With the growth of mobile devices, it is not surprising that 15 per cent of all searches now occur on smartphones or tablets. In fact, web searches on these devices have grown over 1000 per cent over the past five years.
While, perhaps, initially side-lined by B2B marketers as a purely B2C platform, mobile search can be hugely effective for B2B businesses, if implemented correctly. Unlike users of traditional websites, mobile search users are looking for information quickly while on the go, from a device that isn’t as easy to navigate as a traditional PC. Because of this, mobile and traditional sites should be united in feel and design but different in layout and content.
Here are 10 tips for optimising your mobile site so your business can ride the mobile wave.
1. Optimise for speed
Page load speed matters on all websites; they matter even more on mobile. This is probably one of the most important user experience facets to assess when building your page. Mobile users do not have the patience to wait for over 15 seconds for anything to load. So, make sure to prioritise low page weight when designing your mobile page. Less is more.
2. Focus on one goal
Unlike a traditional website, a mobile site does not have the space to provide multiple functions. Content needs to be pared down to just a precious few, be it branding, acquisition, engagement, retention or customer service to name a few. For example, a mobile page may need to be devoted primarily to checking reservations as opposed to booking reservations. What users look to accomplish on a mobile page could be vastly different from the traditional homepage. It is therefore important to assess the pages receive the highest mobile traffic, and prioritise content, function, and design to what users are seeking.
3. Navigation is key
Navigation makes up the majority of success for mobile sites. ‘Word connect’ is extremely important on mobile, so it is important to carefully name navigation buttons and links. Be careful not to fill your mobile site with pictures which will affect the ease of navigation on your site.
4. Ease of use
Each individual page of a mobile site should keep to low content volume. Successful sites segment their pages with more granularity, especially when considering the option to only offer five to eight choices on one screen. Also, functions such as breadcrumbs, filters, and jump links can really improve the user experience on your site.
5. Use large fields
Manipulating the size of the fields and the space between them is critical. This is the most important thing in capturing leads. Larger fields will help users more easily see and complete the fields. They will impact completion rate, and also mitigate error rates (remember, error rates are much higher on mobile at around 20 per cent).
6. Reflect the brand
Most users already have an idea of a company’s mobile page should look like even before they arrive. It is important to transfer over the most visually significant elements from the traditional site to the mobile site. Things like colour should reflect the colour palette of a homepage. If users don’t feel an instantaneous brand match when they arrive on a mobile site, they will most likely bounce. And remember, 85 per cent of a user’s view is spent on the top section of your page, so make sure to get the essentials at the top.
7. Mobile site versus app
A mobile app is not a mobile site; they must each have clearly different functions. If only choosing one, definitely start with building the mobile site as this is what users will be looking for first.
8. Work your click-to-calls
Browsing a site on a mobile device makes it that much easier to turn that action to a phone call, as the intent and interest is already there. Call leads can show higher quality traffic than from form leads, since it requires users to jump deeper into the funnel. Click-to-call should be enabled for all phone numbers on a mobile site, and is especially crucial for lead gen pages.
9. Collect mobile numbers
We’re still in the precious early period of open-minded users, who are curious to try out new methods of connecting. People won’t always be as open about sharing their mobile numbers as they are now. It is worth collecting them whenever there’s a chance – even if there’s no clear use for them in the short term. There are also opportunities to collect these from non-mobile channels, such as a website, social profiles, sign-up forms, etc.
10. Full website view
It’s very important to always offer the option for users to switch to the full website view. Users accustomed to specific content on a homepage may feel disoriented when they cannot find the same items on a mobile page. Typically, this switch-to-full-site link is placed on the bottom of the first page, but if users struggle with a mobile site, it is worth considering moving the link to the top of page.