Nine out of ten smartphone searches result in the users taking action. You heard it right, 9 out of 10! That’s why the entire mobile experience you have set up for your clients and customers needs to be a good one… and a good one right from the start. As Morgan Stanley stated in their April 2010 report on Internet Trends, “Mobile is ramping up faster than desktop Internet did and will be bigger than most think…Regarding pace of change, we believe more users will likely connect to the internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs by 2015.”
If you have website, do you have a mobile friendly version of it? If you don’t have one, you’re among the 79% of major retailers who still need to invest in one. With technology and smart phone adaption changing on the quick pace that it has been, it’s no wonder that many businesses are trying to ‘catch up.’
If you’re not sure how much traffic your site is getting from a mobile user then check out your Google Analytics report. Analyze the trend on your site from the last couple of years by viewing the trend of mobile visitors. You’ll likely notice a steady upward stream of mobile users trying to access your website.
Make the Entire Mobile Experience a Good One
When you have ads out there directing people to your site, or QR codes directing people to your website, test out for yourself to see what that experience is like on a mobile device. If you have to ‘pinch to zoom’ on content in order to read it on your mobile device then you should rethink your existing mobile experience.
The mobile experience should be one where the content is formatted to fit the device that is viewing it. If it’s a smart phone, you’re looking at about 3″ of space as a width. However, if you’re directing someone to a website that’s formatted for a large 21″ monitor, don’t make the mistake in thinking the user will care enough to ‘pinch and zoom’ to find information.
Ninety percent of the time customers will leave your site and go somewhere else. It’s like trying to find your local coffee shop by looking at a state map — it’s just totally out of scale and you’re not going to invest your time doing it.
Get Moving on Mobile
Make sure a mobile website is in your budget for 2012 if it wasn’t included in 2011. If only a small budget is available, then at the very least, have a mobile friendly version that continues your branding, includes the business address, a link for map and driving directions (so the user can tap the screen for GPS directions) a phone number (to let people tap the screen to call), and links to social media so people can further connect and interact with your brand.
If you already have a mobile site, that’s great! Now, let’s think about how to improve the mobile experience and what future expansion goals are to make it even better.
If you have an e-commerce store, do you have a mobile version of it? 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase as a result of using their smartphones to help with shopping. With the end of the year holiday shopping coming up, get started now to capture those mobile shoppers!
