6 Tactics to Ensure Your Website Gets “Mobile” Action

6-tactics-ensure-website-gets-mobile-action

Mobile content consumption is well past the tipping point as consumers now spend a majority of their time engaging with digital media on their smartphones, tablets, e-readers, or other mobile devices.  

According to the latest report by the Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans own a cellphone and use it “as their primary means of online access at home.” Of this group, one in ten adults are “smartphone-only” users, and 88% of young adults are “smartphone dependent,” using mobile devices without broadband service at home. Seniors have hopped on the mobile bandwagon as well, with 97% of those age 50 and older relying on smartphones to connect and consume information.

So, why is this information important to your brand? If your website doesn’t meet mobile standards yet, then a vast majority of your target audience can’t find you via an online search, let alone engage with your content. This is why your bounce rates may be high, and your conversions low.

The following are six ways that you can use to close the gap between mobile and desktop conversion rates.

  1. Ensure your website is responsive:  If you want to reach your target audience, mobile optimization is where your brand needs to be. Research indicates that ‘unique clicks’ are 15% greater on mobile devices as compared to laptops. As for apps, Nielsen survey statistics show that 89% of consumer media time is spent on mobile apps, as compared to 11% as browsed via mobile websites. Additionally, more than 60% of shoppers are less likely to shop around if they can easily access a company’s mobile app
  2. Optimized for tablets and e-readers: Tablets come in all shapes, sizes, and operating systems. Make sure your content translates well across all devices and is clearly displayed across smartphone screens of all sizes.
  3. Speed is crucial: People won’t stick around if pages take too long to load – 40% of viewers will leave a page that takes 3 seconds or more to display. Your site needs to provide the experience that users want to ensure they’ll remain engaged, and to keep them from leaving too early.
  4. Include captivating ‘call-to-action’ buttons: Include distinct calls-to-action on touch-friendly buttons if you want your viewers to follow through with specific tasks, such as buying something, registering for an event, or subscribing to a newsletter. Colorful and eye-catching buttons with text that create a sense of urgency will stand out on small mobile screens, and will help to yield impressive click-through rates. Buttonoptimizer.com, Da Button Factory, and ImageFu.com, are just three of the many call-to-action button generators that allow users to design custom buttons that will attract the attention of their viewers.   
  5. Offer social autofill: Completing a form can be a real time-suck for viewers on mobile devices, and can often cause users to back out of a site. Social autofill reduces the time and effort that it takes to fill out a form, ensures that forms are filled out correctly the first time, and all of this is done within one or two clicks. Apps such as Formstack, Dashlane, or Autofill, which can be downloaded from the Chrome Web Store on Google, help streamline the ease of creating user-friendly forms to boost conversions on your site.
  6. Brevity in content: Space on mobile devices is significantly smaller than the space available for desktop browsers; the screens are smaller, and it’s harder to scroll. In many cases, it’s almost impossible to scroll horizontally. Note that the more content featured on a website, the longer it takes to download – forcing many viewers to leave. Limit your content to what’s necessary, and make sure that the most important content is displayed in the top few pixels of your landing pages.

Is your website mobile responsive? Let us know if you see a difference between your mobile and desktop engagement by viewers who frequent your site.

 

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