It’s no secret that mobile phones are not going anywhere other than into more people’s hands. This means businesses have to start figuring mobile users into the equation.
But why is mobile-optimization so important to your business? As soon as people have a moment these days they’re scrolling their favourite topics or surfing the net to find the best buy.
More Users than any Other Device:
There are 1.2 billion people today accessing the Internet using their mobile devices. A staggering 80% of people use their mobiles to browse the web. So, if they’re online, they’re more likely than not to be using their mobiles phones. And, this is only the beginning of a lasting trend; a trend towards constant global interconnection set in motion by the endless possibilities of the Internet and the devices that enable it.
You also need to remind yourself, what website owner isn’t interested in increasing user traffic, especially for an m-commerce business.
In early 2014, mobile media consumption was 21% higher than it was for desktops, accounting for 51% of total online media consumption. So over half of all web traffic is done on mobile devices.
It’s About Images and Catchy Visuals:
While it might be the same people using both mobile and desktops to access your website, people use mobile phones differently to how they use their desktops. Mobile user behaviour favours visual messaging, such as short videos and images, over written text. So, by optimising your website for mobile phones, you open up a door for more effective ad campaigns and brand awareness. In other words, you could harness the power of these 24/7 visual devices with short pithy visual messages.
Mobile Spending Patterns are Busy and Growing:
You might not think it, but mobile users spend more often than desktop users, so mobile users generally make smaller but more frequent purchases. Whereas Tablet users have the highest average transaction value, outranking both desktops and mobile devices. This is an Average Order Value, (AVO), breakdown for the calendar year of 2011: Tablets $123, Smartphone $80, Desktop $102. But even these buyers won’t buy from you if their first impression of your mobile site is a poor one.
Apparently 90% of people switch screens between devices to achieve a single purchasing goal. This suggests even if the desktop handles most of your customer interactions, users will still engage with your site using their mobile devices at least once throughout the sales process. A tendency amongst users is to browse for things that interest them, using phones in their free time before moving on to a desktop to finalise the purchase. If your site doesn’t respond to every device then you’ll break the chain of their natural buying habits and be less likely to close the deal.
Your Landing or Home Page is the Gateway to Sales
Your landing page, or home page is the critical asset to generating online revenue through customer conversion. However, while certain core principles remain, mobile screens have different layout and formatting strategies that simply don’t translate to desktop screens. To benefit from the small, frequent purchasing behaviour of mobile phone users, a responsive landing page designed specifically for mobiles is a must.
Google Changes SEO Algorithm Towards Mobile Phone Usage
Google has for a while now favoured mobile compatibility in its SERP rankings, which is related to what small business owners know as Search Engine Optimisation, (SEO). Lately mobile responsiveness has become even more important for Google’s ranking of ‘organic’, or ‘earned’ traffic. Google’s algorithm updates have meant significant penalties for failing to provide and uphold the standards for mobile friendliness. Consequently, mobile friendly pages fared the best.
To put this in perspective, here are the results of website traffic variations based on whether a website was mobile-friendly or not in response to the algorithm change: Non-Mobile Friendly pages made a gain of only 19% but a loss of 46.6%, whereas the Mobile-Friendly sites made a gain of 30.1% and a loss 25.4%.
So, the gains earned by non-Mobile friendly sites were cancelled by the subsequent loss, whereas the Mobile-optimised pages maintained 6% of the total gain.
The Social Media Link
Remarkably 91% of mobile Internet access is for social media engagement. If your business has any social media marketing there is a greater chance that incoming traffic will be using mobile devices. An unresponsive site can cancel out your marketing and content production aims and deplete the valuable resources invested in them. To take full advantage of your social media audiences, your site needs to receive whatever social browsing click-throughs. To not capitalise on these click-throughs is like having a ‘closed’ sign up in the front window of your business when you are actually open for business.
‘A Way To Get Ahead’
Many sites remain un-optimized for mobile. According to a recent survey, only 56% of small business websites are responsive. This means you have an opportunity to differentiate yourself from other businesses. Also, not all those who have implemented mobile responsive designs are approaching it with the proper strategy. So if you optimise and strategize your mobile-friendly website, it is an easy and sure way to gain ground on your competitors.
Advertising Returns
Even though people spend the majority of their time on smartphones, only 8% of advertising dollars are directed into mobile ad campaigns. This represents $25 billion worth of lost advertising opportunities. While this is still true for now, this channel won’t stay under-used and relatively cheap for much longer. This is because mobile spending on advertising is only predicted to grow and the increased demand will push the prices up. So if you have the budget then an affordable advertising campaign can help launch your newly revamped mobile compatible website.
Are you ready to elevate your business to another level?
Feel free to talk to one of our digital strategists today. We are more than happy to help! Contact us now.
