This post is based on a presentation I gave in October at SearchLove London 2013. The full slide deck is embedded at the end of the post. Also, use this link to watch the video of the presentation for free! :)
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Lots of people can tell you why you need a mobile-friendly website. And lots of people can tell you how to build one. Including me. There have been countless posts and articles and guides written about how to build a mobile-friendly site, and how to optimize it for search, and how to track mobile visitors, and why mobile is important.
So at this point, most people would agree that having a mobile-friendly website is a basic requirement for any online brand:
- 57% of users won't recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site, and
- 40% have turned to a competitor's site after a bad mobile experience.
If you're just starting to think about it, you're falling behind. And you don't need me to convince you. Instead, I want to talk about what happens next. This post will cover some big-picture trends, case studies, examples and tactics, but the overall theme is "online everywhere."
By the year 2017, it is predicted that 85% of the world's population will have 3G coverage. (It could be even more; initiatives like Facebook's Internet.org campaign have the goal of bringing internet access to 100% of the world's population.)
Mobile data in the year 2012 was 12x the size of the entire internet in the year 2000. In other words, it grew by 1200%. And by the year 2018 it is expected to grow 12x again...meaning the rate of growth is now twice as fast as when we started (12x growth in 6 years instead of 12).
What all of this means is that we're becoming more connected than ever. And mobile is now a channel which can empower you to reach people you can't reach any other way, as the number of mobile users worldwide is set to overtake the number of desktop users in 2014.
We are increasingly living in a multiscreen, device-agnostic world.
And this means that "mobile" can't just be an add-on anymore. My boss Will Critchlow likes to say "there's no such thing as mobile." I would disagree slightly: I'd suggest that instead, "there's no such thing as mobile for the user."
Mobile is not a separate channel; it's a technology. So although at this point there's "no such thing as mobile" for the user, don't be fooled: Making it easy for users is really hard. We can't be lazy. What we need to be doing is asking the right questions.
What does this look like? Let's take 3 scenarios: Companies A, B, and C.
Company A (call them the "Average Joe Corp.") are asking the question: "how do we do 'mobile'?" And this means they'll be getting answers based on what everyone else is doing, regardless of whether it's right for them or their users. For example:
- a separate m. website
- an app
- SMS promotions
- etc.
Company B ("Early Adopters Ltd.") have a slightly better question: "how do we stay ahead of the next big mobile technology trend?" They're not interested in what everyone's doing already; they want to be ahead of the curve. So they'll end up investing in things like
- big data tools
- Aurasma technology for their app
- fun stunts like including a solar charger in their print ads
But Company C is different (let's call them "User-Driven Business, Inc."). They're looking at it from a different perspective: a user-centric one. They ask: "how can we take advantage of new technology to anticipate our users' needs?"
We all need to become more like "User-Driven Business, Inc.", because our customers are people, and technology is for people. Instead of asking about how to 'do' mobile, or how to stay on top of new technology, we need to have the mindset of making mobile a core part of the customers' journey, and keeping the user at the center.
Which looks something like this:
Phase 1: Discover
77% of mobile searches now take place near a PC. What this means is that mobile devices are rapidly becoming the device of choice, even when other options are available. And with new behaviors like sequential screening and multiscreening, mobile is increasingly an integral part of the customer's discovery phase. 90% of users use multiple screens sequentially to accomplish a task over time, and 98% move between devices in a single day. Smartphones are the most frequent 'companion' devices used while multiscreening (i.e. using multiple devices at the same time).
So the first big trend we need to be aware of here is the need for a seamless and consistent user experience across all devices.
There are three main areas in which mobile technology impacts on the Discover phase:
- website
- search
- social
1. Website
We've all heard the people who say that responsive design is always the answer. And responsive design is fine. But it's a basic approach. And if you don't approach it properly, you can end up with a subpar user experience.
Example: Starbucks
Starbucks made a beautiful responsive website; but on the smartphone version the 'BUY NOW' button has dropped to the bottom of the page, under many many reviews, a video and other non-essential content.
Desktop version:
Mobile version:
Small Steps
- Consider using dynamic serving instead of pure responsive: this allows you to serve different HTML based on user agent, while maintaining a single URL for simplicity.
- Think in terms of "content everywhere:" the concept of "Create Once Publish Everywhere," discussed in more depth in the book by Sara Wachter-Boettcher. "Content Everywhere" is a system which allows you to relate different types of content using markup for a more search- and user-friendly approach, regardless of the platform used to access your content.
- CASE STUDY: BBC Food used this approach for their recipes and saw an increase of more than 150,000 visitors weekly from search alone and overall traffic doubled, from around 650,000 weekly visitors to around 1.3 million. (data from Content Everywhere book)
- Use long-term cookies for login: keep people logged in longer and remove the extra step of needing a sign-in each time your users visit your site
- Sync user accounts across all platforms:
- a great EXAMPLE of this is Amazon Kindle: if you leave off in the middle of a book on the iPhone app, and then pick it up on your Kindle, it will know where you last left off (cross-device)
- Test, test, test: start by visiting your site on a mobile (or use the built-in emulator in your favorite browser).
- TIP: Make sure you test for all the devices your customers use, or at least the majority (you can find out what these are from your analytics data).
- Mobile CRO and user testing: there are loads of tools available for this type of testing; three that we like at Distilled are Qualaroo, CrazyEgg and Optimizely.
2. Search
The first big trend to keep in mind when it comes to search and discovery: it's the same person regardless of device. So context and user intent become more important than asking whether it's a mobile phone or a laptop.
Bravissimo used a tool called WeatherFIT to customize their PPC campaigns based on individual user context. Basically they would only show lingerie and swimwear ads to users who had sunny/hot weather in their area.
Results: 600% increase in PPC-driven sales revenue and 103% increase in conversion rate.
Example: Google
Google is huge for online personalization and context-based content:
- Google Implicit Search can understand the context of a query (such as 'how tall is Justin Bieber?' followed by 'how much does he weigh?') and return the correct answer.
- Google Now aims to provide you the information you need before you ask for it (such as bus times, weather, metro service information, etc) by figuring out where you are and what you are doing.
This leads us to the second big trend for discovery via search marketing: anticipating your users' needs before they themselves are even aware of them. If you can do this, you will be getting your brand in front of a whole new audience.
Small Steps
- If your business has brick-and-mortar locations, consider optimizing for local search. Local can be a big vertical for mobile search.
- If applicable to your audience, consider applying to get your business integrated with Google Now (although be forewarned, it's not terribly easy at this stage)
3. Social
Social is a huge channel for mobile. Four out of every five people who use Facebook (daily) and Twitter do so on a mobile device. So social marketing is mobile marketing.
But social is tricky, because brands no longer own the conversation. And the first big trend we see in social marketing is that permission's not enough anymore. There is now so much content and so much information available that we don't have time to read all the emails we sign up for. This has led to 'filter bubbles'.
You're probably all familiar with the Mark Zuckerberg quote: "A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa." This may sound extreme but the mindset it shows has a very real impact on our marketing efforts.
Between technology (like Facebook's EdgeRank, which shows more content for pages we engage with more frequently) and the people our customers follow (who only share and curate the content they find worthwhile), we need to be thinking in terms of peer-to-peer marketing if we want to have any hope of our target audience even seeing our content. One quick sense check for this is simply to ask yourself: "is it good enough to tell my friends about it?"
A final point: make sure any content you want to share via social channels is also mobile friendly. Given that 80% of these users are on mobile devices, you don't want them to be faced with this:
Small Steps
- Allow your social media team to engage in a conversational (rather than a salesy or overly formal) way.
- Create content which people will want to share.
- Ensure that all content for social sharing is mobile-friendly.
Phase 2: Explore
Once your users have discovered your brand, that's just the beginning; they may need to explore their options a bit more before deciding to purchase from you. And you need to be aware of that whole journey from start to finish.
There are four main areas impacted by mobile in the Explore phase:
- Tracking
- Showrooming
- Personalization
- Online/offline integration
1. Tracking
Track the person, not the device. Other people (like Avinash Kaushik and Craig Bradford) can explain this much better than me, but the short version is:
Stop tracking each session as if it's a different user. Instead, track people throughout their journey from start to finish - irrespective of device.
In the image above, wouldn't it be better if we knew that:
- The 3 online visits + single conversion (CID 111, 222 and 333) and the offline visit + conversion (CID 444) were actually
- One person using 3 different devices plus making an in-store visit with a second conversion (UID ABC)?
Small Steps
- Implement Universal Analytics: this is a great first step towards user-based tracking. Be aware of the limitations, however: users have to be logged in to track them across device.
2. Showrooming
It's easy to panic about showrooming (when people look up your products in-store on a phone and find lower prices online from your competitors).
But this sort of thing is never a good idea:
...and it's unnecessary. Instead, we should view showrooming behavior as an opportunity; to reinforce the value that our products and our store provide.
In 2012, Best Buy decided to tackle showrooming head-on: giving specially trained staff members tablets to search comparison sites for the lowest price, and allowing them to match that lowest price in order to complete the sale.
Results: It was successful - I don't have exact metrics, but in February 2013 they rolled out a permanent price matching policy based on the positive results of this pilot.
3. Personalization
Personalization is huge, and especially so on mobile devices which are much more 'personal' devices than most (think how frequently laptops are used for work/school, desktops for families or in other shared environments like libraries - but smartphones are primarily used by individuals in leisure time).
Small Steps
- Implement a recommendation engine for your logged-in customers. You can also do a form of this with non-logged-in users - Medium are a good example of this.
LK Bennett recently ran a campaign using the Qubit tag management system to personalize their website content by user context. The first test was targeted at UK-based visitors who had not purchased online within nine months, but had visited the site more than three times. These users were shown a special offer for free delivery if they were about to leave again without purchasing.
Results: an 11% increase in conversions from that visitor segment. Another test offered UK visitors free 14 day returns, and this saw a 14% conversion rate increase.
4. Online/Offline Integration
Because mobile devices are portable, there are many more opportunities for integration between the online and offline worlds via mobile devices.
What does this mean? The obvious example would be something like a QR code in a print ad or on a billboard. A more sophisticated version is something like Debenham's virtual pop-up stores at famous UK landmarks, which users scanned with a special app and then were able to view and order clothing (after virtually trying it on, of course!).
My favorite example of online/offline integration is from IKEA:
Example: IKEA catalogue app
IKEA created an augmented reality app for their recent catalogue, which allowed users to use their device's built-in camera to try out how different pieces of IKEA furniture would look in a given location in their home.
All of these examples - Best Buy encouraging showrooming and matching the lowest price, IKEA allowing people to 'try out' the furniture before they buy, and LK Bennett providing personalized offers about shipping and returns - play into the overall brand experience of your users, and help to determine whether they decide to buy from you or not. Basically, these are all different ways of helping potential customers past the "uncertainty" phase and giving them the extra little push to feel confident that they're making the right choices.
Ultimately, whatever examples we use, the big trend for the Explore phase is to recognize the value of every touchpoint/interaction along the customer journey. The purchase isn't the only thing that matters anymore. ...and last click attribution is the devil.
Phase 3: Buy
This is all very well, but...what about the actual conversion? Well, the big trend here is to make mobile checkout EASY.
There are two main areas we can improve in order to engage mobile users more effectively in the purchase process:
- Smarter checkout paths
- Online/offline integration (yes, again!)
1. Smarter checkout paths
We need smarter conversion paths for mobile. My rule of thumb for this is KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. ;)
Small Steps
-
Link the form fields to the correct keyboard - have you ever tried to use a form on a phone and had the wrong type of keyboard pop up? This is actually surprisingly easy to fix:
For phone number fields:
<input type="tel" />
for a numeric keyboard, use this:
<input type="text" pattern="\d*" novalidate />
for any email fields, use this:
<input type="email" />
to disable autocorrect:
<input type="text" autocorrect="off" />
- Keep people logged in long-term: The fewer steps people have to take to complete a purchase, the less likely they are to abandon it. Mobile devices (smartphones in particular, tablets perhaps less so) are often only used by a single individual, so it is often much more convenient to use websites and apps which don't require a login every time. By using persistent cookies (on websites) and saving password details in the phone (for apps) you make the process easier for your users.
- Don't neglect microconversions: It's all very well trying to convince people to make big purchases via mobile; but don't forget about the smaller stuff. Things like email signups and social sharing are very important and sometimes don't work well on mobile devices.
2. Online/offline integration
If you have a physical store location(s), in-store mobile payment can also add convenience to checkout.
Example: PayPal
If you accept PayPal payments, you can allow people to use the PayPal app to checkout in-store as well as online.
Phase 4: Engage
Once your customer has purchased, you may feel that you can relax. But you're not home free yet! You need to keep customers engaged with your brand and your services/products even after they purchase in order to turn them into repeat customers and, eventually, brand advocates.
There are three main areas in this phase which are important for mobile:
- Apps
- Email marketing
- Social
1. Apps
The first question you should ask yourself if you're considering creating an app is: "are you sure you need one?"
The benefit is, of course, that it's a walled garden. The downside is that it's a saturated market: there are 900,000+ apps in the Apple Store and over 1 million on Google Play. And despite the high volume of apps, only a few rise to the top: 10% of all iPhone app store revenue in Nov 2012 came from only 7 apps. So unless you really do need one, it's not worth the extra effort and hassle.
How do you decide? Ask yourself, does my app (idea):
- Add convenience?
- Offer unique value?
- Provide social value?
- Offer incentives?
- Entertain?
These are the attributes of a successful app. If it doesn't do any of these things, you shouldn't build it.
Tesco Homeplus, in South Korea, are an excellent example of how to use apps to retain customers (and this is also a great example of using online/offline integration in the Buy phase). As a mid-/large-sized supermarket brand (trying to compete against a bigger rival), they knew that their target customers were very busy, working very long hours and lacking free time to go shopping for groceries. So they created a 'virtual store' in the subway, which allowed app users to scan items they wanted to purchase and checkout on their phone. If they did this before 1pm, the groceries would be delivered to their home that evening.
Results: their sales increased 130% in three months, and their number of registered users went up by 76%
Ultimately, the key when it comes to apps is creating a unique experience and meeting a specific user need. If you can't do this with your app, you probably don't need one.
2. Email marketing
62% of emails are opened on mobile devices. So email marketing is mobile marketing. And remember, you can send push notifications via email (dependent on the user's settings) which gives them a benefit we might have associated previously only with apps or SMS promotions.
Small steps
- Send emails your customers want to open
- Example: Innocent Drinks are a great example of email content which is fun, full of their brand personality and regardless of whether I always have time to read the emails, I never consider unsubscribing because I don't want to miss out on it.
- Use personalization and context: the average open rate for 'triggered' emails is 4x higher than for email newsletters (45-55% vs 10%)
- Example: Smythson - in a blog post on email marketing, Lucy Wilsden described how Smythson sent her the following email in September (just around the time she was thinking about purchasing a new diary for 2014). Note the individual-specific personalization - they used her initials in the product image.
- Use mobile friendly templates: MailChimp and Campaign Monitor are two services that offer this.
- TIP: If your preferred provider doesn't offer this, you can use one of these services to build your email and then export the HTML into your preferred provider's template.
- Test your email campaigns: we like Litmus; there are also other options.
3. Social
Social isn't just part of the discovery process; it's also a great channel for maintaining customer loyalty.
Example: Red Bull Wings
Red Bull has an incredible social campaign called Red Bull Wings. They monitor mentions on Twitter of keywords like 'allnighters', 'midterms', etc; then contact the tweeters to mail them a care package containing a Red Bull 4-pack and a personalized note.
This is just one example; but the big trend with post-purchase social engagement is: make current customers feel appreciated - and make it individually personalized, if possible.
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Bonus example
I've covered a lot of things in this post, so now I want to share a campaign which I think pulls a lot of these together. It's a great example of how to merge the online and offline worlds...but more importantly, it's an example of one of the key takeaways from this post: the value of extreme (individual) personalization and context recognition.
BMW's MINI Salutes You (part of the #MININotNormal campaign)
I love this campaign because it keeps the (individual) customer at the center. It makes great use of personalization and context, as well as online/offline integration. And it hits the 'post-buy engagement' part beautifully by showing loyalty to current customers.
Results: As part of the online aspect, it also had great social reach (as you might expect). That video alone (part of a larger campaign) showed 1,941 offline customers were reached during that time...but there are 58,139 views (to date) of the video on Youtube. (The main campaign video has 1,661,042 views.)
So … what are the final takeaways?
Well, to "do mobile" right:
- Make it a core technology
- Keep the user at the center
- Ask yourself: "How can I use mobile technology to anticipate and fulfill my users' needs?"
You might be thinking, "surely these are all just marketing principles, though". Well that's TRUE.
Because mobile isn't separate anymore. In some ways, it's just another "browser", and we need to test and optimize and create content for it just as we would for any other browser. This won't be easy, but it will be worth it. So let's buckle up and enjoy the ride!
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How do you think we should be approaching the rise of mobile technology in 2014? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Here are the slides from the presentation this blog post was based on:
If you'd like to watch the presentation video (for free!), head on over to our video store page using this link: https://dis.tl/1hqEyd3. With a free account (just a username and password), you'll get free access to the video to download and stream at your hearts content.
If you enjoyed this post and the presentation video, you might also be interested in our upcoming SearchLove conference in Boston—particularly in the session by Adam Melson, titled "Listening to Your Customers’ Wants to Achieve Their Needs." It's happening Apr 7-8 at the Joseph B Martin Conference Center. We'd love to see you there!
Google started adding the “mobile-friendly” label to its mobile search results. So how to earn the label
Hey Bridget, thanks for sharing such an awesome post. You have put together a great study, specially the point that mobile users are going to overtake the desktop users in 2014. But I would be keen to know the real number of mobile users who are internet savvy & browse internet via mobile, because in Hindi speaking countries, eg. India, the penetration is only 12.6% wrt global internet users & you might get really surprised to know that the mobile penetration is 90.47%
And knowing the facts that India is second largest populated country & has third highest internet users, it would be an interesting study to figure out how many mobile users are internet savvy among all in different different countries.
Thanks,
Hi Yogesh,
Thanks, those are some really interesting stats! It really speaks to the idea that mobile is becoming a platform where brands can connect with people they otherwise wouldn't be able to reach.
I'd be interested to know how the stat you shared breaks down further between smartphones, internet enabled feature phones and non internet enabled phones.
Great article. It's hard to get your head around all of the different channels through which people interface with your brand, but there's a huge payoff if you can take the time to develop and implement a holistic strategy that creates harmony between the channels, reduces cognitive overhead, and where each channel has design/function that fits the particular network/device.
It is a fact that it is hard to get around all the different channels, however what we need to understand here is which channel is more important for a business a company does. Not all channels can provide the same kind of target customer we needs and thus it becomes very important to study and identify most reliable and productive sources.
Money investment is huge in any medium that a company can choose for marketing and planning your investments well will help invest better is productive channels than just investing in all at once.
Good written. But I think Mobile Friendly sites are not enough. Some sites are mobile friendly but still not able to get good ranks.
Getting a Good SEO Optimized site is the main issue.
Hi Adeel that's a fair point but pretty straightforward to address:
if you have a responsive design, your mobile site is optimized as much as your desktop site (because it's the same HTML);
if you have a 'dynamic serving' site (so different HTML on same URL), it's pretty simple: make sure your pages are properly optimized on-page, and use the Vary HTTP user agent header to avoid cloaking;
if you have a separate mobile site, I wrote another blog post on Moz about how to make sure it's optimized properly.
Hey Bridget,
It's indeed a very comprehensive post and one of the best on this topic. You described the each phase in detail but I like to know what are the KPIs a business should observe before jumping into mobile arena? And don't you think lots of companies wants to go on Mobile, but due to lack of expertise they aren't doing the things right.
Thanks
That was a very comprehensive post! Lots of good info in there. One point though, since we are all currently in a Google fearing state of affairs right now (MyGuestPost, anyone?) then I'm kind of inclined to say "How high?" when Google says "Jump." at the moment.
Therefore: "Consider using dynamic serving instead of pure responsive: this allows you to serve different HTML based on user agent, while maintaining a single URL for simplicity." I just can't buy into this given that it isn't Google's recommended way of doing things:
https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details
Blimey, if Google actually tells me to do something in bold type, then I really think I will have to! I think Responsive is the answer to everything, but you're quite right that you need to make sure you order everything on the page correctly.
Hi Martin,
That's a fair point; that said, I think there's a big difference between Google telling us not to do something versus stating that one approach is recommended. The page you linked to says that Google support 3 different types of mobile configurations - responsive, dynamic serving, and separate URLs.
They recommend the Vary HTTP header when you use dynamic serving, in order to 'hint' to Google that you serve a different version to mobile devices (which allows you to avoid the appearance of cloaking).
Ultimately, what Google cares most about in terms of a mobile site (from what I can tell) is that it provides a better user experience. If you can do this with responsive, great! But if we can provide a better user experience with dynamic serving (which seems likely, simply because it allows us to have more control over how you serve each type of device), I think we should go for it. But that's just me!
According to me with over 10% of traffic coming from mobile devices building a mobile-friendly site is a worthwhile effort, and can push you ahead of your competitors.
Hi Bridget, thanks for sharing this article with us, so much info in there, will have to keep this one bookmarked and go back to it!
Your section about showrooming is really interesting- I was actually shocked by the retailer's reaction to 'charge a fee for just looking'! Retailers can either see showrooming as a threat or an opportunity, but however they look at it, there's no denying that this trend is only going to grow as wifi becomes more easily available outside the home. One area which seems to offer a really viable solution, especially for retailers is iBeacons- which offer brands a chance to connect the online and offline worlds and take a step in being able to identify offline and online visitors as being the same person!
It's still early stages, and most good case studies have been tried out in the States, I personally haven't come across any examples in the UK- but it's definitely an exciting and innovative piece of technology that retailers need to take a long hard look at, instead of taking a negative view on 'showrooming'. I actually wrote about this in my recent blog post, if anyone wants to read what I have to say, then feel free to check it out: https://www.fastwebmedia.com/blog/can-ibeacons-help-combat-showrooming/2014-03-26/
Mobile and Tablets would continue to dominate the space even more. As per reports more than 50% Of users of site on social networks are surfing through Mobile Devices. This will increase to 60% Soon. Hence Mobile SEO is important.
Hey Bridget, You have put together a great study, specially the point that mobile users are going to overtake the computer users in 2014. If you don’t have a mobile friendly site, you’re missing out on huge chunk of your site’s traffic and conversion potential.
Hi Michael, i think 4% mobile users is really rather low and rather the exception. What we see ranges from 10% to over 40%. Anyway 4% of potential customers still look important to me...
Hi Bridget, great post, especially like the creativity on red bull wings.
Hi Bridget,
Very interesting and informative post here, Thanks a lot for sharing such.
Mobile.. Mobile.. and only Mobile.. Now a days we are 90% using mobile devices and 50% with internet. Still lots of business owners, companies are not worried about, even not aware how mobile users are important for present market. But some where they have same traffic, leads are OK, so?
This was such a great article!! The tips were very easy to follow!! I set up my site with dudamobile, but I think after the free trial is over I may try the WPTouch plugin and see how that goes.
Beautiful article Bridget. I agree that mobile traffic is greater now than traffic from desktop and people are on social media from mobile. The article is so full of data, so it's wonderful.
I think now every website, big or small, should be mobile friendly to get the maximum conversions.
I thing it is a best idea for optimize your website on mobile devices, where the wordpress and other cms making right responsive themes, but if we are look back, we are also able to open the websites in other symbian phones as well, there's lots of website which is able to open in desktop rather also open in mobile devices.
by the way the forecasting is better...
Hi Mainak,
Thank you, glad you found it useful!
Having read everything that came across. Can you just tell us " Why is Apple's website not more mobile friendly"?
Sam, I think this is part of Apple's approach. They don't want to confirm, they want people to confirm to them.
Conform*?
Customers put up with Apple, not the other way round. Big Brand 101.
Basically I think it's because they don't need to. But it's certainly a frustrating, suboptimal user experience (as I know from my own experience with it).
Bridget Your post is very nice and almost cover the every aspect. You choose a very cleaver topic and thanks to you for that. Recently Google came out with this Sentence "Mobile Searches may Exceed than Desktop searches in 2014". That Shows how much Responsiveness is necessary for your website.
If you are a E-commerce Seller and If you don't have a Mobile friendly website than You will Have to put lot of money onto the Table.
Google Tells us indirectly to follow the Trend. Now a days the trend is of smart phones and Tablets so optimize your site and Make your site responsive for every kind of device. This will surely increase your Business Revenue.
Mobile friendliness is the requirement of 2014 promotion strategies. If we are not having mobile friendly site, we are loosing most of the traffic.
Hi Bridget,
Read your post. I liked the ideas, especially of content everywhere - where what content you return depends upon the device type.
I wonder how that will play from an SEO perspective, have different content on the same url? I think Google may not like it. Some blogs/websites hide their sidebar etc. using css for mobile visitors, but I don't feel safe enough to implement it.
Regards,
Deepak Kundu
Hi Deepak,
If you're serving different content for different devices on a single URL, Google support that configuration (called dynamic serving), but recommend that you use a 'Vary User Agent HTTP header' to indicate that this is what you are doing. You can read a bit more about that here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details
If your content is online, it needs to be mobile-friendly. And while you shouldn’t build a content marketing strategy for any single device, it doesn’t mean you should publish the same content in the exact same way for mobile, desktop, and tablet. The answer lies in building flexible content that provides the same experience across all platforms.
Bridget, Thanks for your post. You clearly explain why we need mobile or apps for our business and how it help to improve the conversion rate.
I don't have but I need it since over 15% uu come from mobile devices.
Mobile is hyped. If you sell products or services in the Western World (Europe, Australia, US etc.) you most likely have under 4% of your visitors on mobile phones, no matter how optimized you are for mobile search / viewing. The most statistics regarding mobile are deceiving. Mobile usage is so high because lots of people like to check news, twitter, facebook etc. on their mobile phones. I would suggest to "normal" businesses not to panic and ask yourself if you would search for your service or products rather on a mobile phone or on your desktop. If the answer is desktop then start thinking about mobile in about 10 years or so. Especially if your own statistics indicate that quite nobody try to reach your site with their mobile phone.
Hi Michael, some interesting points you make there. Would you happen to have a reference for your figure of "under 4%"? It certainly isn't true for any of the dozen websites I've worked on in the last 12 months that's all. I appreciate that a lot of the mobile growth is in Africa & Asia, but still...
Also what's your thinking behind "thinking about mobile in 10 years or so" given the irrefutable evidence provided in this blog post (and elsewhere) about the growth of mobile internet usage v. desktop? Again regional trends are very important but the growth is still there in the "Western World", isn't it?
I think it differs from industry to industry. A client of mine (an optician) has seen a jump in mobile traffic of 5% in 2012-13 to 20% in 2013-14. They're now considering a mobile-optimised website.
Agreed that mobile traffic is more likely to be social, news-checking etc. However, I have seen a decent amount of data that suggests mobile commerce is on the rise and keeping pace with the expansion of mobile usage. It seems to me that having a mobile-optimized website is a must this day and age, especially for SMB owners.
Source: https://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Infographic-2013-Mobile-Growth-Statistics-Large.jpg#sthash.c7cACZJm.dpuf
It is from the statistics of my customers (I am a web designer for small and medium sized busnisses in Germany). And of course I can not grand you access to it. But even Rand from MOZ have the same experience. Here it is what Rand said in the last Whiteboard Friday: "So as you're looking at the statistic, I think that a lot of companies, a lot of executives, a lot of marketing folks are going, "Oh my god, what's our mobile strategy?" It is good to be asking that question, but you might not want to panic. One of the things that we did recently at Moz is we took a look at what is the percent of people who have ever tried to access our websites via mobile devices, and it turns out the percent was shockingly low. It was like 3% or 4%, I think less than 4% of people even today, which is up only slightly from last year, when it was like 3.5%. Now it's like 3.7% or something of all of our visits come via any type of mobile device."
Germany is different anyway - people don't particularly like using credit cards, buying goods online, etc., compared to e.g. the UK (where I live). It wouldn't surprise me if m-commerce was way behind too and never caught on.
Generally speaking, I'd agree with Steve in that it depends on the business / industry. My own site has around 30% of mobile traffic, yet I've seen others (travel and tourism industry) that have under 5% (which to be honest really surprised me!). So, there definitely is still plenty of desktop first / preferred consumer behaviour. I still do all the serious stuff (including making purchases) on my desktop or laptop and don't see that change any time soon (it's my 'work device' - hence it lends itself to also doing all the admin / finance / etc. stuff).
The best tip is to start with your own data and see what your Analytics says. If mobile traffic is low, then relax, for now!
Hi Michael,
You're absolutely right that you should make these decisions based on your own data, not just 'average' stats.
However, in my experience, 4% is quite low (the only one of my clients with that low a figure is a high-value B2B service provider - no one visits their site on mobile because they're doing it at work, on a work computer, and the deals are closed over the phone; the website is purely for lead gen).
At Distilled, the average client whose data I've seen tends to see 10-20% of all traffic coming from mobile devices, which is a significant amount. Increasing conversion rate/UX for 20% of your audience can have a major impact on the bottom line.
Also, sometimes where there is a big discrepancy in conversion rates on mobile vs desktop, people assume that 'people don't buy from us on mobile'; but in fact, doing CRO for mobile can improve both conversion rate and traffic from mobile. Basically, people won't do something if they get negative 'feedback' for it - so a poor user experience will deter people from using your site on a mobile.
Even MOZ has just a 4% mobile rate. So it is for sure not that far fetched.
This is what Rand Fiskin said: One of the things that we did recently at Moz is we took a look at what is the percent of people who have ever tried to access our websites via mobile devices, and it turns out the percent was shockingly low. It was like 3% or 4%, I think less than 4% of people even today, which is up only slightly from last year, when it was like 3.5%. Now it's like 3.7% or something of all of our visits come via any type of mobile device."
I totally agreed..
"The most statistics regarding mobile are deceiving"
Thank you Bro. Statistics can be a bitch :-) You have to know how to interpret it correctley. And the hype about mobile is based on wrong interpretation.