It has become more common than ever for people to shop online using their smartphones. If your ecommerce store isn't ready for this shift, it will get left behind.
In Thailand alone, the number of mobile phone users reached 54 million in 2020. This welcome spike points to the massive potential of untapped markets and the opportunity to maximize revenue as well.
So, how can you make sure your website is mobile-friendly in 2022?
In this blog post, we'll outline a few strategies that you can use to ready your site for mobile buyers.
Why Is It Important To Make A Mobile-Friendly Website?
Mobile-friendly websites are quickly becoming an essential factor in today's world. No one can deny that more people use smartphones and tablet devices to surf the web, so your business needs to have a mobile-friendly website.
The evolution of mobile technology is revolutionizing the way we access and use information daily, and it's something that all businesses should note. Mobile devices are now in the hands of a considerable proportion of the world's population, and it's more important than ever that your website is a responsive one.
Visitors are increasingly using their phones or tablets to access your website. So, if your business still uses a standard HTML website and hasn't adapted to responsive web design, you could lose valuable traffic and sales.
Also, not having a mobile-friendly website will result in customers churning to your competitors to buy conveniently.
Below are a few reasons why consumers may prefer a mobile-friendly website:
It's Easier To Buy On-The-Go
As of recently, more than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. If your website doesn't look good on these devices, then many potential clients won't even bother visiting it in the first place. For instance, it might look messy, or buttons and links might be too small to tap with one's finger.
Around one-third of the South Asian population uses mobile phones. This number indicates that businesses must take action and shift to mobile-friendly user applications to make the consumers' journey seamless and smooth. Otherwise, your business could experience a loss of potential sales.
People Want Quick, Easy Access
When people use mobile devices, they usually don't have time to research or look around for too long. They open their phone and browse the web if something catches their eye. If your website is slow to load or difficult to navigate, it won't be of any use to them. Your business will miss out on potential clients and revenue.
They Want A Stellar User Experience
If you're a business owner, you probably want your website visitors to have a good user experience. Slow loading times or websites that aren't mobile-friendly can cause frustration among users and might even lead them to leave your page immediately. This means that they never come back, so it's like they never visited your site in the first place.
How To Ensure That Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly?
The common remark about mobile-friendly sites is that they look different from desktop sites. However, users will be more distracted if they see irrelevant content on their smartphones.
Your website needs to be responsive to the users' demands and not complicate things by showing two or more versions of your website.
Also, make sure that your mobile version is user-friendly and beautiful enough to provide your users the same experience as they have when they browse your desktop site.
Making A Website Mobile-Friendly – What's Involved?
You've just invested in a website to advertise your products, but what is the point of having a site if no one can find it? Make sure your website is mobile-friendly so that you can attract customers wherever they are.
If you own a business, you probably want it to be visible on the Internet. The best and most effective way of doing this is by having a website since most people use technology like smartphones and tablets nowadays.
Here's what you need to do:
Ensure Easy Navigation
The first step is to make sure your website works well for people who access it on their phones. If it's hard to navigate, cluttered with text and images, or if the buttons are too small to tap easily on a touch screen, you will lose customers.
Many websites have extensive menus with different options, tags, and categories. These can be hard to tap accurately on smaller screens, so try reducing the number of items in each menu.
More than 70% of Internet users in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia research online for products before purchasing. Nevertheless, search does not mean typing keywords on a search bar; a rise in voice commands and voice search is also observed. Thus, ensuring easy navigation for these visitors is integral.
Use A Responsive Design
Most popular websites now use responsive design, which means that the layout of the website changes depending on whether it is being viewed on a mobile phone or a tablet. This means you don't have to worry about creating two different sites.
If you use graphical content, like product photos or illustrations, make sure they're the right size for smaller screens. If you're displaying a video, don't forget to embed it responsively (for example, with YouTube or Vimeo).
Keep The Text And Images Small
To make your website mobile-friendly, you should avoid large blocks of text or images. They take up too much space on a mobile screen.
Long blocks of text tend to get cut off on small devices, so try making your text more concise. For example, it might be enough to add subtitles instead of lengthy descriptions that don't add to the user experience.
Also, keep in mind that touch screens only support single taps – if people can't tap what they need accurately, they won't click anything. So, make the links stand out by giving them a different color than the rest of the text.
Use Buttons And Links That Are Easy To Click
To make navigating on your website more accessible, use clear labels and make sure the buttons are large enough to be tapped easily.
Make the buttons more prominent and more noticeable, so your visitors know exactly where they need to click to see more information or perform an action (for example, they know how to check out fast). When you're asking visitors for something (like their email address), make sure they'll get what they need very quickly – don't forget that mobile internet connections tend to be pretty slow.
Test Your Website On Mobile Devices
To see what your website looks like on different phones and tablets, you should test it in real-life conditions. You can either ask friends to test it for you or try using apps like Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. There's also a 'mobile view' option in your website's backend that you can enable to see how it behaves on mobile devices.
To ensure your visitors will find your website no matter what device they're using, you should update every link and button to the new URL (it doesn't have to be precisely the same as before - see Google's Migration Guide for more information).
It's a good idea to try out your website on a mobile phone, as well as a tablet and a laptop. This way, you can see if the layout is working well. And don't forget to get your website listed in Google's mobile search results.
Use A Landing Page Template
Using a landing page template is perhaps one of the easiest ways to build a mobile-friendly website. These templates are often lightweight and offer space for advertisement or contact information. In addition, these templates are usually coded to create web pages that are mobile-friendly and ready for all kinds of customers.
Minimize Load Time
Mobile-friendliness does not apply to the size of the website. Regardless of their size, all websites should be able to load in a matter of milliseconds. This is especially true when you have multiple images or video files on the website. You can reduce the data usage on your site by compressing the storage size and offering lower-quality images for mobile users.
Utilize Google Analytics
Google Analytics is typically used on most websites to track users' activity on the page. However, did you know that it can also be used with mobile-friendly sites? Having this app integrated into your smartphone allows you to access reports tracking user behavior through responsive design techniques - all of which work together. That's how you create optimal viewing experiences for your visitors, no matter what device they use.
What can you do to make your website mobile-friendly? First, think about how users will access it and what they want and need. Then, make sure it's easy to navigate, has a responsive design, is fast-loading, and so on. By doing so, you'll ensure that more people visit your webpage, which results in increased revenue.
Wrapping Up
It's not hard to see that in 2022, mobile devices will be the primary way people access websites.
By making your website mobile-friendly now, you'll be ahead of the curve and better equipped to take advantage of this shift in web usage.
If you're looking for an ecommerce platform that is already mobile-friendly, we recommend using Zaapi. Our platform has everything you need to run a successful online store, and it's designed with mobile users in mind.
Contact us today to learn more about how Zaapi can help you create a website that is ready for the future!
