People today have access to a range of electronic devices that allow them to stay connected to the world around them. Our cars, gaming systems, and even televisions now have the ability to connect to the Internet.
Devices like this have given marketers a new way to reach out to potential customers. Since your audience is spending more time on their mobile devices, you need to make sure their mobile experience with you is as compelling as possible.
It is important for website owners, advertisers, and people who optimize websites for search engines (SEOs) to stay up-to-date with current trends in mobile use and ensure that their mobile websites are designed to convert mobile users.
Tips to Optimize Your Mobile Site
Creating a great user experience must be the top priority for mobile.
Mobile users are the most important thing to remember when it comes to mobile sites. People who are on the move are looking for a different experience than people who are not moving.
For instance, mobile visitors are inclined to want to see some essential information without having to look too hard, such as store directions, a clickable phone number, or store hours by day.
They don’t care about staff bios, mission statements, or news stories.
When designing a website for mobile users, there are certain best practices to keep in mind that will help increase conversions.
1. Over-Simplify
Most mobile users will not spend more than a few minutes browsing. If a website does not have the specific information a user is looking for, the user will likely leave the site and go to another one.
Since the screen size is limited, it is crucial to decide what key information your viewers will want to see. This text is discussing the idea that your home page should only include the bare minimum amount of information, and that this information is essential.
2. Plan Your Site Layout
Once you know the topics you want to cover in your content, you need to determine the best way to organize it. Unfortunately, this can be a huge task to shoulder. Tablets and smartphones require separate design plans, as each come in a host of various screen sizes and resolutions.
Therefore, responsive web design could be the best solution. You can design a site layout that is flexible enough to fit any possible screen instead of creating one simple mobile template.
The term “responsive” in web design means that the entire layout of the website responds and adjusts based on the user’s screen resolution. A responsive layout will change itself to meet the screen requirements.
This technique is excellent for usability because it creates a consistent experience regardless of the browser or screen size.
When planning your responsive site layout, you’ll want to take loading time into account. You will want fewer pages on your mobile website than on your desktop website because mobile pages load more slowly than desktop pages. Make sure that the pages on your mobile website have low bandwidth content to make loading times quicker.
Mobile users are not willing to go through multiple pages to find what they are looking for on a website. Therefore, it is important to have a well-organized website that is easy to navigate.
3. Incorporate Branding Elements
Using mobile devices is a great way to continue your branding activities.
You’ll still want to maintain the same level of branding on your mobile site as you do on your traditional site, even though it will be more simplified. This is important for two reasons:
- A mobile site is a brand touchpoint where customers interact with you, and like any other touchpoint, it should reflect and promote your brand’s essence.
- Incorporating a similar design on your mobile site will make users who are already familiar with your company feel like they’re visiting an old friend, which is an important consideration for your most loyal customers.
4. Utilize Your White Space
You might want to include a lot of information on your website but you should resist the temptation to do this, especially with your mobile site.
Blue Fountain Media believes that a lack of white space is one of the primary reasons mobile websites fail. Unfortunately, many designers create mobile versions of their site that lack important functionality and design elements that are present on the desktop version.
The problem is that mobile users want a different experience; they want a great experience that is convenient and fast.
You can meet design standards by using white space effectively.
According to Blue Fountain Media, it is very important to have negative space between elements, and knowing when to use it can be the key to success.
White space provides a cleaner, more sophisticated appearance. White space can help to keep a page moving by replacing banners, pictures and videos. The amount of space between elements on a page (white space) is important because it allows users to easily click on the buttons they’re aiming for, which leads to conversions.
5. Reduce the Need for Text Entry
Most people find it difficult to type on a small keyboard. There is nothing worse than typing the wrong letters and having people associate your brand with annoyance.
There are a few ways to get around the issue of text, according to CMS Wire. Use dropdown menus and pre-populated fields to enter information whenever possible. Allow users to make calls when they click on your phone number
There are various tactics that can help make typing text on a smart phone much easier and minimize the challenges and difficulties people face.
6. Use Mobile Redirects
Be sure to use mobile redirects when you launch your site. The following will direct mobile visitors to your mobile-optimized site. A redirect is a way to automatically send mobile users who go to your URL to your mobile site.
7. Design for a Mobile
There are two things you should do right away to make your website more user-friendly: making it easy to navigate and adjusting the content to fit smaller screens.
To improve your user experience, ensure that all features on your site are well-organized and easy to navigate. Your mobile site doesn’t need to be loaded with a lot of heavy images.
Make sure your menu reflects your key products so that visitors can easily find what they’re looking for. This will make it simpler to get around your website without getting bogged down in the details.
Another way to make things easy for your mobile visitors is by integrating autofill into your website. This function enables you to use details you have provided earlier, which saves you time and the inconvenience of having to type into small fields.
If you require your website’s visitors to fill out form fields, they may be discouraged from continuing to use your site. As such, it’s best to use autofill. Plus, it helps prevent form errors.
If you want to improve your users’ experience on mobile, you can use large buttons for your call-to-action.
Small CTA buttons are easy for desktop users to click on with cursors, but mobile users have to tap on their screens multiple times to achieve the same. You should make your CTA buttons as big as possible, just as Etsy does.
8. Keep It Simple
Designing your pages to be simple can help your website load faster and be more user-friendly.
A slow-loading website on a mobile device can result in a decrease in conversion rate by up to 7%. It is important not to sacrifice speed for your mobile website.
Too much visual content, like large images, can slow down your website. To improve your site’s speed, reduce the amount of visual content. Although good visuals are important for a good user experience, you don’t want to overload your site with irrelevant images and videos.
9. Integrate On-Page Product Recommendations
Product recommendations that appear on the same page as the product being viewed are mostly used by e-commerce websites to improve their users’ shopping experience.
You can improve the user experience on your website by implementing on-page product recommendations. This makes it easy for customers to see products that are relevant to them without having to search through your entire website.
A good way to provide on-page product recommendations is to suggest items similar to what the customer is currently viewing or has recently viewed.
ASOS provides suggested similar items at the bottom of the page to what the viewer is currently looking at. The design also allows you to scroll through different recommendations without leaving the page you’re currently on.
Conclusion
If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to start using mobile technology. If you don’t make your site mobile-friendly, you could lose customers.
Although it may seem challenging, optimizing your website for mobile does not have to be difficult. If you want to make a mobile site that is successful, you should learn about the current market trends and what the best practices are. This way you can make a site that your customers will love and that will increase your conversions.
