Mar 09 2016
What’s worse than failing to identify an opportunity to increase your future and current customer satisfaction? Easy – annoying your customers by not providing them with a mobile-friendly website.
Why bother having a mobile-friendly website?
But how is that even possible? If you’re like most businesses, you take pride in the fact that you have an attractive, easy-to-use and informative website. Unfortunately, having a website that only looks good and is simple to use on a desktop and laptop isn’t enough anymore.
According to research from Google, 72 percent of customers believe that having a website that is mobile-friendly is important. In fact, almost three-quarters of the customers surveyed indicated that they were more likely to revisit a website that was mobile-friendly.
The findings also showed that customers visiting a website that was not mobile-friendly were five times more prone to leave the page and went on to search for a site in the same category that was mobile-friendly.
If you need another reason to consider optimising your website for mobile users, reflect on this: 67 percent of survey respondents said that they would be more likely to buy a product or service from a mobile-friendly site. Hmm …
What is a mobile-friendly site?
Now that we’re preaching to the converted, let’s talk about what differentiates a mobile site from a regular site. Essentially, a mobile-friendly website is one that can be navigated and seen easily on a smartphone. Little screen = little room for navigation. So mobile sites need to identify which information customers are searching for and then make it readily accessible for them.
Typically, there’s less information available than what’s on your normal website, but the information is more relevant to the decision-making process. For instance, a mobile-friendly restaurant site would have its opening hours, phone number, address and a link to their menu clearly displayed. It probably wouldn’t showcase the twelve awards it has won, or their cooking methodology either. If users want that type of information, they can switch to the regular site.
Mobile sites are all about convenience in a snap. They’re about essential information being provided immediately and without fuss.
For a few examples of businesses that have hit the nail on the proverbial mobile-friendly head, why not pull out your smartphone and log onto ebay.com.au, coles.com.au or bunnings.com.au
Tip: You’ll know when you’re on a mobile website as it usually displays an ‘m’ in front of the url to read something like m.worldsbestwebsite.com
Three benefits of mobile-friendly websites
For those businesses who are, or plan on being, mobile-friendly, here are three huge benefits they can expect to reap.
- Enhanced user-experience
Mobile websites provide a far better experience for your customers than regular websites. There’s less scrolling, pinching and sighing as your customer fights to navigate a complex page stuffed into their small screen. There are clear and easy-to-understand options available and the loading time for mobile websites is typically faster. Mobile sites are an all around more enjoyable experience for your customer.
- Google will like you more
It’s true – mobile websites are typically ranked better on mobile search engines, including sites such as Google and Yahoo. Google even released a public statement saying that websites that optimised their sites to be mobile-friendly would be favoured over those who didn’t make the effort and even chosen to appear higher in results conducted on mobile devices. - Huge advantage over your competitors
In Google’s research, over 96% of respondents claimed that they had visited a website that wasn’t considered mobile-friendly. That means that there are a lot of businesses out there not taking advantage of the chance to optimise their websites for mobile users. By making your website mobile-friendly, you’ll ensure that you stand out from the crowd and will be the supplier of choice for your mobile-happy customers.
Want your own mobile website? FX Design Studio are experts at creating functional, beautiful and profitable mobile websites. Contact them today to learn how you can make your website mobile-friendly.
