Your desktop website may be generating excellent conversion rates, but can you say the same for your mobile site? Today it is just as important that brands focus on providing an excellent user experience for mobile users, as they do for desktop users. Building a great mobile website will give you a competitive edge and help to boost your profits. In this article we will share a few web design tips and tricks that will improve your mobile customer conversion rates.
Give your business a competitive edge by building an excellent mobile user experience for your customers.
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Think about how mobile users will interact with your site
When designing a mobile-friendly website, it is important to think about how mobile users will interact with the site and navigate through it. You would be foolish to think that they will visit the same pages and navigate in the same was as desktop users. Think about what objectives a mobile user may have when visiting your site. Have you got a brick and mortar store that they may be trying to find? Make your contact details and location obvious. Are they looking to make a quick purchase? Narrow down your checkout process to just one single step.
Speed up page loading times
If you thought desktop users were impatient when it comes to page loading times, just try dealing with mobile users! If you want to stand the best chance at keeping mobile users on your site and converting them into paying customers, you will need to make sure that your page loads in less than a second (ideally). If you need help stripping back your site and optimising it for quicker page loading times, get in touch with a company specialising in mobile web design in Manchester.
Make your site engaging for a local audience
Do you have a brick and mortar store? Then make your website ‘local’ to customers. A study by Accenture in April 2013 found that a whopping eighty eight per cent of shoppers look online for products before deciding to go into a physical store and make a purchase. Make your site local by using regional language, optimising keywords relating to your geographical area and providing deals and discounts that local customers can use in-store. Mobile users are likely to be viewing your website to find your store, so make directions to you store clearly visible and provide an easy to find contact number in case they get lost!
Make sure that your mobile web design is optimised for touch screen operation.
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Design a touch-screen friendly website
Unlike desktop and laptop users, mobile and tablet users use touch screen to carry out processes on their devices. This means that you will need to build a mobile website that is touch-screen friendly. Make sure that your buttons are big and clear enough for mobile users to touch with their fingers. It is also important that you keep navigation simple and avoid using things like drop down boxes, which can be too tricky for mobile users to navigate. Think about the touch screen actions users can perform easily, such as swiping; this may be something that your web designers could incorporate into your mobile site design.
Conclusion
One of the worst mistakes a brand can make in 2014 is thinking that mobile does not matter. The truth is that more and more people are using their smartphones to surf the web and if your site fails to offer a great user experience, you will lose your customers to your competitors. The better mobile user experience your website offers, the easier it will be for you to convert visitors into paying customers that return to your business time and time again.
Image credits: Phil Roeder & steefafa
