on-the-go and often resumes in front of a desktop computer, once back at home or the office.
Pre-Purchase Activities via Smartphone
Some of the most important consumer activities on smartphones are general product research and in-store research. Mobile website accessibility and loading speed is high on the wish list for smartphone users, emphasizing the need for a mobile-first strategy. Websites that are quick-loading and simple to use with finger-tapping appropriate designs guarantee the highest conversion rates. To do this best practices include the use of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Page Project), a web standard for mobile. The implementation of AMP consists of creating a subset of your existing pages, resulting in extremely fast page loads for your mobile audience. It works by using a stripped-down version of your site’s pages, which have all the content but omit the unnecessary ballast. With the help of Google, Twitter and other companies, the lightweight duplicates are stored in key points throughout the country for quicker access.
Smartphone Dependent Americans
20% of Americans—some by choice, some only having limited service options and others out of financial necessity—rely on smartphones for accessing all of their online activities. These smartphone dependent Americans exhibit elevated levels of smartphone internet usage. These users, living the smartphone-only life, have a very high frustration level when it comes to poorly-designed, slow mobile websites.
Does Your Company Have a Real Mobile Website?
A mobile website is not simply a miniature version of your website. You know, that little “shrunk down” version of a website. If your site can’t be easily navigated on a mobile device using just fingertips, then it’s not mobile friendly. Check your site’s thumb-friendliness. Google offers a Mobile Friendly Checker. Take a look and see how your site fares. Today, modern websites are designed and built responsively. That means the website adjusts content automatically and ideally based on the display device. The smaller the screen, the simple and more fingertip-appropriate it will resize and rearrange your content. The result? Happy customers.
Mobile Friendly Websites Rank Higher on Google
Google now gives preferential ranking to mobile-friendly websites, including visual cues through labeling these results “mobile-friendly.” The next “Google” step might be to label super-fast pages as “fast-loading” and allot these pages an even higher boost.
Are you actively creating your mobile brand?
Your brand must tell your story, through every touchpoint. Consistent branding makes your brand stronger. And yes, your brand must be mobile. Just because the design space is small, that doesn’t mean you can’t think big! You must build a complete mobile experience. Rally the troops and get everyone on board, your customers already are.
Need a mobile website designer? Contact Specto Design. Besides creating new responsive websites or converting existing ones, we offer a flat rate fee for a dedicated mobile website. We can have you up and running in as little as 7 days.
Research Source: PewResearchCenter
