The number of people utilising their mobile devices for just about every known purpose, from banking to locking their front doors, is astronomical. Mobile technology is the wave of the future, and the present.
There is absolutely no reason to miss that wave because the undertow will be hugely detrimental to your online revenue. Your conversion rate optimisation (CRO) endeavors need to be centered on the mobile user if you hope to compete in today’s growing technologically based marketplace.
Mobile Internet Usage is on the Rise
(Source: Google Consumer Barometer)
The smartphone has changed life as we know it. Who would have thought there would be laws against texting and driving? The truth is, our phones and tablets have become significant parts of our lives, enough that laws have had to be directed at them for personal safety.
Therefore, it seems pretty obvious to state that mobile internet usage is on the rise. First, our phones let us stay in touch when we were away from home, now they let us shop, cash checks, order food, play games and stay active in our ever-growing variety of social media. Face it, our companies have to keep pace with the mobile user experience if we hope to be successful in today’s gadget obsessed world.
Google’s Algorithms have also Catered to Mobile Friendliness
Google’s ranking algorithm is including user experience. This will drastically affect a company’s rankings on search engine results. Therefore it is imperative that sites become increasingly user friendly. The new Google algorithms allow for real time updating so when you make your site more mobile user friendly, you’ll see the results of that change in your site rankings the next time your site is crawled.
This means you can improve your site’s page ranking by making each page mobile friendly and you can do it in steps to improve your site ranking in a tangible way. Remember though, that the user experience is really the most important aspect of these changes. It’s sometimes easy to forget about the user when we are trying to optimise our ranking, but our users are the ones who keep us in business and therefore it must always be about them at the forefront.
Key challenges with the Mobile User Experience
The truth is, there are some very significant problems with mobile devices and these issues can impact how your site is designed if you are seeking to improve your mobile user experience. Some things to keep in mind include:
- Smaller Screen – While we’ve certainly seen an increase in screen size over the years, hand held devices are meant to be portable and therefore their screens don’t accommodate a lot of content.
- Simple and Clear Flow – Your content and features need to be carefully planned out, all the whiz bang buttons aren’t necessary, and the less verbiage to take up space, the better.
- Mobile Nature is Interruption Prone – The mobile user lives in a constant state of possible interruption, therefore it is imperative that tasks be simple and that information be available in a saved state for later completion.
- Connectivity – Leaps and bounds have been made in mobile connectivity thanks to WiFi but there are still problems with this technology and users frequently complain about lost signals.
- Touchscreens – Touchscreens are certainly an ingenious creation. However, they are not without their own complications as it is often hard to “click” on elements found on such a small device.
- One Window – Mobile users are generally working out of one window due in large part to their size. This is unlike a desktop user who can split the screen and work in multiple apps at a time.
How to Optimise for Mobile Users
We’ve looked at some of the challenges facing mobile users, thus, we need to consider what we can do about those difficulties. How can we make our users have such a great experience on our site that they become customers? Here are some ideas to consider:
- Content and Feature Prioritisation due to smaller screen – Only write what is necessary for the user to accomplish his/her goal on your site. Don’t inundate him/her with too much text, it won’t fit on his/her tiny screen anyway.
- High Content-to-Chrome Ratio due to smaller screen – Chrome is the “pretty” stuff we put on our sites and while some is necessary to maintain user interest, it needs to be strategically placed to accentuate the necessary text.
- Design for Interruptions – As stated previously, people on the phone are prone to interruptions from the outside world. Make your site capable of saving their information so that they can return to their tasks later. Offer an opportunity to email the necessary information so that it can be retrieved at a more conducive time.
- Simplify Tasks and Interactions due to connectivity – While all cellular providers claim to have the best connectivity available, everyone has experienced a no-bar situation in which connections were lost. Make sure your tasks are quick and easy.
- Self Sufficient Design due to single window – Sure, some of the bigger phones are trying to offer multiple window options, but for the sake of user friendliness, design your site to be self-sufficient, don’t ask people to cut and paste or go elsewhere to complete a task.
- Don’t Necessitate External Props due to single window – The last thing you want to do is ask someone who’s using a mobile device to write something down, they’re mobile for a reason. Stay away from external requirements.
- Large Buttons-Easy to Use Interface due to touch screen – It’s so easy to touch the wrong thing on a touch screen especially if there are a number of buttons therein. Create buttons for big fingers and small screens.
- Undo Function due to touch screen – Even better, allow for an undo option so that the user can go back to his previous position without feeling lost or as if he’s messed everything up. The last thing you want to do is frustrate the user.
- Light Page Design with as Much Content as Possible to Ease Loading time – People are impatient; thus the creation of mobile devices in general. They don’t want to hang around waiting for your page to load simply because it has some really cool graphics. They are looking at something on a mobile device because they want to take care of it quickly. Use more content and less bling.
Further Mobile Recommendations
There are some other recommendations that can be considered critical from a user’s standpoint. These come in three categories: design, functionality and content. When considering design, users say that the following are critical considerations: ¹Don’t code until you’ve reviewed, ²Make sure that the site is 508 accessible/compliant and ³Leverage your mobile specific features since some people prefer to use their mobile devices over their desktops.
The functionality criteria is just as important. No one wants to visit a site that doesn’t work properly.
Specifically though, users say that these are critical elements: know who’s using your app, be performance optimised, don’t change the default behaviors for industry standard amenities or platforms, optimise the app so that it doesn’t take too much memory or energy from the device, focus on one issue and do it well, and include user feedback in the app.
The content area of this critical recommendation list includes:
being user centered, getting rid of the unnecessary, making it available on any device no matter where or when, structuring the data, making it easy to share, and ensuring accessibility. Content is still king but on the mobile device it needs to be very intentional in its inclusion and design.
Notably, beyond the critical suggestions, there are also important recommendations for your site’s mobile optimisation.
The very important section includes things that most users will expect, like: succinctness and guidance, clearly stated objectives and a desire for real feedback from users, layered and modular content, and user profile driven content.
The important section then includes elements that will enhance the user experience but may not be as significant as the other recommendations.
The first thing here would be avoiding the use of PDF’s on mobile devices, they just aren’t mobile friendly, especially on smartphones. Then, if there’s additional information you’d like to provide for your users, give them an opportunity to seek out that info through a fax number, an email or postal address and/or a phone number.
In Summation
The reality of mobile technology is certainly in our hands, and therefore optimising our sites for mobile devices is an absolute must if we’re to survive in this increasingly transient online world. People will seek out your site for information while sitting at the doctor’s office, it’s up to you to ensure that they are able to get what they need with a few clicks on their minute smartphone screens.
Even the larger screened tablets and various other mobile devices are limited in the content they can hold. Don’t inundate people with graphics, give them a site that loads quickly, is self-sufficient, user friendly and succinct and you will see improvements in your CRO. If you have experience in this arena or have questions for us, please feel free to leave a comment in the section below. Thanks for visiting.