Small business marketers need to sit up and pay attention to the latest mobile design options

Technology has revolutionized communication and changed the face of doing business in modern times. Computers, Tablets, and Smartphone which were initially used to surf the net, stream videos and chat online have become key business tools. Mobile is becoming ever more crucial now that it accounts for over half of all web traffic. But how does a small business use the latest mobile design to grow its business? The answer to this question is determined by two factors: Increase in popularity of Social Media The development of more capable Smartphones Facebook, the most popular social network worldwide has 1.71 billion monthly active users across the world, according to the latest statistics. The other factor hinges on the improvement of mobile design evident in the…

Mobile experiences are now the norm

Smartphones are everywhere, and they’ve grabbed our attention. Maybe even too much! Based on seeing my teenagers’ faces almost constantly buried in their screens, I’m sure mobile website usage will ramp-up much further in the future. So, when we do conversion design we need to be mindful of this reality. We need to realize that the smartphone is not where the conversion happens, but more often where it starts - the first or second touchpoint - especially when it comes to lead-generation usage scenarios, but also for e-commerce. In this post, I first highlight how mobile user experiences differ from their desktop counterparts. Then I share my top four do’s, followed by my top four dont’s of mobile conversion design. Follow this guidance and other mobile best practices and your site will soon see higher…

Examples of how website designs must be optimized to support the way we hold and interact with smartphones

Our compilation of statistics showing the growth in smartphone usage highlights the well-known need to create effective mobile experiences. With mobile minutes accounting for more than two-thirds of online interactions in many countries, there is an obvious need to optimize designs so they are consistent with consumer behaviour as they use their phones. This need is also suggested by statistics showing lower conversion rates on smartphone (they’re typically between one half and one third of those on desktop).

Consumer behaviour of mobile interaction

I was recently running a training course looking at improving mobile customer journeys and experiences where our focus was on Millennial and Gen Z personas. I discovered this great new-to-me research on mobile interaction based on how a phone is held and interactions occur with a mobile handset using fingers…

Comparing growth and sources in smartphone mobile visits in the retail, travel, automotive, finance, banking, insurance and media statistics

We know from trends in mobile adoption statistics that, in most industry sectors, we have passed the tipping point where smartphone mobile visits (and sales) exceed desktop visits. In this latest research from Adobe, there are useful benchmarks comparing smartphone growth by sector and the traffic sources for this. This graph showing trends in the device used to access websites and apps suggests we're not only seeing growth in smartphone visits, but that visits from desktop and tablet are declining as smartphone effectively cannibalises these other platforms This next chart compares growth in smartphone visits by sector shows that while overall web visits have been flat, larger companies are still seeing growth (c 8% year-on-year) in smartphone visits. …

How to set up a good mobile friendly website

Having a mobile-friendly website extends beyond good practice, it’s a requirement if you want your business to succeed. Mobile now exceeds desktop Internet usage and this means mobile users expect businesses to provide an excellent experience optimized for their device. In fact, nearly half of consumers won’t return to a website if a website doesn’t load properly. If you aren’t sure if your site is mobile-friendly, you need to make sure it is as soon as possible. It’s crucial to find ways to convert leads into sales and not turn people away because your website fails to load correctly. Customers on the go have their mobile devices in hand and want to be able to look up your business no matter where they are located – and possibly even contact you. There is a lot of competition in the small business arena,…

How to focus your efforts to improve mobile conversion performance by using the full range of mobile user research techniques and tools

For the past few years in the digital industry every year has talked about as ‘the year of mobile’. Despite this, many digital marketeers are still focusing CRO activity on desktop and leaving mobile devices as an afterthought. Latest stats show that mobile continues to be a growth platform for people accessing websites, and that those people are getting more comfortable using their phones for buying online. As shown on Smart Insights last year, mobile traffic overtook desktop as mobile phone use continued to rise at a staggering rate. Stats from the same report also show that desktop users are around three times more likely to convert than those visiting a site from a smartphone; showing that there’s a lot of potential for improvement for mobile conversion rates. This …

 Nosto European Fashion Report shows UK fashion buyers still prefer to buy on desktop

With London Fashion Week having just revealed what is hot and what is not on the catwalk it seems that UK fashion shoppers, while having their fingers on the pulse of the latest clothing trends, are less in tune with the newest technology than previously thought. In our recent report, European Online Fashion in 2016, we analyzed data from over 700 online fashion merchants, constituting over 241 million consumer visits. The results show that UK online fashion shoppers prefer to make their purchases on desktop, rather than mobile - with 19% of online revenue in the UK fashion sector coming from mobile, compared to 58% for desktop. Previous research has shown that for UK ecommerce generally smartphones account for 51% of purchases made, which means fashion buyers are behind the general curve when it comes to the uptake…

Mobile Marketing Trends And Tools You Can't Miss

Mobile marketing has had an incredible run, far exceeding the expectations of its pioneers with exponential increases in sales for those that use it well. 2016 marks a year where several trends that have had merely tacit relationships to each other in the past - such as social media, video ads, mobile apps and mobile pay - now have the potential to be fully integrated to increase exposure and drive up sales. Here's a crash course in important mobile marketing developments you can expect to see in 2016. With 40% of all online purchases currently taking place on cell phones and 66% of opted in consumers having completed a purchase because they received a text message from the brand, if you're not fully taking advantage of SMS marketing, you can bet someone else is (Source). Here are some trends and tools to enhance your…

Mobile Browsing is So Popular You Can’t Afford to Ignore Your Mobile Visitors

The statistics don't lie – mobile browsing has quickly become more common than desktop browsing, and mobile visitors tend to show higher rates of engagement than desktop users. However, the window of engagement time is also shorter for mobile users, which means they stay on your site for less time and come back less frequently. While someone browsing a site on their laptop or desktop might leave a few tabs open and go idle, only to return later on to continue reading, this type of tabbed behavior is not as common amongst mobile visitors. The average small business website gets about 20% of its traffic from mobile devices, but that number is continually growing and for some sites it is much higher. Thus, the best way to…

9 ways to improve your mobile customer experience

As mobile shopping sites and apps increase in popularity, and overall experiences improve, customer expectations are rising at the same time, so there is an imperative for customers to act to improve their mobile experience and how it joins up with the overall brand experience. Research by IBM has highlighted the extent to which customers are intolerant of any faults, with 16% of respondents reporting that they would be more likely to buy from a competitor if they encountered a problem, and 13% admitting they would abandon the transaction altogether and try a competitor’s website or app instead. 'Some of the bigger leading brands have really upped their game, and the ones that are keeping pace have strategically invested in a platform that is able to service both traditional online channels and also…