The fact of the matter is, mobile web browsing is here, like it or not. However, a full mobile site can be an expensive undertaking. And for some companies it seems that a mobile site falls under the "chicken or the egg" dilemma - which comes first, the mobile site or the mobile customer. It can be difficult to justify the costs of building a mobile site when there isn't a lot of mobile traffic coming to your site currently. With the rapid growth rates seen in the past year from web activity on mobile devices, its time that companies start looking at their existing mobile traffic - how conversion rates differ and determine a threshold for the percentage of total site traffic coming from a mobile device that you need before justifying those costs. Especially when you consider that more often than not, a standard website on a mobile phone is not a positive user experience.
Last week I was traveling and came across two websites in desperate need of a better mobile presence:
Alaska Airlines - My flight was delayed going home, so I had some time to kill, but wanted to keep an eye on my new departure time. Alaska Airlines does have a mobile app, but only for iPhone and Blackberry, and alas - I am a Droid user. So I was stuck with their website which comes up teeny tiny on my phone, requires lots of zooming in and out, etc. Airlines should have no excuse for not having THE BEST mobile experience in my opinion. Everyone travels with a cell phone, and doesn't want to be stuck in an airport waiting on a delayed flight. Pay attention to the changes in mobile operating system market share to ensure you aren't providing 27% of mobile users with a bad experience.
US Mobile OS Market Share from iCrossing
LinkedIn - Any conference junkie (on an Android!) again will wish that LinkedIn would provide a better mobile experience. Yes, they do have apps, again for Blackberry (which I will contend had dominated the business market until recently) iPhone and the Palm Pre (what?!). But no Android app, and LinkedIn does not provide a mobile-friendly website. It would be great to have full LinkedIn functionality available on my phone so I could instantly connect to all the great people at a conference!
Maybe those new iPhone commercials are right...I do just need an iPhone.
In either case - there are some few basic tips to ensuring that your mobile-site will provide a satisfactory experience for your customers:
- FFF - Fat Finger Friendly. Make your buttons big. Its not particularly fun to have to zoom in and click on your existing site navigation. And if you have drop-down menus, consider your customers doomed to site abandonment.
- Check White Space - While the screen may render successfully on a computer, mobile sites need to take every advantage of all the space available. Putting a tiny call to action in a box surrounded by white space will not create a positive mobile interaction.
- Keep it Simple - Consider what actions your customers are most likely to complete while on their phone, and make those the default mobile navigation elements. Test your forms as well on a mobile device. Believe it or not, visitors will complete a form on their phone! Use your analytics data to see what mobile customers are already doing on your site to begin your research.
- Search functionality - If all else fails, keep a trusty search box on your mobile site. We all email and text on our phones, its not too much of a stretch that we'll complete a search on your mobile site if you give us the option.
If your company hasn't started the mobile conversation - now is the time. Fortunately, most businesses are also still grappling with how to provide the best web experience, so now is the time to test and try new approaches to mobile - there are large gains to be seen from making your mobile website work for you.
