Retailers, it’s time to mobilize. Your website, that is.
Mobile marketing and mobile commerce have received unprecedented attention over the past two years as the key to the next generation of cross-channel and digital retail. Yet even with all of the hype, few retailers have actually done more than dip their toe in the water. But are things finally changing?
According to the Shop.org State of Retailing Online report, 91% of retailers currently have a mobile strategy in place or in development, up from 74% a year ago. To date, only 48% of retailers surveyed report having a mobile-optimized website; 35% have deployed an iPhone app; and 15% offer an Android app and an iPad app.
This month as a part of the Shop.org May is Online Marketing Month Webinar Series, author and industry expert Amy Africa and retail executives from Gilt Groupe and Alibris Retail led a discussion on tips that are necessary to create an effective retail mobile strategy.
Africa alone dove into 30 tips related to mobile site and app optimization. While each offered critical advice for those testing, creating, and tweaking their mobile sites and apps, here are my five favorites from this hour-long webinar.
1) Optimize Your Speed. Mobile shoppers will not wait 15 seconds. Your goal, whether or not you choose to accept it, is a low page weight. According to Amy Africa, mobile consumers make their decisions about six times faster than regular web consumers.
2) Focus on one thing. Your mobile site or app may be beautiful, but is it usable? Does it get the lead? Get the order? Get an e-mail address?
3) Navigation makes up the majority of your success. You want to look strongly at your mobile navigation options for usability. Navigation in a traditional web world is about 60-70% of your success, but in a mobile world this is about 85-90% of your success. Users expect to buy or browse the same way they do on the traditional site, but they can’t handle as many products, services, or offerings for choices. You have to make these decisions for them. According to Africa, companies should not include more than eight navigation choices on the mobile page. The key to this is to just make sure you cover the most important things.
4) It’s all about ease of use. Don’t depend on the scroll! What else should you steer clear of on your mobile sites and apps? No flash, horizontal scrolling, or tables (especially those nasty nested ones). Also, use as few screens as possible. As much as 97% of people will stop after four screens.
5) Size not only matters – it can be the key differentiator between a successful mobile site and a complete flop. Make larger than life action directives like “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” for your mobile users. If nothing else, make sure an action button is on the first screen of your mobile site and on every subsequent screen. According to Africa, focus on this alone will make a serious impact on the success of your mobile site experience and usability, and is critical on check out and lead form pages.
The figures that Africa and the mini-case studies executives from Gilt Groupe and Alibris Retail shared all point towards the importance of analyzing the significant differences in website usability patterns and expectations of mobile users. Most importantly, it continues to prove how retailers that are focused on truly mobilizing their site (and not just miniaturizing it) have a lot of work – and potential success stories – ahead of them.