A new study shows that 57% of smartphone users say they won’t recommend a company with a poor mobile site. With the number of devices out there, it’s important to ask yourself these 6 questions about your mobile site.
Does the site use standard HTML5 technology?
Using standard coding techniques means that your site is fully mobile friendly. Make sure you’ve upgraded all your content from Flash and that the user can’t stumble on to any legacy tools or functionality that won’t work.
Is the important information up front?
Do people have to pinch and zoom to find important information on the site? Having a site that shows up on a mobile phone is a great first step, but it still needs to be optimised and user friendly. If a user needs to constantly scroll, zoom, shrink, and then scroll some more to find out how to contact you, it’s all too easy to lose that user to a competitor. Simple is good in the mobile world! Consider what’s most important for your users and make sure those pages and info are easily available and quick to find
Have you thought about how a mobile user is different?
Do you know who’s coming to your site? Analytics are just as important on your mobile site as your desktop site. You need to know if there are lots of users from one specific device, operating system, or browser. Are you seeing different results on mobile? Are mobile users looking for different things than your desktop users (for example, maps, telephone number, other contact information?) After taking a deep dive into your analytics, you’ll be able to make some key decisions about where to add resources.
How much text do people need to input?
Using dropdowns, radio buttons/checklists and pre-populated fields make things a lot of easier for people that might have some difficulty typing (maybe they have a small keyboard or large fingers or maybe they just don’t like to type much on their smart device). If you can, use features of the device to make it even easier. For example, if you need to know someone’s location, use the geolocation functionality that most smart devices come with.
Is your site beautifully designed for mobile?
A mobile experience shouldn’t mean a tinier version of your desktop page, nor should it mean an oversimplified text page of links. As well, the same user can be viewing your content on a phone, tablet and desktop, and will have an expectation for the experience to be high quality across the board. Using adaptive design means that while you maintain one code base, so changes are made easily, but everyone gets an awesome, unique experience on their own device.
How about an app?
Mobile users love apps. Any chance you can convert some of your site into a useful app? Apps create a more intimate relationship with users. Your icon gives a visual reminder of your brand by always appearing on their device, and you can push updates and alerts whenever you’d like. If you have some good content that is updated regularly or a useful tool that can be reused over and over, an app is a perfect way to generate ongoing engagement with your users.
So go ahead - Create some mobile awesomeness!
