Just how important are mobile websites for businesses? According to a study done by Yahoo!, 52% of mobile users won’t even engage
with a brand that delivers a poor mobile experience.
The number of users accessing the web on their mobile devices has dramatically increased over the years, and mobile optimization can increase sales, generate more traffic and boost customer engagement. Having a mobile website will give you a huge edge over your competitors who do not.
Mobile users are now using their phones the same way that they used to use their computers, so making the experience similar is very important. Some things to consider to make your mobile website as user-friendly as possible are to make sure your site looks nice on all types of mobile devices and that it loads as quickly as possible. Most mobile users will give up if your website takes more than 5 seconds to load. Businesses should also try not to use Flash content and keep videos and photos to a minimum, as these things will tend to slow down mobile websites.
A major thing affected by whether or not your website is mobile is the shopping experience your visitors receive. A recent survey done by Google found that shoppers are more likely to buy a product or service if your site is optimized for mobile use. Also, three-fourths of these people said they are more likely to return to a website in the future if the experience on their mobile device is good.
On the other hand, most people said that if they can’t find what they’re looking for because your website isn’t mobile, they would rather go to a competitor’s mobile site instead of switching to a PC to buy from your website.
A bad mobile experience can also hurt your brand. Nearly half the people surveyed said they felt frustrated and annoyed when a website wasn’t mobile friendly and that a poor mobile experience makes them less likely to engage with the business in the future.
If you’re ready to build a mobile website there are actually 2 types of sites for you to choose from: a responsive website and a completely separate mobile website. A responsive website scales down your website depending on what device the user is looking at the site on. This way no areas of your website will be hidden when being looked at on a smaller device, such as a tablet or smartphone. The content on the desktop version of the site is exactly the same as you see on the mobile version. A mobile website is an entirely separate website built on a subdomain made specifically for mobile viewing. This type of website does not look exactly like the full website and may not have all the content of your desktop site.
If you’re still not convinced that a mobile website is the way to go, Google also found that 1 in 5 users are influenced by a company’s mobile website, whether it be to call, visit or make a purchase. It was also found that in 2013, the number of mobile internet users will exceed the number of desktop users. The truth is that if you don’t do something to make your website accessible from mobile devices soon, you might be at risk of losing a lot of customers in the future.
